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Rory Linkletter is the primary Canadian to run a half marathon beneath one hour, attaining the feat on a cool Sunday morning in Houston with a 59-minute 49-second clocking to beat former file holder Cam Levins by 69 seconds.
Levins, from Black Creek, B.C., crossed the end in 1:00:58 for 18th amongst 6,776 males, 40 seconds off his nationwide mark from the 2023 Vancouver First Half Marathon.
For the Calgary-born Linkletter, who positioned seventh, it was the second time in 4 years he lowered the nationwide mark on the occasion.
On Jan. 16, 2022, Linkletter ran 1:01:08 to eclipse Jeff Schiebler’s 61:28 efficiency over 21.1 kilometres from Jan. 15, 1999 in Tokyo. Linkletter’s earlier better of 1:01:44 was additionally achieved in Houston on Jan. 19, 2020.
The 29-year-old went 1:01:02 in Houston in 2024 and wrote in an Instagram submit this week, “Hoping to make my fourth [Houston appearance] an equally and even better milestone in my profession.”
Linkletter debuted in Houston a couple of month earlier than the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, reaching the end in 1:01:44.
“[It was] a second that made me understand my potential in longer highway races,” he stated.
Earlier than Sunday, Linkletter’s half marathon PB was 1:00:57, set in Marugame, Japan final Feb. 2.
3 half marathon wins over Levins
Linkletter has defeated the 36-year-old Levins in every of their three half marathon showdowns.
The primary was in Houston six years in the past when Linkletter completed fifteenth, 30 seconds forward of Levins, who was thirtieth.
5 months in the past in Edmonton, Linkletter ran to his 1st Canadian title in 1:03 flat, beating three-time defending champ Levins by one second in a dash to the end.
Linkletter, who lives in Flagstaff, Ariz., hadn’t raced Levins because the 2024 Paris Olympic marathon, the place Levins was thirty sixth (2:11:56) racing with damaged heel bone, 11 spots forward of Linkletter (2:13:09).
Final 12 months, Linkletter twice positioned prime 10 in a marathon main, most just lately in October when he stopped the clock in 2:06:49 PB for ninth in Chicago, simply over a minute shy of Levins’s Canadian mark (2:05:36) from the 2023 Tokyo Marathon.
It stood because the North American file till Conner Mantz of the USA shaved 53 seconds off the mark along with his fourth-place end final 12 months in Chicago.
Calgary’s Rory Linkletter spoke with CBC Sports activities forward of his try to interrupt the Canadian file at this Sunday’s Chicago marathon.
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