Canada's Rory Linkletter finishes 9th in Chicago Marathon with personal-best time

Canadian long-distance runner Rory Linkletter clocked a personal-best time to finish ninth in the Chicago Marathon on Sunday.

The Calgary native completed the 42.2-kilometre race in two hours six minutes 49 seconds, just over a minute away from Cam Levins's Canadian record (2:05:36).

Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo won the professional men’s group by a comfortable margin and also set a personal best with a time of 2:02:23.

Kiplimo finished one minute and 31 seconds ahead of Kenyan Amos Kipruto, the 2022 London Marathon winner, whose countryman Alex Masai was third in 2:04.37.

Levins's national record from the 2023 Tokyo Marathon also stood as the North American record until Conner Mantz of the United States shaved 53 seconds off the mark with his fourth-place finish on Sunday.

Linkletter's previous personal best came earlier this year in Boston, where he finished sixth in 2:07:02.

Rory Linkletter: 'There are no guarantees' when running a marathon

The 29-year-old Linkletter beat Levins to the finish line by one second to take his Canadian half marathon crown in August, ending the Black Creek, B.C., native’s three-year title reign. Linkletter placed 47th in his 2024 Olympic marathon debut in Paris, 11 spots behind Levins.

Kiplimo set a men's half-marathon world record and became the first runner to go under 57 minutes last February in Barcelona, and also finished second in his marathon debut in London in April. Kiplimo is also an Olympic and world championship bronze medalist in the 10,000 metres.

Sunday was the third of seven marathon majors for Linkletter, a father of two who was a pacesetter for the pro women’s group the past two years in Chicago.

Ethiopian Hawi Feysa also put in a stellar performance to win the professional