I don’t think this race will count for World Rankings:
“From 1 January 2023, World Athletics will only process results (for all its statistical purposes including World Rankings) which have been achieved in a competition listed in the World Athletics global calendar. This list now also includes National Permit competitions across all disciplines which have been proposed for inclusion by Member Federations as per the World Rankings Competitions Application Procedures which can be found here.”
Currently, I don’t see the 2024 Houston Half Marathon listed on the calendar and I’ve been told it needs to be listed on the calendar for a minimum or either 60 or 90 days. (However, I can’t find confirmation in any rule book of the minimum amount of days needed, but regardless, if this race isn’t on the calendar, it won’t count- according the WA website at least).
World athletics is still processing label events as they did not release the application until mid November. They are behind on everything. I would imagine that Houston would at least have a label. If not an elite or gold label at a minimum.
Galen can prob break 61, but that doesnt mean he will be the top American in Houston. He is usually a master at peaking, so I have a feeling he is going to make the Olympics anyways.
Galen hasn’t broken 61 in the last 3 years, the last time being October 2020. The odds are he will never do so again. He has battled injuries and is now closer to 38 than 37 years old. It won’t get any easier.
Galen is the hardest runner to read. After his pre-Chicago interviews, I thought he was going 2:06. He didn’t. Since he is running Houston and doesn’t always run tune-up races, I would like to think he is in sub 1:01 shape. However, he has had some disappointing races since 2016.