For a lot of athletes within the elite subject, the 2024 Boston Marathon is an opportunity to make one remaining assertion earlier than the Olympic marathon window closes on Might 5. For Tristan Woodfine of Cobden, Ont., Boston is his remaining shot at making the Canadian Olympic group, 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 group, he should end within the prime 5.
The fifth-place runner finally yr’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 outdoors the highest 5, his time wouldn’t rely, as a consequence of Boston’s course being ineligible for data and Olympic qualification as a result of it’s a internet 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 subject on the (hilly) NYC Half in March, beating Ethiopian famous person Kenenisa Bekele.
Woodfine has proven he’s in form for a 2:08-2:09 end in Boston, however his Olympic qualification will depend 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 as a result of torrential downpour and freezing situations. 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’s going to it take to qualify for the Canadian Olympic marathon group?
The competitors
Woodfine will even face stiff competitors, with Kenya’s Evans Chebet in search of his third consecutive Boston Marathon win. Chebet is among the finest tactical marathoners on the planet. With a private finest of two:03:00, he has proven he can contend, regardless of the tempo on the entrance. And this yr, 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 dissatisfied, 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 yr, 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 subject, working a jaw-dropping 2:01:48 in Valencia final December. Lemma is more likely to be chosen for the Ethiopian group 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 look at are Morocco’s Zouhair Talbi and Japan’s Suguru Osako. Talbi completed sixth at Boston final yr 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 group on the 2024 Paris Olympics and got here to Boston as a check to arrange 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 powerful because it will get, and I need to battle on the market and put myself able to win.”
Boston Marathon ladies’s preview: Sharon Lokedi prepared for Kenyan showdown
Find out how to watch
The 2024 Boston Marathon will probably be broadcasted stay 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 doubtless 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 Below Armour to have fun the launch of the Velociti Elite 2, the model’s quickest carbon racing shoe thus far. Be sure you keep plugged into our socials on Instagram and X for every thing Boston this weekend.
