Cameron Levins equals Benjamin Flanagan’s Canadian road 10K record in Paris

French writer Alexandre Dumas wrote in the 1800s, “I came to Paris with four écus in my pocket, and I’d have fought with anybody who told me I was in no condition to buy the Louvre.”

Levins’ record run

Canadian Cameron Levins was indeed in condition to at least equal Benjamin Flanagan’s national 10K road record on Friday night outside the famed museum.

He was competing in the 10K race at the Asics Festival of Running. The 35-year-old clocked a finish time of 28 minutes and 11 seconds to finish in sixth place. Levins bettered his own pb of 28:40 by 29 seconds run last May in Ottawa, where he finished second to fellow Canadian Moh Ahmed who clocked 28:22 for the win.

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Levins equalled Flanagan’s mark from the Boston Athletic Association 10K event on June 26, 2022. The previous record was 28:17 set by Newfoundland’s Paul McCloy in 1987.

The race was run on a spectator-friendly 2.5 km loop course starting and finishing at Palais-Royal at Musée du Louvre (The Louvre).

Levins posted on social media over the weekend, “Really great atmosphere getting to race on the streets of Paris. Can’t wait to be back here this summer for the Olympics.”

Levins will be racing in the marathon at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. He holds the North American record in the marathon from his 2023 Tokyo run of 2:05:36.

The top-three

The top three men were Ethiopian Jemal Mekonen in 27:43, and Kenyans Hillary Kipkoech (27:44) and Vincent Kiprotich Kibet who clocked a 27:48 performance. Kipkoech was a little of his bet set in Castellón, Spain in February last year at 27:23.

The 27-year-old Mekonen ran to a new personal best (pb) time. He is coming off a pb marathon performance of 2:06:08 from Seoul last month.

Ethiopian Likina Amebaw was the first female finisher in the time of 29:56. Taking second was Loice Chemnung of Kenya in 29:57 and like the top three in the men’s field, the second and third finishers were both Kenyan. It was Miriam Chebet clocking 30:41 to finish third.
30:41.

For the 26-year-old Amebaw, it was an outlier performance and big new personal best. Her previous best was 1:58 slower from Lille, France, last year. The Paris run is a World Athletics points performance garnering a rating of 1251 points. The only other 1200-plus point performance was from a 5K in Monaco in February 2024 where she clocked a 14:35 performance or a 1212 rating.

It was also a pb for Chemnung and Chebet and outlier performances.

Image of Levins: @lela__labs

Lea Kurth Photographer from Instagram post.

Paris Marathon a dress rehearsal for the Olympics

Meanwhile, Sunday’s Paris Marathon was a dress rehearsal for the Olympic Games coming up this summer. The streets were the scene of more than 50,000 people running.

The top-three men were, Uma Mulugeta in 2:05:33, while Kenyans Titus Kipruto (2:05:48) and Elisha Rotich (2:06:54) took second and third.

The top three women were Ethiopians Mestawut Fikir in 2:20:45, Enat Tirusew 2:20:48 and Kenyan Vivian Cheruiyot in 2:21:46.

Results

Women’s elite 5K results

WOMEN’S ELITE 10K RESULTS

MEN’S ELITE 5KM TOP RESULTS

MEN’S ELITE 10K TOP RESULTS