Marco Arop, the reigning world 800-metre champion, will run for his first Olympic gold medal on Saturday.
The Edmonton athlete won his semifinal heat in one minute 45.05 seconds on Friday to qualify for Saturday’s final (1:05 p.m. ET, CBC Gem, CBC Olympics app) at Stade de France.
Arop beat Frenchman Gabriel Tual by 11-100ths in the second of three heats and qualified eighth overall.
“Staying composed, stay controlled and be ready for that final kick. I think I executed well today,” Arop told Devin Heroux of CBC Sports.
Arop positioned himself at the back of the pack early on but took the lead at the start of the final 400-metre lap. He was in a battle for first with South Africa’s Edmund du Plessis until the final 100 when he slowly pulled away. About 25 metres to finish line, he glanced to his right at Tual, who was charging late but couldn’t catch the Canadian.
“That was brilliant by Marco Arop. He controlled the race, he was patient, made his tactics clear and was confident,” said CBC Sports analyst Dave Moorcroft. “When we saw him coming down the straight he looked relaxed.
“Tual is one of the fastest in the world … but Marco was the class act in that race. With du Plessis on his shoulder, [he was] not panicking, biding his time. You’re making massive decisions in the most important part of the race and [Arop] did that brilliantly.”
WATCH | Arop grabs last spot for 8-man, 800m final:
Marco Arop of Canada advances to the men’s 800-metre final at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 by winning his semifinal heat with a time of 1:45.05
Last September, Arop’s coach Chris Woods told CBC Sports it would be deemed a success for the middle-distance runner if he made the Olympic final in Paris.
“He’s a world champion but not yet an Olympic finalist,” Woods said, “so that’s the goal, and then we can focus on medals and winning.”
Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi was tops in qualifying Friday, leading a fast third heat in 1:43.32.
Five of the eight runners finished under 1:44 while none of the 16 athletes across the first two heats dipped under 1:45.
Arop won the 2023 world championship title in a Canadian record 1:42.85 and has a 1:42.93 season best.
Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati will also be one to watch in the final after he won Friday’s opening heat in 1:45.08. On July 12, he clocked a world-leading 1:41.46 at the Monaco Diamond League meet five days after going 1:41.56 at the Meeting de Paris.
‘I’m not sure how I’m going to feel tomorrow’
The goal until Saturday’s final is to have a good recovery from the semifinal, Arop pointed out.
“l’m not sure how I’m going to feel tomorrow,” he said, “but I’m confident that I’ll have what it takes to get the job done.”
The 25-year-old didn’t get the job done at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago.
Arop placed seventh (1:44.90) in his semifinal, 16-100ths behind Kenya’s Emmanuel Korir, the final qualifier for the final. The Canadian placed 14th overall in a field of 24.
Arop didn’t feel well during warmup and his stomach “felt heavy” after he ate a banana about three hours earlier, but the middle-distance runner didn’t share this information with Woods or members of his support staff.
“I wasn’t feeling the best going into the race,” Arop told CBC Sports last year. “I had a great heat [the previous day winning in 1:45.26] and thought if I approached [the semifinal] the same way and everything felt the same, I would be in the final, so I was fairly confident.”
Weakened late in 2021 Olympic semifinal
But Arop admitted not having the confidence to change his racing style minutes before the race.
He managed to hold off Australia’s Peter Bol after the latter made a move around the 500-metre mark but Arop weakened once he reached the straightaway with about 80 metres to the finish.
After the race, it was an instant lesson learned.
“No matter how I’m feeling,” Arop began, “I have to assess the situation and choose what race plan is best. The way I felt [before the 2021 Olympic semifinals] and thinking I had to force that race strategy [of leading start to finish] was the worst combination.”
Arop is feeling much better about his approach to Saturday’s final.
“I’m in a completely different [mental] state from three years ago [in Tokyo] and it’s showing in the races I’ve run,” he said.
“[I’m] keeping my confidence high going into the final and I’m just grateful for it all, really.”
Canada 8th in women’s 400m relay qualifying
A 51-second performance in the third leg by Lauren Gale lifted the Canadian women’s 4×400-metre relay team to Saturday’s final at 3:14 p.m..
Teammate Kyra Constantine was passed by Sharlene Mawdsley of Ireland down the straightaway of the anchor leg but Canada qualified eighth for the eight-team final with its time of three minutes 25.77 seconds.
The top three teams from each of the two heats advanced with the next two fastest, Belgium (3:24.92) and Canada, which beat Italy by 73-100ths of a second for the final spot. The United States, in a 3:21.44 season best, had the fastest time.
Only 1.05 seconds separated the seven other qualifying teams.
“We’re a fighting team,” Zoe Sherar, who ran a 51.90 opening leg for Canada, told Devin Heroux of CBC Sports. “We know when we step on the [start] line together we have each other’s backs … so I think we can be excited for tomorrow.”
WATCH | Gale leads Canada’s women to 4×400 relay final:
The Canadian women’s 4×400-metre relay team secures a spot in the final at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 with a time of 3:25.77.
Canada was fifth early in Gale’s run but the Ottawa native, with a 50.47 personal best this season in the individual 400, had moved into third spot when she handed the baton to Constantine, who battled over the final 200 metres to achieve the necessary time to help the Canadians advance.
Aiyanna Stiverne of Laval, Que., clocked 51.70 in the second leg.
“It took me three times to get [to the Olympics]. I’m really, really excited to be here with the girls,” said the 29-year-old Stiverne, who captured 2019 silver in the mixed 4×400 event at World Relays. “Anybody we put on the track is going to do amazing and I have complete faith in every single one of them.”
Historically, Canada has fared well in the event on the world stage but not good enough to medal, placing fourth at each of the past two Olympics and World Athletics Championships.
Elsewhere, Mariam Abdul-Rashid made a valiant attempt to qualify for the final in women’s 100m hurdles, clocking a 12.60-second PB, but finished 11th and 16-100ths shy of Frenchwoman Cyrena Samba-Mayela for the eighth and final spot.
The Oshawa, Ont., native had qualified 14th for Friday’s semifinals with a 12.80 effort in her first Olympic race.
Abdul-Rashid, 26, set a then-12.69 PB in late April to meet the 12.77 automatic Olympic entry standard.
16-year-old helps U.S. to men’s relay final
American teenage sprinter Quincy Wilson’s first run at the Olympics on Friday was a learning lesson.
The 16-year-old, who became the youngest American male to compete in track at the Olympics, left the United States in a distant seventh place after his opening lap in the first round of the 4×400 relay.
The Americans, normally dominant in this event, needed a rally from Christopher Bailey on the final lap simply to qualify for the final. The team finished third in 2:59.15.
There was a nearly three-second gap between Wilson and Letsile Tebogo, the 200m champion from Botswana who was a last-minute replacement. Wilson was picked up by veteran teammates Vernon Norwood, Bryce Deadmon and Bailey.
“I wasn’t 100 per cent myself, but my team came out here and did it for me,” Wilson said. “I knew I had a great three legs behind me and knew it wasn’t just myself. Because if it was myself we’d be in last place. But these guys come out there and gave it their all. … They ran their hearts out.”
It’s been quite a summer for Wilson, who already has a name, image and likeness deal with New Balance and put off getting his driver’s licence so he could run in Paris.
He twice broke the under-18 400-meter world record at the U.S. Olympic trials in June with times of 44.66 and 44.59.
With his performance Friday, Wilson surpassed Arthur Newton, a steeplechase runner from 1904 who competed at 17, according to Olympic historian Bill Mallon.