Carnage in Orlando by the numbers

Good thing no hills to come in Paris.

Almost 1500 feet of elevation in Paris was definitely replicated by Orlando...

I think the issue of the tighter qualifying standard makes it incumbent on USATF to make sure the trials can be as fast a race as possible to ensure that all the top 3 athletes can get the standard on race day. The conditions at the actual Olympic marathon are almost always extreme in terms of heat or hills or both like in Athens that trying to replicate those conditions for the trials really isn't worth the possibility of not being able to use all 6 spots. Make sure everyone gets the standard and then send those runners off to train in Houma, Louisiana to get ready for the heat.

Yes & Sisson's marathon PB is 2:18. She ran a faster effort than her finish time.

Good stats provided by OP. How many actually started out of the 410? & then how many DNFs? I knew that there weren't a ton who actually ran what it took to get there.

I don't think just saying stuff like just "be tough" is putting enough thought into this conversation. The process for choosing a venue isn't straightforward to begin with. Are we putting on a warm weather marathon to see how athletes will respond to what should be similar weather at the Olympics or are we lining up the best domestic marathoners & giving them a chance to run fast & hit the Olympic standard? We've done both over the last few cycles. & now we've got the Olympic standard to worry about. Korir probably runs 2:08:10 if this race goes off earlier. Mantz & Young run 2:07. A whole bunch more go under 2:10. I'm conflicted because I think this is a good team to send but then we still grill our runners for not running fast when they do NYC/Boston every year. This could be a chance for folks to come together and chase fast times.

Stop making sense!

With Olympic qualification, the Trials now should be designed to get PB's. The women were fine this go around with easier qualification, but the men really could have benefited from course/conditions conducive to sub 2:08:10. Starting at 7am would have made that much more of a possibility.

But I bet she wasn't 46 yet when she set that PR. Maybe... marathon is a bit strange

What was the weather in Chattanooga sat am ? Just curious for comparison

You're not that curious!

25-35% of starters DNF every Trials. Surprisingly this year it was 36% so just barely over that. They still should have started earlier.

People didn't necessarily drop because it was hot. The Trials are a qualifying race. Once a runner realizes they are out of contention there's no point in finishing the race. Finishing the race for no reason other than to finish might mean sacrificing a spring marathon.

Given the reality of global climate change and rising temps for races, let's get used to the reality that these summer races are not going to be held in 40 degree conditions. So yeah, a Trials conducted with temps in the 70s makes absolute sense. I suppose we could coddle & mollify our US athletes, but what happens when it's Paris and it's 75 degrees or more?

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Roberta GRONER | Profile | World Athletics

Roberta GRONER, United States - Half Marathon, 8 Kilometres Road, 15 Kilometres Road, 20 Kilometres Road, Marathon

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She ran under 2:33 five times in here 40's and a 1:11 1/2 marathon PR last year. So Yeah I'd say she's doing okay.

Both teams will contend for first non African finisher, especially on the women's side. And of course any Kenyan medals will be considered as provisional, except for the Protected One.

Houma , Louisiana is one nasty city. The bed bugs in Houma are probably way bigger than the ones in Paris.

For 90% of the field this is the biggest race of their lives. No reason to drop and save for something else. Not saying they don’t drop for that but saying they shouldn’t.

The main issue is that it's the marathon, not the 5000m. A person gets a shot at maybe 2-3 good attempts per year if healthy, etc. If the Olympic qualifying system now requires a standard of 2:08:10 (compared to 2:11:30 in 2020 and 2:19:00 in 2016) then why wouldn't the USA make sure to host THEIR OWN race on a course, location and time conducive to producing qualifying times? Yes, I understand it is a "trials" race, but no other country is running a trials race under the conditions the USA just did. We did that to ourselves. Stupidity.

Are you saying do our best to try and send a full team and not kill them before the Olympics? What a strange concept.

Um, 20 will