Bat-Ochiryn "Ziggy" Ser-OdTurnbull, Simon (19 April 2009)

''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

''. Retrieved on 2011-04-26. ( mn, Бат-Очирын Сэр-Од, born 7 October 1981 in Gobi-Altai province) is a

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

n long-distance runner who competes in road races, particularly the marathon. He represented his country in the marathon at 5 Summer Olympics in 2004, 2008, 2012 (where he also was flagbearer), 2016 and 2021. A member of the Morpeth Harriers running club, he divides his time between his native country and Gateshead in England. Ser-od began his international career in 2002 and has competed in the marathon at ten consecutive editions of the

World Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the Ol ...

since 2003. His best performance is 20th at the 2011 World Championships. He is Mongolia's first ever elite level marathon runner and his personal best of 2:08:50 is the Mongolian national record. He was the 2013 Asian Marathon Champion and also won the Brighton Marathon and Hofu Yomiuri Marathon in 2010. Other career highlights include top ten finishes at the

Berlin Marathon The Berlin Marathon (german: Berlin-Marathon, ) is a marathon event held annually on the streets of Berlin, Germany on the last weekend of September. Held annually since 1974, the event includes multiple races over the marathon distance of , inc ...

and

London Marathon The London Marathon is an annual marathon held in London, United Kingdom, and is the 2nd largest annual road race in the UK, after the Great North Run in Newcastle. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically he ...

Career

Early competition

Ser-Od began participating in long-distance events in 2002.Morpeth Harrier Serod Batochir really is a long distance athletics star
. ''The Journal'' (25 April 2010). Retrieved on 2011-04-26. He made his international debut at the

2002 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships The 11th IAAF World Half Marathon Championships was held on May 5, 2002 in the city of Brussels, Belgium. A total of 198 athletes, 123 men and 75 women, from 60 countries took part. Detailed reports on the event and an appraisal of the results were ...

and stepped up a distance to the marathon at the

2003 World Championships in Athletics The 9th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held from 23 August to 31 August 2003 in the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, France. Men's results T ...

, where he came 63rd with a personal best of 2:26:39 hours.Bat-Ochir, Ser-Od
IAAF. Retrieved on 26 April 2011. He was twelfth at the 2004

Hong Kong Marathon The Hong Kong Marathon (香港馬拉松), sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank, is an annual marathon race held in January or February in Hong Kong. In addition to the full marathon, a 10 km run and a half marathon are also held. Around ...

, the third Asian to finish in a largely African field. He made his Olympic debut that year at the

2004 Athens Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

. He was just one of two Mongolians to compete in the

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

competition, alongside women's marathoner Luvsanlkhündegiin Otgonbayar. Ser-Od came 75th overall with a time of 2:33:24 hours, some twenty minutes behind the winner. He ran his 2005 season's best in Ulaanbaatar in June before the 2005 World Championships, where he improved upon his previous placing by coming in 61st. He set a half marathon best of 1:08:12 in October, representing his country at the

2005 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships The 14th IAAF World Half Marathon Championships were held in Edmonton, Canada on 1 October 2005. The competition was replaced by the World Road Running Championships in 2006 and 2007, but revived as IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in 2008. ...

. With no world-level marathon events scheduled in 2006, he focused on Asian competition. He showed significant improvement at the

Asian Marathon Championship The Asian Marathon Championships is a biennial international competition in marathon road running for Asian athletes. Organised by the Asian Athletics Association, its creation in 1988 followed decision to drop the 42.195-kilometre (26-mile and 385 ...

, incorporated into that year's

Beijing Marathon The Beijing Marathon () is an annual marathon race held around October in Beijing, People's Republic of China, since 1981. The race begins at Tiananmen Square and finishes in Celebration Square in Olympic Green. The full marathon is the onl ...

, as he was the sixth best Asian and knocked over six minutes off his best time, recording 2:20:13 hours. He did not perform as well at the

2006 Asian Games 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

, however, as he came seventeenth in the Games marathon. He remained in East Asia in 2007, coming 55th at the 2007 World Championships in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

before making another large improvement at the Beijing Marathon, where he completed the distance in a time of 2:16:22 hours.

2008-2009: National records and move to Gateshead

He lined up for the Asian Marathon Championship race at the 2008 Hong Kong Marathon and demonstrated his progression by coming runner-up in the Asian category behind race winner Koichiro Fukuoka and taking fifth place in the international field. At the

Good Luck Beijing In most contexts, the concept of good denotes the conduct that should be preferred when posed with a choice between possible actions. Good is generally considered to be the opposite of evil and is of interest in the study of ethics, morality, ph ...

