Gopi to compete in Tokyo marathon
NEW DELHI: India’s Asian marathon champion T Gopi has been able to rope in a sponsor that will enable him to race in the Tokyo marathon, part of the World Marathon Majors, in March. The other five marathons part of the circuit are Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, and New York.
After a dull 2018, the Army runner had to endure the pain of failing to make the cut for both the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in Australia as well as the Jakarta Asian Games.
However, the 2019 season looks promising for Gopi. “With the support of well-wishers, I should be doing better this year,” he said. “The course in Tokyo is fast. It will give us an opportunity to break new barriers.”
One of his goals is to break the course record of the Mumbai marathon next weekend. The defending champion said: “Training is on the right track. If all goes as per plan, I should be able to achieve a good timing.”
The course record of 2:15:48 in the Indian category was set in 2016 by Nitendra Singh Rawat.
Gopi’s personal best of 2 hours 15 minutes and 25 seconds was clocked when he finished 25th at the Rio Olympics.
He had clocked 2:15:31 on his way to winning the 2017 Asian marathon. Qualifying for the 2020 Olympics is his second goal of the year.
A good timing in Mumbai, according to Gopi, will also depend on the local weather conditions. “When the race starts early in the morning, the weather is alright but sometimes it get too warm as the race progresses,” he said over the phone from Bengaluru.
Usually, top global runners prefer to take an average of 12 weeks’ break before racing another marathon. The gap between the Mumbai and Tokyo events will be close to six weeks. Gopi, however, said he would recover to give his best in Japan.
After having consistent performances over the course of the 2016-17 season, poor strategy had proved disastrous for Gopi as he found it hard to improve his timing. Putting behind a disappointing year, he is now ready to conquer new territory.