Leonard Korir Running Lisbon Half & Rotterdam Marathon to Improve Olympic Chances
Korir would need to run close to the American record in Lisbon on Sunday to move up the Road to Paris list
By Jonathan GaultLeonard Korir, who finished 3rd at the US Olympic Marathon Trials on February 3, will run the EDP Lisbon Half Marathon on Sunday in Portugal in an attempt to improve his world ranking and gain Olympic selection. His coach Scott Simmons also told LetsRun.com that Korir will run the Rotterdam Marathon on April 14. If Simmons runs the 2:08:10 Olympic standard in that race, he will clinch a spot in the Olympic marathon in Paris.
Simmons said Korir has recovered well from the Trials, where he ran 2:09:57 in Orlando. Rotterdam comes 10 weeks after the Trials.
“If you’re 100% prepared for the marathon, then you recover well,” Simmons said. “If you’re not prepared, even if you run well, then it takes a bit of time to come back. It was within two weeks and he was back to doing workouts.”
The question of whether USATF would allow Korir to run a spring marathon to chase the Olympic standard had been a matter of confusion both before and after the Trials. In a January 13 Zoom call ahead of the Trials (skip to 1:04:40 mark), USATF director of long distance running programs Amy Begley said that anyone who finished in the top 3 at the Trials would not be able to run a spring marathon.
“[The USATF Long Distance Running committees] decided that they wanted to send the best team to the Olympics and so they did not want anyone that was in the top three to go and try to run another marathon between the Trials and the Olympics to try to better their time to ‘chase the standard,'” Begley said in the call.
Then, two days before the Trials, USATF sent an email to competitors saying that an athlete would not be removed from the Olympic team for competing in a spring marathon as long as they had “met the qualification standards or have achieved the performance standard by the conclusion of the Trials.” The email was an attempt to clarify the situation but still left some athletes and coaches confused.
The selection procedure posted on USATF’s website states the following:
Please note, finishers at the Selection Event will not be permitted to “chase” the time qualifying standard following the Selection Event if they have not already met the Qualified Athlete standards or have achieved at least a 2:29:30 (women)/2:11:30 (men) performance during the Qualification Period as of the conclusion of the Selection Event.
But Korir had run under 2:11:30 by the end of the Trials, and there was nothing in the published selection procedure that prohibited him from chasing the time — despite what had been said on the Zoom call. In 2019, Simmons successfully appealed against USATF when the organization did not follow its published selection procedure for that year’s Pan American Games. He knew that the published selection procedure was what mattered, and that Korir would be allowed to chase the Olympic standard if he wanted — something Begley confirmed to Simmons after the Trials.
“It’s a matter of them not understanding their own selection procedures,” Simmons said. “At that point, by the end of the Trials, it was a contract that they couldn’t back out of, even if they wanted to.”
There are 17 weeks between Rotterdam on April 14 and the Olympic marathon on August 10, which Simmons believes is plenty of time to recover for the Games — indeed, it is common for athletes to run a spring marathon before the Olympics. The bigger challenge for Korir will be the cumulative fatigue of the Trials and Rotterdam — the Olympics would be his third marathon in seven months.
Looking to Lisbon: “For him to change his standing, it’s going to take a really good half marathon, a really remarkable half marathon”
Because Korir does not currently have the standard, Olympic status is currently in limbo. In order to be selected for the Games, he, or a third American besides Young or Mantz, needs to be in the top 80 of the Road to Paris list when the qualification period ends on May 5. Currently, Korir is the highest ranked American on the list in 71st*, though the list does not include universality spots that have yet to be awarded.
*Korir is listed as 70th on the official site, but there is an error because the site only includes two Ethiopians. In reality, Korir is 71st.
With only a few major spring marathons still to come, it is looking more and more likely that Korir will be at the Olympics. For Korir to be left out, 10 men would need to pass him in the next two months.
“As far as Paris, it’s looking really good for him,” Simmons said.
Still, Korir can increase his odds by moving up the Road to Paris list. And he can do that by running a fast half marathon.
Kevin Morris photo
An athlete’s spot on the Road to Paris list is determined by an average of his top two performances during the qualification window (November 6, 2022 – May 5, 2024). At least one of those performances must be a marathon, but the other can be a marathon or a half marathon. Korir’s current average sits at 1186 points, which is an average of the 1191 points he earned for running 2:09:57 at the Olympic Trials and the 1182 points he earned by running 2:09:31 at the 2023 Paris Marathon.
Since the top 68 men on the Road to Paris list already have the auto standard, the highest Korir can get to on Sunday is 69th. Here is what he has to do to move up.
#70 Liam Adams, Australia (1192 points)
To pass Adams, Korir must have an average above 1192 points. He can get that by logging a performance in Lisbon worth 1194. In the World Athletics scoring tables, 1194 points is equal to 59:49, which is six seconds slower than Ryan Hall‘s 59:43 American record and three seconds faster than Korir’s 59:52 pb from the 2017 Delhi Half. But Korir can also earn bonus points for placing highly since Lisbon is an World Athletics Elite Label Road Race. If he wins the race, he would get five bonus points and would only have to run 59:56. He would get two bonus points for 2nd (he’d need to run 59:52 for 1194 points) and one bonus point for 3rd (he’d need to run 59:50 for 1194 points).
Most likely, Korir will have to run much faster than 59:49 to finish in the top three. Last year in Lisbon, 3rd place was 59:10 and 4th was 59:22.
#69 Hugo Catrileo, Chile (1198 points)
It would take a huge performance to pass Catrileo. Korir would need 1206 points in Lisbon, which is equivalent to 59:31 for the half. Even if Korir got the maximum five bonus points by winning the race, he’d still need to run 59:38.
***
Simmons is realistic about what it will take for Korir to move up the Road to Paris list on Sunday.
“For him to change his standing, it’s going to take a really good half marathon, a really remarkable half marathon,” Simmons said.
Simmons did not discuss specific target splits for Korir in Lisbon but said that, given the quality of the field, the race represents a great opportunity to run fast.
“He’s in a good field and wants to be competitive,” Simmons said. “And being competitive can get him a good time.”
