TOKYO — Canada’s Marco Arop did not defend his men’s 800-metre title at the world athletics championships, but he did reach the podium with a third-place finish in Saturday’s race.

Arop took the bronze medal in a season-best time of one minute 41.95 seconds. The 27-year-old from Edmonton ran a strong race, but no one in the competitive field was catching Emmanuel Wanyonyi.

The Olympic champion from Kenya led start to finish to claim his first world title in a world-championship-record time of 1:41.86.

Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati, who Arop beat in a photo-finish in the semifinals, passed the Canadian down the stretch and took silver in 1:41.9.

Arop was looking to become the third Canadian to defend a world title in Tokyo after Canada’s superstar hammer throwers — Camryn Rogers of Richmond,

See Full Page