Another photo finish, but a different result for Canada.
Marco Arop just missed becoming Canada’s first-ever Olympic champion in the men’s 800 metres, finishing one-hundredth of a second behind winner Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya.
The thrilling finish came mere hours after Canadian canoeist Katie Vincent won her sprint by one-hundredth of a second to take gold.
Arop’s silver is Canada’s 26th medal at Paris 2024.
Wanyonyi finished in one minute, 41.19 seconds, just ahead of Arop’s national-record time. Djamel Sedjati of Algeria won bronze in 1:41.50. They are the third- and fourth-fastest times in the history of the event.
Arop was very happy with his performance.
“It’s just everything,” he told CBC Olympics. “We’ve been fighting for this all year long. You always hope to get the best race when it matters. Today, I couldn’t have asked for a better race. I’ve just got to give a lot of credit to the people behind me.
Arop charged from seventh to second in the second and final lap.
The result was a flip from the 2023 world championships when Arop, 25, took gold and Wanyonyi grabbed silver.
“I thought I had the right positioning,” Arop said. “Down the homestretch, it really looked like I had it. I know Wanyonyi’s a strong finisher. I’ve got to give credit where credit’s due.”
Arop is the first Canadian to hit the Olympic podium in the men’s 800 since Bill Crothers took silver at the 1964 Tokyo Games. He decided to start competing in the 800 after watching Kenya’s David Rudisha win the race in a world-record time at the 2012 London Olympics.
“It’s surreal to me how one race could inspire an entire career. That race in 2012 is really where this whole journey started,” Arop said.
Arop took bronze at the world championships in 2022 and missed the final at the Olympics in 2021 in Tokyo.
The Canadian won his semifinal heat to book a spot in the Olympic final.
Meanwhile, the Canadian women’s 4×400-metre relay team of Zoe Sherar, Savannah Sutherland, Kyra Constantine and Lauren Gale finished sixth in the final on Saturday.
The United States cruised to gold, beating the Netherlands by more than four seconds. Great Britain was third.