It’s been a big year for La Malbaie, Que.’s Florence Caron, a star NCAA runner for Penn State University. In 2025 alone, the 25-year-old has essentially rewritten her entire slate of personal bests, and in just the last two months, climbed onto two national podiums. To top it off, on Thursday, Caron took to Instagram to announced her new NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) deal with running shoe brand Hoka.
“Being supported by this amazing brand is truly a dream come true,” Caron wrote. “Thank you to everyone who has helped me on this journey and made this possible.”
Caron is fresh off her half-marathon debut in at Edmonton’s Canadian Half-Marathon Championships on Sunday, where she scored the silver medal with a time of 1:11:57 (third for overall women), runner-up to national marathon record holder Natasha Wodak, who won in 1:11:40.
At June’s Canadian 10,000m Championships in Guelph, Ont., the Quebec native clocked 33:18.84, winning by nearly 10 seconds over May’s Canadian road 10K champion, Gracelyn Larkin, who ran 33:28.07. Rounding out the national podium was Jade Bérubé of Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac, Que., with a time of 34:50.36.
The former Laval Rouge et Or athlete’s performances really took off in 2023, following her transfer to Penn State. Last November, she placed 19th at the 2024 NCAA Cross-Country Championships, making history as Penn State’s first cross-country All-American in eight years. In June, at the outdoor NCAA Division I Track and Field Championships in Oregon, she pulled off an impressive 5,000m/10,000m double, clocking 15:49.72 and 32:23.71 (a personal best) for 16th and 11th place, respectively.
Caron’s bests of 32:23.71 over 10,000m and 15:27.05 in the 5,000m mark the second- and fourth-fastest Canadian times this year.
