On Top Of The World
September 08, 2023 | Track & Field
Marco Arop reflects on his championship run and Bulldog career.
STARKVILLE – Record-setter. All-American. And now, World Champion.
Those are just a few of the many titles that former Mississippi State track and field star Marco Arop can go by. The talented 800m runner ran the race of his life last month, claiming a coveted gold medal at the World Athletics Championship in Budapest after clocking in at a time of 1:44.24.
Arop paced himself well, sticking with his competition early before pulling ahead for good in the final lap. The race was all but decided when the runners came down the stretch in a moment that Arop won't ever forget.
"Before I got to the finish line, I had this little moment where I was thinking, 'I'm about to win this race,'" Arop said. "Within that last 50 meters, I'm just trying to process what's going to happen afterwards."
The crowd cheered as Arop threw his hands up in an emotional display of what the career moment meant to him.
"I still don't have the words to describe that moment crossing the line," Arop said. "It was one of the best feelings."
Among those in the stands was Mississippi State head track and field coach Chris Woods. Woods played an instrumental role in helping Arop grow into the athlete that he is, and the event was one of the biggest moments of their time together. However, as Arop explained, it took a bit of convincing to get his slightly superstitious coach to watch his race in person.
"[Woods] didn't go to the stadium for the prelim and the semis, so I urged him to come to the final," Arop said. "I just felt like something special was going to happen."
When the magical moment did happen, Woods broke down in tears among the crowd. Arop had finally tackled one of his biggest goals, and the pair was there to share the moment together. Arop didn't initially know that his coach had seen it all, but once he found that familiar face watching him, the emotions hit.
"On the victory lap, I saw him come down, and I was just so happy to see him in the middle of all the crowd," Arop said.
It was a moment years in the making.
Before he had rows of medals and a long list of accolades, Arop was a young runner embracing one of the biggest changes of his life. There are a few thousand miles between Starkville and Arop's hometown of Edmonton, Alberta – not to mention nearly one million fewer people. It was something that the then-freshman had never seen before.
"Before I came to MSU, I'd lived with my parents my whole life and hadn't had the experience away from home," Arop said.
As most student-athletes eventually do, Arop adjusted to his life away from familiarity and worked to focus on what was important to him. He quickly learned that Woods had a philosophy that went beyond performing well in practices and at meets. The coach wanted his runners to grow in all areas of their young lives, according to Arop.
"When I first got here, that was sort of the expectation," Arop said. "As well as you're going to be doing on the track, you have to be doing just as well off the track."
With each passing indoor and outdoor season, Arop let his positive attitude toward training and competing at a high level intertwine with his perspective on his everyday life. His time as a Bulldog molded him into the runner that he is today and as he explained, the many lessons he learned while wearing the Maroon and White are still being applied today — and that won't stop.
"Clearly it's doing well for me and my track and field career, and I hope it continues to help me moving forward," Arop said.
Without a doubt, Arop knows where his home away from home is. It's a place where the half-miler made some of his fondest memories and can always expect a warm welcome and some encouraging words.
"I think if I had to do it all over again, I definitely would choose Mississippi State," Arop said.
There are plenty of reasons to celebrate but very little time to rest for a World Champion. The competition season never really ends for Arop, who now has his sights set on finishing 2023 off strong and competing at the world's most well-known athletic event in less than a year.
"I've still got one more competition this year in Eugene, Oregon, that'll be the Diamond League Final," Arop said. "Next year is going to be the big one. That's going to be the Olympics."
While at the Diamond League Final, Arop wants to do more than just finish at the top of the podium. He currently holds the Canadian indoor record and is only four-hundredths of a second away from setting the overall record. As Arop explained, there's no better time to meet his next big goal than right now.
"I'm going to try to aim for the Canadian record in my next competition," Arop said. "Right now, I'm in the best shape of my life, so I think I'm going to have to go for it, and hopefully we can get something special going on there."
While he's out in the world setting records and leaving fellow racers in the dust, Arop hopes to be a success story to young athletes who are hoping to have their own names mentioned with the best of the best one day. After all, he was once in their spikes.
"There's a lot of Canadian 800m runners that have come before me and they've inspired me, and I hope to do the same for the future generation," Arop said.
But those young runners looking to catch up to Arop shouldn't get their hopes up quite yet: he doesn't plan on slowing down any time soon.
"I know that I have the potential to keep doing it again and again," Arop said.
