Citius has the dumbest idea ever - get rid of the US Olympic Trials and hand the Olympic spots to the top 3 ranked athletes

Championship points are HUGE wrote:

THOUGHTSLEADER wrote:

For distance running, the discussion is even sillier because rankings are based almost solely on time while global championships are unpaced.

Actually, it is the exact opposite. Placing at a major championship, regardless of what your times look like, will get you a high rank.

A perfect example is the women's 800m. Lillian Odira's 800m times in 2025:

2:01.2
2:04.4
2:16.1
1:58.3
2:08.3
2:02.1
2:13.8
1:56.5
1:57.86
1:56.85 (World Champs)
1:54.62 (World Champs)

She gathered so many points from the World Championships that if she runs three 2:00 races in 2026 she will lock in her place at Ultimate. Heck, even three 2:01s or 2:02s might be enough.

Sage Hurta-Klecker does not even need to step on the track again in 2026 and she will qualify for Ultimate. Three of her 5 scoring races are from Worlds last September and her 4th at Millrose/1st at Sound Running 100% locked her spot.

Prior to the World Champs, she only broke 1:59 twice in 12 races. 5th at Worlds? Guaranteed spot in Ultimate one year later. If she never breaks 2:00 in 2026, she will be on the start line in Budapest in September.

Fact_Checker wrote:

rojo wrote:

Someone remind me not to read their stuff for at least a month. They need to be put into a corner and have timeout for at least 30 days after coming up with an idea this dumb:

What's crazy is they compare their idea to the NFL system. It's a TERRIBLE analogy.

They must not watch or understand sports.

Yes, comparing Olympics to Super Bowl is fine. We agree on that. But the playoffs are the US Trials. And to get to the Super Bowl, you have to do well in the playoffs.

Their (dumb) idea would be the equivalent of putting the top 2 teams from some sort of power rankings database (probably DVOA) without even holding playoffs or looking at their actual record.

Link:thelapcount.substack.com/i/194232370/i...

I’d concur. Citius has a fantastic idea that would fix the quality of teams. Would you rather have someone who is a flash in the pan and got lucky, or a runner who earned their spot through racing and winning through world rankings. I would go a step further and transform the diamond league into a set of grand slams (similar to GST) so that we have more meets that matter. USA’s can be one of those meets too. Having a trials is the dumbest idea ever and can destroy athletes lives. I will admit though that the current world rankings are slightly flawed. They should take into account competition rather than automatically giving someone a ton of points because they placed high in a weak race in Rabat or china. Hype up these meets and make the stars show up.