Before the 10,000 meters at the Prefontaine Classic Friday night, Canadian distance runner Cameron Levins told countryman Simon Bairu, “It’s going down.”
Bairu’s response: “About time.”
Levins came through on his prediction, finishing fourth in in 27 minutes, 7.51 seconds and beating Bairu’s Canadian record, set in 2010, by more than 16 seconds.
“I’m sure a lot of Canadians are saying, ‘About freaking time,'” Levins said. “That’s kind of how I feel, too.”
All things considered, the race went as well as it could have for Levins. He touched the 5,000-meter mark with a 13:40 split, and despite running about 6,000 meters by himself, he “felt good the whole way.”
Levins trailed the leading pack, which included Mo Farah, Paul Kipngetich Tanui and Geoffrey Kamworor, by over 15 seconds. However, Levins still had a way to gauge where he stood.
“I had a lot of athletes to chase,” Levins said. “I just tried to catch them and keep fighting for time.”
It helped that Hayward Field was getting louder and louder as the race pushed on. By the latter half of it, Levins could not even hear his coach shout splits to him.
“That crowd was amazing,” Levins said. “Basically the entire time I was going around the track I was getting screamed at.”
Levins said it was the first time he made a real stab at the 10,000 since 2012, when he set his former personal best. But he did not feel any rust. Instead, he got exactly what he came for.
He will run the 5,000 meters at the Portland Track Festival in June and is looking forward to the Pan-American Games in Toronto. He’s also getting ready for the world championships in Beijing, where he hopes to medal.
But, on Friday, it was about becoming a Canadian record holder. Helped by the continuous roars from both grandstands, Levins finally established himself as one.
“They kept pushing me along,” Levins said. “I was running as hard as I could the whole way. I wasn’t going to let them down.”
