Rory Linkletter: Mormon Athlete
Rory Linkletter is a distance runner who never won a national collegiate championship or even a state high school title but has accomplished one of the most difficult feats in running by making an Olympic marathon team. He competed in Paris in 2024 representing Team Canada and placed 47th with a time of 2:13:09. The course was “the most hellish marathon in Olympic history,” according to one Wall Street Journal writer—eight of the 79 runners did not finish the race.[1]
Linkletter was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, to Jason Linkletter and Tara Thompson Linkletter. Following his parents’ divorce, he moved to Utah with his mother when he was 5. He spent summers and vacations with his father in Calgary and the school year in Herriman.
Linkletter become a U.S. citizen in 2021 but by then he had already joined with the Canadian team. "The competition to make a national team isn’t as fierce as it is in the U.S., but, as it turned out, Linkletter would have qualified for the U.S. team, as well; he was one of the few in this part of the world who was able to meet the Olympic standard."[2]
He ran with Brigham Young University. He started running cross country in ninth grade when a friend dragged him to a summer workout. He ran throughout high school in Herriman, Utah, was All-State twice in cross country and four times in track. He was first finisher on Utah’s fastest high school cross country team at state in 2012.
At BYU, Linkletter took second in the men’s 10,000 meters at the June 2017 NCAA National Championships with a time of 29:2:96 seconds. Linkletter’s finish was the best by a BYU distance runner since the college days of head coach Ed Eyestone, who won the NCAA national championship in the 10,000 meter in 1985. Linkletter won the West Preliminaries on May 23, 2019, in Sacramento, California, in the 10,000 meters and later placed 15th in the 10,000-meter race. He ended his collegiate career with bests of 13:36:41 for 5,000 meters and 28:12:42 for 10,000 meters.
After his 2019 graduation from BYU, Rory began road racing, increased his distance, and ran in the 2019 Canadian 10,000 meter Championships where he finished third. He was then named to the Canadian team for the 2019 Pan American Games and placed sixth. He placed 15th in the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, which served as the Canadian Marathon Championships and 2020 Olympic Trials.
He represented Canada in the last two World Athletics Championships. In the 2022 world championships in Eugene, Oregon, he placed 20th with a time of 2:10:24. Linkletter was 18th in summer 2003’s world championships in Budapest, with a time of 2:12:16.
On February 18, 2024, Linkletter finished 13th in the Seville Marathon in Spain, but surpassed the stiff Olympic standard by nine seconds with a time of 2:08:01. "The only way Linkletter could be denied a spot in the Olympic race is if three Canadians surpass his time before May 5. That is highly unlikely. Linkletter’s time Sunday is the third fastest ever by a Canadian."[3]
“It will be incredible to represent my country and my university, as well as compete alongside Clayton and Conner in Paris,” Linkletter said. “I owe a great deal of my success to the foundation laid by Ed Eyestone and the BYU cross-country and track programs.”
Conner Mantz, Clayton Young, and Linkletter were teammates on BYU’s 2019 cross-country team, which finished second in the NCAA championships. Linkletter trains with Ryan Hall, a former two-time Olympic marathoner, in Flagstaff, Arizona. Eyestone continues to train Mantz and Young in Provo.
He was raised as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is married to former BYU athlete Jill van Dielo and they are the parents of two children.
