Appeal for Brandon McBride denied as Arop cruises to 800m semis

Day Five brought some controversy for Team Canada in the men’s 800m. Marco Arop led all qualifying with a speedy time of 1:44.56 to advance to Thursday’s semi-final, while Brandon McBride took a hard fall in heat three after pushing and shoving during the cut-in. McBride finished the race in 1:57.43.

Disaster for Canadian 800m record-holder Brandon McBride

After some shoving in the group, McBride goes down and would finish last in his heat

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— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) July 21, 2022

McBride seemed to be accidentally cut off by Jamaica’s Navasky Anderson, which resulted in McBride making contact with U.S. Bryce Hoppel and taking a hard fall. Once McBride finished, he called out Anderson at the water station about the shoving early on.

“The entire thing happened so fast,” says McBride. “I first got pushed, then tripped over someone’s leg, and I went down.”

When we asked Anderson about McBride’s fall, he said: “In the 800m, there’s always going to be a lot of contact between athletes. There’s always kicking and shoving. This is my first world championship, and I hope to learn from it.”

In the media mixed zone, Anderson apologized to McBride for his fall. “I really don’t know what happened out there, but I’m sorry,” says Anderson. “You know you are one of the guys I look up to, and I am truly sorry.”

“I was in shock at first,” says McBride. “I wanted to finish the race to protest and potentially get through to the next round.” Team Canada immediately submitted an appeal, but his appeal was denied.

It has been a long road back to the world championship stage for McBride, who has changed coaches and battled injuries over the past two seasons.

“I don’t how I am feeling, but I am proud of my journey to get back here, nonetheless,” he says. “I came here to showcase my fitness, but unfortunately, I did not get the opportunity to do that.”

Canada’s Arop clocks the fastest qualifying time in the heats

Arop won heat five of the men’s 800m with the top qualifying time of 1:44.56, securing him a spot in tomorrow’s semi-final.

“It was a bit faster than what I would’ve liked, but it was a good win,” says Arop.

After seeing what happened to his teammate in the first heat, the 23-year-old from Edmonton spent the majority of the first lap in lanes two and three to avoid contact with other runners. The pack came through 400m in 51-high, then Arop took command for the remainder of the bell lap.

“After I saw Brandon go down in his heat, I was just trying to avoid any collision,” Arop says.

When asked about McBride, Arop said: “You never want to see anyone go down, especially a teammate. I know how hard McBride has worked to get to this stage.”

Arop will start the recovery process to get ready for tomorrow evening’s semi-final at 10 p.m. E.T. He is scheduled to run in heat three.

The 2022 World Athletics Championships are taking place from July 15-25 from Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. All the action will be brought to you by Canadian Running and Asics Canada. Follow us on Twitter on Instagram for all things Team Canada and up-to-date exclusive news and content.