Calli Hauger-Thackery: “I want redemption from the Olympics”

The British distance-runner talks through running over 25 laps in Tokyo, avenging Paris and expectations for the Chicago Marathon.

Calli Hauger-Thackery is the first to admit that choosing the 10,000m over the marathon at the upcoming World Athletics Championships was a hard decision.

“It wasn’t easy at all”, says the Brit, who qualified for both events in Tokyo.

Hauger-Thackery was automatically selected to represent Great Britain over 26.2 miles back in May, courtesy of her personal best of 2:21:24 at last year’s Berlin Marathon.

She also achieved a best of 30:50.64 over 10,000m at the Oslo Diamond League, well under the UK Athletics consideration standard of 31:10.00. That meant that if she placed high enough in the world rankings, Hauger-Thackery could essentially choose which event she wanted to do in Tokyo.

When Hauger-Thackery announced she would be running this year’s Chicago Marathon in October, it became almost inevitable the Brit would race over 25 laps in the Japanese capital.

After withdrawing from the Paris Olympic marathon before the 30km mark – her mother’s cancer diagnosis caused severe sleep and appetite issues in the immediate build-up the Games – Tokyo is now about vindication for Hauger-Thackery.

“I want redemption from the Olympics last year,” she says. “The heat and humidity in Tokyo doesn’t actually scare me because I’m like ‘okay it’s just six and not 26.2 miles’.

“I can do that. It’s fine. I can hurt for about 30 minutes. So that isn’t worrying me. It might be a jog fest and that doesn’t excite me too much. But at the same time, we’re all in it together.

“Like, we’re all going to be there and I do feel really strong. I do back myself, even in the speed stuff. Like, I still back myself in it. It’s definitely shown in the last few weeks. So I don’t really like care how it’s going to be run.”

Hauger-Thackery states that she has never felt better in training and will travel to the Japanese capital from St. Moritz.

The 32-year-old spent around a month at altitude and states it’s one of the best training stints she’s had. Not only did Hauger-Thackery’s dad visit for a week but she also saw the likes of Laura Muir run on the track in Switzerland.

“I’ve never ran some of the splits I’ve done in the last few weeks in terms of mile and km reps,” Hauger-Thackery says. “I’ve been doing 200m in 29 seconds so I’ve got speed.

“I do…