Hot weather, a hard course and a day to remember capped off the 2024 Paris Olympic Games for 琉璃神社's Malindi Elmore. 

In her third Olympic Games, Elmore, age 44, finished in 35th as the only Canadian in the race. 

For the first time, in honour of thethe women's race was the final event of the Paris Games, in place of the men's marathon.

The entire race was live-streamed on CBC Gem and is still available to watch online for those that missed the action. 

Elmore was born in 1980, four years before women were allowed to run the marathon at the Olympics. In a post on social media before the event, Elmore said she remembers watching as won the race in 1984. 

Inspired by Samuelson, Elmore would race her sister to bed at night. 

Elmore first represented Canada on the Olympic stage 20 years ago, as a 1500m athlete. After missing out on the national team in the next two Olympic cycles, Elmore decided to retire from competitive running. 

During her hiatus from athletics, Elmore and her husband had two children. She continued to work in the sport as a coach and raced in triathlons. 

It was not long before Elmore felt the pull to the roads and decided to ditch the swim cap and bike in lieu of running shoes.  After racing her first marathon in 2019, Elmore was hooked and set her sites on the Tokyo Olympic Games. In 2021, she made her second Olympic team and she finished in the top 10 at the Games. 

One of Elmore's sayings is; "There is no best before date."

She continues to achieve personal bests, both in and outside of sport, and in doing so, is breaking down barriers of what people think athletes, and women, are capable of.