Why don't American elite marathon runners take seriously the marathon world championship?

Good que$tion

Who among our "elite" marathoners is not going to be there? We have no elites on the world stage right now. Having said that, Dickerson, Spence, and Plaatjes all over-performed at the WC.

We could have Meb, Abdi, Hall, Ritz...Women could be Shalane, Kara, Desi...You know?

It's a purely financial issue. There is significantly less money to be made running the WC Marathon for the US. With the Olympic Trials, there is a lot of prize money for the top 3, as well as big bonuses for being on the Olympic team from sponsors. For the US Champs race, which is the selection race, there is significantly less prize money and sponsor money. Additionally, the top runners don't want to pass up the appearance fees/prize money from a fall marathon appearance to take a longshot at possibly medaling or finishing high enough to make enough money to make the race worth it. Hence the runners who go for the US are far enough down the performance list where losing a fall marathon appearance checks isn't a consideration since they likely wouldn't get one or it would be a small amount. They would likely make up the lost income by getting a bonus from their sponsor from being on the US WC Marathon team.

Pathetic.

Because their WR holder got blown out of the water so what chance do the scrubs have?

The US Champs race is the selection race? I think you're confused, bro.

I love Gianna Michaels. wrote:

We could have Meb, Abdi, Hall, Ritz...Women could be Shalane, Kara, Desi...You know?

What's Hall going to run at 75F, a 2:18. What's his appearance fee?

Goucher and Davila ran the Worlds when they were in Berlin in 2009. Beijing is not Berlin.

If you are good enough to be an elite, you need to be good anywhere, anytime.

Sure, but thery didn't WANT the experience of running in China in August

As has been said MANY times.....if you were an elite why on earth would you run an unpaid major marathon?

Last time I checked, Olympic marathon you get zero cash.

Ackack wrote:

As has been said MANY times.....if you were an elite why on earth would you run an unpaid major marathon?

Running on US Teams qualifies you for positions of power and esteem. Money is short sighted.

I love strippers. wrote:

Last time I checked, Olympic marathon you get zero cash.

...but the incentive clause in your contract from your sponsor states you get X amount of dollars for winning the Olympic trials, making the team, medaling at the Olympics, winning the Olympics etc.

I love strippers. wrote:

Last time I checked, Olympic marathon you get zero cash.

You get bonuses from your pro contract if you medal at the Olympics.

You also get bonuses from your pro contract if you medal at worlds and for your American standing (e.g., second in U.S. at the end of the season) and for your world standing.

There is more than just purse money for the competition.

Some contract add bonuses to the total of your contract for the next year, as in $10,000 for getting bronze at Worlds plus add $10,000 to your annual contract for next season.

POS BIB ATHLETE COUNTRY MARK

1 420 Ghirmay GHEBRESLASSIE ERI ERI 2:12:28

2 474 Yemane TSEGAY ETH ETH 2:13:08 SB

3 972 Munyo Solomon MUTAI UGA UGA 2:13:30

4 615 Ruggero PERTILE ITA ITA 2:14:23 SB

5 283 Shumi DECHASA BRN BRN 2:14:36

6 969 Stephen KIPROTICH UGA UGA 2:14:43

7 461 Lelisa DESISA ETH ETH 2:14:54

8 614 Daniele MEUCCI ITA ITA 2:14:54

9 423 Amanuel MESEL ERI ERI 2:15:07

10 968 Jackson KIPROP UGA UGA 2:15:16

11 820 Chol PAK PRK PRK 2:15:44 SB

12 928 Alphonce Felix SIMBU TAN TAN 2:16:58

13 437 Javier GUERRA ESP ESP 2:17:00

14 724 Tsepo RAMONENE LES LES 2:17:17 SB

15 468 Berhanu LEMI ETH ETH 2:17:37

16 224 Abdelhadi EL HACHIMI BEL BEL 2:17:41

17 875 Aleksey REUNKOV RUS RUS 2:18:12

18 263 Solonei DA SILVA BRA BRA 2:19:20

19 910 Tadesse ABRAHAM SUI SUI 2:19:25

20 447 Roman FOSTI EST EST 2:20:35

21 649 Masakazu FUJIWARA JPN JPN 2:21:06 SB

22 695 Mark KORIR KEN KEN 2:21:20

23 108 Cuthbert NYASANGO ZIM ZIM 2:22:15 SB

24 348 Wang XU CHN CHN 2:23:08

25 999 Ian BURRELL USA USA 2:23:17 SB

26 213 Célestin NIHORIMBERE BDI BDI 2:23:29

27 925 Ezekiel JAFARY TAN TAN 2:23:43 SB

28 1057 Scott SMITH USA USA 2:24:53 SB

29 905 Anuradha COORAY SRI SRI 2:25:04

30 1086 Cephas PASIPAMIRI ZIM ZIM 2:25:05 SB

31 746 Roman PRODIUS MDA MDA 2:26:46

32 185 Edwin Kipchirchir KEMBOI AUT AUT 2:28:06

33 934 Chin-Ping HO TPE TPE 2:28:14

34 331 Siyang GUAN CHN CHN 2:30:17

35 480 Henri MANNINEN FIN FIN 2:30:22 SB

36 920 David NILSSON SWE SWE 2:31:24

37 1084 Gilbert MUTANDIRO ZIM ZIM 2:31:35

38 748 Ser-Od BAT-OCHIR MGL MGL 2:32:09

39 710 Si-Hwan NOH KOR KOR 2:32:35

40 663 Kazuhiro MAEDA JPN JPN 2:32:49

41 850 Desmond MOKGOBU RSA RSA 2:34:11

42 926 Fabiano JOSEPH TAN TAN 2:35:27 SB

952 Wissem HOSNI TUN TUN DNF

959 Bekir KARAYEL TUR TUR DNF

967 Abraham KIPLIMO UGA UGA DNF

277 Edmilson SANTANA BRA BRA DNF

974 Ivan BABARYKA UKR UKR DNF

975 Oleksandr BABARYNKA UKR UKR DNF

1014 Jeffrey EGGLESTON USA USA DNF

854 Sibusiso NZIMA RSA RSA DNF

273 Gilberto LOPES BRA BRA DNF

336 Hasi MUHAN CHN CHN DNF

381 Richer PÉREZ CUB CUB DNF

419 Beraki BEYENE ERI ERI DNF

430 Carles CASTILLEJO ESP ESP DNF

677 Mihail KRASSILOV KAZ KAZ DNF

711 Seung-Yeop YU KOR KOR DNF

684 Dennis Kipruto KIMETTO KEN KEN DNF

688 Wilson Kipsang KIPROTICH KEN KEN DNF

ya...... except that the world record holder and one of the world's best marathoners (kipsang) dnf'ed...........

at least they gave it a go I guess.....

I think Meb could have won it or at least medal.

Or in summary they are no good at it