Running News Daily

Four Canadian runners to chase Olympic dreams at Houston Marathon

As the 2024 Houston Marathon Weekend approaches, the spotlight is not only on the highly anticipated half-marathon debut of Canada’s Moh Ahmed, but also on the intense competition among four Canadian marathoners aiming to earn the Olympic qualifying standard for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Wodak eyes Olympic standard

Canadian marathon record holder Natasha Wodak leads a strong Canadian contingent in Houston, all chasing the Olympic A standard of 2:26:50. Former national team athletes Leslie Sexton and Lanni Marchant will also be vying for the two available spots on the women’s marathon team.

Wodak holds the fastest Canadian women’s time in the last two years, but her Canadian record of 2:23:12 from the 2022 Berlin Marathon was outside the Olympic qualifying window. Wodak took another shot at achieving the time at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, but warm conditions and a tactical race prevented her from earning a spot in Paris (she finished in the top 15, in  2:30:09).

Sexton returns to the marathon after a break from the distance of a year and a half. Sexton ran 2:28 twice in a 10-month period, winning the 2021 Philadelphia Marathon and finishing as the top Canadian at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Ore. ((she finished 13th). With a best of 2:28:35, she would need to shake off almost two minutes to solidify her spot in Paris. But the fast Houston course (which she has raced before) could provide what she needs.

Also returning to the marathon after a long hiatus is 2016 Olympian Lanni Marchant. The London, Ont., native holds a personal best of 2:28:00 from Toronto in 2013, but there are a lot of questions around her fitness, after racing only twice in 2023. Marchant would need a career-best performance to earn her a spot on the Canadian Olympic team for 2024.

Malindi Elmore of Kelowna, B.C., is the only Canadian woman to have achieved the Olympic standard of 2:26:50 at the 2023 Berlin Marathon. Elmore was also the top North American female finisher in 2:23:30, achieving an 80-second personal best.

Ontario’s Tristan Woodfine takes another shot

After thinking he had a spot on the Canadian Olympic team for Tokyo, then having it taken from him in the final week of qualifying by Cam Levins and Athletics Canada, Tristan Woodfine is heading to Houston for another shot at his dream of being on Team Canada for the Olympics. Woodfine’s personal best came on a cold and wet day at the 2020 London Marathon, clocking 2:10:51. Since 2020, he has had his struggles with the marathon distance and beating that mark.

After tough luck with the heat and his stomach at the 2022 Ottawa Marathon, Woodfine switched coaches and spent most of the 2023 season building his speed on the roads. He recorded personal bests of 14:05 for 5K and 29:06 for 10K. Only two Canadian men have ever broken 2:10 in the marathon: Trevor Hofbauer and Levins.

Levins cemented his spot on the Canadian Olympic team for Paris at his record-setting run at the 2023 Tokyo Marathon. To this day, he is the only Canadian marathoner to have run under the men’s Olympic A standard of 2:08:10. (He also did so at the 2022 World Championships.)

How to follow

The 2024 Chevron Houston Marathon is scheduled for Jan. 14. It is one of the fastest marathon courses in North America; in 2020, Elmore set the previous Canadian marathon record of 2:24:50 there. The last Canadian marathoner to win the Houston Marathon was Mississauga’s Peter Fonseca, who ran 2:11:52 for the win in 1995.