Marco Arop Canadian track and field athlete Date of Birth: 20.09.1998 Country: Canada

1. Early Life and Immigration
2. Competitive Career
3. Professional Breakthrough
4. World Bronze and National Record
5. World Champion

Early Life and Immigration

Marco Arop's 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 immigrated to Canada. The family lived in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan for two years, before settling in Edmonton, Alberta.

Arop's original sporting focus was basketball. He was offered an athletic scholarship to Concordia University of Edmonton, but switched to track and field on the recommendation of his high school basketball coach, who later admitted, "I had no idea Marco was going to be this good."

Competitive Career

Arop competed for Mississippi State in the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field 800m in Eugene, Oregon in 2018, placing second. He won the gold medal in the 800m at the 2019 Pan American Games, setting a new Pan American record. He then made his World Championship debut in 2019 in Doha. Progressing to the 800m final, he finished seventh.

Following the World Championships, Arop decided to end his amateur career and turn professional full-time, although the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic meant that the 2020 track season was largely cancelled.

Professional Breakthrough

In 2021, Arop competed in his first full professional season, earning his first Diamond League podium finish with a silver medal at the BAUHAUS-galan in Stockholm. Named to his first Olympic team, Arop competed in the 800m at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. Considered a medal contender, he finished seventh in his semifinal. He failed to advance to the event final, which he and his coaches attributed to a long-standing habit of starting too fast, leading to fade at the end of races.

The following event of the season, the 2021 Diamond League Prefontaine Classic, saw Arop claim the gold medal, edging out reigning Olympic gold and silver medalists Emmanuel Korir and Ferguson Rotich. Five days later, at Athletissima in Lausanne, Arop again defeated Korir and Rotich, earning his second Diamond League gold. Arop's results earned him a spot in the Diamond League Final in Zurich, where he finished fourth.

World Bronze and National Record

Arop began 2022 with a debut at the 2022 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade. He again started the race hard and led the 800m at the halfway point, but faded badly down the stretch, finishing eighth. At the 2022 Diamond League, Arop won his third career Diamond League gold and first of the season at the British Grand Prix in Birmingham. He won another Canadian title the following month, finishing nearly a full second ahead of silver medalist Brendon McBride. At an invitational event held at Foote Field Stadium a few weeks before the 2022 World Athletics Championships, he ran the 800m in 1:43.61, the third-fastest time in the world by any athlete that year to that point.

Arop had the fastest time in the heats of the 800m in Eugene, Oregon, advancing to the semifinals. He was second in his semi, passed at the finish line by Algeria's Slimane Moula, to automatically qualify for the final. Looking ahead, Arop said "These were great first two rounds, but if I don't close it out in the final I won't feel like I did anything." Running a time of 1:44.28 in the final, Arop claimed the bronze medal, only the second medal for a Canadian in the 800m at the World Championships. Arop said the medal "means the world" and that he was "looking forward to bigger and better things next year." Competing in the 1000m at the Herculis meeting in Monaco, he set a new national record with a time of 2:14.35, breaking the ten-year-old record held by Nathan Brannen.

World Champion

Heading into the 2023 World Athletics Championships, Arop was ranked world number one in the 800m. He cruised through the heats, finishing first overall, and also won his semifinal heat, leading from start to finish. In the final, Arop changed strategy and hung back in the pack on the first lap, moving to the front of the pack just after the 500m mark and never relinquishing the lead.