Long-distance Canadian runners Cam Levins and Malindi Elmore have both made the cut for their third Olympics at the Paris Olympics 2024.
Cam Levins and Malindi Elmore have received early nominations from Athletics Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee to represent Team Canada in the marathon at the 2024 Paris Olympics. This will be both athletes’ third Olympic appearance for Team Canada.
Elmore made her Olympic debut at Athens 2004 in the women’s 1,500 metres. Though she initially retired in 2012, she returned to the sport in 2019 to compete at the Houston Marathon. She ran the Houston Marathon again the following year and qualified for Tokyo 2020 in the distance. In her Olympic return, Elmore placed ninth overall, which was the second-best finish by a Canadian in the women’s marathon.
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The 43-year-old achieved the 2024 Olympic standard with a personal best time of 2:23:30 at the 2023 Berlin Marathon, where she finished 13th. Elmore is the first woman to be selected for Team Canada in athletics for Paris 2024. Elmore told Athletics Canada that she is still in disbelief to be selected for her third Olympic team: “I never expected, even as recently as five years ago, that I’d make two more Olympics. My life had moved on; I had moved on from running, as well.”
Elmore said in a statement to Athletics Canada, “I never expected, even as recently as five years ago, that I’d make two more Olympics. My life had moved on, I had moved on from running, as well.” Elmore added, “To become a three-time Olympian sounds kind of legit now.”
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As for Levins, he made his Olympic debut on the track over 5,000m and 10,000m at London 2012. After missing the 2016 Rio Olympics due to injury, Levins made his return, moving up to the marathon in 2018 and breaking Jerome Drayton’s 43-year-old national record at the 2018 Toronto Waterfront Marathon. He went on to break the marathon record again at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, where he finished fourth in a new record time of 2:07:09.
Levins last raced on November 5 when he left the course in Brooklyn before the halfway mark of his first New York City Marathon and said later he felt unwell since the start.
Levins also wasn’t comfortable early in the 2021 Olympic marathon and struggled to accelerate out of drinking stations on the way to finishing 71st in a field of 106. He and coach Jim Finlayson previously determined Levins had a nutrition problem and was under fuelling before races.
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He chose to race the hilly New York course in preparation for Paris, where the near-loop course will vary in elevation from a low point of 27 metres and a high point of 183, gaining 438m in elevation and descending 436m to the finish.
Eight months later, at the 2023 Tokyo Marathon, Levins put the Canadian marathon record into the stratosphere, running 2:05:36 to set a new North American marathon record and hit the standard for the 2024 Olympic Games.
Levins told Athletics Canada that he is excited to put on a Team Canada singlet again. “I live for being able to compete on these big stages and face the very best in the world, and the Olympics is the peak of that,” said Levins. “This one is really special for me. My wife hasn’t seen me compete live in any of my Olympics yet, and that’s pretty special for her to be able to do that in Paris.”
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The athletics portion at the 2024 Paris Olympics will take place between August 2 and August 11. The men’s marathon will run through the streets of Paris on Aug. 10, with the women’s event taking place just hours before the closing ceremonies on August 11.
Athletics Canada’s final list of nominations will be submitted to the Canadian Olympic Committee before July 1. The Bell Olympic and Paralympic Trials, taking place June 26-30 in Montreal, will serve as Canada’s primary team selection competition for track and field events.
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