IAAF World Championships: Men's marathon schedule and preview

The IAAF World Athletics Championship 2019 will start on September 27, 2019 in Doha Qatar. The 17th edition of the competition will kickstart at the renovated multi-purpose Khalifa International Stadium. Nearly 2,000 athletes will be participating in the nine-day competition, where about 1054 men and 918 women are scheduled to participate. One of the main events in Doha is the hihly-anticipated marathon event where 100 athletes will be participating.

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The men's marathon

The men's marathon event will have 100 participants who will fight to reach the finals which takes place on the last day of the event. The event will start at midnight due to the temperature in the Middle-Eastern region. It will be the first-midnight marathon in the history of this event. The marathon will commence on a well-lit looped course along Doha's famous Corniche area overlooking the cities towering skyline.

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Indian marathon runner – Gopi

This year, Gopi Thonakal will be representing India in the IAAF World Athletics Championship marathon events. His personal best for a marathon is 2 hours 13 minutes and 39 seconds. His best time is the second-best time record ever done by an Indian, just missing the top spot by 1 minute 39 seconds. The runner's last performance was at the Seoul International Marathon which is a world-class IAAF gold label event.

He completed the marathon in 2 hours and 16 minutes. He finished 11th at the Seoul marathon to qualify for the Championship. His other records include a win at the 2017 Asian marathon in Dongguan, China. He also finished 25th at the 2016 Rio Olympics and 28th position at the 2012 London Olympics. Other events in which Indian will participate at the IAAF World Athletics Championship are 400 metres hurdles, 4x400 metres relay, 100, 200, 400 and 1500 meter races, javelin throw, 3000 metres steeplechase, long jump and shot put.  

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