Marco Arop cruised into the men's 800-metre semifinals on Tuesday at the World Athletics Championships. Arop and Simone Barontini, of Italy touch hands as they approach the finish of a Men's 800-meters heat during the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Petr David Josek
BUDAPEST, Hungary – Edmonton’s Marco Arop cruised into the men’s 800-metre semifinals on Tuesday at the World Athletics Championships.
Arop finished atop the seventh and final heat with a time of one minutes 45.05 seconds. His time was the second best overall across the heats.
The 24-year-old, who is the top-ranked 800 runner in the world, won bronze at last year’s worlds.
Arop was the second Canadian man to ever medal at worlds in the event after Gary Reed won silver in 2007 in Osaka, Japan.
The men’s 800 semifinal will be Thursday with the final taking place on Saturday.
In other results, Saskatoon’s Michelle Harrison qualified for the semifinals in the women’s 100 hurdles with a time of 12.88 seconds.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 22, 2023.
