For the primary time within the 34-year historical past of the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon, the race has reached over 25,000 runners. Toronto has established itself as Canada’s premier marathon and has set a precedent within the international operating neighborhood, with contributors coming from 78 international locations around the globe for the marathon on Sunday, Oct. 15.
The elite box on the 2023 version of the marathon appears to be like considerably other from ultimate 12 months, and two new champions shall be topped at the males’s and ladies’s aspects, as Ethiopia’s Yihunilign Adane and Kenya’s Antonina Kwamboi may not be returning. The 2023 elite box options up-and-coming stars, along side a number of American girls aiming to succeed in the Olympic same old of two:26:50 forward of the approaching U.S. Olympic Trials in February. The race will even resolve two new Canadian marathon champions, with compelling storylines on each the boys’s and ladies’s aspects.
Right here’s our in-depth elite preview.
Do we see an American winner?
It’s been 22 years since an American girl ultimate gained the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon (Leslie Gold in 2001) however on this 12 months’s box, two American elites may be able to finish the drought. One in all them, Emily Durgin, a highway racing specialist based totally out of Flagstaff, Ariz. got here to Toronto searching for redemption after a less-than-ideal marathon debut in NYC ultimate 12 months. Durgin stated all over Friday’s elite press convention that she felt the drive to hit instances and carry out all over her debut and ended up dropping by the wayside of the race prior to 30 km. “I realized so much from New York and my construct for Toronto has been other,” stated Durgin. “As for a function time, I need to run within the low 2:20s and be aggressive.” The 29-year-old marathoner hopes to make use of Toronto as a stepping stone for the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in February 2024 in Orlando. Durgin was once in a position to qualify for the rigors from her time on the 2022 Houston Part Marathon the place she completed sixth general, clocking the seventh-fastest half-marathon in U.S. historical past with 67:54. “I got here to Toronto to be aggressive and contend for the the rostrum, as that’s what it’s going to take to qualify at trials come February,” she says.
Any other U.S. title within the girls’s elite box to observe is Molly Grabill, who’s operating her 6th profession marathon in Toronto on Sunday. Grabill informed the media that she has equivalent plans to her compatriot Durgin and hopes to dance again after, in her phrases, falling in need of her targets in her ultimate marathon in Hamburg previous this 12 months. Even if Grabill ran the second-fastest marathon time of her profession in Hamburg, she stated she was once disenchanted as she took a swing and ignored, suffering in the second one half of. “The function in Toronto is to keep watch over the second one half of of the race higher and acquire sturdy momentum heading into the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials,” stated Grabill. The 31-year-old from Boulder, Colo., is coming off a top-15 end in 69:53 on the inaugural International Athletics Highway Working Championships in Riga, Latvia, previous this month, which she says has given her a large number of self belief for Sunday.
Eyes at the path file?
Outdoor of the American duo, two different global athletes to observe are the Ethiopian duo of Afera Godfay and 2023 Ottawa Marathon champion Waganesh Mekasha. For Godfay, Toronto is her first marathon in 3 years after giving beginning to her daughter. Her ultimate marathon got here in 2020 when she ran 2:26:43 to position 3rd general on the Xiamen Marathon in China. In her first two races again since turning into a mom, Godfay has run decent half of marathon instances of 70 and 71 mins however has now not but returned to her earlier shape. She stated at Friday’s press convention that she hopes to return throughout the half of mark in 1:11 and feels well-prepared for her marathon go back. A glimpse of hope for Godfay is that she these days trains along the brand new girls’s global file holder Tigist Assefa in Ethiopia. So, who is aware of what she is in a position to?
The favorite within the girls’s race is Mekasha, who’s coming off a win within the sizzling warmth on the 2023 Ottawa Marathon in Would possibly. Mekasha is focused on the Canadian all-comers’ girls’s marathon file on Sunday of two:22:16, set 4 years in the past by way of Kenya’s Magdalyne Masai at this race. Mekasha holds a non-public highest of two:22:45 from the 2019 Dubai Marathon and stated that she expects round a equivalent time on Sunday. “If the pacemaker runs a excellent tempo, I’m hoping to wreck the path file,” says Mekasha.
The Canadian contingent
Two of the highest 3 Canadians from ultimate 12 months’s race have returned to the 2023 box, with Malindi Elmore, the reigning Canadian marathon champion, opting to run Berlin, the place she clocked the second-fastest time in Canadian historical past (2:23:30). Returning are moment and 3rd position Canadian finishers Dayna Pidhoresky and Toronto’s personal Sasha Gollish. Pidhoresky had an iconic second right here in 2019, when she raced slightly below the Olympic same old on the Canadian trials, successful in 2:29:03–qualifying her for the marathon on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Even if the Olympic marathon didn’t move as deliberate for Pidhoresky, she was once in a position to dance again at this tournament ultimate 12 months to position 7th general (moment Canadian) in 2:30:58. “Rising up in Windsor, Ont., I got here to Toronto for such a lot of races,” says Pidhoresky on tackling on her fourth Toronto Waterfront Marathon. “I think I do know the path really well, which is useful in a marathon, and it’s nice to have a top quality box that’s with reference to house.” Pidhoresky informed the media that this construct has now not been easy however she remains to be assured she will be able to run a non-public highest Sunday. “This path is nice, and I wish to be good and simply run my race,” she says.
