Canadian middle-distance runner Marco Arop must wait until Monday to learn if he’ll be making a fifth appearance in the Diamond League Final next week in Zürich.
He placed fifth in the men’s 800 metres at the 50th edition of the Athletissima track and field meet on Wednesday in Lausanne, Switzerland to move into eighth spot in the season standings. But only the top seven automatically qualify for the Final, scheduled for Aug. 27-28 in Switzerland.
In each discipline, organizers of the Weltklasse Zürich event may also invite one national wild card from the host country, providing their standard is adequate to compete at the level of others in the field. A decision is expected Monday.
In the meantime, Arop is left waiting. The reigning world 800 champion and 2024 Olympic silver medallist will race in Zürich should one of the automatic qualifiers decline an invite, is unable to compete or Zürich organizers decide not to place a national wild card in the eighth and final spot.
“We’ll wait to see what the organizers of the meet decide,” Arop’s coach, Chris Woods, told CBC Sports on Thursday. “Our plan is to continue to train and prepare for upcoming competitions.”
WATCH | Canadian champion Arop clocks 1:43.91 for 5th in Switzerland:
Edmonton’s Marco Arop finishes 5th in 800m, American Josh Hoey victorious in Lausanne
When the Diamond League Final has been held in Brussels, the track there has nine lanes, so the top eight from the season standings qualified along with a national wild card. But there are only eight lanes at Zürich’s Letzigrund Stadium.
Ivan Pelizza is the highest-ranked Swiss athlete in the season standings at 23, but a Diamond League spokesperson told CBC Soprts on Thursday a chosen athlete from Switzerland doesn’t have to be listed in the standings.
The 24-year-old Pelizza has a season-best time of one minute 44.53 seconds, compared ot Arop’s 1:42.22. Pelizza has also never competed at a world championship or Olympics.
Ramon Wipfli, Robin Oester and Louis Low-Beer are other athletes Zürich organizers could name to take the eighth spot in the Final but each resides outside the top 100 in the world rankings, while Arop is No. 1.
In Wednesday’s race, Arop excited Canadian fans by passing leader and Kenyan rival Emmanuel Wanyonyi, along with and Max Burgin of Great Britain, on the outside about 200 metres to the finish line at a rainy Stade de la Pontaise. But he dropped off the pace seconds later, perhaps by design due to the weather and track conditions.
Josh Hoey of the United States unleashed a powerful kick, pulling away from Arop, Wanyonyi and Burgin over the final 20 metres for his first Diamond League victory in 1:42.82.
“I wanted to get [off the start line] hard, let the leaders take the rain, and then make my move with 100 [metres] to go,” he said. “It felt like being a kid again, playing in the rain. I’ve never raced in anything like this before.
“It reminded me of cross-country growing up, where it comes down to being the thoughest and the most patient.”
Arop entered the race 10th in the standings but gained four points from his placing on Wednesday to finish with 15, one more than Gabriel Tual of Italy who was not in the nine-man field.
The final regular-season Diamond League track and field meet is Friday in Brussels, where the men’s 800 will not be contested. The event will be live streamed at CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem from 2-4 p.m. ET.
Arop had set a pre-season goal to qualify for the Final but had a late start on the circuit after devoting time to the Grand Slam Track tour, which was forced to cancel the fourth and final meet of its inaugural season earlier in the summer.
He delivered a 1:42.22 season best at the London Diamond League meet on July 19 and two weeks later won his fourth consecutive Canadian title and fifth overall.
Wanyonyi, who was seeking a third straight Diamond League win, was second (1:43.29) and had his four-race win streak halted. Spaniard Mohamed Attaoui (1:43.38) placed third. Arop clocked 1:43.91 after placing second to Wanyonyi in Lausanne last Aug. 22 in 1:41.72.
“My race was OK,” said Wanyonyi. “The atmosphere in the stadium was great.”
Arop and Wanyonyi will need to be mindful of Hoey in Zurich and, potentially Tokyo, should he gain a wild-card berth at worlds by winning the Diamond League Final Trophy. The 25-year-old from Downingtown, Pa., was second behind Arop at the third and final Grand Slam Track event of the season on May 25 in Philadelphia, and then reached the finish less than a second after the victorious Wanyonyi on July 11 in Monaco.
Arop stopped the clock in 1:42.73 in Monaco to finish fifth and after the race said he was encouraged by his improved times.
