Seems like a no-brainer no?
Here’s how it would work: The top xx finishers (we are thinking 24 if there are 27 spots) at World XC (after limiting it to three athletes per country) unlock spots in the next global track championship for their country. From there, it is up to each country to determine how to allocate those spots. This fixes three problems at once:
I) The best athletes will run World XC
If you’re a top 10,000-meter runner, are you going to sit out World XC and hope that your country earns its spots? Maybe if you’re Kenyan, Ethiopian, or Ugandan. But most other athletes would be faced with a choice: run World XC or risk missing out on the 10,000 at Worlds or the Olympics.
II) Standard-chasing in the 10,000 would be eliminated
Championship racing is more exciting than time trialing. Instead of having top athletes run a time trial 10,000 to qualify for Worlds or the Olympics, they’d be qualifying via World XC — a global championship where places matter and there is actual prestige for winning. That’s a win for the sport.
III) National championships would matter more
The best thing about a US championship is that it is cut-and-dried — the top three finishers across the line make the team, fourth place goes home devastated. At least, that is how it is supposed to work.
But that is not always how it works in practice. Sometimes, there are only four or five athletes who have the requisite qualifying standard or world ranking to make the team. So if 2nd or 3rd doesn’t have the standard, suddenly we’re paying attention to 4th or 5th. Or we’re trying to figure out if 2nd or 3rd place has enough world ranking points to displace…and your head is spinning. Championships should be simple, not complicated.
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: if a country is going to have three athletes in the Olympic final regardless, they should be able to hold a trials and send anyone from the top three — not just the athletes with the standard.