For a lot of athletes within the elite area, the 2024 Boston Marathon is an opportunity to make one ultimate assertion earlier than the Olympic marathon window closes on Could 5. For Tristan Woodfine of Cobden, Ont., Boston is his ultimate shot at making the Canadian Olympic workforce, 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 workforce, he should end within the prime 5.
The fifth-place runner ultimately 12 months’s Boston Marathon crossed the road in 2:08:35, which is near the Olympic customary of two:08:10. (Even when Woodfine ran the usual however positioned exterior the highest 5, his time wouldn’t rely, attributable to Boston’s course being ineligible for information 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 perfect 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 in opposition to a deep area 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 most of the prime East African elites dropped out because of the torrential downpour and freezing situations. Woodfine won’t get a lot of a serving to hand from Mom Nature. The forecast for Marathon Monday is a excessive of 19 C, with combined solar and cloud all through the day.
What’s going to it take to qualify for the Canadian Olympic marathon workforce?
The competitors
Woodfine will even 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 the earth. 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 upset, however is hoping one other win might change the opinion of the Kenyan choice committee.
The 2024 males’s elite area doesn’t have the firepower it did final 12 months, with the likes of Benson Kipruto and former world file 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 area, working a jaw-dropping 2:01:48 in Valencia final December. Lemma is prone to be chosen for the Ethiopian workforce in Paris, however a win in Boston can 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 appeal?
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, successful the 2024 Houston Marathon simply three months in the past in a private finest 2:06:39. Osako was just lately chosen for the Japanese marathon workforce on the 2024 Paris Olympics and got here to Boston as a take a look at to organize him for the Olympic course.
“I knew I wanted a problem,” Osako says of his choice to return to Boston. “The Boston course is as robust because it will get, and I need to combat on the market and put myself able to win.”
Boston Marathon girls’s preview: Sharon Lokedi prepared for Kenyan showdown
Learn how to watch
The 2024 Boston Marathon might be broadcasted dwell 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 seemingly conclude round midday. The ladies’s race will start 10 minutes later, at 9:47 a.m.
Canadian Operating is on the 2024 Boston Marathon with Beneath Armour to have fun the launch of the Velociti Elite 2, the model’s quickest carbon racing shoe to this point. You should definitely keep plugged into our socials on Instagram and X for the whole lot Boston this weekend.
Boston Marathon men’s preview: Canada’s Tristan Woodfine gets final shot at Olympic qualification
