Lanni Marchant

Biography

At Rio 2016, Lanni Marchant became the first Canadian woman to compete in the 10,000m and the marathon at the same Olympic Games. Marchant is the current Canadian record holder in both the marathon and half marathon. She set the national marathon mark at 2:28:00 in October 2013 in Toronto, breaking a 28-year-old record, and the half marathon mark at 1:10:47 in March 2014 in Nashville. She finished fourth in the marathon at the 2014 Commonwealth Games after making her IAAF World Championship debut in 2013. Marchant won the 2015 Canadian 10km title after finishing second in 2014. Her winning time of 31:48 was just four seconds shy of the Canadian record. Two weeks later she won the 2015 Canadian Half Marathon title. Marchant went on to win 10,000m bronze at the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto and competed in the long distance track event at the 2015 IAAF World Championships. Marchant is the third fastest Canadian woman all time in the 10,000m on the track. Diagnosed with osteoporosis during her junior year of university, she has overcome numerous injuries in her career, including a broken femur, fractured tibia and a fractured pelvis in 2009.

Getting to know…

Family: Older siblings Samantha and Daniel… Younger siblings Randi, Shane, Shannon and MacKenzie… Getting into the Sport: Began running competitively in high school, but didn’t start elite marathoning until she was 28… Had originally been a figure skater from ages 3 to 17 who ran to stay in shape… Outside Interests: Is a criminal defence attorney… Earned LLB from the University of Ottawa and JD from Michigan State University in 2011… Also has Economics degree from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga… Enjoys reading, cooking, trying out different beers… Odds and Ends: Favourite motto: “If it is to be it is up to me”… When racing at night, she likes to go to a mid-afternoon movie to take her mind off the race and not waste energy feeling nervous…