Olympics Overnight: Evan Dunfee takes bronze in last ever 50-km race walk, Canadian cyclists advance in women’s sprint

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This article was published 06/08/2021 (1547 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Rise and shine, Olympic fans. Here’s what you missed overnight and need to know about the 2020 Tokyo Olympics this morning.

For all the Star-related Summer Games content, visit our Olympics page here.

It was a relatively quiet overnight for Team Canada following Evan Dunfee’s epic third-place finish in the (last-ever!) men’s 50-kilometre race walking final, which took place first thing in the morning on Friday in Tokyo.

Dunfee’s bronze was Canada’s 19th medal, inching the count closer to the 22 medals won in Rio.

Canadians will now look ahead to an action-packed end to Day 14 in Tokyo, with the women’s soccer teaming looking for gold against Sweden, Mohammed Ahmed racing for his first medal in the men’s 5,000-metre, and Andre De Grasse leading his team in men’s 4×100-metre relay final.

(Update: In the final hours of Day 14, Canada won gold in the women’s soccer final, Mohammed Ahmed raced to silver in the men’s 5,000-metre, and Team Canada, led by De Grasse, won bronze in the 4×100-metre relay. Canada now has 22 medals, matching its total in Rio.)

Deep breaths.

It’s so hard to say goodbye

With the addition of extreme sports like rock climbing, surfing and skateboarding at Tokyo 2020, it feels like the Summer Olympics has finally modernized and firmly entered the 21st century.

And while that’s undoubtedly good news, there’s still something about plugging in every four years for some of the more anachronistic sports that have survived through the decades at the Olympics.

Steeplechase! Cool! Pistol dueling! Neat! Team horse jumping?

But there’s nothing like the absolute spectacle of race walking. On Friday morning, dozens of men lined up in the blistering summer heat to take part in the last ever 50-kilometre race — the Olympic committee decided the race does not fit with the organization’s stated mission of gender equality, as there is no approximate equivalent for women.

According to the Olympics website, race walking is believed to have originated in the Victorian era (1837-1901) when noblemen used to bet on their footmen — who walked alongside their employer’s horse-driven coaches — for a winner. It’s been a constant fixture in the Olympics since 1904.

What makes the sport fascinating to watch, perhaps, is the strictly enforced rules that guide the technique of the athletes: “Athletes must always have one foot in contact with the ground at all times, as visible to the human eye. Judges are present at events to ensure the rule is enforced. Furthermore, the athlete’s knee of their advanced leg must not bend and the leg must straighten as the body passes over it.”

The result, of course, is a strange and unique racing form, characterized by a shocking wiggling of the hips and swaying of the arms.

50 kilometres of this! In blistering heat and humidity!

It’s true! I walked 10 minutes to the corner store yesterday to grab some cream and I had to strip naked and sit in front of the air conditioner for 15 minutes in order to cool down.

The gruelling, emotional marathon had viewers across the world glued to their televisions for nearly four hours.

Gold medallist Dawid Tomala of Poland finished in 3:50.08, ahead of Germany’s Jonathan Hilbert in 3:50.44. Canada’s Evan Dunfee, who finished fourth in Rio, crossed the line in 3:50.59.

Race walking will return for Paris 2024, but not the 50-kilometre race.

Thanks for the memories, boys!

Mitchell and Genest stay in the hunt in the women’s cycling sprint

Canada’s Kelsey Mitchell and Lauriane Genest both won their races on Friday to advance to the 1/8 in the women’s sprint. Genest won the bronze in the keirin event earlier this week.

A record in speed climbing

6.84 seconds. That’s how fast Poland’s Aleksandra Miroslaw rocketed up the wall to set a new women’s speed world record, taking home the gold. She topped the previous record by 0.12 seconds.

The U.S. women’s basketball team is unstoppable

The U.S. women easily defeated Serbia 79-59 on Friday, and will go head-to-head with either France or Japan in the gold medal game on Sunday.

Brittney Griner led the U.S. with 15 points and 12 rebounds, and Chelsea Gray put up 14 points off the bench while shooting 5-of-6 from the field.

The win marked the team’s 54th straight Olympic win. One more will earn them their 7th straight Olympic gold medal.

U.S. takes gold in women’s beach volleyball

Alix Klineman and April Ross took down Australia for gold, giving the U.S. their fourth gold in women’s beach volleyball.

The victory follows a disappointing tournament for Canada, who had two teams in the quarterfinals. Both failed to advance.

Laura Kenny becomes first British female to win gold at three consecutive Olympics

Kenny won her second medal in Toyko on Friday following a dominant performance with her teammate Katie Archibald in the women’s Madison (a 30-kilometre relay race). Kenny now has six Olympic medals — three of them gold — since London 2012.

She’s the most successful British woman in Olympic history.

Two Belarus coaches expelled from the Olympics as athlete defects to Poland

Two coaches involved in the attempt to force an Olympic athlete home to Belarus against her will have been stripped of their credentials and expelled from the Olympic Village, Games organizers said Friday.

The case of 200-metre specialist Kristina Timanovskaya briefly turned the Tokyo Games into the centre of a major diplomatic conflict when Timanovskaya sought sanctuary from the police at Narita International Airport, The New York Times reports. Timanovskaya, who is now in Poland, said she had been “kidnapped” after writing an Instagram post criticizing the Belarusian athletic federation’s preparations for the Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee had come under pressure over the slow progress of its investigation into the matter until, on Friday, the organization announced in a Twitter post that it had asked the coaches, Artur Shimak and Yuri Moisevich, to leave the Olympic Games. “They will be offered an opportunity to be heard,” the post said, noting that the investigation was continuing.

Read the full story.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

WHAT’S IN STORE FOR TEAM CANADA ON DAY 15

Women’s sprint, cycling, 10:20 p.m. ET on Friday

Canoe sprint C2, 10:37 p.m. ET on Friday

Synchronized swimming, team, 6:30 a.m. ET Saturday

The Star in Tokyo:

Dave Feschuk: Canadian race walker Evan Dunfee can’t avoid the circus after rallying for a bronze medal in Sapporo

Rosie DiManno: Canada’s Damian Warner is the world’s greatest athlete after decathlon gold, even if he can’t bring himself to say it

The Star in Toronto:

Laura Armstrong: Meet the Canadian women’s soccer team that will go for Olympic gold

Bruce Campion-Smith: Olympic moments spur conversations around mental health

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COVID-19 update

Tokyo reported a record 5,042 new coronavirus cases Thursday, as the Olympics held under unprecedented conditions due to the pandemic entered their final few days in the Japanese capital.

While the number of cases directly linked to the Olympics has remained low, the government’s top virus adviser said the event was likely to have affected the public’s attitude toward the disease, possibly making people more relaxed about precautions.

Star wire services

Richie Assaly is a Toronto-based digital producer for the Star. Reach him via email: rassaly@thestar.ca