Rory Linkletter’s first serious test against mountain runners went well. The 28-year-old Canadian, who ran 2:06:04 at the 2026 Boston Marathon in April and holds the Canadian half marathon record, finished 14th overall at the Broken Arrow Ascent in Olympic Valley, California, on Friday. His time of 41:02 left him just over three minutes behind the winner.
The race is a 5.8-kilometre climb of 865 vertical metres at Palisades Tahoe resort, with no descent. Runners finish at the top. Linkletter was the second Canadian to cross the line. Alexandre Ricard finished 12th overall. The men’s race was won by Kenyan mountain specialist Patrick Kipngeno in 37:59, and Anna Gibson took the women’s title.
A debut that held up
As reported by Canadian Running, Linkletter has spoken openly in recent months about testing himself in the mountains while still in his prime on the roads. When his trail debut was announced earlier this month, he said the Ascent felt like the simplest way to dip his toe in the water. In Olympic Valley he did exactly that and came out the other side a credible elite mountain racer.
The course is short by trail standards, but the climb is the kind that has earned Broken Arrow its reputation. The race weekend even features a brand new vertical challenge nicknamed the “Stairway to Heaven”. Linkletter, who holds dual American and Canadian citizenship, lined up against athletes who have spent years training for vertical races and finished inside the top 15 of a deep field.
Linkletter represented Canada in the marathon at the Paris Olympics and broke four minutes for the mile in 2023, running 3:59.05. He now adds a top-15 elite trail finish to a resume that already covers the track, the roads, and the world’s biggest marathon stages.
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