History of Men's Oympic Trials marathon standards.

Old time stats wrote:

Does anyone know what the Men's Olympic Trials marathon qualifying standards were for 1972 and 1976? I think one of them was 2:25:00 or 2:23:00.

Not completely sure how the times were chosen for 1980 and 1984, but may have been something like the 100th best time from the year before or something similar. I'm sure an older runner out there knows.

1968 Open to anyone

1972

1976

1980 2:21:54

1984 2:19:04

1988 2:20:00

1992 2:20:00

1996 2:22:00

2000 2:22:00

2004 2:22:00

2008 2:22:00

2012 2:19:00

2016 2:19:00

2020 2:19:00

Just my opinion but it seems like it would've been easier to just set the standard at 2:20:00 every year since they just moved the standard up and down around that mark anyway. A sub 2:20:00 is a pretty universally recognized good performance for a male runner (clean that is).

One minute faster than women Marathon world record should be the standard. 1:44.00 800m men in U.S. have difficulty making Olympic team. U.S. 2:19:59 men Marathoners should not enjoy the honor of be catered to in such a manner. How does such a weak standard help U.S. men Marathoners?

2:30:00 in '72 and 2:23:00 in '76.

Maybe coincidence, maybe not, but the "weakest" men's standard was followed by the best ever Olympic performance.

You do understand the difference in a marathon and a track event I assume? Completely different physiological components and limited opportunities to compete due to the distance and recovery and impact of weather on performances. It's ignorant to to compare an 800m to a marathon. If you do your homework you will see that there have been many great performances at the US Olympic Marathon trials (both men and women) by people who had barely qualified (for various reasons). One example is In 2004 Trent Briney placed 4th in 2:12 after qualifying with a 2:21.

The problem with the US is that people don't understand that the trials is also a national championship, not just a race for the top three finishers. There's a lot of prize money on the line as well.

I was looking for this info, but just got led to a bunch of dead usatf.com links. Do you have this info for women?

Does anyone know what the Men's Olympic Trials marathon qualifying standards were for 1972 and 1976? I think one of them was 2:25:00 or 2:23:00.

Not completely sure how the times were chosen for 1980 and 1984, but may have been something like the 100th best time from the year before or something similar. I'm sure an older runner out there knows.

1968 Open to anyone 129 qualifiers 60 finished

1972 2:30:00 100 S, 66 F

1976 2:23:00 87 Q, 77 S, 49 F

1980 2:21:54 225 Q, 192 S, 125 F

1984 2:19:04 201 Q, 172 S , 108 F

1988 2:20:00 136 Q, 115 S, 77 F

1992 2:20:00 112 Q, 102 S, 55 F

1996 2:22:00 135 Q, 116 S, 90 F

2000 2:22:00 114 Q, 99 S, 78 F

2004 2:22:00 104 Q, 86 S, 70 F

2008 2:22:00 179Q, 130 S, 104 F (28:45, 13:40)

2012 2:19:00

2016 2:19:00

2020 2:19:00

malmo wrote:

Does anyone know what the Men's Olympic Trials marathon qualifying standards were for 1972 and 1976? I think one of them was 2:25:00 or 2:23:00.

Not completely sure how the times were chosen for 1980 and 1984, but may have been something like the 100th best time from the year before or something similar. I'm sure an older runner out there knows.

1968 Open to anyone 129 qualifiers 60 finished

1972 2:30:00 100 S, 66 F

1976 2:23:00 87 Q, 77 S, 49 F

1980 2:21:54 225 Q, 192 S, 125 F

1984 2:19:04 201 Q, 172 S , 108 F

1988 2:20:00 136 Q, 115 S, 77 F

1992 2:20:00 112 Q, 102 S, 55 F

1996 2:22:00 135 Q, 116 S, 90 F

2000 2:22:00 114 Q, 99 S, 78 F

2004 2:22:00 104 Q, 86 S, 70 F

2008 2:22:00 179Q, 130 S, 104 F (28:45, 13:40)

2012 2:19:00

2016 2:19:00

2020 2:19:00

I'm slightly older than you are and while I'm not totally sure, the 100th best time from the previous year sounds very familiar. I can't think why those standards would have had a number of seconds, 04, 54, tacked on rather than 2:22:00 and 2:19:00.

Came across this post from a few years ago. 2:16 for men now. Super shoes has definitely contributed to that no doubt. Imagine if they reintroduced the 1968 standard today!