Canada’s top 10 running moments of 2025

What a year it’s been for Canadian athletics. From January through December 2025, athletes from across the nation delivered breakthrough performances on both the national and global stages, making Canada proud. Narrowing these moments down was no easy task, but these standout achievements best capture the excellence of this year in Canadian running.

10.  Wyatt Lee smashes high school 100m record

For Kingston, Ont.’s Wyatt Lee, 2025 was a year of record-breaking. At the OFSAA Track & Field Championships in June, the 17-year-old clocked 10.38 seconds in the senior boys’ 100m final to smash a 31-year-old Canadian interscholastic record and the U18 Canadian record. The previous mark of 10.41 seconds was set by 1996 Olympic gold medallist Carlton Chambers.

It was the third time that season that Lee had broken the U18 100m Canadian record; he also set a new U18 60m record in March, running 6.71 seconds.

9. Rachel Hannah wins her first Canadian marathon title

At October’s TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon, which doubled as the Canadian Marathon Championships, Rachel Hannah of Port Elgin, Ont., ran 2:33:47 to become the first Canadian finisher, claiming her sixth national title, and her first in the marathon.

The run also marked her fastest marathon since 2016.

8. Philippe Morneau-Cartier completes U Sports XC hat trick

At November’s 2025 U Sports Cross-Country Championships in Quebec, Université Laval’s Philippe Morneau-Cartier made history by successfully completing the U Sports hat trick, winning the individual championship title for three straight years.

Morneau-Cartier covered the 8K course in 23:14 to hold off the field by a five-second margin, marking his third consecutive undefeated season on the U Sports XC stage.

7. Charles Philibert-Thiboutot gets 10K record in debut

Making his Canadian 10K Championships debut, Quebec two-time Olympian Charles Philibert-Thiboutot broke the national 10K road record by three seconds, clocking 28:06 to win his first national 10K title. He also smashed his previous 10K personal best by 46 seconds.

The former mark of 28:09 was set by Ben Flanagan at the same event in 2024.

6. Savannah Sutherland breaks NCAA 400m hurdles record

At June’s NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore., Savannah Sutherland stunned Hayward Field with a 52.46-second run in the 400m hurdles, shattering Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s former NCAA collegiate record of 52.75.

The victory marked her second national title and her third straight top-two finish in the event, and stamped her name in four record books: University of Michigan, collegiate, NCAA Championship and Canadian national.

5. Rory Linkletter runs second-fastest Canadian marathon in Boston

At April’s Boston Marathon, Rory Linkletter had the race of his life, finishing sixth, with a personal best of 2:07:02. The run surpassed his top-10 goal, marking both the fastest time by a Canadian in Boston and the second-fastest time ever run by a Canadian.

Linkletter has since lowered his personal best, placing ninth at the Chicago Marathon in October in 2:06:49.

4.  Marco Arop wins world 800m bronze on his 27th birthday

Edmonton’s Marco Arop delivered Canada’s first track medal of the 2025 World Athletics Championships, earning bronze in the men’s 800m in 1:41.95 on his 27th birthday. In a thrilling race, Arop finished less than a tenth of a second behind Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya, who claimed gold.

The performance extends Arop’s streak of podium finishes on the global stage: gold at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, silver at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and bronze at the 2022 Worlds in Eugene.

3. Malindi Elmore breaks men’s & women’s 45+ marathon records

In Valencia, Spain, in early December, 45-year-old Malindi Elmore ran 2:24:53, to only demolishing the women’s Canadian 45+ masters record by a whopping 14 minutes, but also beating the men’s 45+ mark, by 36 seconds. The performance marked Elmore’s third-fastest marathon and the fourth-fastest women’s marathon by a Canadian, trailing only her own quicker times and Natasha Wodak’s national record.

2.  Gabriela DeBues-Stafford cements comeback in worlds 1,500m final

For Gabriela DeBues-Stafford, 2025 was a year of redemption. After missing out on qualifying for the 2024 Olympics in both the 1,500m and 5,000m, DeBues-Stafford made her return to Team Canada for the first time since 2021, earning a spot in the world championship 1,500m final. But it didn’t end there; in the final, the 30-year-old stormed to her fastest time since 2022, clocking 3:59.65–not just a season’s best, but the fastest time by a Canadian woman since 2022.

1. Evan Dunfee wins world race walk gold

At his seventh world championship, Canadian race walk record holder Evan Dunfee made history at the World Championships in Tokyo, winning 35K gold in 2:28:22.  He did it despite tearing his hamstring with two km to go, pushing through excruciating pain for the final stretch–as well as battling 25 C temperatures and 94 per cent humidity–to become the first champion of Tokyo 2025.