Just a month after winning Olympic silver in the men’s 800m in Paris, Edmonton’s Marco Arop is gearing up for his next challenge: breaking the world record in the 1,000m at the Boris Hanžeković Memorial meet in Zagreb this Sunday, Sept. 8.
“After some great 800m races, I will be running the 1,000m at the meeting in Zagreb, and I want to break the world record,” Arop told World Athletics in an interview. “After that, I’m heading to Brussels to break the 800m world record as well. The record is going down.”
Arop’s silver medal in Paris was historic–it was Canada’s first medal in the event in 60 years. Now, he is targeting a new milestone: surpassing the 1,000m world record of 2:11.96, set by Kenya’s Noah Ngeny 25 years ago. Although the 1,000m is not a championship distance, it is often contested indoors and outdoors, similar to the mile.
The 25-year-old enters the meet in excellent form. He recently set a North American 800m record of 1:41.20 in Paris and followed it up with a Diamond League victory in Silesia with a time of 1:41.86 two weeks later.
Currently, Arop is the second-fastest man in history over 1,000m (indoors), with a time of 2:14.74, and he holds the Canadian record for 1,000m outdoors at 2:14.35, placing him 19th on the all-time list. He will face tough competition in Zagreb, including Olympic 800m finalist Max Burgin of Great Britain and 1,500m finalist Stefan Nillessen of the Netherlands.
Arop won’t be the only Canadian athlete in action on Sunday. Quebec’s Charles Philibert-Thiboutot will compete in the men’s 2,000m; Philibert-Thiboutot set a North American record of 4:51.54 at last year’s Brussels Diamond League, where Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen broke the world record.
How to watch
The Boris Hanžeković Memorial meet, a Continental Tour Gold Label event, will be broadcast live in Canada on CBC Sports and CBC Gem on Sunday, Sept. 8. Coverage begins at noon ET (6:00 p.m. local time).
