Marco Arop nearly breaks Canadian 800m record at Paris Diamond League

On a historic night of racing at the Paris Diamond League, where three world records were broken, Canada’s Marco Arop almost set a record of his own in the men’s 800m. Arop ran the second-fastest time of his young career, narrowly falling short his personal best of 1:43.26 by four one-hundredths of a second and Brandon McBride’s Canadian 800m record of 1:43.20 by a tenth of a second.

Silver 🥈 for Marco Arop🏃

Arop runs a season’s best of 1:43.30 at the Paris Diamond League, only 0.04 seconds off his personal best! 👏 #TeamCanada pic.twitter.com/1b1sLfBcyz

— Team Canada (@TeamCanada) June 9, 2023

Arop had a good start and used his size and speed to surge to the front in the opening 200m. From there, he hit the opening 400m in 50 seconds and maintained his lead into the final straight with the reigning Olympic and world champion, Emmanuel Korir, falling off the back. Arop was holding onto the inside lane and tried to match the surge of the young Kenyan Emmanuel Wanyonyi, who holds the fastest 800m time in the world this year. Wanyonyi dipped Arop at the lane, clocking a world-leading 1:43.27 ahead of Arop’s 1:43.30.

A meet record seven men went under the 1:44 mark, and six of the top eight finishers came away with personal bests. This mark by Arop is the third-fastest 800m time in Canadian history and the fastest by a Canadian in the last two years. 

Emmanuel Wanyonyi extends his world lead and personal best in the 800m as he clocks 1:43.27 to win in #ParisDL.

Marco Arop runs a season’s best of 1:43.30 for second with Slimane Moula third in a PB in 1:43.38. #DiamondLeague #ParisDL pic.twitter.com/sXecZ8alF2

— RunBlogRun (@RunBlogRun) June 9, 2023

Last season, Arop demonstrated that he is one the best 800m runners in the world, landing on the podium at the 2022 World Championship and placing top three in several Diamond League races. 

McBride of Windsor, Ont., who shared the same coach as Arop until before the 2020 Olympics, currently holds the Canadian record of 1:43.20, set at the Monaco Diamond League in 2018. Since McBride’s record-setting run, he has struggled to get back to the Diamond League level, dealing with injuries on and off.

The men’s 800m will not return to the Diamond League program until a month from now, when the circuit touches down in Stockholm on July 2.