Arop aims for his 1st Diamond League Trophy before world 800m title defence

Canadian record holder Marco Arop will try to run to his first Diamond League Trophy victory in five attempts this week in Zürich.

There was some doubt the reigning world 800-metre champion would be added to the race after Arop's fifth-place finish last Wednesday at the Athletissima track and field meet in Lausanne, Switzerland moved him two spots to eighth in the season standings. Only the top seven automatically secure a lane in the 800 for the Final, scheduled for Thursday at 3:20 p.m. ET.

In each discipline, organizers of the Weltklasse Zürich event can invite one national wild card from the host country, providing their standard is adequate to compete at the level of others in the field.

"It's their rule, we can't change it. Therefore, we don't focus on it," Arop's coach, Chris Woods, told CBC Sports over the weekend. "Our plan is to continue to train and prepare for upcoming competitions."

However, meet organizers chose not to select Ivan Pelizza, the highest-ranked Swiss athlete in the 800m season standings at 23, or one of his teammates.

The 24-year-old has a season-best time of one minute 44.53 seconds, compared 1:42.22 for Arop, the 2024 Olympic silver medallist from Edmonton. Pelizza has also never competed at a world championship or Olympics.

No other Swiss 800m runners occupy a spot inside the top 100 in the world rankings while Arop is second behind Kenyan rival and reigning Olympic gold medallist Emmanuel Wanyonyi.

WATCH | Arop clocks 1:43.91 for 5th in Switzerland:

Edmonton's Marco Arop finishes 5th in 800m, American Josh Hoey victorious in Lausanne

As of Saturday, Woods said there wasn't an alternative race plan ahead of the Sept. 13-21 World Athletics Championships should Arop not have received an