Marco Arop

Marco Arop
Marco Arop (2017)
Full name	Marco Rau Arop
nation	Canada
birthday	20th September 1998 (age 21)
place of birth	Khartoum ,  Sudan
size	193 cm
Weight	78 kg
Career
discipline	800 m
Best performance	1: 44.14 min
status	active
Medal table
Pan American Games 1 × 0 × 0 × North American Championships 0 × 1 × 0 × U20 Pan American Championships 0 × 1 × 0 ×
Pan American Games gold Lima 2019 800 m North American Championships silver Toronto 2018 800 m U20 Pan American Championships silver Trujillo 2017 800 m
last change: August 14, 2020

Marco Rau Arop (born September 20, 1998 in Khartoum , Sudan ) is a Canadian athlete who competes in the 800-meter run . In 2019 he won the Pan American Games with a new event record.

Early years and education

Marco Arop was born in the Sudanese capital Khartoum as one of six sons. He and his family came to Canada as refugees in 2002 and settled there in the metropolis of Edmonton , where Arop attended Blessed Oscar Romero High School. After graduation, he took a master's degree in computer science from Mississippi State University , for whose sports team, the Mississippi State Bulldogs, he competed in national competitions during his student days. It was not until the age of 17 that he turned to athletics.

Athletic career

Arop has been competing in athletics since 2017, back then in addition to the 800-meter run, also over half the distance. A year later he became Canadian U20 champion over 800 meters in 1: 49.95 minutes. Also in July he started at the U20 Pan American Championships in Trujillo, Peru . Compared to the national championships, he ran two seconds faster in the finals and won the silver medal. With the Canadian 4 x 400 meter relay, he took fourth place a day later. In July 2018, he took part in the national championships for adults for the first time, where he was immediately victorious. A month later he entered the North American Championships in Toronto, where he won the silver medal in 1: 46.82 min.

In February 2019, Arop set a Canadian indoor record in 1: 45.90 minutes at a competition in Clemson, South Carolina. In July, he won silver at the Canadian Championships, before taking on the Pan American Games in Lima in August . He set a new best time in the final in 1: 44.25 minutes, which, in addition to the gold medal, also meant a record for Pan American games. In October he finally took part in the highlight of the season, the World Championships in Doha. After a successful preliminary and semi-final run, he came in the final to 1: 45.78 minutes, with which he finished seventh. In order to then prepare for the Olympic Games in Tokyo, he left the Mississippi State sports team before the final year of college. In 2020 he set a new best time of 1: 44.14 minutes at the Diamond League Meeting in Monaco in August, with which he finished third in the competition.

Major competitions

year	event	place	space	discipline	time
Starts for Canada
2017	U20 Pan American Championships	Trujillo	2.	800 m	1: 47.08 min
			4th	4 × 400 m	3: 13.00 min
2018	North American Championships	Toronto	2.	800 m	1: 46.93 min
2019	Pan American Games	Lima	1.	800 m	1: 44.25 min
	World championships	Doha	7th	800 m	1: 45.78 min

Personal best

open air

• 800 m : 1: 44.14 min, August 14, 2020, Monaco

Hall

• 600 m: 1: 21.53 min, March 3, 2017, Edmonton
• 800 m: 1: 45.90 min, February 9, 2019, Clemson , (Canadian record)

Web links

• Marco Arop in the database of World Athletics (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Marco Arop on the Mississippi State Bulldogs page
2. ↑ Profile on olympic.ca
3. ↑ Eduardo Biscayart: Peters breaks Pan-American Games javelin record with 87.31m. In: worldathletics.org. August 11, 2019, accessed on May 14, 2020 . 
4. ↑ Dami Adeniyi: Sudan Born, Canadian Matthew Black factory = damiadeniyi.com. January 6, 2020, accessed May 15, 2020 . 
5. ^ Edmonton runner Marco Arop leaving school early to follow Olympic dream. In: edmonton.ctvnews.ca. December 24, 2019, accessed May 14, 2020 .