The finish at Saturday’s 2024 Canadian 10,000m Championships in Coquitlam, B.C., came down to the closest of margins as two of the nation’s top male distance runners, Rory Linkletter and Andrew Alexander, battled it out on the final lap of 25—only for it to come down to two-tenths of a second.
Alexander ran a 57-second final lap to rob Linkletter of his first national title in the closing meters with a time of 28:27.69. Linkletter crossed the line for second in 28:27.87, two seconds ahead of last year’s national champion Jeremy Coughler of London, Ont., who rounded out the podium.
This is Alexander’s first senior national title, from Scarborough, Ont., training under former Olympic steeplechaser Matt Hughes. Alexander ran with Notre Dame University in the NCAA from 2018-2022 alongside American miler Yared Nuguse and won the TCS Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon last October in 62:44.
The 25-year-old is aiming to qualify for the Olympics in the men’s 5,000m/10,000m events. In 2023, Alexander set his 10,000m personal best of 28 minutes and 17 seconds at the annual Sound Running TEN event in California.
Linkletter will be one of three marathoners to represent Team Canada in Paris. He hit the men’s Olympic qualifying time of 2:08:10 at the 2024 Seville Marathon with a personal best performance of 2:08:01. Linkletter will now shift his focus to the Canadian 10K Champs in two weeks in Ottawa.
Smithers, B.C., runner wins national title in 10,000m debut
The women’s 10,000m championship also saw a first-time national champion break the tape in Coquitlam. Eliyah Brawdy of Smithers, B.C., beat a field of seasoned distance runners to win her first Canadian title in a personal best time of 33:37.52.
Brawdy, 24, did not just win the national title in her 10,000m debut; she beat the rest of the field by a significant 13-second margin. Brawdy ran with the University of British Columbia Okanagan in Kelowna for two years and is coached by three-time Canadian Olympian Malindi Elmore.
Ally Ginther and Kyla Becker took second and third, respectively, in 33:50.67 and 34:08.09.
For full results from the men’s and women’s races at the 2024 Canadian 10,000m Championships, check here.
