Discussion: USATF may not honor order of finish at marathon trials for 3rd men's spot - will go with World Rank instead!

What is the point of having a trials then?

Exactly.

Well you get to pick the top 2 - and they can be replaced by anyone under 2:11:30.

The reality is they could also pick the top 3. It should just say, "If the US gets a third spot, we'll honor the order of finish at the Trials."

They are wondering why no one bids on this? The people who run our sport make it so complicated it's ridiculous. There is such a beauty to - the US gets 3 spots - send the top 3 across the line. WA should get rid of all standards if their is an actualy Trials race.

To give 2;20-ish marathoners a reason to get out of bed in the morning.

So if one more man with the standard is suspended for doping in the next several weeks, then the U.S. gets a guaranteed third spot?

While I love the drama of the Trials in past years, it does not seem fair that Connor and Clayton would have opened up the only two spots and then they have to fight for them with runners who wouldn’t have even had the opportunity to get a spot had They not run so fast. The Trials have never worked like that either.

Shokhrukh Davlyatov, Uzbekistan 2:07:02
Samuel Barata, Portugal 2:07:35
Khalid Choukoud, Netherlands 2:07:37
Alberto Gonzalez Mindez, Guatemala 2:07:40 <<<<<-----

Wouldn't someone from another country be able to jump Mindez because Guatemala's Olympic committee is currently suspended?

They’ve made qualifying ridiculously confusing and complicated. How does that help the sport ?

I think this USATF policy makes a lot of sense. It incentivizes our runners to improve their world rank and unlock spots, otherwise everyone gets screwed if we don't get to send a full quota. And if Mantz and Young both bomb at trials, at least one of them will still get to go as a thank-you for unlocking spots for everyone else.

Too bad we decided to hold our trials in what will likely be warm, muggy conditions. World Athletics doesn't award you any bonus points for bad weather.

It's the top three at the US Trials who are qualified. That's means they've met the time standard or within the top 65 on the World Rankings.

If I were Rupp, I’d just go get into a fast race and bag the USOT.

This is also not limited to the marathon. It doesn't occur often for the US but it can be an issue in other events as well.

For instance, in the 10k, let's say two athletes are time qualified finish 1 and 2 at the trials but the 3rd athlete is ranked lower than the 5th place finisher within the rankings and the 5th placer is qualified while the 3rd placer is not. The 5th place athlete would go.

It's not. That's the whole point of this thread.

I agree. If the third place finisher wants to go to the Olympics, he should go unlock the spot, not hope that someone else does it for him.

This is only a problem because the US is falling behind the rest of the world in the marathon. The US Olympic Trials are no longer considered competitive by world standards, thus it doesn’t make sense to have it be simply the top 3 go. It is not the 200.

This is what I don’t understand. The trials should be held on the fastest possible course under the most ideal conditions. Why do the elite US runners have to beat their heads against the wall?

Totally okay with this. US marathoning has been extremely weak

Let's look at "as defined above"

First three with either of these go.

I’m honestly not upset about this. The only issue I have is that they announced it a couple months before the trials, when this is something that should be mentioned way earlier.

This will bring US marathon times down long term by incentivizing more runners to compete in bigger/faster races

I’m conflicted, it may not be the top 3 finishers, which totally sucks.

on the other hand, they have no one but themselves to blame for being in that position.

Rupp will win easily in 2:07 something rendering this whole conversation moot.

The problem with the US honoring the trials results for the 3rd spot would be the lack of incentive for everyone else to unlock the spot. You just put a marathon in your legs in February and now your supposed to recovery and put up another big performance before May 5th for someone else? In this scenario only the 3rd placer at the trials will be attempting this and there's no gaurentee they boost their ranking high enough. With USATF's proposed criteria, everyone who wants the spot will be attempting to boost their ranking. Higher chance a 3rd spot actually locks up. Boston may be getting Americans at a discount next year. And may also save on the internation field too, we have to get an American in the top 5!