Cam Levins burst onto the marathon scene in 2018. In his very first marathon, he smashed the Canadian record. He ran 42 km in 2 hours, 9 minutes, and 25 seconds (2:09:25).
But since then, he’s been having trouble qualifying for the Olympics.
To get into the Olympic marathon, you have to run 42.19 kilometres in less than 2:11:30. And for a while there, he couldn’t do it. He would either run too slow, or he would freeze up around 35 km and wouldn’t be able to run anymore.
Then, with one week left to qualify for Tokyo, he crushed a marathon with a minute to spare.
And he did it all by himself.
On a road that was under construction.
In the rain.
In Austria.
I don’t know about you, but that sounds horrible.
He has always been a runner, but there was a while where he didn’t know if he could keep doing it. He had won all sorts of medals in shorter races, but he had surgery on his ankle in 2016 and didn’t know if he’d recover.
Though he says his ankle has never felt the same, it doesn’t stop him from doing what he loves. And now he is headed to Tokyo to wear the Maple Leaf.
Cam will run the men’s marathon on August 8th, the final day of the Olympics.
We’ll be rooting for you from this side of the Pacific Ocean, Cam!
