Cameron Levins

Cameron Levins (born March 28, 1989) is a Canadian long-distance runner. He won the bronze medal in the 10,000 metres at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Levins had the best-Canadian finish ever of fourth in the marathon at the 2022 World Championships, setting a new Canadian record. He is the North American record holder for the marathon and the Canadian record holder for the half marathon.

Levins represented Canada at the 2012 London and 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and has been selected to represent Canada at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Career
Cam Levins comes from Black Creek and Courtenay, British Columbia.

In college, he competed for the Southern Utah Thunderbirds under coach Eric Houle. In 2012, he won the 5000 m and 10,000 m at the NCAA Championships. For his efforts, he also won the Bowerman award as the top collegiate track and field athlete, becoming the first Canadian to do so.

He qualified for the 2012 London Olympics in the 5000 meters and 10,000 meters events at the 2012 Canadian Olympic Trials in Calgary, Alberta, where he took first place in the 5000 m. At the Games, Levins finished 14th in the 5000 m in a time of 13:51.87 and 11th in the 10,000 m with a time of 27:40.68, despite catching the flu just before the finals.

He finished 14th in the 10,000 meters at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics in Moscow.

Levins was the Men's 2012 Bowerman Award winner, which is the NCAA's annual award to the most outstanding collegiate athlete in track & field. He was the first Canadian recipient of the award.

In the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, he led down the final stretch with a "spectacular kick" but finished third in 27:56.23, less than one-tenth of a second behind winner Moses Kipsiro.

On October 21, 2018, making his marathon debut, Levins broke Jerome Drayton's 43-year-old Canadian men's record for the marathon, finishing fourth in the 29th annual Toronto Waterfront Marathon in 2:09:25, a 44-second improvement on the previous national record.

He represented Canada at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, placing 72nd in the Olympic marathon in a time of 2:28:43.

Levins finished fourth in the marathon at the 2022 World Athletics Championships held in Eugene, Oregon in a new Canadian men's record time of 2:07:09, taking two minutes off his previous national record set in 2018; it was also the best Canadian finish ever in the event.

On February 12, 2023, he broke Ben Flanagan's 2022 Canadian record in the half marathon with a time of 60:18 at the First Half in Vancouver, becoming the first Canadian to break the 61-minute barrier in the event (Flanagan's record was 61:00).

On March 5, 2023, Levins improved his own Canadian marathon record by more than 90 seconds to break the North American record and finish fifth at the Tokyo Marathon. He ran a time of 2:05:36, taking two seconds off the previous area best.

Levins would make his New York City Marathon debut on November 5. He came through 5 km and 10 km with the lead group in 15:29 and 30:39 before being dropped from the lead group after 13 km. After running detached from the leaders for several kilometres, he would drop out of the race around 20 km.

On February 7, 2024, Levins, alongside fellow marathoner Malindi Elmore, received an early selection to represent Canada in the marathon at the 2024 Olympics.

Career highlights

 * Two-time NCAA Champion:
 * 2012: 5000m, 10,000m
 * 14-time Summit League Champion:
 * 2008–09: 1500m
 * 2009–10: XC, mile (indoor), 3000m (indoor)
 * 2010–11: 1500m, 5000m
 * 2011–12: XC, 800m (indoor), mile (indoor), 3000m (indoor), 5000m (indoor), 1500m, 5000m, 10,000m
 * 11-time Canadian Champion
 * XC: 2010, 2011, 2012
 * 5000m: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
 * 5 km: 2017
 * Half marathon: 2022, 2023
 * Marathon: 2018

Canadian record holder for:
 * 2000 metres (indoor) – 4:55.35 (New York City 2014) 
 * 10 km – 28:11 (Paris 2024)  (jointly held with Ben Flanagan)
 * Half marathon – 1:00:18 (Vancouver 2023) 
 * Marathon – 2:05:36 (Tokyo 2023) North American record