Canada鈥檚 Cam Levins never lost his self-belief.
And after nearly four frustrating years of disappointing finishes, dropouts, and the loss of his sponsor, Levins wrote a remarkable comeback story on Sunday, shattering his own Canadian record, racing to an historic fourth place in the marathon at the world track and field championships.
鈥淚鈥檓 thrilled, obviously. I鈥檓 over the moon,鈥� Levins said.
The 33-year-old from Black Creek, B.C., ran two hours seven minutes nine seconds to crush the 2:09.25 he ran in Toronto in 2018. The previous top Canadian finish was 10th by Peter Maher in 1993.
Tairat Tola of Ethiopia pulled away over the final kilometres to win gold in 2:05.36. Teammate Mosinet Geremew won the silver in 2:06.44, while Bashir Abdi of Belgium took bronze in 2:06.48.
Back in 2018, in his marathon debut, Levins achieved what had eluded Canadian marathoners for decades, breaking Jerome Drayton record that had stood for 43 years.
The future looked bright.
But he failed at three attempts to run the Tokyo Olympic qualifying standard before hitting it with a week to spare. At the Olympics, he faded to 72nd place in sizzling 34 C temperatures in Sapporo.
Levins wasn鈥檛 re-signed for 2022 by HOKA, the team he鈥檇 been with since 2018. He has no sponsor.
He posted on social media that he鈥檚 seeking redemption in Eugene. And did he ever deliver.
鈥淚t was crazy going from one of the last-place finishers at the Olympics, to one of the top finishers at the world championships,鈥� Levins said. 鈥淚 took so much away from the Olympics last year, I just realized I need to be better, in just like every aspect of my training.
鈥淚 really had an incredible buildup, like the last six months, I鈥檝e trained really well, the hardest I have in every conceivable way,鈥� added Levins, who won the Canadian half-marathon championships recently in Winnipeg. 鈥淲hen I got to the start line, I knew I was ready.鈥�
But the marathon is difficult to predict. Anything can happen over the last 10 kilometres, no matter how well-prepared athletes are, Levins pointed out.
鈥淚 felt great throughout the race. But even despite that, it鈥檚 still really hard on your legs, hard to keep going like that,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 was feeling great, but it was still a difficult last 10K. When I was coming into the last lap, I was telling myself 鈥業鈥檓 here to medal, I鈥檓 gonna do this.鈥� I was definitely telling myself that I was here for a big performance.
鈥淚 think that鈥檚 part of the big result is always believing that was going to happen, besides just preparing for it.鈥�
Levins hung in amid a large group at the front on the fast and flat course that featured plenty of scenic views. The 30-year-old Tola broke free over the final couple of kilometres.
鈥淚 tried to prepare myself for a long time for this,鈥� Tola said through an interpreter. 鈥淚t was my dream.鈥�
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The real race was for silver, with the 33-year-old Abdi pushing Geremew all the way to the finish before running out of steam.
Fans lined the course several people deep, a welcome sight after so many marathons over the past two years were contested in bubbles due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Canadian friends and family members weren鈥檛 permitted to travel to Tokyo for the Olympics
On Sunday, Levins had his parents Barb and Gus, his wife Elizabeth, and his in-laws there.
鈥淭here were tons and tons of people in the crowd itself. I heard my name a zillion times. It was super cool. The Oregon crowd here was so, so great,鈥� he said. (My family was) jumping back and forth on the course, I saw them quite a bit. Mostly I heard my parents, rather than saw them, I recognized my mom鈥檚 voice pretty good a couple of times.鈥�
Levins hadn鈥檛 had the chance to find his family in the crowd just minutes after his finish. But his thoughts were already about how thankful he was that they鈥檝e had his back.
鈥淚t can be hard for your family, someone like my wife, to keep supporting me even when I lost my contract and funding in general, so it鈥檚 been really amazing,鈥� Levins said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been a tough last year. It鈥檚 also been a really rewarding last year as far as training goes. I couldn鈥檛 be more thankful for them.鈥�
Levins, who lives a couple of hours north of Eugene in Portland, is coached by Victoria鈥檚 Jim Finlayson.
The runners were able to push the pace with the temperature hovering at a comfortable 13.9 Celsius with cloud cover. That鈥檚 quite a contrast to the conditions at worlds in Doha when the men鈥檚 marathon was held at midnight to avoid the searing heat. The temperature was still around 29 Celsius.
Levins moved up to the marathon after a decorated track career. He won bronze in the 10,000 in the 2014 Commonwealth Games, and raced to 11th place in the 10,000 and 14th in the 5,000 at the 2014 London Olympics, despite catching the flu before the finals.
Rory Linkletter of Calgary was 20th on Sunday in a personal best 2:10.24, while Ben Preisner of Milton, Ont., was 28th in 2:11.47.
鈥淎ll three of our Canadians I think ran really, really well today,鈥� Levins said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e just in kind of an amazing era of marathoning, and I鈥檓 happy to have my name up there with some of the best ones.
鈥淚鈥檓 going to, I hope I have a long career still ahead of me, and that was just the tip of the iceberg.鈥�
After a slight delay, 1972 Olympic marathon champion Frank Shorter signalled the start of the race that sent the runners along a three-loop course that finished in front of the University of Oregon鈥檚 Autzen Stadium. The route wound through the cities of Eugene and Springfield.
The course crossed over the Willamette River and ventured alongside Pre鈥檚 Trail, the bark running trail that鈥檚 named in honor of University of Oregon running icon Steve Prefontaine, who died in a car accident in 1975.
The field was missing Kengo Suzuki after the Japanese team had a few cases of positive tests for COVID-19. Also not racing was Kenyan marathoner Lawrence Cherono, who was provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit after testing positive for a banned substance used to treat chest pain resulting from lack of blood supply and oxygen to the heart.
鈥� By Lori Ewing in Toronto. With files from The Associated Press.
The Canadian Press
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