Marco Arop

The Arop family fled Sudan during the civil war of the 1990s when Marco was a toddler. He spent his early years sharing an apartment in Egypt with his parents and three older brothers before they emigrated to Canada.[3] The family lived in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan for two years, before taking up residence in Edmonton, Alberta.[4] Arop's initial athletic focus was basketball. He was offered a scholarship by Concordia University of Edmonton but switched his focus to track upon the recommendation of his high school basketball coach, who would later admit, "I had no idea that Marco was going to be this good."[5]

Arop competed for Mississippi State in the 2018 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field 800m in Eugene, Oregon, finishing in second place. He won the gold medal in the 800 m at the 2019 Pan American Games, setting a new Pan American record in the process.[6] He then made his World Championship debut at the 2019 edition in Doha. Qualifying to the final of the 800 m, he finished seventh. After the World Championships, Arop decided to end his amateur career and turn professional full-time, though the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic meant that the 2020 athletic season was largely cancelled.[7]

In 2021, Arop competed in his first full professional season, making his first Diamond League podium with a silver medal at the BAUHAUS-galan in Stockholm.[7] Named to his first Olympic team, Arop competed in the 800 m event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Entering the race as a podium contender, he finished seventh in his semi-final. He did not advance to the event final, a major disappointment that he and his coaches attributed to a longstanding habit of starting too quickly, resulting in fading toward the end of the race.[8][9] In his next event that season, the Prefontaine Classic on the 2021 Diamond League circuit, Arop claimed the gold medal ahead of the reigning Olympic gold and silver medallists, Emmanuel Korir and Ferguson Rotich.[10] Five days later, at the Athletissima in Lausanne, Arop again defeated Korir and Rotich to claim his second Diamond League gold.[11] Arop's results qualified him to the Diamond League Final in Zürich, where he finished in fourth place.[12]

Arop began 2022 with this debut at the World Athletics Indoor Championships at the 2022 edition in Belgrade. He once again started a race hard and was leading the 800 m at the halfway point, but faded badly down the stretch and finished in eighth place.[13] On the 2022 Diamond League, Arop won his third Diamond League gold, and first of the season, at the British Grand Prix in Birmingham.[14] The following month, he won another Canadian national title, besting silver medallist Brandon McBride by almost a full second.[15] In an invitational event held at Foote Field weeks before the 2022 World Athletics Championships, he ran the 800 m in 1:43.61, the third-best time for any athlete that year to date.[4] Arop had the fastest time in the heats of the 800 m in Eugene, Oregon, advancing to the semi-finals.[16] He was second in his semi-final, passed just at the line by Algerian Slimane Moula, and secured automatic qualification to the final. Looking ahead, Arop said, "it's been a great first two rounds, but if I can't get it done in the final, I won't feel like I completed anything."[17] Racing a 1:44.28 time in the final, Arop won the bronze medal, only the second medal for a Canadian in the 800 m at the World Championships. Arop said this medal "means the world" and was "already looking forward to bigger and better next year."[18][19] Appearing in the 1000 m event at the Herculis meet in Monaco, he set a new national record time of 2:14.35, breaking a decade-old best of Nathan Brannen's.[20]

Going into the 2023 World Athletics Championships, Arop topped the World Athletics rankings for 800 m runners.[21] He proceeded through the heats by finishing in first place and also won his semifinal heat, leading both from start to finish. In the final, Arop changed strategies and dropped to the back of the pack over the first lap, after 500 m, he moved toward the lead of the pack and did not relinquish first place. Arop was the first Canadian male to win the 800 m at the World Athletics Championships.[22] After the race he said that "my best race plan is to be ready for anything and sometimes that's not having a race plan. When the [start] gun [sounded] my body was telling me to be patient. I've visualized this so many times and seen myself winning, but it doesn't compare to the real thing. I'm still in disbelief and I gotta give a lot of credit to my coach, my support team, my family and everybody behind me."[23] Shortly after his World Championship victory, Arop set a new personal best time of 1:43.24 at the 2023 Xiamen Diamond League event, where he finished narrowly second to Kenyan Emmanuel Wanyonyi.[24] In the season-ending 2023 Diamond League Prefontaine Classic he finished second to Wanyonyi again, while setting a new Canadian national record and personal best time of 1:42.85.[2]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Marco Arop.

• Marco Arop at World Athletics
• Marco Arop at Olympedia