To everyone worried about the Olympic Marathon Trials, the winning times of a IAAF gold race today were 2:31:22 & 2:11:47

Races elite Americans should do to get qualified.

1776 wrote:

Races elite Americans should do to get qualified.

Not, it's a stupid rule.

You think it's good for the sport for top Americans to skip out on Boston or New York and go to the Lanzhou marathon? I don't.

rojo wrote:

1776 wrote:

Races elite Americans should do to get qualified.

Not, it's a stupid rule.

You think it's good for the sport for top Americans to skip out on Boston or New York and go to the Lanzhou marathon? I don't.

They should run international races that they have a shot of winning. Not races based off of tradition.

26 degrees Celsius. Seems a pretty good explanation for why the times weren't stellar

DMulvee wrote:

26 degrees Celsius. Seems a pretty good explanation for why the times weren't stellar

Global Warming strikes again!

Temperatures were almost 80 degrees...why wouldn't this be mentioned in the post.

Last year the Boston Marathon was won in 2:15:58!

Most countries don't qualify 3 people why should it be assumed that the top 3 US athletes belong there? Especially marathon men

glegswest wrote:

Most countries don't qualify 3 people why should it be assumed that the top 3 US athletes belong there? Especially marathon men

I guess its an entitlement thingy.

doctorj wrote:

glegswest wrote:

Most countries don't qualify 3 people why should it be assumed that the top 3 US athletes belong there? Especially marathon men

I guess its an entitlement thingy.

Yes entitlement is the reason. How many countries in the top 5 do not send 3 athletes in the marathon?

Stop being a whiny bítch. If your panties are so bunches up then with Atlanta to change the course. Nobody is married to their hilly loop course.

Do something besides complaining.

And yes lots of gold medal opportunities for our runners. This constant Boston-NYC is one of our problems.

glegswest wrote:

Most countries don't qualify 3 people why should it be assumed that the top 3 US athletes belong there? Especially marathon men

We'll have 3, the problem is how the 3 are selected

Even more so.... failed to mention the city of Lanzhou is at 5000ft+ of elevation. Fast times were never possible.

Previously, they had 2:04 guys setting CR in the low 2:10s.

1776 wrote:

rojo wrote:

Not, it's a stupid rule.

You think it's good for the sport for top Americans to skip out on Boston or New York and go to the Lanzhou marathon? I don't.

They should run international races that they have a shot of winning. Not races based off of tradition.

You're missing a key component to choosing races: $$$$$. NYC offers absurd appearance fee money to Americans.

We (Americans) are simply not competitive at the Marathon at a global stage. The world records have taken further quantum leaps in the past 10 years and we have fallen even further behind. At some point we have to take off the “training wheels” so to speak and focus on getting competitive. In the short term these rules cause pain but long term they are good for the sport because it forces us to be competitive. Just my 2 cents.

We the runner people wrote:

We (Americans) are simply not competitive at the Marathon at a global stage. The world records have taken further quantum leaps in the past 10 years and we have fallen even further behind. At some point we have to take off the “training wheels” so to speak and focus on getting competitive. In the short term these rules cause pain but long term they are good for the sport because it forces us to be competitive. Just my 2 cents.

Except on the men's side, we've men medals in 2 of the last 4 Olympics and had 4th place in a third. Rupp won Chicago within the last couple years. On the women's side, we've won Boston, New York, and had a world champs medal in the past 5 years. Plus Shalene will probably be on the podium in Rio soon as the dopers continue to drop. But we're not competitive....

We should get one automatic entrant as all countries do. This is what makes it the Olympics. We should not, however, have a lower bar so we can have three entrants. The truth is that, with notable exceptions, the U.S. is not competitive in the marathon.

As of today, the U.S. top men are closer to the best women in the world than the best men in the world. At world class races the best U.S. men are two miles behind at the finish.

Maybe the 2020 trials are an Olympic cycle where the USA doesn't send 3 runners because things just didn't sync up with the new ruling. Then, in 2024 everyone is ready to hit the standard and time their qualifying races correctly and we get 3 qualifiers for each sex. And maybe they'll even choose a qualifier course that has dependable weather and is fast to make things interesting.....

Calm down.

If we have a chance of getting a medal at the olympics, those runners will qualify. It'd be lame to send runners who haven't run faster than 2:11 anyway. Otherwise, only a few athletes and a tiny few from this site care.

Great passion, but have some perspective.

Goucher Needlez wrote:

We should get one automatic entrant as all countries do. This is what makes it the Olympics. We should not, however, have a lower bar so we can have three entrants. The truth is that, with notable exceptions, the U.S. is not competitive in the marathon.

As of today, the U.S. top men are closer to the best women in the world than the best men in the world. At world class races the best U.S. men are two miles behind at the finish.

Well, we had a 3rd and 6th in Rio. That was better than Kenya and Ethiopia. i'm guessing we won the team title?

Work Commute Track Club wrote:

Temperatures were almost 80 degrees...why wouldn't this be mentioned in the post.

Last year the Boston Marathon was won in 2:15:58!

Why has this argument come up multiples times trying make it sound like Rojo is ignoring the weather as a factor? HE even says "The reality is the rules were set after people had already made their marathon plans for the spring and after the Trials were picked on a hilly and potentially hot locale."

He's saying that changing the rules for qualifying AFTER decisions were made makes it unfair. And then gives this race an example for why slower times doesn't necessarily discount a top 3 finish as a world-class time worthy of a Gold Race and Olympic qualifying time.