Is Ben Flanagan ready for his TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon debut?
The Olympian, national 5K road record holder and five-time Canadian champion talks about his lead-up to Toronto and why now is the right time to debut at the distance
Nick Iwanyshyn
The 2025 TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon weekend is here, and one of Canada’s top distance running stars is headlining the field.
This week on The Shakeout Podcast, we catch up with Canadian Olympian Ben Flanagan to hear how he’s approaching his first step into the deep waters of marathoning. Following a stellar 2024 season that saw him PB on the track at every distance from 1,500m to 10,000m and make his first Olympic team in Paris, Flanagan tells us why the time was right to make the move full-time onto the roads.
Already a multi-time national champion at shorter distances and the Canadian record holder at the road 5K, Ben shares his thoughts on why the roads have always felt like home, despite a glittering track resume and how the unprecedented depth of Canadian marathoning currently makes his move both daunting and exciting. He also shares about his decision to move from his long-time training group in Michigan under the legendary Ron Warhurst to training solo in Cape Cod, his relationship with his new coach Jon Green and what it’s been like to balance so much change with the demands of parenthood after the arrival of his first child in March.
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