Canada’s Rory Linkletter sets personal-best time at Sevilla Marathon in Spain

Rory Linkletter became the second Canadian long-distance runner to hit the men’s Olympic A standard on Sunday.

The 27-year-old from Calgary set a personal-best time of two hours, eight minutes, and one second at the Sevilla Marathon in Spain. Linkletter crossed the finish line nine seconds below the threshold, posting the third-fastest Canadian marathon mark of all time.

Baring a shocking twist that sees two Canadian men beating his time until the April deadline, Linkletter will qualify for his first Olympic Games in Paris this summer.

“I just went with the Olympic standard pace group, tried to conserve energy through 25-27K … then I raced,” Linkletter said to Canadian Running magazine after the event.

“Had a couple of moments where I wasn’t sure if my body would make it, but I just tried to relax in those moments…. Didn’t know if I was going to do it until the final 50 metres.”

Cam Levins’ time of 2:05:36 at the Tokyo Marathon last March helped him achieve the qualifying standard in 2023 as the first Canadian to do so.

Ethiopia’s Deresa Geleta (2.03:27) and Azmera Gebru (2.22:13) won the men’s and women’s races in Spain.

The event’s organization and some athletes paid tribute before the race to world record holder Kelvin Kiptum, who died in a car crash in his native Kenya on Feb. 11 at 24.