Natasha Wodak gave it her all. On Sunday, she toed the road on the Hamburg Marathon in a remaining try to hit the qualifying customary for the Paris 2024 Olympics. It simply wasn’t her day: “Stomach cramps from the very starting & quads went to shit @ 30k,” Wodak posted on X post-race. Wodak completed twelfth, in 2:30:24, lacking the ladies’s Olympic customary of two:26:50 by a number of minutes.
Sadly not my day on the market:( Stomach cramps from the very starting & quads went to shit @ 30k. However we by no means give up- proud that I completed. Gutted the Olympic dream is over. https://t.co/F67AWksIeQ
— Natasha Wodak (@tasha_wodak) April 28, 2024
The Hamburg Marathon was the finale in a season of arduous effort by Wodak geared towards Paris. After falling in need of the Olympic customary on the Houston Marathon in January, Wodak, 42, rapidly launched into one other marathon construct. Wodak runs much less mileage than another elite athletes, and consists of numerous cross-training in her construct, which supplies an cardio hit whereas minimizing the danger of harm. Her profession has had some outstanding successes: Wodak is the nationwide document holder within the marathon, and completed thirteenth in her first Olympic marathon in Tokyo.
Wodak’s preparation for Hamburg went nicely, and within the days main as much as the race she reported that she felt way more prepared than in Houston. “Trying again at not simply the final 12 weeks—however the final yr of arduous, constant work leaves me feeling assured & prepared,” she wrote on Instagram. “I really have loved the method.”
Canada thus far has three marathoners slated to go to the Olympics in August—Cam Levins and Malindi Elmore, who each obtained early nominations from Athletics Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee, and Rory Linkletter, who ran 2:08:01 on the Seville Marathon to qualify. Fellow Canadians Ben Preisner, Leslie Sexton and Dayna Pidhoresky additionally raced Hamburg within the hopes of hitting the usual, and all have been DNFs.
Regardless of failing to fulfill the usual in Hamburg, Wodak was proud that she by no means misplaced hope. “However we by no means quit— proud that I completed,” she wrote on X. “Gutted the Olympic dream is over.”
