Former junior triathlon star nails Olympic qualifying standard in the marathon
Tristan Woodfine became Canada's sixth-fastest marathon runner after finishing 14th at the London Marathon
Photo by:
Kevin Mackinnon
Tristan Woodfine appears to be on track for a spot on the Canadian Olympic team next year after a huge PB performance at yesterday’s London marathon.
Woodfine finished the race in 2:10:51, good enough for 14th overall and well under the Canadian Olympic standard of 2:11:30. His best time heading into Sunday’s race was 2:13.
Tristan Woodfine runs a PB and below the Olympic qualifying standard in London!#LondonMarathon #The40thRace pic.twitter.com/G8ho8DXaWT
— Athletics Canada (@AthleticsCanada) October 4, 2020
Woodfine’s time makes him the sixth-fastest Canadian ever in the marathon, behind Canadian record holder Cam Levins, Trevor Hofbauer, Jerome Drayton, Reid Coolsaet and Dylan Wykes. Unless two men go faster than Woodfine before next spring his time should net him an Olympic selection.
Related: Bring it on – Tristan Woodfine and Joanna Brown
Before Woodfine focused on running, he was one of Canada’s premier junior triathletes. Like Canada’s top-ranked ITU athlete, Joanna Brown, Woodfine came up through the triathlon ranks as part of the Bytown Storm youth triathlon program coached by Greg Kealey. After winning Ontario high school cross country championships and winning gold medals at the Ontario Games triathlon, they chose Guelph university in part because of its championship running program and the Triathlon Canada regional training centre that was based there.
After finishing 22nd at the ITU world championship junior race in 2011, a broken elbow derailled much of his 2012 triathlon season. Over the ensuing years we’d see less and less of Woodfine in the triathlon ranks as his running career took off, which certainly seems like a great decision based on yesterday’s effort.
