Toronto Waterfront Marathon 'building block' for Canadian Elmore's ultimate goal of Paris Olympics

Last week's unveiling of the 2024 Paris Olympics marathon route took Malindi Elmore back 21 years.

In 2001, she was struggling as a runner at Stanford University in California and left the team to study for a semester in downtown Paris for her degree in international relations and French literature.

Elmore lived outside the city in Vincennes, a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the eastern suburbs where she joined a track club and ran with some locals during her downtime.

The Olympic marathon route is designed to salute women and modelled on the path of the October 1789 Women's March on Versailles when thousands looked for King Louis XVI to demand flour as a shortage risked the production of bread, starving the Parisian people.

"Paris has so much history," Elmore said this week from her home in Kelowna, B.C. before flying east to run the Toronto Waterfront Marathon for the first time on Sunday. "This route is more than just a running course. There's real history here if you think of 5,000 women who marched hundreds of years ago to demand more from their leaders.

"I spent so much time on my own exploring the streets and in the museums learning about all the leaders that came out of that city and all the movements."

WATCH | Canadian stars to watch:

Canadian stars to watch at 2022 Toronto Waterfront Marathon

2 years ago

Duration 1:48

Malindi Elmore of Kelowna, B.C. and Trevor Hofbauer of Burnaby, B.C. are just two of Canada's best that will be hitting the streets of Toronto on Sunday.

The move to France also represented a make or break time in her running career. "I rediscovered running on my own terms. When I came back to [the United States] I was renewed in my running."

Elmore went on to place fourth on the track in the mile at the 2002 NCAA indoor championships, one year before winning the conference indoor mile and setting school outdoor records in the 800 and 1,500 metres. After graduating, she made her 2004 Olympic debut in Athens and was 37th in the 1,500.

Retired from professional running

Elmore retired from professional running in 2012, only to return seven years later after reinventing herself as a marathon runner. In January 2020, she set the Canadian record in her second race, clocking two hours 24 minutes and 50 seconds in Houston to clinch her spot on the Olympic team for Tokyo.

After the 2020 Summer Games was postponed one year, it was 42 C on Aug. 6, 2021 in nearby Sapporo when Elmore covered the 42.2-kilometre race in 2:30:59 for ninth place, the best finish by a Canadian woman in a non-boycott Games.

"The fact I was back at the Olympics [17 years later] in the marathon was kind of absurd, cool and a gift, really," she said. "I never saw myself as a marathon runner when I was younger.

Why would I stop now? I'm still enjoying running and I still feel I'm improving.— Canadian marathoner Malindi Elmore, 42, who is eyeing a 3rd Olympics in Paris in 2024

"I finished Tokyo and it's like, 'Well, Paris is only three years away.'"

With the qualifying window expected to open in January, Elmore's Olympic preparation begins in earnest this weekend. The Toronto event, a World Athletics Elite Label race doubling as the Canadian championship, will be her fifth marathon and first since April 18 when the Kelowna native crossed the finish 11th in the women's division in 2:27:58, the fastest ever by a Canadian woman in Boston.

"Why would I stop now? I'm still enjoying running and I still feel I'm improving," said Elmore, a 42-year-old mother of two sons coached by her husband Graham Hood, who ran the Olympic 1,500 in 1992 (Barcelona), in 1996 (Atlanta) and is a former national record holder in the distance.

Elmore believes she has yet to run her best marathon, noting her 2020 Canadian record performance was achieved on a windy, cold day in which she ran conservatively in Houston and realized she had more to give once finished. In her Boston build, Elmore was forced to stop hill training after straining her left quadriceps muscle in February. She never got in a rhythm early in the race and the up-and-down running punished her body.

"I'm excited about my first marathon in Canada. I'm mostly excited to do Toronto because it's Canada's marquee marathon and I think it's important to race these events at home," said Elmore, a former school teacher who coaches the University of British Columbia Okanagan cross-country team.

Taking back the Canadian record her good friend Natasha Wodak lowered to 2:23:12 on Sept. 25 in Berlin will not be top of mind on Sunday. Hood stressed 'time is not a focus,' with Elmore aiming to finish as top Canadian woman and come out of the race healthy.

"In the big picture of what I want my running legacy to look like, being able to have good performances and cap it off with a strong run in Paris is more important to me than chasing a record," said Elmore, adding she isn't at her pre-Tokyo or Boston fitness levels.

When Elmore gets fit, she's able to handle training runs up to 40 km with as much as 28 km performed at marathon pace.

"Her last couple of these long workouts have been promising," said Hood, who will be part of the Toronto crowd, hoping to get a thumbs-up early in the race from his wife indicating "she's in a good place and feeling strong."

Over 21,000 elite, recreational runners in T.O.

Added Elmore: "I think I'm in a good place to have a really strong next two years of being fit and healthy and Toronto is kind of a building block for the ultimate goal of [competing in] Paris."

Over 21,000 elite and recreational runners from more than 60 countries will participate in the 33rd Toronto Waterfront Marathon, the first in-person edition since 2019 due to COVID-19.

A 5K race begins at 8 a.m. ET at Ontario Place, followed by the marathon and half-marathon events at 8:45 a.m., starting on University Avenue.

Live coverage of the marathon, starting at 8:15 a.m., will be availalbe on the free CBC Gem streaming service, cbcsports.ca and CBC Sports app for iOS and Android.

Other Canadian storylines

Trevor Hofbauer, who will attempt to defend his 2019 title as Canada's top men's runner, has moved back to his native B.C., from Calgary and is running cross-country with the Elmore-coached UBCO team.

WATCH | Hofbauer shaves nearly 7 minutes off his personal best:

Trevor Hofbauer secures Olympic spot in men's marathon

5 years ago

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Trevor Hofbauer's top Canadian male finish at Toronto Waterfront Marathon secures berth for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Three years ago, Hofbauer secured a place on the Canadian Olympic team for Tokyo and became the second Canadian to beat 2 hours 10 minutes with his 2:09:51 personal best falling 26 seconds shy of Cam Levins' national mark. He went 2:19:57 at the Olympics and 2:10:52 earlier this year in Boston.

Defending Canadian women's champion Dayna Pidhoresky of Tecumseh, Ont., (she now lives in Vancouver) also returns after posting a time of 2:29:03 in 2019 and placing 10th overall. Six months ago, the 35-year-old won the Vancouver Marathon in 2:34:30.

WATCH | Pidhoresky clocks 2:29:03 personal best in Toronto:

Dayna Pidhoresky clinches Olympic berth in women's marathon

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Dayna Pidhoresky's top Canadian female finish secures automatic berth for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Rory Linkletter is a Calgary-born runner who moved with his family to the United States at age 6 & became an American citizen in 2020.

The 26-year-old made his marathon debut at the 2019 Toronto Waterfront event and stopped the clock in 2:16:42 for 16th place and fifth among Canadian men.

On July 17 of this year, he set a best time of 2:10:24 and placed 20th representing Canada in the men's marathon at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Ore., after only a six-week build.

Leslie Sexton of Markham, Ont., will run her first race since the July 18 women's marathon at worlds. Now living in Vancouver, the 35-year-old surprised with a 13th-place showing in Eugene, crossing the line in 2:28:52.

Sexton was the top Canadian female at the 2017 Toronto marathon and a year ago captured her first Canadian 10 km road race title.