Evan Dunfee, Ethan Katzberg set Canadian records on Day 1 of athletics worlds

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Evan Dunfee set a Canadian record to open his sixth World Athletics Championships and teammate Ethan Katzberg, making his debut at the event, followed suit about one hour later Saturday in Budapest, Hungary.

Following a two-hour delay due to thunderstorms, Dunfee covered the men's 20-kilometre race walk in one hour 18 minutes three seconds for fourth place. Inaki Gomez held the previous national mark of 1:19:20 since 2016.

Dunfee, a 32-year-old from Richmond, B.C., finished 16 seconds shy of tying Caio Bonfim for a bronze medal, with the Brazilian achieving a national mark of 1:17:47.

"[I] proved [to] myself that I could be a 20K walker still," Dunfee told The Canadian Press. "It's funny how the brain works, I spent 10 years trying to break an hour 20 [minutes] and I crossed the finish line and I'm like "Ahh, damn, I didn't break an hour 18 [minutes].' Always striving for more.

"I know fourth place is supposed to be that bittersweet position where you're just off the podium but honestly, I couldn't be happier with this. Long time coming."

Álvaro Martín of Spain won the race in a season world-leading 1:17:32, followed by Perseus Karlström in a Swedish record time of 1:17:39.

Dunfee entered Saturday ranked 22nd in the world in the event. His previous best finish at worlds over 20 km was a 12th-place finish (1:21:48) in 2015 in Beijing. He won bronze in the 50 km race in Doha, Qatar in 2019 and was sixth last year in Eugene, Ore., clocking 2:25:02.

A three-time Canadian champion in the 20 km race, Dunfee earned Olympic bronze two years ago in the 50 km event in Sapporo, Japan. On Thursday in Budapest, he's scheduled to compete in the men's 35 km race walk final.

Katzberg, 21, wasted no time setting the tone in men's hammer throw with a first attempt of 81.18 metres, easily topping the 77.00 requirement to automatically qualify for Sunday's final at 11:49 a.m. ET.

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The Nanaimo, B.C., native, fresh off a personal best (78.73) and victory at the Canadian championships on July 29, turned in the second-furthest throw of 2023 behind Poland's Wojciech Nowicki (81.92) who went 78.04 in Katzberg's group Saturday to qualify third for the final.

Katzberg has won six times in 12 events this season and placed no worse than third.

The six-foot-six, 235-pound athlete has also thrown over 77 metres six times after averaging 70-72 metres most of last season.