When Ben Flanagan lines up for Sunday’s running of the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon, he will be chasing more than a finish line.

The Kitchener native makes his marathon debut at the World Athletics Elite Label event, which doubles as the 2025 Canadian Marathon Championships. It’s a long-awaited transition for the runner who represented Canada in the 5,000 metres at the Paris Olympics.

“I had a pretty good idea I was going to make the transition right after the Olympics,” the 30-year-old Flanagan said from Massachusetts, where he lives with his wife, Hannah, and their six-month-old daughter, Nora. “Paris felt like the right time to close the chapter on the track and take a swing at something new.”

Flanagan said he was proud of what he accomplished in the shorter distances — including

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