 Arop after winning gold at the2023 World Athletics Championships | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1998-09-20)September 20, 1998 (age 27)[1] |
| Home town | Edmonton, Alberta[1] |
| Height | 193 cm (6 ft 4 in)[1] |
| Website | www.marco-arop.com |
| Sport | |
| Country | Canada |
| Sport | Track |
Event | 800 metres |
| College team | Mississippi State Bulldogs |
| Club | Running Room Athletic Club Alberta |
| Coached by | Christopher V. Woods, Ron Thompson |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Highest world ranking | 1st (800 m, 2023) |
| Personalbests | 800 m: 1:41.20AR,NR (Paris 2024) 1000 m: 2:13.13AR,NR (Zagreb 2024) |
Marco AropOLY[citation needed] (born September 20, 1998) is a Canadiantrack and field athlete competing in themiddle distance events. Arop is the reigning world champion in the 800 m, winning gold at the2023 World Athletics Championship, after winning bronze the previous year at the2022 World Athletics Championships. He was the first Canadian to win a world championship in the 800 m. Arop was also the2019 Pan American Games champion in 800 m.
Arop represented Canada at the2020 Summer Olympics and the 2024 Summer Olympics, running a personal best of 1:41.20 over 800 m to win a silver medal in Paris. This time places him as the 4th fastest 800 m runner in history, behindEmmanuel Wanyonyi,Wilson Kipketer, and world record holderDavid Rudisha. With this time, Arop is also the Canadian and North, Central American and Caribbean record holder over the two lap distance. He also holds the North American record in the 1000 m, with a time of 2:13.13.[2]
The Arop family fledSudan during thecivil war of the 1990s when Marco was a toddler. He spent his early years sharing an apartment inEgypt with his parents and three older brothers before they immigrated to Canada.[3] The family lived inSaskatoon,Saskatchewan for two years, before taking up residence inEdmonton,Alberta.[4] Arop's initial athletic focus wasbasketball. He was offered a scholarship byConcordia University of Edmonton but switched his focus to track upon the recommendation of his high school basketball coach, Michael Wojcicki, who would later admit, "I had no idea that Marco was going to be this good."[5]
Arop competed forMississippi State in the 2018NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field 800 m in Eugene, Oregon, finishing in second place. He won the gold medal in the800 m at the2019 Pan American Games, setting a new Pan American record in the process.[6] He then made hisWorld Championship debut at the2019 edition inDoha. Qualifying to the final of the800 m, he finished seventh. After the World Championships, Arop decided to end his amateur career and turn professional full-time, though the onset of theCOVID-19 pandemic meant that the 2020 athletic season was largely cancelled.[7]
In 2021, Arop competed in his first full professional season, making his firstDiamond League podium with a silver medal at theBAUHAUS-galan inStockholm.[7] Named to hisfirst Olympic team, Arop competed in the800 m event at the2020 Summer Olympics inTokyo. 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, thePrefontaine Classic on the2021 Diamond League circuit, Arop claimed the gold medal ahead of the reigning Olympic gold and silver medallists,Emmanuel Korir andFerguson Rotich.[10] Five days later, at theAthletissima inLausanne, Arop again defeated Korir and Rotich to claim his second Diamond League gold.[11] Arop's results qualified him to theDiamond League Final inZürich, where he finished in fourth place.[12]
