Officials from Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Orlando, Florida, have confirmed to Runner’s World that they would be interested in hosting the Trials. But site visits—when USATF staff and volunteers travel to those places to evaluate the appropriateness of the location—have not yet happened.
What’s causing doubt about the Trials is that there is no guarantee that if USATF hosts a Trials race, the top three finishers would make the Olympic team....
Experts who follow these developments closely believe that American marathoning on the women’s side is deep enough to merit a Trials race. In other words, there are plenty of American women who can meet the requirements of World Athletics, and a race would be the best way to sort out which three should go. The men’s side, however, is not as deep as the women’s. If only three or four men were to have met World Athletics’ Olympic qualifying time (those times have not yet been released) and be ranked highly enough, would it be worth holding a Trials to determine which three go to the Games? And if you’re Chattanooga or Orlando, would you want to shell out $1 million or more to host an event that might not actually determine the Olympic team?
Even if a spot for the trials is found in Chattanooga or Orlando, Orlando is pretty humid with unpredictable weather year round and Chattanooga is pretty hilly year round. I would think that this would lead to slower race times and would be counterproductive to getting runners to hit that qualifying time that the committee is fixated on. I’d love to see a solid race, but with the current direction the future of the marathon trials seems bleak.
I for one, although having nil sway with any USATF committees, certainly hope the trials are held. I've been lucky enough to watch at a few of the recent events and they are a great time.
If the local committed could just cash in a bit on their efforts that'd go a long way to being able to keep the same format where the local heroes are out there with the admittedly true contenders. Watching the elite is awesome, but cheering on the "locals" always seems to rouse the crowd the most. Whatevs... just hope the trials happens, always a good excuse to get into a modicum of decent shape to run with the masses the next day.
There is no need for a city to shell out $1 million and there is no need for a stand-alone Trials race. Just find some pre-existing marathon and let that serve as the Trials. Last year Ethiopia held its track trials in Hengelo, Netherlands. This is not complicated.
There is no need for a city to shell out $1 million and there is no need for a stand-alone Trials race. Just find some pre-existing marathon and let that serve as the Trials. Last year Ethiopia held its track trials in Hengelo, Netherlands. This is not complicated.
I was going to post this. Doesn't Japan use a series of races? Kenya has used Boston.
Maybe we need another race like the one a couple years ago where they pace American men to the standard.
There is no need for a city to shell out $1 million and there is no need for a stand-alone Trials race. Just find some pre-existing marathon and let that serve as the Trials. Last year Ethiopia held its track trials in Hengelo, Netherlands. This is not complicated.
What you say makes sense but will never happen. If you check out the Official Bid Handbook you will see that the word "Athlete" appears 141 times. Meanwhile the words "Sponsor", "Partner" and "Supplier" appear 207 times. There is far more verbiage about the Sponsor's, Supplier's and Partner's interests than there is about the Athlete's interests.
The USATF has cast iron commitments to the Sponsors, Suppliers and Partners. Commitments to the Athletes? Not so much.
There is no need for a city to shell out $1 million and there is no need for a stand-alone Trials race. Just find some pre-existing marathon and let that serve as the Trials. Last year Ethiopia held its track trials in Hengelo, Netherlands. This is not complicated.
I was going to post this. Doesn't Japan use a series of races?
Memo to World Athletics: These "world rankings" are impossible confusing, and rather than promoting head to head competition they are actually hurting it.
I know LRC and the Brojos have been on a crusade to get the top-3 in the US Trials into the Olympics regardless of WA's qualylifying standards. I couldn't oppose this more. Here's what I DO support:
The qualifying standard for the Games is the same as the entry standard for the Trials. That's it. It really is that easy. Then, the top-3 go. Period. All confusion is gone forever. Everyone meeting the USATF standard also meets the WA standard. They are exactly the same. Everyone at the Trials is allowed into the Games.
Everyone other than me will say the problem with this is that not enough USATF members have the standard. This is a problem. It shows how much US distance running sucks. However, it is a qualifying race. If you're not eligible to compete in the event for which you are attempting to qualify, why are you here?
If WA sets the standard at the current world records, USATF won't need a qualifying race because there won't be anyone qualified to run the Olympic marathon. If they set it at 4:00 for men and 4:30 for women, there will be 100,000 between the 2 races. In actuality it will be somewhere in between.
Every American runner, coach, agent, fan, and USATF itself's fear is that it will be an awful lot closer to my first example than my second, and 'not enough' qualifiers will exist. Well, if the USA has 3 each male and female who have gone under the standard, they can field a full team if all show up to the Trials.
If there are fewer than that, the problem is not some technical or logistical detail in Trials organization. The problem does not lie in the haggling between local organizers and USATF management and the minutia of sponsorship. If a huge nation cannnot field a marathon team:
There is absolutely no need to make this a dog and pony show. The trials should be in elite wave that goes off in front of a regular old road marathon. It shouldn't be a standalone event and it shouldn't be millions of dollars to host.
I just hope it turns out no one wants to bid for them. The only way we will get this mess fixed and turn it into a regular old road race is to make that the only option.
Why have a trials? Use a 1-year qualifying period instead. Publish a scoring system for various courses so the runners can choose their best shot. That way they will show up fresh for the games.
The marathon isn't a track event like the 1500m which you can run twice a week to pursue marks. To use only the OG standard in the marathon would be worthless for that event. But if we want to use your logic in 2016 the OG standard for men was 2:19:00. So yeah that would've made a lot of difference then on the other end...not. So the IAAF / IOC went from 2:19 to 2:11:30...pretty drastic.
Do you realize that in 2016 Galen Rupp had not even run a marathon before the trials and won an Olympic medal in the event. In 2020 Molly Seidel had never run a marathon before the trials and she won an Olympic medal in the event. Both qualified with a half-marathon time for the trials.
There are MANY potential successful championship marathon runners with little experience in a marathon.
John Treacy of Ireland won an Olympic medal in 1984 with ZERO previous marathons.
As it stands the IAAF / IOC can't even get their act together enough to publish a CLEAR and complete process for qualifying. When they started mixing in the world ranking crap it just made it a muddy mess for everyone. In 2021 the standards were 2:11:30 and 2:29:30. That is pretty good. Made for good fields, not sure why they want to keep fixing something that isn't broke.
As for the US Olympic Trials themselves, just cut out the crap, change the name to the US Marathon Championships, pick an 8-10k loop in a decent town with decent weather. Anyone under 2:20 and 2:40 can run. Don't pay for runners travel, lodging, etc., that's why they have sponsors and if not then they will still come on their own dime. Keep it simple. Look at the results from the Marathon Project event in December 2020. They did that with little help from anyone...yet great results.
There is absolutely no need to make this a dog and pony show. The trials should be in elite wave that goes off in front of a regular old road marathon. It shouldn't be a standalone event and it shouldn't be millions of dollars to host.
I just hope it turns out no one wants to bid for them. The only way we will get this mess fixed and turn it into a regular old road race is to make that the only option.
They essentially almost did that in the past. The 2007 mens marathon trials was the day before the NYC marathon except they used a circuit loop in central park. The women were also the day before the 2008 Boston marathon.
For some reason, they’ve been having the men and women running simultaneously in recent years which is a logistical nightmare if you do have the main race as well. Also, it is absolute nuts as a coach. It would be best to have the men or women the Saturday before on the same course and the other in the elite section of the main organizing race Sunday. I like having either sex getting the attention instead of lumping them at once.
Nike will want another race Rupp can win so there will be OT marathons in 2024. They’ll just tell USATF to tell Tracktown to host it on the WC course after the way they failed at the Nike-sponsored meets this year.
