In Olympic rematch, 800m champion Wanyonyi pulls away from Canada's Arop at Lausanne event
Canadian placed 2nd at both Paris Games and Swiss event
Fresh off his silver medal at the Paris Olympics, Canada's Marco Arop returned to the track and finished second in the men's 800-metre event on Thursday in Lausanne, Switzerland.
In a rematch of Paris, Olympic champion Kenya's Emmanuel Wanyonyi was able to hold off Arop down the stretch, this time with a more sizeable margin.
Wanyonyi finished in a world-leading, and personal-best time of one minute 41.11 seconds in the non-official Diamond League event. It was also the fourth-fastest 800m time in history.
Arop, 25, ended his race in 1:41.72, and France's Gabriel Tual placed third in 1:42.30.
WATCH | Arop crosses the line in 2nd:
At the Paris Olympics, Edmonton's Arop stopped the clock in a Canadian-record time of 1:41.20. Wanyonyi held on for gold, beating Arop by one-hundredth of a second in 1:41.19.
Arop's Olympic medal was Canada's first in the event since Bill Crothers earned silver at the 1964 Tokyo Games, and fifth ever.
Arop entered the Olympics as the reigning world champion in the event and also claimed bronze at the 2022 world championships. He is also the second Canadian to medal in the men's 800 at a world championship alongside Gary Reed's silver in 2007.
Mitton 3rd in shot put
Sarah Mitton, of Brooklyn, N.S., finished third in the shot put event with a throw of 19.52 metres.
American Chase Jackson won the event with a season-best toss of 20.64. Yemisi Ogunleye placed second at 19.55.
WATCH | Mitton rebounds in Swizterland:
Mitton is coming off a heart-breaking Olympic experience. A gold-medal favourite at the start of the competition, the 28-year-old was eliminated after falling out of the circle to end up with a fault on her third and final attempt.
Mitton was looking to be Canada's first-ever Olympic medallist in the women's shot put after becoming the first to medal at a world championships in the event in 2023.
Ogunleye took gold, with New Zealand's Maddison-Lee Wesche, and China's Song Jiayuan earning silver and bronze, respectively.
In other events, Jakob Ingebrigtsen regained his authority in the men's 1,500 — after a shocking fourth place in Paris — to beat Olympic champion Cole Hocker by more than two seconds.
In the men's 200, Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo kept his form despite a return trip home to Botswana to win in 19.64 seconds easing into the line.
WATCH | Tebogo wins 200m title:
Ingebrigtsen's winning time of 3:27.83 was a meet record in Lausanne though still would have been fast enough only for fourth place at the Olympics.
"For me, a lot of it has been mental including going home, taking some easy days and then getting back to work," said Ingebrigtsen, who did win Olympic gold in the 5,000. "Tonight's race gave me good answers."
Dina Asher-Smith won the women's 100 clocking her season-best time of 10.88. That would have won a bronze medal in Paris where the British star failed to make the final.
With files from The Canadian Press and The Associated Press
