Marco Arop smiles with the Canadian flag flowing behind himMark Blinch/COC
Mark Blinch/COC

Marco Arop

Team Canada Medal Count

Gold medal icon 0
Silver medal icon 1
Bronze medal icon 0

Biography

Marco Arop made history at the 2023 World Athletics Championships where he became Canada’s first ever world champion in the 800m. It followed his bronze medal in the men’s 800m at the 2022 World Athletics Championships and preceded his silver medal in the men’s 800m at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Arop missed the Olympic gold medal by just one-one hundredth (0.01) of a second as he became Canada’s first Olympic medallist in the 800m in 60 years. He set the Canadian as well as the North, Central American, and Caribbean Area record at 1:41.20, making him the fourth-fastest man ever in the event.

Just a couple of years after he started running track seriously, Arop won 800m gold at the 2017 Canadian U20 Championships, finished second at the U20 Pan American Championships, and was a gold medallist for Team Alberta at the Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg. He followed that up in 2018 by finishing second in the 800m at the NCAA Division I Championships, winning his first senior national title in the distance, and then taking silver at the NACAC Championships in Toronto.

In February 2019, Arop ran a Canadian indoor record 1:45.90 in the 800m. After winning 800m silver at the Canadian Championships, Arop captured gold at Lima 2019 where his time of 1:44.25 set a Pan Am Games record. He went on to compete at his first World Athletics Championships, finishing seventh in Doha, Qatar.

In August 2020, Arop lowered his personal best in the 800m to 1:44.14 as he finished on the podium at three international meets in less than 10 days. In July 2021, Arop stood on the podium at two Diamond League meets in six days, dropping his personal best both times. In Monaco, he came within 0.06 of the Canadian outdoor record in the 800m with his time of 1:43.26. In his Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020, Arop advanced to the semifinals of the 800m. 

Arop had an outstanding 2022 season, highlighted by his bronze medal in the 800m at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon. He also finished on the podium in four Diamond League events to end the season as the overall Diamond League winner for the men’s 800m.

Less than a month after Arop became the 800m world champion in 2023, he finally broke the Canadian record in the event for the first time. At the Prefontaine Classic, which was also the Diamond League Final, he ran 1:42.85 to be the first Canadian to go under 1:43 in the 800m.

In the aftermath of his Olympic silver medal, Arop won the 800m at the Diamond League meet in Silesia in late August 2024 in a meet record time of 1:41.86. It was his second Diamond League victory of the season.  

A Little More About Marco

Getting into the Sport: Ran some track in elementary and junior high school but didn’t really get into it until his final year of high school when he was 17… Outside Interests: Majored in Computer Science at Mississippi State University… Enjoys reading, playing piano and basketball… Odds and Ends: Favourite motto: Do something today that your future self will thank you for… Family immigrated to Canada in 2002 as refugees from Sudan…

Olympic Highlights

Games Sport Event Finish
Tokyo 2020Athletics800m - Men14
Paris 2024Athletics800m - MenSilver

Notable International Results

Olympic Games: 2024 – SILVER (800m); 2020 - 14th (800m)

Pan American Games: 2019 – GOLD (800m)

World Athletics Championships: 2023 - GOLD (800m); 2022 - BRONZE (800m); 2019 - 7th (800m)

World Athletics Indoor Championships: 2022 - 8th (800m)

NACAC Championships: 2018 – SILVER (800m)

Pan American Championships (U20): 2017 – SILVER (800m), 4th (4x400m)