Relief for Elroy Gelant as he books Olympic marathon spot

Long-distance runner Elroy Gelant has been rewarded for his efforts in the marathon this season by qualifying for the Olympic Games.

Gelant clocked a personal best of 2:08:56 at the Seville Marathon in February, narrowly missing the automatic qualifying standard (2:08:10).

In April, he went on to win the national marathon title in Durban in 2:09:32, and while this pushed up his ranking points, he was left two places outside the top 80, which was the entry limit for the men’s marathon at the Paris Games in August.

On Tuesday, however, World Athletics confirmed that Gelant was one of a handful of athletes who had been given a spot in the 42km race in the French capital based on rankings, increasing the size of the field to 85 runners.

Third Olympics

It will be 37-year-old Gelant’s third successive appearance at the Olympics. He finished 13th in the 5,000m race at the 2016 Rio Games and took 33rd position in the marathon in Tokyo three years ago.

He will be one of five South Africans competing over the 42km distance in Paris.

Stephen Mokoka qualified automatically for the men’s race, while Gerda Steyn, Cian Oldknow and Irvette van Zyl secured automatic spots in the women’s contest.