On Wednesday evening in Montreal, in a final attempt to qualify for September’s World Athletics Championships, Kitchener, Ont.’s Foster Malleck soared far beyond expectations. The 23-year-old delivered a stunning 3:32.38 1,500m performance at La Classique de Montréal–a time that not only crushed the 3:33.00 auto-qualifying world standard, securing his spot on Team Canada, but also makes Malleck the second-fastest Canadian 1,500m runner in history.
Malleck took the win over the newly-crowned national 1,500m champion Max Davies, who was also chasing the world standard. Davies came up short with a 3:36.07–his second-fastest time ever–while Montreal’s Matthew Beaudet finished third in 3:37.73.
The run came just three days after Malleck took silver at the Canadian track championships, upgrading from last year’s bronze. Although both he and Davies earned top-three finishes–making them eligible for Team Canada selection–neither had the standard nor ranked high enough to qualify through World Athletics’ points system. The Montreal meet was one of the last chances before the qualification window closes on Aug. 24, and both runners entered as a last-ditch effort to boost their world rankings points.
Malleck made it count. With the pace set for the standard, he sliced nearly two seconds off his previous personal best of 3:34.15 and clocked the fastest Canadian 1,500m this year–by more than two seconds. He now trails only Kevin Sullivan on the all-time Canadian list; Sullivan’s 3:31.71 record has stood since 2000.
A career-defining season
To say 2025 has been a breakthrough season for Malleck would be an understatement. The runner capped off his collegiate career at Boston University with a third-place finish in the mile at the NCAA championships, and secured his spot on his first senior national team for the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China. In April, he signed a pro contact with Under Armour Mission Run Baltimore Distance.
The 2025 World Championships in Tokyo will mark Malleck’s outdoor world championships debut.
Click here for full results from La Classique de Montréal.
