Problem is the HM/M just cannibalizes the XC crowd which is already hanging by a thread in NCAA priority. Despite large amounts of athletes, it's got to be one of the lowest interest sports in the NCAA. Adding HM/H will just make it worse. And low interest means no money to fund the sport
Not really. You can add the half or full to either indoors or out. XC is excellent training for a half anyway.
How can they declare universality athletes this early? How do they know zero other athletes from that country will qualify for the Olympics? Bulgaria have declared a women's marathoner but I'm sure they've got some decent throwers and sprinters who could still qualify.
So you are complaining that someone who will finish at least a mile behind the winners or more likely drop out between 18-21 miles isn’t going to race?
strange bunch of folk here, hit the standard or stay at home. American are so afraid of the rest of the world they seemingly don’t travel to the fast courses, if you say that you can be top of our game once per quarter there were at least marathons to qualify, even some of brits did a couple in with in 8 weeks
How can they declare universality athletes this early? How do they know zero other athletes from that country will qualify for the Olympics? Bulgaria have declared a women's marathoner but I'm sure they've got some decent throwers and sprinters who could still qualify.
This is interesting. For example they have a long jumper ranked 40th currently. (32 make it). Qualifying period ends June 30th. What happens if she makes it?
It is moving the goalposts after the fact that is really bothersome. Additionally, it is the USA that participates in every eligible WA championship and sends FULL teams. NO other country does that. I hope WA takes that into consideration. (Not that we should get special treatment).
I agree with everyone that has said the bigger issue is we don't have three American men that can run under 2:08:10. That should really not be a high bar nowadays. I'm pretty sure Rojo has ranted before that the US should just be allowed 3 entries (correct me if I'm wrong), to me that seems wrong if we can't even hit that standard. Why should we get 3 free entries over any other country? Realistically, what place do we think Leonard Korir would have placed at the olympics? Not necessarily arguing for the universality athletes here but would he have had any more effect on the race than them?
Heartbreaking for Lenny given his 2020 trials but this just reaffirms to me that the US men need to step it up.
All of this talk about the US men should run under the 2:08:10 or they can't complain is really getting ridiculous. Think about it, the window was open for about a year and a half. At the elite/pro level, marathoners can really only race an all out marathon twice a year. If you were hoping to compete in the olympics for the US marathon team, you had to race the trials in February which ended up being a hot day. That takes out 1 of the possible 3 attempts you had. Then it comes down to the Spring last year and the Fall. If you raced our only domestic world major last Spring (Boston), you were greeted with a downpour and a headwind (even the world record holder was over a minute off of the stadard that day). That leaves the fall, well if you chose NYC good luck running fast there (only top 3 ran the standard last year with 4th place (Abdi Nageeye, 2:04:45 PR) being over 2 minuites off). So basically, if you stay domestic and you are a pro (whom typically race the world major marathons), it was Chicago or bust and that does happen to be where our 2 did run the standard. The point is, it is not track, these guys do not have nearly the number of attempts and the time is extremely dependent on the course and weather.
It's a fair point that runners had limited time to chase the standard, perhaps a longer window would help, however, the top American runners who still have shoe sponsors still chose to run the domestic circuit for the appearance fee. If the olympics was the number one priority for them the option was always there to go chase a fast time in Valencia etc. You may argue that many can't afford to give up that appearance fee, totally fair, but some certainly are able to (Panning gave up appearance fee money to run worlds). Also, top 5 at a major also would unlock a spot, the fact that we don't have a single American who could do that during the qualification window just solidifies that American men's marathoning lags far behind the women and their track counterparts.
Uruguay has a long jumper ranked 21st (32 get in). Can some explain universality? We now have 2 countries taking up universality spots in Men’s Marathon that have Male athletes likely to qualify in Track & Field in other events.
I agree with everyone that has said the bigger issue is we don't have three American men that can run under 2:08:10. That should really not be a high bar nowadays. I'm pretty sure Rojo has ranted before that the US should just be allowed 3 entries (correct me if I'm wrong), to me that seems wrong if we can't even hit that standard. Why should we get 3 free entries over any other country? Realistically, what place do we think Leonard Korir would have placed at the olympics? Not necessarily arguing for the universality athletes here but would he have had any more effect on the race than them?
Heartbreaking for Lenny given his 2020 trials but this just reaffirms to me that the US men need to step it up.
...At the elite/pro level, marathoners can really only race an all out marathon twice a year...
That was pre-super shoes. An elite marathoner can easily run 3 marathons a year now if they want to. Sure most choose to do two to optimize their training cycle, but one of the biggest advantages of super shoes is just how much they aid recovery. Elites are literally running the day after their marathon now, and back to training very quickly.
Sorry but a 2:08:10 is worth like 2:11 pre super shoes. The American men simply aren't running up to par compared to what they used to. The ~300th ranked man (Korir) simply didn't run fast enough. Now its a travesty that World Athletics wasn't more transparent about Universality spots filling the quota, but I agree with others, Korir is basically a universaility spot himself. He simply isn't competitive on the world stage.
Can we go back to every country can just send 3 athletes by whatever process they want as long as they've hit some softer standard like sub-2:20/2:45? Don't get this at all. I think it's fun & in the spirit of the Olympics to have countries send 3 athletes & have smaller countries send an athlete or two if they can. I don't mind the people being added but I mind that they're taking away from faster athletes. It's a road race. We don't need faster qualifying times to get smaller fields. It's the Olympics. People are going to show up & try to win the race. Setting a qualifying time doesn't affect how the front of the field will race this summer.
Come on, it's all about the worlds best in each discipline in each sport and if you have a massively weaker standard in this context it just cheapens the event - I suspect even casual viewers would spot this. In T+F it would give a gaping gap between the entry level for the 10,000 (next event down from marathon of course) and for the marathon. I'm not saying there's a 'correct' number for the Olympic marathon, but as a combo of visual spectacle and exclusivity for the world's best, it can't be 30 and it can't be 500 (latter of course would be madness in total Olympic quota of 10,500 - i think there are about 400 medal events).
Is it correct that the Inclusivity athletes in T+F are offered only 100m (to get them out of the way early doors in the prelims) or marathon - where there is space on the road? I'm not sure this used to be the case - recall seeing a guy take c 42 mins in the 10.000m in c 1980.
