Why Rory Linkletter Could Be Canada's Next Marathon Legend

Forbes

17-04-2025

There was a brief time, right after his Olympic performance in the marathon for Canada, when Rory Linkletter considered returning to Utah.
Who would have blamed him? The 28-year-old from Calgary had come of age in Utah, had graduated from high school in Herriman, and even starred at Brigham Young University, where he was among an esteemed crop of athletes like Clayton Young and Conner Mantz who built the Cougars into a modern-day distance running powerhouse.
His coach at the time, the former American record-holder in the half marathon Ryan Hall, had decided to step away, so there was a small opportunity for Linkletter, who had built a life in Flagstaff, Arizona, to link up with his former teammates at the Run Elite Program (REP), a professional training group based out of Provo, Utah.
Linkletter gave it a long, hard thought. And then he made the biggest decision of his professional life.
'I kind of felt like that part of my life was behind me, and it would have felt like moving backwards instead of moving forward,' said Linkletter, who is married to a former BYU gymnast, with whom he has two kids. 'So I considered a lot of things in that brief period where I was considering my future and coaching and training after the Olympics. But I was pretty sure I wanted to try to figure out how to stay in Flagstaff.'
Instead, he hired Jon Green, a former collegiate athlete at Georgetown University who coached Molly Seidel through breakthrough marathon performances in 2020 and 2021, and then he joined the Verde Track Club, signaling the next phase of his career.
It's pretty much been six months since, and now Linkletter, who is Canada's second-best half marathoner and marathoner in history, will put that decision to the test.
On Monday, Linkletter will return to the Boston Marathon, where he last raced in 2021. Unfortunately, his last performance on the course did not go well. He blew up and finished 33rd in 2:23:34.
'It was like, what could go wrong did go wrong in the race,' said Linkletter, who will be racing in a new Puma supershoe. 'I cramped, I felt all sorts of glycogen depletion. I missed on fueling, I missed on pacing, I missed on the mental energy I expended. Like, I made a lot of rookie mistakes.'
Luckily for him, the race was just his third professional marathon. Linkletter's return will mark his 12th marathon overall, and he is fast becoming very proficient at the 26.2 mile distance, with six performances under 2:13 and his second best mark at 2:10:24 – Linkletter has also featured in two World Championships for Canada at the marathon.
A more confident Linkletter will toe the line in Boston with aims on shattering his former mark on the course, which tails its way from Hopkinton to downtown Boston in a point-to-point race that will have $705,000 in prize money up for grabs. The 2019 BYU graduate also isn't far removed from his career best marathon time of 2 hours, 8 minutes and 1 second, which he achieved in Spain at the Zurich Seville Marathon in February of last year. That effort was part of a busy year at the distance – Linkletter ended up running the marathon four times in 2024, adding Chicago and New York to his calendar following his 47th-place finish in the Olympics in 2:13:09.
His 26.2-mile PB was a career-making performance that, in fact, qualified him for the Olympic marathon, dipping just nine seconds under the standard.
'You know, the whole race I was just focused on following this pace, following this group that was set up for the Olympic standard,' Linkletter said of his performance in Spain. 'And I was the most locked in I've ever been. I had just one objective.'
Linkletter was experienced enough at that point to understand what he needed to do.
'I was just able to get really tough and gritty and just focus on finishing,' he said.
Perhaps a tip of the cap has to go to BYU, where Linkletter developed as a runner and notched a handful of championship performances under head coach Ed Eyestone, including a runner-up finish in the 10,000 meters on the track in 2017. He qualified for the NCAA Championships nine times and was a two-time All-American in cross country, helping the Cougars score a third-place finish in 2017.
Surprisingly enough, though, Linkletter opted against a professional track and field career following graduation. He instead ran his first marathon in 2019 in Toronto at the age of 23.
'There's two reasons I became a marathoner,' said Linkletter, who began his career with HOKA's NAZ Elite. 'The cooler one is that I just really liked the idea of being a marathoner and was fortunate enough to be around Jared Ward's ascent while he was in Provo and training with Coach Eyestone.'
The second reason never came to fruition. Linkletter's aspirations were to qualify for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. While he came up short there, the Canadian's decision did prove to be fruitful, because it jumpstarted a career that might now see him chase after the country's national record of 2:05:36, which is owned by Cam Levins.
'For a while, I was like, 'That record is so hard, I don't know how I'm going to get that,' Linkletter said. 'It's one of those times where it used to feel untouchable. But like I said before, I had only run 2:10 and now I've run 2:08 and I feel like I can totally taste a 2:06. And then it's like, once you've done something like that, then it's like, 'What's 2:05:30, right?'
Marathon times have changed drastically in recent years. A total of 28 men globally broke 2:05 a year ago, while the late Kelvin Kiptum broke the world record in 2023, clocking a time of 2 hours and 35 seconds at the Chicago Marathon – for reference, Eliud Kipchoge broke two hours in the marathon in 2019, securing a time of 1:59:40 during a project orchestrated by Nike, but that record is unofficial.
Supershoes have also helped. Globally, brands are developing high-level racing shoes at breakneck speeds, all vying to outdo one another on course. Linkletter will put a new pair under the microscope on Monday, too. So, there's no shortage of intrigue there.
But he says he's also not getting swept away by those ever-changing dynamics.
'You know, the whole race I was just focused on following this pace, following this group that was set up for the Olympic standard. And I was the most locked in I've ever been. I had just one objective.'
'I think the No. 1 thing is to focus on racing,' he said. 'Like, if you just think about times that have been run and times that you've run, you'll get trapped in what you've done before.'
Linkletter instead has narrowed a singular focus on training and his marathon block. In Flagstaff, where he refined his approach at 7,000 feet of elevation, he found a steady rhythm under Green, logging some of his best weeks over the training cycle. Recently, he finished his last major session and says 'it's like fine-tuning to make sure I'm not flat on race day.'
All signs point to a potentially career-effort. In March, Linkletter claimed a personal best time in the 10,000 meters at The Ten in California, getting under 28 minutes for the first time. That performance followed career highs in the 3K and mile over the last two years.
'That's one of the big misconceptions,' Linkletter said, 'is people think once you start your marathon clock, you're done on the track.'
Now what's left is a chance at digging in and going after a big finish at Boston.
Linkletter's teammates from BYU, Young and Mantz – the top two Americans at the Olympics in Paris – will both be in the race. While Linkletter didn't ultimately steer his life back to Utah, his burgeoning marathon career will continue to put him in touch with his former teammates, who are currently among the U.S.'s top athletes at the distance.
And if you're wondering, there are no casual text groups between friends.
'I think they're almost too much of a competitor at this point,' Linkletter said of his Boston Marathon plans. 'At this point it's a friendly rivalry where I'm like, 'Oh man, I really want to beat those guys.''