Arop began 2022 with this debut at theWorld Athletics Indoor Championships at the2022 edition inBelgrade. He once again started a race hard and was leading the800 m at the halfway point, but faded badly down the stretch and finished in eighth place.[13] On the2022 Diamond League, Arop won his third Diamond League gold, and first of the season, at theBritish Grand Prix inBirmingham.[14] The following month, he won another Canadian national title, besting silver medallistBrandon McBride by almost a full second.[15] In an invitational event held atFoote Field weeks before the2022 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 the800 m inEugene, Oregon, advancing to the semi-finals.[16] He was second in his semi-final, passed just at the line by AlgerianSlimane 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 the1000 m event at theHerculis meet inMonaco, he set anew national record time of 2:14.35, breaking a decade-old best ofNathan Brannen's.[20]
Going into the2023 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 the2023Xiamen Diamond League event, where he finished narrowly second to KenyanEmmanuel Wanyonyi.[24] In the season-ending 2023 Diamond LeaguePrefontaine Classic he finished second to Wanyonyi again, while setting a new Canadian national record and personal best time of 1:42.85.[25]
Arop began his 2024 season on 4 February, competing in the short track 1000 m run at theNew Balance Indoor Grand Prix inBoston, Massachusetts. Arop won the event in a time of 2:14.74, breakingNate Brannen's previous national record in the short track 1000 m of 2:16.87 set back in 2014. Arop missedAyanleh Souleiman's short track 1000 m world record of 2:14.20 by only 0.54 seconds, but still set a new North, Central American and Caribbean area record in the event.[26][27] Prior to the2024 Olympic Games, on 12 July, Arop competed in the 800 m at the Herculis Meeting in Monaco, finishing sixth in a time of 1:42.93 while AlgerianDjamel Sedjati set a new world lead with a time of 1:41.46.[28] However, after making it through the heats and semifinals, in thefinal of the 800 metres at the Games on 10 August, Arop secured a silver medal, finishing second to Kenyan athleteEmmanuel Wanyonyi, in a newCanadian national record and newNorth, Central American & Caribbean area record of 1:41.20 to become the fourth fastest man in history at the distance. Arop finished only one hundredth of a second behind Wanyonyi, who ran 1:41.19. He finished ahead of Sedjati, who took third place in a time of 1:41.50.[29][30] On 8 September, at theMemorial Borisa Hanžekovića in Zagreb, Arop ran a new North American area record in the1000 m, running 2:13.13 to become the fifth fastest man of all time at this distance.[31][2]
In October 2024, it was announced that he had signed up for the inaugural season of theMichael Johnson foundedGrand Slam Track.[32]
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Representing Canada | |||||
| 2017 | Canada Summer Games | Winnipeg | 1st | 800 m | 1:49:23 |
| Pan American U20 Championships | Trujillo | 2nd | 800 m | 1:47.08 | |
| 2018 | Canadian Championships | Ottawa | 1st | 800 m | 1:46:15 |
| NACAC Championships | Toronto | 2nd | 800 m | 1:46.82 | |
| 2019 | Canadian Championships | Montreal | 2nd | 800 m | 1:46:93 |
| Pan American Games | Lima | 1st | 800 m | 1:44.25 | |
| World Championships | Doha | 7th | 800 m | 1:45.78 | |
| 2021 | Olympic Games | Tokyo | 14th (sf) | 800 m | 1:44.90 |
| 2022 | World Indoor Championships | Belgrade | 8th | 800 m | 1:47.58 |
| Canadian Championships | Langley | 1st | 800 m | 1:44.39 | |
| World Championships | Eugene | 3rd | 800 m | 1:44.28 | |
| 2023 | Canadian Championships | Langley | 1st | 800 m | 1:44.39 |
| World Championships | Budapest | 1st | 800 m | 1:44.24 | |
| 2024 | Olympic Games | Paris | 2nd | 800 m | 1:41.20 |
| 2025 | World Championships | Tokyo, Japan | 3rd | 800 m | 1:41.95 |
| Grand Slam Track results[33] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slam | Race group | Event | Pl. | Time | Prize money |
| 2025 Kingston Slam | Short distance | 1500 m | 6th | 3:39.65 | US$50,000 |
| 800 m | 1st | 1:45.13 | |||
| 2025 Miami Slam | Short distance | 1500 m | 7th | 3:35.95 | US$50,000 |
| 800 m | 1st | 1:43.69 | |||
| 2025 Philadelphia Slam | Short distance | 800 m | 1st | 1:43.38 | US$100,000 |
| 1500 m | 4th | 3:35.38 | |||
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