AT A GLANCE

His goal for the marathon: ‘‘I’ve got my eye on the New Zealand record (2:08:19). I want to keep climbing up that New Zealand all-time list. I’m 4th now and two of the guys ahead of me are the Robertson boys who are still competing and running faster every time. I want to get down into single-digits.’’

The quest for the 2-hour marathon (Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge holds the world’s best time of 2:01:39 but has ran 1:59:40 in a

non-eligible race in Vienna): ‘‘It’s crazy. There are not many runners that can hang with that pace for even half that distance. What Kipchoge and some others are doing is pretty mind-boggling but it’s cool to see the limits being pushed.’’

On Nike’s controversial Vaporfly/Alphafly shoes said to offer a ‘mechanical’ advantage (Hicks is sponsored by the apparel

company): ‘‘World Athletics’ new regulations are a positive step in terms of evening the playing field and making it clear what the limits are. The rule requiring shoes to be publicly available is a good one. We don’t want secret prototypes only made available to certain athletes.’’

On the potential for the Olympics to be cancelled: ‘‘I can’t even think about that. We’ve got to plan like it’s going ahead. There seems to be different reports every day. You’ve got to put those aside and get to work.’’