Athletics Canada announces Olympic marathon teams
The race walk team has also been nominated, and Andrea Seccafien and Mohammed Ahmed have received early nomination in the 10,000m
Athletics Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee have announced Team Canada’s marathon team and the men’s 50-kilometre race walkers nominated to compete at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Andrea Seccafien and Mohammed Ahmed have also been nominated to the team in the 10,000m.
The women’s team
Until now, Dayna Pidhoresky was the only woman already named to the team, after she achieved standard and won the Olympic Marathon trials at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon in 2019. Joining her in Tokyo will be Canadian marathon record-holder Malindi Elmore, who ran 2:24:50 in January 2020. Natasha Wodak will take the third spot, after running 2:26:19 (the second-fastest Canadian time ever) in December 2020 at the Marathon Project in Chandler, Ariz.
The men’s team
On the men’s side, Trevor Haufbauer was the only athlete already named to the team after he ran Olympic standard and won the Canadian Olympic trials in 2019. Rounding out the men’s team will be Cam Levins, who recently ran 2:10:14 at a race in Austria and Ben Preisner, who ran 2:10:17 in his debut marathon at the Marathon Project in December 2020.
The race walk team
Evan Dunfee was one of the first athletes to be named to Canada’s Olympic team in the 50K race walk, selected to the team in May 2020 along with Hofbauer and Pidhoresky. Joining him in Tokyo will be Quebec’s Mathieu Bilodeau, who competed in the 20K race walk at the Rio Olympics in 2016.
The 10,000m
Along with the marathon and race walk teams, Athletics Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee has also named Seccafien and Ahmed to the team to compete in the 10,000m.
“Mohammed and Andrea have proven they deserve to be on the start line in Tokyo in the 10,000 metres,” said Athletics Canada’s Head Coach, Glenroy Gilbert. “They have lowered their personal bests several times over the past two years, established Canadian records and performed well internationally. With the qualification window open for about another month for the 10,000 metres, we are hopeful that we can add to the field through an athlete’s position in the World Rankings or a qualified performance.”
Seccafien had an incredible performance recently, setting the Canadian record in the 10,000m at the Sound Running Track Meet in 31:13.94. Ahmed set the Canadian record in the 5,000m in July 2020, and is currently ranked 4th in the world at the 10,000m.
As far as we can tell, this will be the first time Canada has sent a full team (three men and three women) to the Olympics in the marathon. With the Games less than two months away, more athletes will be added to the roster in the coming weeks.
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