Marco Arop's coach hails world champion runner as 'once-in-a-lifetime athlete,' marvels at fast recovery time

Years before Marco Arop ran 800 metres to a 2023 world championship gold medal and Olympic silver the next year, he was a 400-metre sprinter and could be spotted red-lining, or pushing his body to its maximum effort, during high school workouts in Edmonton.

But he had zero sense of pace.

"If coach gave me three 400m [intervals] I would go all-out in the first one and struggle through the next two," Arop recalled during a break in training while preparing to race the 800 and 1,500 at Grand Slam Track this Saturday and Sunday in Philadelphia.

Arop would eventually understand his limits that enabled him to push through pain.

Most successful track and field athletes don't shy away from the pain of training, but Arop understands the pain pushes him a step closer to his ultimate goals, according to his coach.

"It means he's determined and committed to the craft, and he is not going to let anything get in his way," said Chris Woods, who has worked with Arop since becoming head track and field coach at Mississippi State University in 2019.

The 26-year-old Arop can buffer lactic acid, or hurt longer and more, than anyone Woods has seen in 12 years at MSU.

WATCH | Arop wins 800m at Grand Slam Track:

Edmonton's Marco Arop, the reigning 800-metre world champion, captures his straight Grand Slam Track victory in his signature event. Great Britain's Josh Kerr claims the men's short distance title at the Grand Slam Track stop in Miramar, Fla., and Arop finishes second overall.

Woods, who began coaching at the U.S. collegiate level in 2009, has guided several track standouts, including four-time Canadian 800m champion Brandon McBride, but none like Arop.

"He's a once-in-a-lifetime athlete. The way Marco can recover between fast, long and hard intervals, I've never seen anything like it," Woods told CBC Sports. "My best educated guess is it's genetics and his upbringing."

To illustrate his point, Woods cited one of Arop's recent workouts at MSU.

It consisted of broken runs of 700m (500/200), 600m (400/200) and 500m (300/200) that included a 48-second run in the 400.

"For me, that's just another day at the track," Arop told Toronto sprinter Aaron Brown and two-time Canadian Olympic hurdler Perdita Felicien for CBC Sports' Trackside show. "This [was] the first race pace workout [I've] done this year. I'm used to seeing those times in training, but it's cool to see the reactions [from others].

"To run [one minute 41 seconds over 800 metres], and potentially faster, [I] have to be able to run fast paces on short recovery."

"In the middle of that workout," Woods told CBC Sports, "he was running paces that would add up to a 1:36 800m run. In no way am I suggesting he would cover 800 in that time. It just shows how long he can hold paces such as that with minimal rest."

Talk of David Rudisha's seemingly untouchable 1:40.91 world record only grew louder when Arop ran a 1:41.20 personal best in the Olympic final last Aug. 10 to finish 1-100th of a second behind Kenya's Emmanuel Wanyonyi in Paris.

"It's been a goal of mine since I started running. That was the first race I watched before I did my first high school 800," Arop told Brown and Felicien.

"Watching David Rudisha run that world record inspired me to get to that level. Now that I'm knocking on the door, it's really cool and a testament to all the work that's been put in. I got to give a lot of credit to my coaches because without their belief, I don't think I would be near where I am now.

"To get to 1:39," continued Arop, "that's going to be another level, so that's the next step."

WATCH | Arop wants 800m world record:

In Philadelphia, Arop will aim for his first Slam title in three attempts after his combined point totals from the 800 and 1,500 placed him second in the short distance group in Jamaica last month and Miami on May 3.

After racing the 1,500 first at those events, the 800 will be contested first on Saturday at 4:57 p.m. ET, followed by the 1,500 Sunday at 5:01 p.m.

"That will be a new experience," said Arop, who has raced on back-to-back days in his career but not in different distances. "I'm confident in my ability to race the 800 with fatigue in my legs. I'm not sure what the 1,500 is going to feel like [fatigue-wise]."

Arop, who is using the Slam competitions as training for various aspects of his races, believes racing the 1,500 helps him stay consistent and deliver better finishes in the 800.

"I'm probably the strongest I've been [in my career]. My early [season] fitness is the best I've seen and [I'm] touching on the speed work now [in training] so I'm excited where it's going to take me," he said.

Added Woods: "Running the 1,500, in theory, will make him a more well-rounded middle-distance athlete. By the end of the season, I believe fans will see a middle-distance athlete that's in the lower 1:40s in the 800m and the lower 3:30s, if not 3:20s, in the 1,500.

"He'll be a very dangerous runner when that happens."

The final stop of the Grand Slam Track season is June 27-29 in Los Angeles.

Arop will race there before joining the Diamond League professional track and field circuit. He is scheduled to race in Monaco (July 11) London (July 19) and possibly Lausanne, Switzerland (Aug. 20).