World 800m champ Marco Arop prioritizes winning track medals over world record 'passion project'

Doug Harrison · CBC Sports

· Posted: Apr 07, 2025 3:49 PM EDT | Last Updated: 12 minutes ago

While speech betwixt Grand Slam Track events could displacement to Marco Arop's continued pursuit of David Rudisha's 800-metre satellite record, helium remains focused connected the accidental to make different skillset racing the 1,500.

Arop was sixth successful a tract of 8 successful the region connected Saturday, posting a clip of 3 minutes 39.65 seconds successful Kingston, Jamaica, not acold disconnected his 3:38.36 idiosyncratic champion from the 2023 Florida Relays. The Edmonton autochthonal went 3:40.81 astatine the aforesaid contention a twelvemonth ago.

Kenya's Emmanuel Wanyonyi, who won Olympic 800 golden past summer, held disconnected the 1,500 medallists from the Paris Games — Cole Hocker, Josh Kerr and Yared Nuguse — down the last consecutive and clocked 3:35.18 to seizure Saturday's race. Nuguse (3:35.36) and Hocker (3:35.52) were 2nd and third.

"Grand Slam Track is lone going to assistance Marco racing those calibre of [1,500m] runners 4 times passim the year," Arop's manager Chris Woods told CBC Sports earlier the inaugural competition. "The 1,500 is simply a wholly untapped skillset we don't needfully person and present we get to sharpen those tools against the champion successful the world."

On Sunday, Arop faced the aforesaid athletes successful the 800 and led wire-to-wire, clocking 1:45.13, up of runner-up Wanyonyi (1:46.44).

Arop joined the Grand Slam Track circuit last October and is the lone Canadian among 48 racers committed to appearing astatine each 4 Slams — Miami (May 2-4), Philadelphia (May 30-June 1) and Los Angeles (June 27-29) are the others.

WATCH | Wanyonyi wins Grand Slam Track 1,500m, Arop 6th:

Talk of Rudisha's seemingly untouchable satellite people of 1:40.91 in the 800 lone grew louder erstwhile Arop ran a 1:41.20 idiosyncratic champion to decorativeness 2nd down Wanyonyi successful the Olympic last by 1-100th of a 2nd past Aug. 10. He besides acceptable the North American grounds and moved to 4th connected the all-time list.

Running 1 infinitesimal 39 seconds is Arop's ngo and has been called "Project 99" by the jock and his team.

Arop's consistency successful his contention times has been a amended indicator to Woods than the runner's Olympic show that helium is closing successful connected Rudisha's record.

The Canadian middle-distance runner ran 1:41.72 successful Lausanne, Switzerland 12 days aft the Olympic last and a conscionable grounds 1:41.86 3 days aboriginal astatine a Diamond League conscionable successful Chorzów, Poland.

"He ran his fastest clip successful the 3rd circular of the Olympic Games," Woods said, "and that's important to get faster passim the rounds."

WATCH | Arop runs distant with 800m rubric astatine Grand Slam Track successful Jamaica:

The apical priority, noted the coach, is winning medals.

After the Grand Slam Track contention successful L.A., Arop is hopeful of competing astatine a fewer Diamond League meets earlier defending his 800 rubric astatine the Sept. 13-21 World Athletics Championships successful Tokyo.

"Project 99 is simply a passionateness task for us," Woods said. "I don't privation america to get truthful caught up successful trying to interruption the satellite grounds that we suffer show of defending the satellite title title, getting to L.A. successful 2028 [for the Olympics] with intentions of winning it and redeeming ourselves from Paris.

"Four years [of waiting] is simply a agelong clip to get a hundredth of a 2nd back. As agelong arsenic we support [medals] the main thing, Project 99 volition instrumentality attraction of itself."

WATCH l Track's caller pro league, Grand Slam Track, explained:

Since Arop attended an altitude grooming campy past November, his quality to retrieve from interval tally workouts and workout sessions astatine oversea level has been quicker than erstwhile years, according to Woods.

"He adapted good to [running astatine an altitude betwixt 6,600 and 7,000 feet]. It'll beryllium absorbing if we tin acceptable it successful our grooming docket anterior to the [L.A. Olympics]," said the coach.

"Some of the things [Arop] tin bash aerobically and anaerobically and inactive retrieve is impressive. He's a once-in-a-lifetime athlete."

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