Rory Linkletter defeated Cam Levins in the Canadian Half Marathon and now aims to break the national marathon record.

Calgary-born Linkletter defeated Levins, of Black Creek, British Columbia, in the Edmonton Half Marathon on Sunday, winning his first Canadian title in one hour and three minutes.

Levins, the national record holder for the long-distance race, having previously won the three previous national Half Marathon championships in Winnipeg, finished one second behind. Ben Presner of Milton, Ontario, finished in 1 hour, 3 minutes, 15 seconds.

"The final sprint was fantastic," Linkletter told Running Canada about Sunday's race. "I knew Cam was going to give it his all, so he put a lot of pressure on me in the last two kilometers and tested me."

"It felt great to win, and I'm proud to win. It means I've gotten a bigger victory against someone who was just as good."

Linklater, who now lives in Flagstaff, Arizona, hasn't raced against Levins since August 10th of last year, when he competed in the Paris Olympics marathon. At that Olympics, Levins finished 36th (2:11:56), 11 spots ahead of Linklater (2:13:09).

That race galvanized him to become a top marathoner by the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Linklater's next goal is to break Levins' Canadian record of 2:05:36 at the Chicago Marathon on October 12th, rather than competing in the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo from September 13th to 21st.