In July, the 26-year-old told The Canadian Press he was in the best shape of his life and “excited to prove it.”
The seven automatic qualifiers in the 800 for the Final include Wanyonyi (45 qualifying points), Hoey (28), Attaoui (25), Burgin (23), Tshepiso Masalela of Botswana (21), American Bryce Hoppel (20) and Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati (19).Â
WATCH | Full replay coverage of Wednesday’s track and field meet:
World Athletics Diamond League Lausanne
Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles was beaten again by Oblique Seville when the Jamaican splashed to victory Wednesday.
Seville defied steady rain and standing water on the track to impress in 9.87 seconds, 1-100th outside his winning time at London last month when Lyles also was second in his injury-delayed season.
“We can perform even in hurricanes,” Seville told Swiss broadcaster RTS. “For me it’s just execution and to show my dominance, to separate myself from the field, once again.”
Lyles clocked 10.02 in his third straight loss over 100m on the Diamond League circuit ahead of defending his world title.
WATCH | Consistent Seville defeats Lyles for 2nd time in a month:
Jamaica’s Oblique Seville sprints to 100m victory at Diamond League Lausanne
The U.S. star trailed out of the blocks then chased down fast-starting Ackeem Blake in the next lane. Blake was given the same time in third.
“I just had a horrible reaction to the gun,” Lyles said. “Physically I feel great and I am confident every race will get better and better.”
“I’m super excited because I’m seeing the progession”<a href=”https://twitter.com/LylesNoah?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@LylesNoah</a> on seeing the silver lining after a second-place finish at <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/SilesiaDL?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#SilesiaDL</a>ðµð± <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/LausanneDL?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#LausanneDL</a>ð¨ð<a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/DiamondLeague?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#DiamondLeague</a> <a href=”https://t.co/WKxYjEs1vy”>pic.twitter.com/WKxYjEs1vy</a>
Seville placed eighth in the Paris Olympics final last year when his Jamaica teammate Kishane Thompson was edged on the line by Lyles. Thompson is fastest in the world this year, clocking 9.75 in June, and won Saturday in Poland when Lyles was second in an encouraging 9.90.
Heavy rain marred the women’s field events for Olympic champions at the 50th anniversary meet in Lausanne.
High jump world record holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh opted to stop after one failure each at 1.86 metres and then 1.91, and javelin gold medallist Haruka Kitaguchi placed last. The women’s pole vault event was stopped entirely.
WATCH: Was Lyles’s stare down of Kenny Bednarek offside?
Was Noah Lyles’ stare down of Kenny Bednarek offside?
Standout performances early in the program, when the rain was just light, saw Olympic 800 champion Keely Hodgkinson win in one minute 55.69 seconds and Cordell Tinch take the 110 hurdles victory in 12.98 seconds.
Before Wednesday, Sarah Mitton was the lone Canadian to have clinched a spot in the Final, in women’s shot put.
The defending women’s shot put champion ranks third in the standings, behind back-to-back world champion Chase Jackson of the U.S. and Dutchwoman Jessica Schilder, who took silver behind Mitton at this year’s indoor world championships. All three will compete in Brussels.
Mitton won her first Diamond League Trophy last September, joining previous winners Priscilla Lopes-Schliep (100m hurdler, 2010), shot putter Dylan Armstrong (2011) and sprinter Andre De Grasse, who won the men’s 200m title in 2023.
Friday’s program in Belgium includes the men’s 200 and 400, and the women’s 400 hurdles, pole vault and shot put.
The Brussels organizers are advertising the women’s 100 as their marquee event, with American breakout star Melissa Jefferson-Wooden slated to face reigning world champion Sha’Carri Richardson of the U.S. and former Olympic and world champ Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica.
Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia, the 2024 Olympic gold medallist, is presumably not competing. She leads the Diamond League standings and has secured a spot in the Final along with Ivory Coast’s Marie Josée Ta Lou-Smith.
“I am in love with my journey”<a href=”https://twitter.com/Melissajanae21?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@Melissajanae21</a> on following her own path to success.<a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/BrusselsDL?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#BrusselsDL</a>ð§ðª <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/DiamondLeague?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#DiamondLeague</a> <a href=”https://t.co/99Pz1ACdQD”>pic.twitter.com/99Pz1ACdQD</a>
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