Breaking News: USATF flips order of 5k/10ks at Olympic Trials. Why did they do this and who is it benefitting?

paul72 wrote:

Derderian wrote:

In 1972 and 1976 when I ran the marathon in the Trials they ran following the Olympic Schedule with the marathon at the end starting and finishing on the track at Haywood Field. It was wonderful to watch all the races for two weeks then race. Now the marathon trials seem like a top road race but not like the Olympics. In 72 the women's trials were elsewhere and in 76 there was no women's marathon or 10,000. But having the marathon as part of the track trials added greatly to the festivities and the original intent of the Olympics. Of course there is the worry that our marathoners would not have time to recover.

thanks for the info-I remember the boycott year in 1980 the marathon was separate. Crazy that they had a marathon trials in Alamosa, Colorado in 1968, but then again Mexico City is at 7000 feet!

Wasn't '68 the very first OT race for the marathon? I thought it was but I am probably wrong. How was the team picked for '64 and '60?

Right, 68 first trials. Before that a committee decided on the basis of several marathons. You can image how fraught that was. How do you compare one marathon against another?

Tom

a good read :https://www.podiumrunner.com/culture/the-six-most-important-u-s-olympic-marathon-trials-and-what-we-learned-from-them/

World Beater wrote:

They claim that nearly 200,000 attended the trials in 2016. I assume that many of those people are counted several times. Are they allowing the same number this year? I attended in 2016 and had no problem finding lodging about 45 days prior to the meet. It should be easier this time because they will probably limit attendance.

Any word on capacity limitations for the Trials? Any chance it'll be sans fans?! And will those with tickets from last summer have priority?

Regarding housing, we've gone to Eugene since 2008 and the housing costs have gone up drastically. For each Trials we've rented a home within walking distance of Hayward (at a very reasonable cost), but it appears that the residents of Eugene have finally figured out they can charge Ritz-Carleton rates!

You screwed up your summary.

First you said they were initially going to start with the men’s 10 before the 5 and then flipped it.

Then you said the 10 was moving from day 7 to day 1.

Anyway, I don’t know why track schedules aren’t eternally set.

The meet should always start with 10,000 and finish with the 5,000.

The 1500 should be early in the meet and the 800 should be late in the meet.

The 100 and 400 should be early and the 200 should be late.

This allows the following doubles:

Run the 10,000 then the 5,000

Run the 1,500 then the 5,000

Run the 1,500 then the 800

Run the 100 then the 200

Run the 400 then the 200

If you look at those groupings, no one is ever going to run a pair from the first group or the second group.

And the first group events are more major events, so they are all run fresh.

Put the hurdles/steeple in the middle.

Derderian wrote:

In 1972 and 1976 when I ran the marathon in the Trials they ran following the Olympic Schedule with the marathon at the end starting and finishing on the track at Haywood Field. It was wonderful to watch all the races for two weeks then race.

I don't think you are correct with respect to the 1976 Marathon Trials. I attended the '76 Track and Field Trials as a spectator. I was there for all days of competition for both the early and evening sessions. I remember that I already knew that Shorter, Rodgers and Kardong had qualified for the marathon. There was no marathon start or finish at Hayward Field on the final Sunday.

I may not remember the marathon place in the schedule in 1976 correctly. I had a bad race so some brain cells may have malfunctioned.

Tom

rojo wrote:

Gillgan wrote:

Let's decipher this , these are the Olympic trials The goal is to make the Olympic team and run in the Olympics shouldn't they mimic the Olympics schedule then ?

Yes.. But you'd think a guy making a million a year would have realized that 2 years ago when they first came up with the schedule.

And if that's the case, why not just admit it? NOthing to hide, then tell us the truth.

Remember, this is the same outfit we had to sue to get them to follow their own Pan Games selection criteria.

Exactly. The fact that the trials schedule didn't match the olympic schedule from the start is embarrassing.

Exactly-why the heck would the schedule be different from the Olympics?

Sorry. But most track fans don’t know these 30-50 names. They are just more racers that will never be on top. The fact that you think you know every single one is either a lie or your a stalker