Canada's Rory Linkletter sets personal-best time, earns Olympic marathon standard in Spain

Rory Linkletter on Sunday became the second Canadian to hit the Olympic qualifying standard in the men's marathon for Paris this summer.

The 27-year-old set a personal-best time of two hours eight minutes one second at the Sevilla Marathon in Spain. Linkletter ran nine seconds under the 2:08:10 standard and posted the third-fastest finish all-time among Canadian men behind Cam Levins (2:05.36 and 2:07.09).

Should two others not run faster than the Calgary-born Linkletter before the qualifying window closes April 30, he will be selected to compete at his first Olympics

"I just went with the Olympic standard pace group, tried to conserve energy through 25-27K … then I raced," Linkletter told 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."

Before Sunday, Levins was the only Canadian male to have reached standard with his 2:05:36 effort from the Tokyo Marathon last March.

Malindi Elmore of Kelowna, B.C., is the lone Canadian woman to have run standard for Paris, running 2:23:30 in the Berlin Marathon on Sept. 24.

18th in 2023 world marathon

On Jan. 14 in Houston, Linkletter (1:01:02) lowered his half marathon PB with a sixth-place finish one month after the resident of Flagstaff, Ariz., ran the indoor mile in under four minutes (3:59.05) in Boston.

Six months ago, Linkletter covered the 42.2-kilometre marathon in 2:12:16 for 18th place at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary. He was also supposed to race in the London Marathon in April 2023 but withdrew a month before due to an issue with his IT (iliotibial) band, a thick band of fibrous tissue that runs on the outside of the leg.

In January 2022, Linkletter set a then-Canadian record of 1:01:08 in the half marathon in Houston that Levins has since lowered to 1:00:18 last October.

Linkletter moved from Canada to the United States at age six and became a U.S. citizen in 2020. He holds dual citizenship.

Coached by American marathon record holder Ryan Hall, he starred for five years at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, where Linkletter earned six All-American citations.

Ethiopia's Deresa Geleta (2.03:27) and Azmera Gebru (2.22:13) won the men's and women's races on Sunday 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.