Canada’s Marco Arop shines at Birmingham Diamond League

The Diamond League made its second stop of the season in Birmingham, U.K. on Saturday morning, and Canada’s Marco Arop and Aaron Brown put on a display for Canadian track and field fans. Arop won the men’s 800m by almost a second in a season’s best performance of 1:45.41 and Brown came from behind to win the men’s 100m in a wind-legal 10.13 seconds (-0.2).

After two false starts, @KingsleySC turns on his engine to sprint to the win in the men's 100m in 10.13 seconds ? at #BirminghamDL ?? #DiamondLeague
? @matthewquine pic.twitter.com/GaaZpnIyyC

— Wanda Diamond League (@Diamond_League) May 21, 2022

After finishing third in the 800m at the Doha Diamond League last weekend, Arop bounced back and took charge around 500m, sprinting away from the field over the final 200m. He ran a tactically intelligent race, taking control once the pacer fell off and not looking back. His time was just shy of the world championship standard of 1:45.20, but it’s a great sign of things to come. Arop took down a deep field, featuring the 800m bronze medallist from Tokyo, Patryk Dobek. Robert Benjamin of France finished behind Arop for second in 1:46.22 and world indoor bronze medallist Bryce Hoppel was third in 1:46.33.

Marco Arop (@marco_arop) takes the men’s 800m in Birmingham this morning?? https://t.co/qYFm3ZlniN pic.twitter.com/04eJeVqMZY

— Athletics Canada (@AthleticsCanada) May 21, 2022

The men’s 100m had a rather odd start, as the pre-race favourite, Trayvon Bromell, was disqualified for trying to jump the starting gun. On the second attempt, Zharnel Hughes of the U.K. false-started, resulting in another disqualification and cutting the field of nine down to seven. Canada’s Brown stepped down from the 200m distance to 100m and showed his class, pulling off the surprise victory in a wind-legal 10.13 seconds (-0.2). Yohan Blake of Jamaica was second and Vancouver’s Jerome Blake was third in 10.20. Andre De Grasse was out of the starting blocks late, ending up fourth in 10.24 seconds.

?? captured 4️⃣ medals at the Birmingham Diamond League@KingsleySC ? 100m ?
@JeromeBlake11 ? 100m ?@marco_arop ? 800m ?@D_Lovett ? High jump ?

Sprint into the details: https://t.co/GVPBMBadKF

? For more, watch @cbcsports today at 4p.m. ETpic.twitter.com/5eTFyCANg7

— Team Canada (@TeamCanada) May 21, 2022

The three Canadian sprinters were back on the track an hour later for the men’s 4x100m relay. The newly crowned Olympic silver medallists ran a flawless race from start to finish to win in a season’s best 38.31 seconds. The quartet of De Grasse, Brown, Blake and Brendon Rodney took down three of the four members of Great Britain’s disqualified 4x100m team from the Tokyo Olympics. The British team was unable to finish in Birmingham due to bad exchanges, which will give Canada the upper hand for medal contention ahead of July’s World Championships.

In the final race of the evening, Keely Hodgkinson made headlines as she returned to 800m distance for the first time since suffering a quad injury in March before world indoors. The Olympic 800m silver medallist from the U.K. began back where she left off, showing no signs of fatigue, winning the women’s 800m early in 1:58.63, the fourth-fastest time by any athlete this year. Canada’s Lindsey Butterworth was boxed in along the inside of the track with 300m to go, and wound up seventh in 2:01.20.

The Diamond League will stop in Eugene, Ore., next, on May 28, for the Pre Classic.