Marathoner Rory Linkletter has made notable strides. Now he's got Canada's best in his sights

Rory Linkletter was in his junior year on a track scholarship at Brigham Young University when Cam Levins shattered a 46-year-old Canadian record in the marathon at the Toronto Waterfront event in 2018.

By then, Linkletter had represented Canada internationally for the first time in 2015 at the World Cross-Country Championships and again in 2017, a year in which he also finished second in the 10,000 metres at the NCAA championships as a sophomore. But all along, he was drawn to the marathon.

At BYU in Provo, Utah, Linkletter was coached by American Ed Eyestone, who ran the marathon at the 1988 and 1992 Olympics. Levins’s success on that Oct. 21 day in Toronto, a two-hour nine-minute 25-second performance in his first marathon, only served as further inspiration.

“At the time, 2:09 seemed like a lifelong achievement goal,” said Linkletter, “but the idea of chasing something at that level was enticing.”

After graduating a year later with a major in political science and minor in communications, Linkletter made his marathon debut in Toronto, posting a time of 2:16:42.

With added experience and a few coaching changes, Linkletter has evolved with the sport and made notable strides over 42.2 kilometres. He ran 2:08:01 to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics and a 2:07:02 personal best earlier this year in Boston.

At the 47th Chicago Marathon on Sunday, Linkletter will target Levins’s 2:05:36 Canadian and North American record when he begins his journey at 8:30 a.m. ET in the professional men’s group.

“I’m highly motivated by the idea of being revered as one of the greatest Canadian runners of all-time,” Linkletter told CBC Sports this week from his home in Flagstaff, Ariz. “I’ve already started that momentum.

“I’m building