Rory Linkletter runs second-fastest Canadian time at Boston Marathon

Canada’s Rory Linkletter was already Canada’s second-fastest marathoner, but now, not only is he the second-fastest individual, but he also holds the second-fastest time ever run by a Canadian. Linkletter had the race of his life on Monday, finishing sixth at the Boston Marathon in a personal best time of 2:07:02. It was even faster than what Cam Levins ran at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Ore., in 2022 to lower his Canadian record (though Levins has since lowered it even further, to 2:05:36), and far exceeded his goal of a top-10 finish. (His time was also the fastest ever time by a Canadian at Boston.)

Barnstorming finish. Enormous race and PB for @ThePapaLinks Rory Linkletter 🇨🇦2:07:02 and 6th at today’s #bostonmarathon pic.twitter.com/hEHmaNaNjC

— alan brookes, CRS (@alnbrookes) April 21, 2025

Linkletter had the best season of his career in 2024, setting personal bests at various distances, and fulfilling a lifelong dream of representing Canada at the Olympics. And he’d already put up a couple of superb performances this spring, setting a personal best of 60:57 at the Marugame Half-Marathon in early February, followed by a win at the Phoenix-Mesa Half Marathon six days later.

A little over two weeks ago, he posted a dauntingly difficult key workout on Strava: two 8 km (five-mile) reps at around goal half-marathon pace, with one mile of steady running between. Linkletter completed each 8 km rep in just over 23 minutes, averaging an impressive 2:53 per km (20.7 km/h). It was a strong indication that he was fit and ready to crush the Newton hills.

The Alberta native, who was our guest on this week’s The Shakeout Podcast with host John Gay, where he discussed his hopes for the day: “Now that I’ve made an Olympic team, one of the logical things for me to get better [at] between now and L.A. [the 2028 Olympics] was to race against world-class people, and I feel like Boston just takes such pride in bringing in such a world-class field every year. And it’s a racer’s race–this is all about racing. So I know that I’m going to be racing against people who are future Olympic medallists or past Olympic medallists, and future world marathon major champions and past world marathon major champions. It really just checks every box. I know if I can be successful in Boston, I can be successful anywhere.”

He’s certainly come a long way since his first appearance at the Boston Marathon in 2021, when the race was held in October due to the pandemic. It was only his third marathon (and his first world major), and he finished 37th, in 2:23.

Linkletter also plans to race the Ottawa Marathon on May 25, which is only five weeks from now. It will be his first marathon on Canadian soil in three years. American CJ Albertson, who had a somewhat disappointing race at Boston on Monday, considering his past results (Albertson finished 14th, in 2:10:16) is also planning to do the Boston/Ottawa double.

For the full Boston Marathon story, click here; for full results of the 129th Boston Marathon, click here.