Marathoner Wodak has quad muscles seize, stomach cramping in failed bid for Olympic standard
Doug Harrison | CBC Sports | Posted: April 28, 2024 10:30 PM | Last Updated: April 29
Fellow Canadian Ben Preisner to race Sunday in Copenhagen on final qualifying day
The Paris Olympic dream is over for Canadian marathoner Natasha Wodak.
A 15-month journey to run under the 2:26:50 automatic Olympic entry standard ended unsuccessfully in Hamburg, Germany, where Wodak clocked two hours 30 minutes 24 seconds on Sunday, one week before the qualifying window closes.
The 42-year-old was on pace for a sub-2:26 finish midway through the 42.2-kilometre race before her right quadriceps seized around the 30 km mark. About 10 km to the finish line, her left quad began to hurt.
"I'm proud of finishing, of hanging in there when it wasn't my day," the national record holder said in an Instagram video post from her hotel room on Sunday.
From the outset, Wodak experienced abdominal cramping that had surfaced a few days earlier and didn't subside.
"This is unusual for me as I have never had quad soreness/pain during a race or workout," Wodak told CBC Sports on Monday. "After speaking with my coach [Trent Stellingwerff] we think the lack of fuel contributed to the quad pain. I wasn't able to take in the amount of proper drinks and [energy] gels because of my stomach cramps and the warm temperature [18 C]."
The Vancouver resident added she arrived in Hamburg feeling in 2:24 shape after running at marathon pace — three minutes 25 seconds per km — in recent workouts, and was in that range early in Sunday's competition.
WATCH | 'I seem to be getting faster as I get older,' Wodak says:
On Sept. 25, 2022, Wodak went 2:23:12 to take down the Canadian record from good friend Malindi Elmore at the Berlin Marathon, five weeks before the qualifying window opened for the Paris Olympics.
At last year's World Athletics Championships, Wodak was in the mix with the lead group but later felt nauseous, she said, racing in the heat of Budapest, Hungary, where she finished in 2:30:09.
'Sometimes your body has other plans'
Wodak was "frustrated and heartbroken" after competing with tight hamstrings and a cramp in her right calf late in the Houston Marathon this past Jan. 16, finishing nearly two minutes shy of the Olympic standard (2:28:42).
When you train hard, push your body to its limits - what it takes to make the Olympics - you are on the edge ... of a great performance, or sometimes injury or illness. — Canadian marathon runner Natasha Wodak
A month after Houston, Wodak decided to build for Hamburg, and impressed with a 1:11:52 performance on March 26 at the Comox Valley Half Marathon in B.C.
"It's very frustrating having these marathons go bad when I have done similar training as I did for Berlin," she said Monday. "But sometimes your body has other plans. I can't help that I had stomach issues/cramping. … Such is life.
"But I will say that when you train hard, push your body to its limits — what it takes to make the Olympics — you are on the edge … of a great performance, or sometimes injury or illness.
"I know I can run faster than 2:23:12. I am not done yet."
Wodak said she will enjoy some downtime over the next few weeks before her and Stellingwerff discuss where to race next.
Elmore, 44, is the only Canadian female to have run standard, having clocked 2:23:30 last September in Berlin.
One last Olympic push
Vancouver residents Leslie Sexton, Dayna Pidhoresky and Ben Preisner also tried to qualify for Paris in Hamburg but none of them finished the race. Wodak said each of them "felt flat" from the start.
Preisner, 28, will make one last push for an Olympic spot on Sunday in the Copenhagen Marathon in Denmark at 3:30 a.m. ET.
"I just didn't have the legs and composure I needed to stick with the pace up front [in Hamburg]," the Milton, Ont., native told CBC Sports on Monday. "The pace was unsustainably hard by 15 km.
"I dropped out halfway and before I put the damage on the legs so hoping I can bounce back."
Preisner, who fell 48-100ths of a second shy of the 2:08:10 men's standard for Paris on Feb. 4 in Japan, noted he might not have to run as fast in Copenhagen. Ten of the 80 spots for the Olympic race remain unaccounted for and will be filled by those running 2:08:10 or faster or by world ranking points.
"Just hoping for a good day," Preisner said.
Levins 20 seconds off his Canadian mark
In another road race Sunday, Cam Levins of Black Creek B.C., came within 20 seconds of his Canadian half marathon mark on a rainy morning in Istanbul, Turkey.
The 35-year-old was eighth across the finish line in one hour 38 seconds after setting the national mark of 1:00:18 in February 2023 at the First Half event in Vancouver.
Hicham Amghar of Morocco won Sunday in a 59:47 personal best, one of 16 men under 62 minutes, after placing second last year.
Three weeks ago, Levins was in strong form and nearly picked up his sixth Canadian mark on the road at the Asics Festival of Running in Paris.
Like Elmore, Levins earned an early nomination from Athletics Canada in February to represent Canada at the Olympics this summer. It will be the third appearance for both athletes.
Levins's 2:05:36 PB at the Tokyo Marathon 13 months ago helped him achieve the Olympics standard. Calgary-born Rory Linkletter, who also has U.S. citizenship and now lives in Flagstaff, Ariz., is the only other Canadian male to run standard for Paris.
Lyles, Brown 1-2 in Bermuda 100 metres
Toronto native Aaron Brown ran his third 100 metres of the outdoor track season and posted a wind-aided 10.09 seconds (3.0 metres per second) for second behind Noah Lyles (9.96) of the United States at the USATF Bermuda Grand Prix in Devonshire.
Brown was coming off a second-place finish (wind-aided 10.05) last weekend at the LSU Alumni Gold meet in Baton Rouge, La.
The 31-year-old will race at the May 4-5 World Athletics Relays in Nassau, Bahamas with 100m teammates Andre De Grasse, Brendon Rodney and Jerome Blake.
Lyles, 26, captured silver in the 60 at indoor worlds last month and has previously won a combined six world titles in the 100, 200 and 100 relay.
Other Canadian results:
- Robert Heppenstall (Hamilton) men's 1,500 — 1st, 3:53.07
- Max Davies (Toronto) men's 1,500 — 2nd, 3:53.96
- Addy Townsend (Coquitlam, B.C.) 5th, women's 800 — 2:07.21
- Natassha McDonald (Brampton, Ont.) 6th, women's 200 — 6th, 24.53