At the ultimate day of pageant on the 2023 International Athletics Championships, the Canadian trio of Rory Linkletter, Ben Preisner and Justin Kent all positioned inside the best 30 of the lads’s marathon on a scorching and humid day in Budapest.
Main the Canadian contingent was once the seasoned Linkletter, enterprise his 7th marathon and his moment consecutive international championship marathon, having withdrawn from the London Marathon previous this 12 months because of harm. Linkletter ran back-to-back 66-minute half-marathon splits, which resulted within the second-fastest marathon of his profession to position nineteenth general in 2:12:16.
“This was once probably the most relaxing marathon I’ve ever run,” Linkletter informed Canadian Operating. “I believe this was once the most productive marathon of my existence.”
Linkletter mentioned he believed that he couldn’t have completed the race any higher given the stipulations, and he felt he gave his all. He was once in sixtieth position on the 10K mark and remarkably complicated 41 positions over the general 32 kilometres. “I felt the most productive I ever felt in the course of a marathon; the path was once outstanding,” Linkletter mentioned.
Kent and Preisner approached the race in a similar way to Linkletter. “We labored in combination to make sensible selections, taking into account the stipulations, and aimed to cross as many runners as shall we in the second one half of,” Kent mentioned all the way through a post-race interview. Like Linkletter, they each controlled to ascend virtually 40 positions all the way through the latter a part of the race. Preisner was once twenty eighth general on the international championship marathon for the second one consecutive 12 months (2:15:02), whilst Kent was once thirtieth in his championship debut (2:15:26).
“Representing Canada within the marathon was once a dream come true,” Kent mentioned. “Sharing the enjoy with Ben and Rory was once in point of fact fantastic.”
All 3 Canadians completed strategic and tactful races as temperatures reached 27 C, which posed difficult stipulations and resulted in slower completing occasions. The nice and cozy stipulations ended in 25 runners, together with 2022 international champion Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola, now not finishing the race.
Uganda’s Victor Kiplangat, a mountain runner and 2022 Commonwealth Video games champion, surged across the 33-kilometer mark and maintained his lead, securing gold for Uganda in 2:08:53. Remarkably, at handiest 23 years previous, this marked Kiplangat’s moment international identify. In 2017, he claimed victory within the males’s race on the International Mountain and Path Operating Championships.
Israel’s Maru Teferi completed a past due surge, advancing 4 positions within the ultimate 5 kilometres to score silver in 2:09:12. Ethiopia’s Leul Gebresilase settled for the bronze medal with a time of two:09:19.
The 2023 International Athletics Championships are happening from August 19-27 on the Nationwide Stadium in Budapest, Hungary. All of the motion will likely be dropped at you by way of Canadian Operating and Asics Canada. Apply us on Twitter on Instagram for all issues Crew Canada and up-to-date unique information and content material.