This can be a equivalent tale for Gollish, operating in her moment consecutive TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon, lower than 8 weeks after her ultimate marathon on the 2023 International Championships in August. Gollish informed Canadian Working on the press convention that she desires to enter this race with a equivalent mindset that she had in Budapest. “It looks like a privilege to be right here, and It’s not that i am hanging any drive of a non-public highest on myself,” says Gollish. “For the longest time, I have shyed away from this race as a result of I felt there can be drive to accomplish, however why now not run one thing on your yard fuelled by way of a neighborhood that has finished such a lot for me?” Closing 12 months, Gollish shocked herself with a non-public highest time of two:31:40 after a brief marathon construct. May she do the similar on Sunday?
A couple of different Canadian marathoners to observe are Emily Setlack, Toronto’s Liza Howard and Kim Krezonoski of Thunder Bay, Ont. It’s been 4 years since Setlack has ultimate touched the marathon, however with a non-public highest of two:29:48 from the 2019 version of this race, her possible to complete as the highest Canadian will have to now not be not noted. Setlack has had a quiet 2023 season however has strung in combination forged performances, successful Toronto’s ancient Wearing Existence 10K and striking 8th general on the Canadian 10K Championships in Would possibly.
Howard has a non-public highest of two:35:29 (Chicago 2022) and was once the highest Canadian finisher on the 2023 Boston Marathon (thirty seventh general) in chilly, rainy and windy stipulations. Krezonoski moved to Toronto inside the ultimate 12 months and has been finding out the path totally within the hope of crushing her marathon private highest come Sunday. She ran her private highest of two:37 on the California Global Marathon ultimate 12 months however has dropped her half-marathon PB by way of just about 4 mins since. The spots at the home podium are up for grabs, and each and every of those 3 girls may just destroy via.
The upward thrust of Elvis
The absence of Adane opens the door for a number of East African males hoping to ascertain their marathon careers in Toronto. This kind of males is Kenya’s Elvis Kipchoge, who would possibly already lay declare to the identify of the most efficient operating title. This Kipchoge is rather less well known than the previous global file holder however boasts a sooner half of marathon private highest of 59:15, which earned him 3rd position on the 2022 Barcelona Part Marathon. Then again, this Kipchoge has now not had a lot success within the marathon. On the younger age of 27, he ran 2:10:21 on the Vienna Marathon previous this 12 months. He hopes to show issues round on a quick and flat Toronto path. Kipchoge has ties to the race, coaching along girls’s path file holder Magdalyne Masai in Iten, Kenya.
Whilst there is not any relation between Elvis and Eliud Kipchoge, but even so sharing the similar ultimate title and initials, Ethiopian athlete Adugna Bikila hopes to observe within the footsteps of his uncle, Worku Bikila. Worku was once a world-class 5,000m runner who completed 6th within the 1992 Olympic 5,000m ultimate in Barcelona and took fourth position on the International Championships the next 12 months. Bikila enters Toronto with the quickest time within the box, preserving a non-public highest of two:05:52 from the 2022 Seville Marathon, the place he completed fourth.
The entire East African males shall be aiming to wreck the Canadian all-comers file and path file of two:05:00, held by way of Kenya’s Philemon Rono, set in 2019. The elements forecast for Sunday signifies cool and beneficial stipulations for each the boys’s and ladies’s fields, which will have to make each path data prone.
Who’s subsequent for Canada?
A brand new males’s Canadian champion shall be topped Sunday, and for the primary time since 2016, their ultimate title may not be Levins or Hofbauer. The 2023 males’s box is filled with up-and-coming Canadian skill at the precipice of breaking into the elite scene. Mississauga’s Sergio Raez Villanueva returns to Toronto after a shocking 2:18:04 debut ultimate 12 months, which earned him top-five Canadian honours. Difficult Raez Villanueva is Ottawa’s Blair Morgan, who was once the second one Canadian on the sizzling and humid Ottawa Marathon in Would possibly, operating 2:19:50. Morgan ran his private highest of two:18:29 on the 2018 Toronto Waterfront Marathon however is searching for a sub-2:18 outcome this time round.
Difficult Raez Villanueva and Morgan are debutants Thomas Broatch of Vancouver and four:01 miler Kyle Grieve. Broatch is coming off a win on the Vancouver Eastside 10K the place he beat three-time Toronto champion Trevor Hofbauer. “Successful the Eastside 10K was once an enormous self belief booster for me,” says Broatch. “On every occasion you’re taking the place to begin the target is to win and run speedy.” The 24-year-old device engineer informed Canadian Working that he has bold targets to run underneath 2:15 on Sunday and that his marathon construct has long gone close to best possible.
For Grieve, who grew up and nonetheless is living in Toronto, this marathon has at all times been on his bucket record. “I’ve been short of to check out a marathon for a couple of years and feature simply saved hanging it off,” says Grieve, who were given married in the summertime. “Canada Working Sequence is a huge explanation why I’m nonetheless competing nowadays, so it was once by no means a query of the place I sought after to run my first marathon.” His function is to be aggressive in opposition to a powerful Canadian box and let the time come along side it.
The right way to watch?
Marathon lovers from around the globe will be able to observe the 2023 TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon continue to exist Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023, starting at 8:00 a.m. ET with a pre-race advent adopted by way of the advent of the elite box. The gun for the boys’s and ladies’s elite box fires at 8:45 a.m. ET. All race motion may also be adopted on torontowaterfrontmarathon.com or CBCsports.ca /CBC Gem or AthleticsCanada.television.
Enjoy the 2023 TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon are living from downtown Toronto on Oct. 15. Get the most recent race information, updates and are living effects from Canadian Working with the reinforce of ASICS Canada. Apply us on Twitter and Instagram for all of the motion.