Cam Levins of Black Creek is one of 46 athletes named by Athletics Canada to represent Canada at the 2013 International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championship in Athletics.
It will be another performance on the world stage for Levins, who wore the Maple Leaf at the 2012 London Summer Olympics. The IAAF championships go Aug. 10-18 in in Moscow at Luzhniki Stadium, site of the 1980 Olympic Games.
“The Moscow World Championship is our first major test on the path towards success at Rio 2016,” explains Team Leader and High Performance Director Scott MacDonald. “Our objective is to improve on the medal count and top-eight finishes we had at the 2012 Olympic Games.
“London saw a new generation of athletes stepping forward. In Moscow we are looking for those young athletes to take it to the next level by advancing through to finals, and to veterans to help lead the way to the podium.”
The 14th edition of the championships will be the largest global sporting event of the year; the nine days of action will reach more than five billion TV viewers in more than 200 territories across the globe.
Levins, the 2012 NCAA 5000 and 10,000-meter champion while at Southern Utah University, has been training with the Nike-sponsored Oregon Project coached by Alberto Salazar, a three-time New York City Marathon winner.
“Alberto’s Oregon Project seems like a really good fit. I really liked the guys there, and his long-term plan for me is what I want for myself,” Levins told a reporter. Levins, 24, has personal bests of 13:18.29 for 5,000 metres and 27:27.96 for the 10,000 metres. He was 11th in the 10,000 and 14th in the 5,000 at the 2012 London Olympics.
An avid trainer, Levins notes Salazar favoured a high-mileage approach during his own career. Levins is also eager for the added opportunity to utilize facilities at the Nike campus in Beaverton to improve his overall strength.
“It’s obvious that [Salazar] wants to keep me healthy and sees the longevity of my career years down the road. He wants to make me faster, he wants to make sure my body becomes stronger and more resistant to injuries.”
Salazar told Race Results Weekly that Levins, “met with our runners and all of them voted him onto the team as they felt he would add to the positive chemistry of our team. We all believe Cam has the ability to be soon challenging for medals as several Oregon Project runners have accomplished in recent years.”
Levins is the first and only Canadian to ever win the Bowerman Award, the NCAA’s most prestigious award in athletics handed out annually to the association’s top male and female athletes.
Despite only being awarded since 2009, other recipients of the Bowerman include decathlon world record holder Ashton Eaton, London 2012 10,000m silver medalist Galen Rupp, and 2011 1,500m world champion Jennifer Simpson.