Marathon, a test event for the 2008 Summer Olympics, he cut two more minutes off his best to defeat all opposition and win the race in a Mongolian record time of 2:14:15 hours. He did not repeat this form at the Olympic marathon race in August, but his time and placing (52nd in 2:24:19) were his best performances yet on the international stage. His final race of the year came at December's Hofu Yomiuri Marathon, but his fast starting pace saw him drift back into sixth by the finish. His training in Mongolia was interrupted by the cold winter and, in April 2009, he travelled to Gateshead,

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

to visit family. While there he came to an agreement with

Morpeth Morpeth may refer to: *Morpeth, New South Wales, Australia ** Electoral district of Morpeth, a former electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in New South Wales * Morpeth, Ontario, Canada * Morpeth, Northumberland, England, UK ** Morpeth (UK ...

Harriers, a local

running club A running club, also known in some parts of the United States as a running crew , is an eclectic institution specialising in running and oriented towards the sport and recreation of running or track and field. The club may train for and compete i ...

, to begin training with them. Ser-Od trained on a

running track An all-weather running track is a rubberized, artificial running surface for track and field athletics. It provides a consistent surface for competitors to test their athletic ability unencumbered by adverse weather conditions. Historically, v ...

for the first time at the

Gateshead International Stadium Gateshead International Stadium (GIS) is a multi-purpose, all-seater venue in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. Originally known as the Gateshead Youth Stadium, the venue was built in 1955 at a cost of £30,000. It has since been extensively r ...

and said that the area's 10 km competitions were of particular benefit, given the rarity of races over that distance in

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both Geography, geographical and culture, ethno-cultural terms. The modern State (polity), states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. ...

.McGuirk, Bill (29 April 2010)
Serod Batochir coasts to glory in Brighton
. '' Evening Chronicle''. Retrieved on 2011-04-26. Reflecting on the change, he said: "To train n Mongoliayou have to wear too many clothes, maybe four layers. Running is really hard then. In England it is different." He ran in a series of

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

races from April to August, building towards the upcoming 2009 World Championships in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. He won 10K races in North Shields, Newton Aycliffe and Morpeth, as well as placing top three in half marathons in Redcar and Mansfield. A 10K best of 30:08 minutes came at Gateshead's Great North 10K, where he was seventh.Serod Batochir
Power of 10. Retrieved on 27 April 2011. The change of location resulted in a rise in the rankings in the World Championships Marathon in Berlin, as he finished in the top thirty for the first time, completing the course in 2:17:22 hours. He was selected to run on the track at the

2009 Asian Athletics Championships The 18th Asian Athletics Championships were held in Guangzhou, China in 2009. Results Men's results Track Field Women's results Track Field Medal table Participating nations * (12) * (1) * (1) * (77) * (22) * (16) * ...

and he came twelfth in the 5000 metres (14:47.01 minutes) and set a track best of 29:43.79 minutes for ninth place in the

10,000 metres The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship level events. The ra ...

. His best marathon time of the year came at the Hofu Yomiuri Marathon, where he was the best non-Japanese, finishing seventh in 2:17:19 hours.

2010-2011: London and Berlin Marathons

He was highly active in the marathon in 2010: he was third at the

in February, and came fifth at the Zhengzhou Marathon with a time of 2:17:01 hours in March. He was initially invited to the 2010 London Marathon in April, but the organisers rescinded their invitation upon discovering he had run the full distance just three weeks before the event. Having already arrived in England, he sought out a place at the inaugural Brighton Marathon instead and won the competition by a five-minute margin. He received an invitation for the 2010 Berlin Marathon and performed well in his first

World Marathon Majors The World Marathon Majors (WMM) (known for sponsorship reasons as the Abbott World Marathon Majors) is a championship-style competition for marathon runners that started in 2006. A points-based competition founded on six major marathon races reco ...

event, finishing in tenth place with a time of 2:12:42 – a new national record. In his fifth outing over the distance that year, he won the Hofu Yomiuri Marathon, succeeding on his third attempt in a time of 2:14:49 (the third best performance of his career). Ser-od's 2011 season started at the Northern 12-Stage Road Relay, where he led off the Morpeth Harriers team which went on to take the title. The 2011 London Marathon was his first major race of the year and he again had a top ten placing, taking ninth place in 2:11:35 hours to improve his best time a minute further. He finished in the top ten of both the 5000 m and 10,000 m at the

2011 Asian Athletics Championships The 19th Asian Athletics Championships were held in Kobe, Japan between July 7–10, 2011 at the Kobe Universiade Memorial Stadium. The tournament had 507 athletes from forty Asian nations competing in the 42 track and field events over the fou ...

, then went on to have his best global marathon finish at the

2011 World Championships in Athletics The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011. The United States topped the medal standings in th ...

