Canadian Olympic medalists Marco Arop of Edmonton, Alberta and Alysha Newman of London, Ontario won the bronze medal at the Diamond League Finals in Belgium on Saturday. Arop placed third in the men’s 800 metres, and Newman won the bronze medal in the women’s pole vault.
In the men’s 800 metres, Arop, who won the silver medal in the distance at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, posted a time of 1:43.25 in Brussels. Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya won the gold medal with a time of 1:42.70. Djamel Sedjati of Algeria won the silver medal with a time of 1:42.86. Arop reached the podium by 0.42 seconds. Gabriel Tula of France finished in fourth place with a time of 1:43.67. It was a strong middle of the race for Arop, but struggled to maintain his high speed in the latter part of the race, and was passed by Wanyonyi and Sedjati.
In the women’s pole vault, Newman, who won the bronze medal at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, had a vault of 4.8 metres. Nina Kennedy of Australia, won the gold medal with a vault of 4.88 metres. Sandi Morris of the United States won the silver medal with 4.8 metres. The bronze medals for Arop and Newman will prepare them for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
