Marathon man Scullion secures Tokyo place

His qualification completes a remarkable transformation in recent years given Scullion retired from the sport several times in his 20s before re-committing in 2015, at which point he was a regular smoker and drinker and weighed 85kg.

Stephen Scullion secured qualification for the Tokyo Olympics when finishing fifth in the Houston Marathon on Sunday in 2:11:52, a personal best by nine seconds.

The 31-year-old Belfast man, who ran 2:12:01 to finish second in Dublin last October, was targeting the automatic qualifying standard of 2:11:30 and though he came up just shy, he booked his place in Tokyo via a top-five finish in a gold label road race. The race was won by Ethiopia’s Kelkile Woldaregay Gezahegn in 2:08:36.