WITH DEFENDING WORLD and Olympic champion Emmanuel Korir nursing an injury and far from top form, there was no clear favorite in the men’s 2-lapper. The next four finishers from Eugene had made it through to this year’s final but only one of them, Kenyan teenager Emmanuel Wanyonyi, had won more than one Diamond League race this season. Ultimately it was Marco Arop who came through, winning Canada’s first World Champs gold in the event.
The heats had seen the unsurprising exit of Korir, who says he has struggled with a leg injury all year. Also eliminated were Americans Isaiah Harris and Clayton Murphy (“I did everything right,” the ’16 Olympic bronze medalist said. “I just got beat.”).
Algeria’s Slimane Moula, 5th a year ago, won the first semi in 1:43.93, leading 6 others sub-1:45. Another 5 were under that barrier in the second section, led by Eugene bronze medalist Arop (1:44.02). Wanyonyi (1:43.83) took the third race, holding off the PR of Spain’s Adrián Ben (1:43.92) while USATF champ Bryce Hoppel (1:44.04) advanced on time.
In the final two days later, Wanyonyi (who turned 19 on August 01) went right to the front, but it was a cautious pace: 25.32 at 200 and 52.68 at the bell. Arop, known for his frontrunning tactics, was an uncharacteristic 8th at that point. But the lanky Canadian — he is listed at 6-4¼ (1.94) — quickly shifted gears, moving to the second lane and surging through the pack. He blitzed the backstretch in 12.26 and by 600 (1:19.21) he had made his way to the front.
“That feeling when you’re passing guys, the momentum, it’s such a great feeling,” he would say after the race.
Wanyonyi tried desperately to catch the leader, but the result was never in doubt down the homestretch. Arop crossed the line in 1:44.24, with Wanyonyi (1:44.53) taking the silver. The winner produced an extraordinary negative-split race: 53.38/50.86.
“I had to be ready for any scenario,” said Arop, who had discussed multiple strategies with Chris Woods, the head coach at Mississippi State who guided Arop to a pair of NCAA runner-up finishes as a collegian. “If I went in the front I had to be relaxed and controlled, [but] I could’ve been in the middle, I could’ve been in the back.”
Great Britain’s Ben Pattison (1:44.83) held his form just long enough to take a surprise bronze ahead of the fast-closing Ben (1:44.91) and Algeria’s Slimane Moula (1:44.95). The 21-year-old Pattison, bronze medalist at the ’22 Commonwealth Games, became the first Brit to make the 800 podium at the WC since Peter Elliott in ’87.
Hoppel crossed the line in 8th, but was upgraded a spot after Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati, the silver medalist in Eugene, was DQed for a lane infringement at the start.
Given that Arop’s go-for-broke tactics haven’t always played out perfectly, he and Woods knew they had to expand his arsenal. “To be able to do it in a world final just goes to show how much we’ve learned and improved from our mistakes in the past,” Arop said. “Being patient early on was the key and when I made that move I just wanted to keep it going and finish strong.”
MEN’S 800 RESULTS
FINAL (August 26)
1. Marco Arop (Can) 1:44.24
(25.95, 27.43 [53.38], 25.83 [1:19.21], 25.03) (53.38/50.86);
2. Emmanuel Wanyonyi (Ken) 1:44.53
(25.32, 27.36 [52.68], 26.77 [1:19.45], 25.08) (52.68/51.85);
3. Ben Pattison (GB) 1:44.83
(25.34, 27.52 [52.86], 26.85 [1:19.71], 25.12) (52.86/51.97);
4. Adrián Ben (Spa) 1:44.91
(25.85, 27.42 [53.27], 26.79 [1:20.06], 24.85) (53.27/51.64);
5. Slimane Moula (Alg) 1:44.95
(25.59, 27.66 [53.25], 26.54 [1:19.79], 25.16) (53.25/51.70);
6. Tshepiso Masalela (Bot) 1:45.57
(25.54, 27.36 [52.90], 26.55 [1:19.45], 26.12) (52.90/52.67);
7. Bryce Hoppel (US) 1:46.02
(25.66, 27.42 [53.08], 26.60 [1:19.68], 26.34) (53.08/52.94);
… dq[lane]—Djamel Sedjati (Alg)
(26.95, 26.09 [53.04], 26.38 [1:19.42]).
