Cam Levins to return to racing at Istanbul Half Marathon

The Canadian marathon record holder Cam Levins will return to the roads on April 28 in Turkey.

On Tuesday, Levins was announced as one of the headliners for the Istanbul Half Marathon next month. This will be Levins’ first race since his DNF at the New York City Marathon last November.

🇹🇷 Istanbul #HalfMarathon (28 Apr) elite fields:
♂️
Solomon Berihu 🇪🇹 PB 59:17
Edmond Kipngetich 🇰🇪 PB 59:25
Dinkalem Ayele 🇪🇹 PB 59:30
Solomon Kipchoge 🇰🇪 PB 59:37@CamLevins 🇨🇦 PB 1:00:18
♀️
Gladys Chepkurui 🇰🇪 PB 1:05:46@FtawZeray 🇪🇹 PB 1:06:04
Sheila Chelangat 🇰🇪 PB 1:09:38 https://t.co/XQyGvFecnG

— Marathon News (@Marathon_N) March 26, 2024

Levins chose to race New York in preparation for the hilly Paris Olympic marathon, which he had already qualified for. The 34-year-old had high expectations heading into NYC but dropped out near the 20 km point. He later disclosed that he was not injured but did not feel well, and things didn’t improve.

The Istanbul Half Marathon annually attracts some of the fastest distance runners in the world, resulting in sub-one-hour men’s champions in four of the last five years. In 2021, the women’s world half marathon record of 64:02 was set at the race by Kenya’s Ruth Chepngetich. Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey broke the world-record mark at the 2021 Valencia Half Marathon later that year.

Levins currently holds both the Canadian marathon record and half marathon mark of 60:18, which he ran at the Vancouver First Half in February 2023. A month later, he hit the 2024 Paris Olympic marathon standard at the Tokyo Marathon, where he clocked a personal best and North American area record of 2:05:36.

He is one of two Canadian men to have hit the Olympic standard and has already received early nomination for Team Canada at the Paris Olympics.