Canada's Marco Arop misses out on Olympic gold medal by 0.01 seconds
Edmonton’s Marco Arop added another medal for Canada at the Paris 2024 Olympics, picking up silver in the men’s 800m final.
Arop was on the outside looking in after the first 400m, but was able to dig deep over the final stretch to pick up the first Olympic medal of his track career.
The 25-year-old, who was born in Khartoum, Sudan, but immigrated to Edmonton with his family a short time later, nearly wound up winning gold. It was a photo finish that saw Arop finish just 0.01 seconds behind Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi.
Though he fell just shy of his ultimate goal, it was a very impressive showing for Arop.
🥈Médaille🥈
Marco Arop 🇨🇦 fonce comme une fusée et décroche la médaille d’argent au 800 m à Paris! Après avoir terminé 14e dans cette épreuve au Jeux de Tokyo, l’athlète originaire de l’Alberta remporte sa première médaille en carrière. 🔥@marco_arop @athleticscanada… pic.twitter.com/x2u5XpbWiF
— Radio-Canada Sports (@RC_Sports) August 10, 2024
Arop brings home Canada’s second medal of the day. Katie Vincent was able to get things going earlier, winning gold in the women’s canoe single 200m final. She did so in dramatic fashion, setting a new world record with a final time of 44.12 seconds.
Thanks to the success of Arop and Vincent, Canada has extended their count of most medals in a non-boycotted Games to 26. That record had previously sat at 24, which they hit at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
The medals record isn’t the only history Arop is a part of, either. Thanks to today’s great effort, he has become the first Canadian to win a medal in the 800m since Bill Crothers also win silver at the Tokyo 1964 Olympics.
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