Marco Arop wins bronze for first career world championship medal in 800m

Arop is just the second Canadian male to medal in the race at worlds. Gary Reed won silver in 2007 in Osaka, Japan.

Finishing eighth at the world indoor championships in March, Arop began gaining momentum by winning the Canadian national championships, then running the third-fastest time in the world this season (1:43.61) three weeks ago at the Pre World Invitational Championships.

The bronze medal-effort did not come without a scare, as Arop had to hold off surging fourth-place finisher Emmanuel Wonyonyi of Kenya.

“Relief that I didn’t get caught at the line. I mean, I got caught, but I’m happy that I came out with the medal.”

Kenya’s Emmanuel Korir captured gold with a time of one minute 43.71 seconds. Algerian Djamel Sedjati claimed silver crossing the line in 1:44.14.

Arop, who ran 1:44.28, started out the race steadily before getting tied up with Wonyonyi early in the race.

“Part of me was just thinking, ‘relax, stay calm. You could still get back.'”

And that he did. Arop took the lead around the 200-metre mark and managed to hold onto it for much of the way.

“I knew if I didn’t get out in 23 seconds, I’d have something left for the finish,” he said.

“Once I took the lead, I knew I had to make a move early otherwise Korir and Sedjati were gonna come. I knew they could close hard. I made sure I made that move early (and) take some people out of the race.

As the final bend came, Korir started to make his push, as Arop looked to be slowing down in the final 100 metres.

After losing the lead with about 50 metres remaining, Arop was caught by Sedjati with the finish line just a few metres away.

Arop looks forward to next year’s world championships where he feels he could do even better.

“Once I’ve done something, I feel like I could do it again,” he said. “I know next year’s going to be even better and bigger and I think the goal will remain the same.”

Meanwhile, Damian Warner’s quest for a world decathlon title is over.

The 32-year-old from London, Ont., suffered an apparent hamstring injury about 120 metres into the 400 on Saturday, the final event of Day 1.

Canada’s Olympic champion was the leader through the first four events of the day.

Pierce Lepage of Whitby, Ont., was second after Day 1 on Saturday, with 4,485 points. Ayden Owens-Delerme of Puerto Rico moved into the lead after Warner’s injury.

Warner has never won world decathlon gold. He has a silver and two bronze.

At last summer’s Tokyo Olympics, Warner shattered his Canadian record and became one of just four decathletes in history to top the 9,000-point barrier.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 23, 2022.

Abdulhamid Ibrahim, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Marco Arop wins bronze for first career world championship medal in 800m

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