Canada's Linkletter eyes 1st marathon win next month in Ottawa after 'surreal' Boston performance

Rory Linkletter will return home to Canada next month with a clear-cut goal for his Ottawa Marathon debut.

"I want to try to win a marathon," he told CBC Sports before placing sixth on Monday in Boston, where he took 59 seconds off his personal best, finishing in two hours seven minutes two seconds. "Ottawa was circled [for this spring] because this is a great opportunity to win a marathon on home soil."

Linkletter, who was born in Calgary and moved to Utah at age five with his mother after his parents divorced, has competed in the 10-kilometre race on Ottawa Race Weekend the past three years, posting a 28:40 PB last May.

Linkletter remains undecided about running the men's marathon at the Sept. 13-21 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, noting the Japanese heat would make posting a fast time difficult in preparation for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

However, his Boston performance probably moved Canada's second-fastest men's marathoner one step closer to a decision. Cam Levins of Black Creek, B.C., boasts a North American record of 2:05:36.

Linkletter mentioned last week the world championships "might make sense" if he had memorable experiences and ran fast in Boston and Ottawa.

WATCH | Linkletter noncommittal about World Athletics Championships:

Linkletter remains uncertain about running the marathon at this year's World Athletics Championships

Linkletter, who wants to run 2:05 or 2:06 in the next year or two, is 71st in the world rankings quota for the world championships. Of the 100 athletes to be selected, 35 will have run the 2:06:30 men's entry standard, six will have qualified at a designated competition and 59 will be selected by world rankings position.

The 28-year-old is the top-ranked Canadian, with