Canada’s fastest-ever 10,000m man in serious jeopardy of missing Olympic team
Cam Levins, the national 10,000m record holder, is in serious doubt of missing the Olympics after a "poor performance" in the trials 5,000m (photo: Dave Holland).
One of Canada’s most promising distance runners is in serious jeopardy of missing the 2016 Rio Olympics after a poor performance at the national track and field championships. Cam Levins, the Canadian 10,000m record holder, finished seventh in the men’s 5,000m on Thursday evening. He needed a top two finish in Edmonton to automatically qualify. Those spots went to Mo Ahmed and Luc Bruchet.
Levins was the top Canadian in both the 5,000m and 10,000m at the London Olympics in 2012 and trains with arguably the highest profiled group in the world (Nike’s Oregon Project).
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Cam Levins’ recent performances
Levins, 27, has been battling an ankle injury since the 2015 world championships and has shown signs of his speediness in 2016 (see his sub-1:50 800m at altitude), at other times he has come off vulnerable (the world indoor championships). One of the main issues is that Levins ran the Olympic qualifying standard in 2015 and needed to show “competitive readiness” ahead of the Games. It appears he has failed to do that.
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“I’ll be sad to miss the Olympics, I’m assuming at this point,” Levins said in a post-race interview. “It’s been a tough season in general so it doesn’t come as a huge surprise. Potentially they [Athletics Canada] will select me in the 10K because I have a fast time but I’m not too hopeful about it.”
Post-race interview
Will Levins run the 10,000m?
As Levins alludes to, there is a chance he could be named to the team, possibly in the 10,000m, since it comes down to the national head coach’s discretion. He ran 27:07 in 2015 for the 25-lap race.
In Levins’ 5,000m case, this is what the criteria states: “The highest ranked non-automatic qualifier who finishes in the top eight or top half of their field (whichever is smaller) of their event at nationals having achieved the necessary qualifying standard within the qualifying window and has achieved their competitive readiness program may (bolded by AC) also be nominated for selection.”
Because Matt Hughes is ranked higher (per the 5,000m rankings) than Levins but didn’t race, the criteria still applies to Levins. It’s unclear whether he has achieved competitive readiness in the 5,000m and he won’t be running again between now and the July 11 official team announcement.
He has run 13:26 (May 28) for the 5,000m this year but has not run a 10,000m. The 13:26 may or may not qualify as being competitively ready for the 10,000m. Again, it comes down to head coach Peter Eriksson and Athletics Canada’s discretion.
The Black Creek, B.C. native admits that his best shot at being named to the Olympic team is convincing the national governing body that he will be healthy by Rio. The Games begin on Aug. 5. There are no 10,000m trials at the Canadian track and field championships which puts the decision in Athletics Canada’s hands.
Levins says that his ankle injury affected him in both volume and quality of his training. During the 5,000m on Thursday, he began labouring with about 600m to go as Ahmed, Bruchet and Mike Tate eased away from him in prep for their kicks. That was the finishing order, respectively, for the top three.
Ahmed, the Canadian 5,000m record holder, qualified for his second Olympics on Thursday and will be joined by first-timer Bruchet, who ran the standard at the Portland Track Festival recently. The trials conclude on July 10.
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