Today’s Copenhagen Marathon served as the final opportunity for elite marathoners making an Olympic bid, with the window of qualification for Paris 2024 now closed. For Canadians, results from today’s race have not changed the predicted Paris-bound team, as no men achieved standard of 2:08:10 (there were no elite females in the field).
Copenhagan saw Ottawa’s Lee Wesselius top the Canadian results with an impressive 10th place finish in 2:15:31, just shy of his PB that he set in Berlin last October. Canada’s top female was Simone Lussier in 3:22:33.
It was a disappointing day for 2020 Olympian Ben Preisner, whose personal best of 2:08:58 (set in February) put him within striking distance of the men’s standard. The young Canadian had targeted Copenhagen as his final chance to qualify for his second Olympics, but struggled in today’s race. At 28, Preisner has shown impressive talent in the marathon and surely has more to show in the distance; while we won’t see him in Paris this summer, he remains the second fastest Canadian male marathoner, and has a promising career ahead.
Well done @LeeWesselius Top 10 at this morning’s @cphmarathon 2:15:31. Valiant #Paris2024 effort by Ben Preisner 2:36:49 pic.twitter.com/bJbTSRhlUd
— alan brookes, CRS (@alnbrookes) May 5, 2024
There were a number of other Canadian age-group finishers in the top 20 of their respective fields. Below are the top Canadian results:
Top 10 Canadian men overall
- Lee Wesselius 2:15:31 (4th in Men 30-34)
- Thomas Broatch 2:24:04 (9th in Men 25-29)
- Greg Pigeon 2:26:51 (12th in Men 30-34)
- Carlos Lesser 2:32:40
- Ben Preisner 2:36:49
- Ben Waite 2:43:08
- Tim Abercrombie 2:53:24
- Colin Foley 3:03:35
- Jordan McTaggart 3:04:46
- Luke Schindler 3:06:08
Top 10 Canadian women overall
- Simone Lussier 3:22:33
- Michelle Lam 3:24:11
- Sophie Wright 3:30:39
- Kylie Nabata 3:34:33
- Emily Newton 3:46:32
- Amanda Milburn 3:47:23
- Ana King 3:52:12
- Crista Brooks 3:58:30
- Juliette Dejonge 3:59:22
- Jenny Mccandie 4:06:55
Gordon Reid placed 6th in the men’s 65-69 division with a time of 3:24:49.
Peter Orr placed 12th in the men’s 70-74 clocking 4:24:37. Walter Kuhn was just behind him in 14th with a time of 4:43:40.
Full results can be found here. Congratulations to all who raced today.
