After 'amazing' season, world champion Marco Arop sets forth into Olympic year

Marco Arop catapulted himself to new heights, and just in time heading into an Olympic year.

The towering six-foot-four 800-metre runner from Edmonton became the first Canadian to win world championship gold in the event in August. He followed it up with back-to-back personal-best performances, including setting a new national record last Sunday.

Arop ran one minute 42.85 seconds in a second-place effort at the Diamond League final to beat Windsor, Ont.'s Brandon McBride's mark of 1:43.20 from 2018. Arop's previous personal best was 1:43.24 on Sept. 2, which he ran while feeling under the weather.

"I think it went amazing in terms of doing things I've never done before or that just haven't been done," Arop said of his season. "Being the first Canadian 800-metre gold medallist, that's something that I'll remember for the rest of my life.

"This season has been my greatest so far."

WATCH | Arop's pursuit of greatness:

However, he isn't shocked by his success. It's something he expected.

"I'm not surprised by it," the 25-year-old Arop said. "I set these goals early in my career and I set the expectation so I feel like, these were milestones I was gonna hit along the way at some point or another and I'm just glad to see that they are happening.

With all he accomplished in 2023, there is plenty of momentum looking ahead to the Paris 2024 Olympics. As long as he remains healthy, Arop is confident he'll have a great 2024 season.

"There's a lot of momentum going into next year," Arop said. "I think just coming out with a gold medal at the world championships, that would be huge on its own. But knowing that next year is gonna be a bigger year in terms of the Olympics.

"The level of competition will still be the same, so