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Preisner misses the mark in Valencia

Despite strong performances by Ben Preisner and Justin Kent, the Canadian men's marathon record remains untouched

In one of the final major marathons of the year, Canada’s Ben Preisner toed the line with several of the world’s top marathoners at the 41st Trinidad Alfonso EDP Valencia Marathon. Going into the race, Preisner had a real shot at Cam Levins’s Canadian men’s marathon record of 2:09:25. Sadly, today was not his day, and he fell short, running 2:15:29 for 45th place.

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Preisner, who was Canada’s top finisher at the Tokyo Olympics, went into the race with a personal best of 2:10:17, the fourth-fastest time ever run by a Canadian man. He ran this time at his first crack at the distance at the Marathon Project in Chandler, Ariz. late last year. While his race didn’t go as well as he had planned, Preisner still managed to have a solid performance and was the first Canadian across the line. B.C.’s Justin Kent was the next-best Canadian, running 2:17:38 for 58th place, only 18 seconds off of his personal best.

“I was originally supposed to be on the start line for NYC, but I realized it would have been too quick of a turnaround from the Olympics,” Presiner told Canadian Running ahead of Sunday’s race. “The Valencia Marathon made sense for both Justin and me.”

Ben Preisner at the Toronto Waterfront half-marathon. Photo: Maxine Gravina

Olympic-Bound Canadians: Men’s Marathon with Cam Levins, Trevor Hofbauer and Ben Preisner

Kenya’s Lawrence Cherono won the men’s race in 2:05:11, followed by Ethiopia’s Chalu Deso in second in 2:05:15 and Kenya’s Philemon Kacheran in third in 2:05:18. On the women’s side, Nancy Jelegat of Kenya took home the title in 2:19:30, followed by Ethiopia’s Etagegne Woldu in 2:20:15 and Beyenu Degefa in 2:23:03.

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