For a lot of athletes within the elite subject, the 2024 Boston Marathon is an opportunity to make one closing assertion earlier than the Olympic marathon window closes on Might 5. For Tristan Woodfine of Cobden, Ont., Boston is his closing shot at making the Canadian Olympic crew, and though that shot is (in basketball phrases), past halfcourt, there’s nonetheless a small likelihood for the Canadian marathoner.
Woodfine’s hopes of attending to Paris relaxation on his efficiency on Monday, however his ending time doesn’t matter; for Woodfine to earn a spot on the lads’s Canadian Olympic marathon crew, he should end within the prime 5.
The fifth-place runner eventually 12 months’s Boston Marathon crossed the road in 2:08:35, which is near the Olympic commonplace of two:08:10. (Even when Woodfine ran the usual however positioned exterior the highest 5, his time wouldn’t rely, as a result of Boston’s course being ineligible for data and Olympic qualification as a result of it’s a web downhill course.)
All through his profession, Woodfine has taken some good swings on the marathon distance, however he’s coming off the very best hit of his profession, ending sixth on the 2024 Chevron Houston Marathon, in 2:10:39. He adopted that up with one other sixth-place end towards a deep subject on the (hilly) NYC Half in March, beating Ethiopian celebrity Kenenisa Bekele.
Woodfine has proven he’s in form for a 2:08-2:09 end in Boston, however his Olympic qualification will rely upon how others end. Within the final 10 years, just one Canadian marathoner has positioned within the prime 5 at Boston (Krista DuChene, who completed third in 2018). DuChene caught to her tempo, and lots of the prime East African elites dropped out because of the torrential downpour and freezing circumstances. Woodfine is not going to get a lot of a serving to hand from Mom Nature. The forecast for Marathon Monday is a excessive of 19 C, with blended solar and cloud all through the day.
What is going to it take to qualify for the Canadian Olympic marathon crew?
The competitors
Woodfine may also face stiff competitors, with Kenya’s Evans Chebet on the lookout for his third consecutive Boston Marathon win. Chebet is likely one of the finest tactical marathoners on this planet. With a private finest of two:03:00, he has proven he can contend, irrespective of the tempo on the entrance. And this 12 months, Chebet has some additional motivation, after being left off the Olympic marathon shortlist by Athletics Kenya. At Friday’s press convention, he reiterated that he was disillusioned, however is hoping one other win might change the opinion of the Kenyan choice committee.
The 2024 males’s elite subject doesn’t have the firepower it did final 12 months, with the likes of Benson Kipruto and former world document holder Eliud Kipchoge, however there are nonetheless six males with sub-2:05 private bests. The fourth-fastest marathoner in historical past, Ethiopia’s Sisay Lemma, is available in with the quickest PB within the subject, operating a jaw-dropping 2:01:48 in Valencia final December. Lemma is prone to be chosen for the Ethiopian crew in Paris, however a win in Boston could be icing on the cake.
Tanzania’s Gabriel Geay (2:03:00, Valencia 2022) has usually been a bridesmaid at Abbott World Marathon Majors, however by no means the bride. He has two top-five finishes right here in Boston (fourth in 2022 and runner-up in 2023). Third time’s the attraction?
Two different athletes to observe are Morocco’s Zouhair Talbi and Japan’s Suguru Osako. Talbi completed sixth at Boston final 12 months in 2:08:35, however he has improved as a marathoner since then, profitable the 2024 Houston Marathon simply three months in the past in a private finest 2:06:39. Osako was not too long ago chosen for the Japanese marathon crew on the 2024 Paris Olympics and got here to Boston as a take a look at to arrange him for the Olympic course.
“I knew I wanted a problem,” Osako says of his determination to come back to Boston. “The Boston course is as robust because it will get, and I wish to combat on the market and put myself able to win.”
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Easy methods to watch
The 2024 Boston Marathon can be broadcasted reside on TSN 5 at 8:30 a.m. ET on Monday, April 15. The skilled males’s race will start at 9:37 a.m. ET and can probably conclude round midday. The ladies’s race will start 10 minutes later, at 9:47 a.m.
Canadian Working is on the 2024 Boston Marathon with Beneath Armour to rejoice the launch of the Velociti Elite 2, the model’s quickest carbon racing shoe to this point. You’ll want to keep plugged into our socials on Instagram and X for every part Boston this weekend.
