French athlete opens up about what it would mean to run the marathon at Paris 2024

Not many athletes get the opportunity to represent their country at a home Olympics.

Abderrazak Charik is hoping that he can add himself to that illustrious list this summer. The dream is to wear the French colours during the Olympic marathon.

To be considered for selection, Charik will have to run the qualifying standard of 2:08:10 before the cut-off date of May 12.

He attempted to get the standard at this past Februarys Seville Marathon but was agonisingly short and clocked 2:08:42.

Last October, Charik ran his current personal best of 2:08:37 at the Amsterdam Marathon.

Morhad Amdouni (2:03:47), Mehdi Frère (2:05:43), Nicolas Navarro (2:05:53), Felix Bour (2:06:46) and Benjamin Choqeurt (2:07:42) are the five French athletes who have recorded times below the qualification standard.

It would mean a lot to Charik if hes able to add his name to that roster.

The 26-year-old will race over 10km at the ASICS Paris Festival of Running on April 5.

AW chats exclusively to Charik below:

You ran a personal best of 2:08:37 at last years Amsterdam Marathon. How do you reflect on that? 

It was very nice and I was happy to produce this time in Amsterdam. I ran 2:10:33 at the Seville Marathon earlier on in the season [April 2023] and it was another chance for me to beat my personal best.

Its not far now until the Olympics so I need to get the qualification mark for that ahead of the Games.

What would it mean for you to represent France at the Paris Olympics? 

It would be a dream and big opportunity to run in Paris. Id be so happy. Paris is a big city with a huge story.

Maybe Im a little bit crazy doing the marathon! When you run the 5km, 10km or half marathon, you always figure out what distance you are best at. For me, it was the half marathon and it made sense to step up to the marathon. I like the longer distances.

When I made my debut marathon in Paris back in 2021 I ran 2:13. Then, in Seville, I ran 2:10 before the 2:08 in Amsterdam. So Ive progressed and I hope to run 2:06!

Whats your view on the evolution of marathon running? 

The shoe technology has made a big impact in training, racing and recovery. Its now better to run the longer distances. Its not the case with the marathon that you can just train for two weeks and go and run it because you need to focus for months in advance. Its not easy for everyone but with the new shoes you can run more marathons in a year because the recovery is quicker.

Per week Id run 160-220km in training and thats a normal distance when you prepare for the marathon. You need to run a lot of distance in training and if you were to run 100km per week then racing over 26.2 miles wouldnt be possible. For me, some of my friends will say you need to go up to 250km per week and one day Ill aim for the 220-230km mark.

Whats your ultimate goal in the sport? 

To be at the European or World Championships is one thing but my ultimate goal is to compete at the Olympic Games. I just hope to run faster and hope to represent both ASICS and France at Paris 2024.

How important has ASICS been for you? 

They are a great brand and Im grateful for the support theyve given me as an athlete. When you see the shoes, you cant complain. We are athletes so well be competing at the elite level for maybe 20 years and you need the support of a brand like ASICS during that period.