, finishing in 20th place. Two months later, he came sixth at the

. In 2011 Hofu Yomiuri Marathon in Japan he defended his title as winner running for 2:11:56 hours improving his time by 2 minutes and 53 seconds than the previous year.

2012 Olympic Games

He was runner-up in his first race of 2012 Beppu-Oita Marathon, setting a new best of 2:11:05 behind Harun Njoroge. He ran within the course record time at the Brighton Marathon, but finished fourth in a fast race. He represented his country at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and finished in 51st position in the marathon. He was also selected as national flag bearer in the opening ceremony. Ser-Od ended the year with a win at the Osaka Marathon in a course record time of 2:11:52.

After 2012

His first outings of 2013 did not bode well: he was 18th at the Beppu-Oita Marathon, 15th at the Hong Kong Marathon, and eleventh at the

Daegu Marathon The Daegu International Marathon is an annual marathon race which takes place in April in Daegu, South Korea. The day's events also feature a 5K event and a 10K event, as well as the full course marathon (42.195 km). The race begins and end ...

. In spite of this, he performed reasonably well at the

2013 World Championships in Athletics The 14th IAAF World Championships in Athletics (Moscow 2013) () was an international athletics competition held in Moscow, Russia, from 10–18 August 2013. Initially, Russia won the most gold medals to top the table for the first time since 200 ...

, coming in 35th place. At the

2013 East Asian Games The 2013 East Asian Games, officially known as the VI East Asian Games, was an international multi-sport event that took place in Tianjin, China, between 6 October and 15 October 2013. 2,422 Athletes from nine East Asian nations competed in 254 ev ...

he was the silver medallist in the 5000 m. His best marathon outing followed later that month as he was second at the Osaka Marathon in 2:13:31 hours. A good result for Ser-Od came at the 2014 Asian Games, where he placed 4th in the men's marathon, running the distance in 2:13:21. Just months later, Ser-Od built on his Asian Games success with his personal-best and national-record time of 2:08:50, at the Fukuoka Marathon in December 2014. Ser-Od participated in both the

2015 World Championships in Athletics The 2015 IAAF World Championships ( zh, 第十五届世界田径锦标赛), the fifteenth edition of the IAAF World Championships, were held from 22 to 30 August at the National Stadium in Beijing, China. Forty-three nations won medals, 144 of ...

held in Beijing and the

2017 World Championships in Athletics Seventeen or 17 may refer to: *17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18 * one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017 Literature Magazines * ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine * ''Seventeen'' (Japanese m ...

held in London, placing respectively 38th and 48th in the marathon events. Ser-Od participated in the

2019 World Championships in Athletics The 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships () was the seventeenth edition of the biennial, global athletics competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), since renamed World Athletics. It was held betw ...

Doha, Qatar Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor, it is home to m ...

where he finished 54th in 2:36:01 in the men's marathon. In 2020 he contested 1 marathon, placing 24th in 2:16:15 at the

Fukuoka Marathon The is an IAAF Gold Label international men's marathon race held in Fukuoka, Japan. It was previously known as the Fukuoka International Open Marathon Championship between 1947 and 2021, when it was announced the race would be discontinued on its ...

. On the track Ser-Od set Mongolian national records in both the 5000m and 10000m in 14:16.48 and 29:17.72 respectively. In 2021 Ser-Od ran The 76th

Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon The was a marathon race held in Otsu, Shiga, Japan. It was one of the prominent marathons in Japan. It was a male only competition and had IAAF Gold Label status.Nakamura, Ken (2010-03-07)Tsegay takes Lake Biwa crown IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-03- ...

in Japan, where he finished 33rd in a time of 2:09:26. This was Ser-Od's third-fastest marathon performance and it qualified him for his 5th Olympic Games."Athlete Profile Ser-Od Bat-Ochir." World Athletics
www.worldathletics.org/ athletes/mongolia/batochir-serod-14867157
Accessed 15 June 2021. Ser-Od Bat-Ochir is expected to compete in the men's marathon at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games in August 2021. In 2022 Ser-Od participated in the

2022 World Championships in Athletics The 2022 World Athletics Championships was the eighteenth edition of the World Athletics Championships. It was held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, United States, from July 15–24, 2022, with the country hosting that competition for the fi ...

in Eugene, Oregon. This was his tenth appearance in a marathon at a World Championship and he finished all these races.

Statistics

International competition

Personal bests

* 5,000 m (track) - 14:16.48 (2020) * 10,000 m (track) – 29:17.72 min (2020) * 10 km (road) – 28:55 min (2016) * 20 km (road) - 58:55.00 (2016) * Half marathon – 1:02:10 hrs (2016) * 30 km (road) - 1:30:53 (2015) * Marathon – 2:08:50 hrs (2014)

References

External links