HEATS (August 22)
I–1. Wanyonyi 1:44.92; 2. Gabriel Tual (Fra) 1:45.10; 3. Catalin Tecuceanu (Ita) 1:45.31; 4. Masalela 1:45.60; 5. Ryan Sanchez (PR) 1:48.24; 6. Mohamed Ali Gouaned (Alg) 1:49.16; 7. Krishan Kumar (Ind) 1:50.36; 8. Hein Htet Aung (Mya) 1:53.63 PR; 9. Manuel Belo Amaral Ataide (Tim) 1:58.32.
II–1. Mateusz Borkowski (Pol) 1:45.40; 2. Max Burgin (GB) 1:45.43; 3. Joseph Deng (Aus) 1:45.48; 4. Mark English (Ire) 1:45.71; 5. Brad Mathas (NZ) 1:45.95; 6. Dániel Huller (Hun) 1:47.41; 7. Tom Dradiga (Uga) 1:48.60;… dq[obstruction]—Navasky Anderson (Jam).
III–1. Alex Kipngetich (Ken) 1:47.63; 2. Sedjati 1:47.87; 3. Saul Ordóñez (Spa) 1:47.97; 4. Isaiah Harris (US) 1:48.00; 5. John Fitzsimons (Ire) 1:48.20; 6. Ibrahim Renoud Al-Zafairi (Kuw) 1:48.41; 7. John Rivera (PR) 1:48.83; 8. Amel Tuka (Bos) 1:49.01; 9. Allan Ngitsi Chirwa (Maw) 1:51.62 PR.
IV–1. Ben 1:45.37; 2. Hoppel 1:45.56; 3. Daniel Rowden (GB) 1:45.67; 4. Filip Ostrowski (Pol) 1:45.76; 5. Abdullahi Hassan (Can) 1:46.33; 6. Ferguson Rotich (Ken) 1:46.53; 7. Marino Bloudek (Cro) 1:46.63; 8. Ole Jakob Høsteland Solbu (Nor) 1:51.66.
V–1. Benjamin Robert (Fra) 1:46.45; 2. Pattison 1:46.57; 3. Mohamed Attaoui (Spa) 1:46.65; 4. Emmanuel Korir (Ken) 1:46.78; 5. Abdessalem Ayouni (Tun) 1:46.85; 6. Clayton Murphy (US) 1:47.06; 7. Abedin Mujezinovic (Bos) 1:47.76; 8. Riley McGown (Aus) 1:48.38; 9. Faustino Prieto Alfaro (Mlt) 2:04.20 PR.
VI–1. Abdellatif El Guesse (Mor) 1:45.24; 2. Andreas Kramer (Swe) 1:45.42; 3. Moula 1:45.76; 4. Francesco Pernici (Ita) 1:45.89; 5. Peter Bol (Aus) 1:46.75; 6. James Preston (NZ) 1:46.84; 7. Handal Roban (StV) 1:46.86; 8. Alex Beddoes (Cook) 1:48.31; 9. Justice Dreischor (Aru) 1:59.56.
VII–1. Arop 1:45.05; 2. Simone Barontini (Ita) 1:45.21; 3. Yanis Meziane (Fra) 1:45.30; 4. Joonas Rinne (Fin) 1:45.93; 5. Balázs Vindics (Hun) 1:47.18; 6. Eduardo Moreira (Bra) 1:47.75; 7. Nabil Oussama (Mor) 1:47.79; 8. Abdullah Al-Yaari (Yem) 1:47.98 NR; 9. Mohammed Dwedar (Pal) 1:55.45 PR.
SEMIS (August 24)
I–1. Moula 1:43.93; 2. Masalela 1:44.14 PR; 3. Pattison 1:44.23; 4. Borkowski 1:44.30 PR (fastest non-Q ever); 5. Attaoui 1:44.35 PR; 6. Robert 1:44.38; 7. El Guesse 1:44.55; 8. Deng 1:48.12.
II–1. Arop 1:44.02; 2. Sedjati 1:44.49; 3. Ordóñez 1:44.74; 4. Tecuceanu 1:44.79 PR; 5. Tual 1:44.83; 6. Ostrowski 1:45.30 PR; 7. Rowden 1:45.38; 8. Kipngetich 1:45.56.
III–1. Wanyonyi 1:43.83; 2. Ben 1:43.92 PR; 3. Hoppel 1:44.04; 4. Meziane 1:44.30 =PR (fastest non-Q ever); 5. Barontini 1:44.34 PR; 6. Kramer 1:44.57; 7. English 1:45.14; 8. Burgin 1:47.60.