Canadian distance runner Rory Linkletter achieved a personal best time, finishing ninth in the recent Chicago Marathon. Hailing from Calgary, Linkletter completed the 42.2-kilometer race in two hours, six minutes, and 49 seconds, closely missing Cam Levins’s Canadian record by just over a minute. The winner of the professional men’s category was Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo, setting a personal best time of 2:02:23. Kiplimo crossed the finish line one minute and 31 seconds ahead of Kenyan Amos Kipruto, with Alex Masai of Kenya finishing third in 2:04:37.
Conner Mantz of the United States broke Levins’s North American record set during the 2023 Tokyo Marathon by shaving 53 seconds off the mark with a fourth-place finish in the Chicago Marathon. Linkletter’s previous personal best was achieved earlier this year in Boston, where he finished sixth with a time of 2:07:02.
In a separate event, Linkletter outpaced Levins by one second to claim the Canadian half marathon title in August, ending Levins’s three-year championship reign. Kiplimo, who set a men’s half-marathon world record by going under 57 minutes in Barcelona last February, finished second in his marathon debut in London in April. Additionally, Kiplimo holds Olympic and world championship bronze medals in the 10,000 meters.
The Chicago Marathon marked the third of seven marathon majors for Linkletter, who has served as a pacesetter for the professional women’s group in the past two editions of the race. Ethiopian Hawi Feysa emerged victorious in the professional women’s race with a time of 2:14:56, leading an Ethiopian 1-2 finish.
Linkletter is contemplating a potential move back to Calgary with his family post-retirement from competitive running.