Olympian Dayna Pidhoresky to return to TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon

The 2019 Canadian champion will return to the marathon that booked her ticket to the 2020 Olympics

Photo by: Maxine Gravina

Ben Snider-McGrath August 30, 2022

Olympic marathoner Dayna Pidhoresky has announced that she will return to the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon, the site of her win at the 2019 Canadian Marathon Championships. That race saw Pidhoresky nail a PB of 2:29:03, a time that earned her a spot at the Tokyo Olympic Marathon in 2021. This year’s race, which is set for Oct. 16, marks the marathon’s first in-person running since 2019, making Pidhoresky the defending Canadian champion.

Going into the 2019 Canadian Championships, Pidhoresky had a marathon PB of 2:36:08, which she ran at the Ottawa Marathon in 2017. This was well off the Olympic standard of 2:29:30, but she didn’t let that deficit of close to seven minutes stop her from shooting for the win. She took off hot right from the start, building enough of a lead to hold off late charges from her fellow Canadians and to cross the line with a massive Olympic-qualifying PB.

A look back: Dayna Pidhoresky and Trevor Hofbauer after last year’s Canadian Olympic Marathon Trials at STWM

After the Tokyo Games were moved to 2021, Pidhoresky dealt with a calf injury as she prepared for her Olympic debut. Finally, after a long, delayed wait to get to the Games, Pidhoresky took her spot on Team Canada and ran to a hard-fought 3:03:10 finish in blistering heat that forced many athletes to drop out.

We are thrilled to announce we have partnered with @RunCRS to become the title and technology sponsor for @TOwaterfront42k. We hope to see you on race day! https://t.co/Pn3eh3JEPf #BuildingonBelief #WeBelieveToronto pic.twitter.com/cSIdtATvPA

— Tata Consultancy Services—North America (@tcs_na) January 18, 2022

The TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon will be just the third race since Tokyo for Pidhoresky. Her other two came earlier this year, as she won the Vancouver Marathon at the start of May (running 2:34:30) and finished sixth at the Ottawa Marathon (2:36:22) a few weeks later. If she can summon the same magic she put on display in Toronto three years ago, it will secure the second Canadian title of her career.

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