Six athletes nominated to Team Canada for Paris 2024 race walk, 10,000m and marathon events
While the entirety of Team Canada’s athletics contingent won’t be revealed until after the national trials at the end of June, fans are one step closer to knowing who will toe the line at Paris 2024. Six athletes have received early nomination in the distance events, including the 10,000m, race walk, and marathon events.
Three-time Olympian Mohammed (Moh) Ahmed qualified for Paris 2024 when he ran seven seconds faster than the Olympic entry standard time in the 10,000m at an event in California in March. He finished in 26:53.01– the second-fastest 10,000m of his career. He is the only Canadian to break the 27-minute mark in the 10,000m. Ahmed made history at Tokyo 2020 when he won silver in the men’s 5000m for Canada’s first Olympic medal in a long-distance track event. The 33-year-old has also achieved the Olympic entry standard for Paris 2024 in the 5000m.
“It’s definitely a great honour and privilege to get the nomination to be able to wear the maple leaf. A fourth Olympic Games means I’m experienced and I hope to put it to good use in Paris. My goal is the exact same as it has been for many of my previous major championships – to stand on top of the podium or as close to it as possible,” said Ahmed.
Evan Dunfee and Olivia Lundman qualified for the inaugural Olympic marathon race walk mixed relay when they finished 21st at the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships in April, while setting a Canadian record of 3:07:10.
Dunfee, an Olympic and World bronze medallist in the 50km race walk, had already achieved the Olympic entry standard for the men’s 20km race walk by finishing fourth at the 2023 World Athletics Championships. This will be the third Olympic Games for the 33-year-old, who will compete in both events at Paris 2024. At Tokyo 2020, Dunfee made history when he won bronze in the 50km race walk for Canada’s first ever Olympic medal in what was the longest athletics event. The 50km race walk is no longer on the Olympic programme, being replaced with the new marathon race walk mixed relay.
“For me personally [the additional qualification] is definitely a cherry on top, but to be able to help play a role in Olivia qualifying as my teammate for the Olympics is so important to me,” said Dunfee. “How often does a coach get to have that direct of an impact on their athlete’s performance? It was really, really special. And now I’m looking forward to getting to prepare for an Olympics with my own training, but also helping someone else prepare for the Olympics will be really, really cool.”
“I will have probably 20 to 25 people in Paris on the sidelines there to cheer and yell for me. I certainly felt that at the last two world championships and in Rio in 2016. That was such a special moment to get to have such a huge contingent of friends and family down there cheering me on. And we’ll be competing in front of the Eiffel Tower, and so that will be such a phenomenal backdrop and definitely add to the ambiance and the experience,” he added.
Lundman, who trains with and is coached by Dunfee, will make her Olympic debut in Paris. The 21-year-old won the women’s 20km race walk at the 2023 Bell Canadian Track & Field Championships. She made her World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships debut in 2022, placing 15th in the women’s 10km. Lundman looks to Dunfee as a role model and inspiration and is thrilled to experience her first Olympic Games racing alongside him.
“It is an honour to have the chance to represent my country at the greatest sporting competition in the world. I cannot express the overwhelming gratitude I have for my coach and teammate Evan, my physio and national team staff, my family, friends, and every community member that has supported me along the way,” said Lundman. “I am so excited to see what Evan and I can achieve in Paris and I hope that along the way we can encourage and inspire youth across the country to chase their dreams. Not too long ago, I was in their shoes, aspiring to be like the athletes I looked up to on the National Team. Now, here I am living out my dreams and competing alongside some of the same athletes that were my role models as a kid.”
Rory Linkletter qualified for Olympic nomination at the Seville Marathon in Spain this past February. He finished in a personal best 2:08:01, nine seconds under the men’s Olympic entry standard, as he became Canada’s second-fastest marathoner ever. Linkletter placed 18th at the 2023 World Athletics Championships, moving up two places from the 2022 edition. At the Lima 2019 Pan American Games, Linkletter raced the 10,000m, where he placed sixth. Paris 2024 will mark Linkletter’s Olympic debut. He will race alongside Canadian marathon record holder, Cameron Levins.
“I have an opportunity to represent my family, myself, my country, on a stage that is bigger than any in all sports, just because of the fact that it’s so global, it’s so watched around the world,” said Linkletter. “Just to be on this stage in an event like the marathon and be in a position to compete, it obviously means I did something special to get here. I will just keep doing what I’ve always done, just with a little bit more focus because of the excitement around the Games.”
Earlier this year, Malindi Elmore and Cameron Levins received early nomination to the Paris 2024 Canadian Olympic Team by having met the Olympic marathon qualifying standards. Elmore ran a personal best time of 2:23:30 at the Berlin Marathon in September 2023 and will compete at her third Olympic Games. Elmore made her Olympic debut at Athens 2004 in the women’s 1500m. Though she initially retired in 2012, she returned to athletics in 2019 to compete in her first marathon and qualified for Tokyo 2020 in that distance. In her Olympic return, she finished ninth – Canada’s second-best Olympic result ever in the women’s marathon – to lead the Canadians, clocking in with a time of 2:30:59.
Paris 2024 will mark Levins’ third Olympic appearance. He raced the men’s 5000m and 10,000m at London 2012, before competing in the men’s marathon at Tokyo 2020. He qualified for Paris 2024 with his performance at the 2023 Tokyo Marathon, where he finished in fifth place and lowered the Canadian marathon record for a third time to 2:05:36. In 2022, Levins competed at the World Athletics Championships for the first time since 2015 – and the first time in the marathon. He placed fourth for Canada’s best ever world championship result in the event.
The men’s 20km race walk will take place on August 1 (Day 6) and the marathon race walk mixed relay will take place on August 7 (Day 12), both in the Trocadero district. The men’s marathon is scheduled for August 10 (Day 15) and the women’s marathon on August 11 (Day 16). The marathons will both start at the Hôtel de Ville and finish at les Invalides.
Andrew Alexander and Eliyah Brawdy won the men’s and women’s Canadian 10,000m Championships, respectively, this past weekend. Should either achieve the Olympic entry standard for the 10,000m before the final team nomination, they would earn an automatic nomination. The remaining athletes who will be nominated in the track and field events will be selected and announced in early July following Athletics Canada’s Bell Track and Field Trials, which will take place June 26-30 in Montreal.