2020 USA Men's & Women's Olympic Trials Marathon - The Qualifiers

About the Trials/Qualification Standards
Most countries around the world use a selection committee to choose their Olympic Team Members, but not the USA. Prior to 1968, a series of races were used to select the USA Olympic Marathon team, but beginning in 1968 the format was changed to a single race on a single day with the top three finishers selected to be part of the Olympic Team and the fourth and fifth finishers designated as alternates.

As a once-every-four-years opportunity to be selected to the Olympic Marathon team, the USA Olympic Team Trials is arguably the most important marathon that many will run. For some, just getting to the Trials is a goal in itself and marks them as among the best in the USA. For others, the Trials is the first step in making the Olympic Team. Whatever the motivation for running the Trials, one thing is for sure: the men and women who will represent the USA at the 2020 Olympic Marathon in Tokyo will come from the lists on these pages.

The Qualifying Standards - 2020
The standards set for the 2020 Olympic Trials continued to improve on and learn from past experiments. The 2020 standards, as in past years, provided opportunities for runners to earn an A-Standard (paid trip to the Trials) with a fast marathon time; and a B-Standard with a slower Marathon. In addition, a Half-Marathon time to earn a B-Standard was also carried over, but whereas in past years the Half-Marathon window was open for the entire qualifying period, for 2020 the Half-Marathon was set as more of a last-chance opportunity or an alternative qualifying method only available for the final year (actually year and a half) of qualifying. In addition, the Half-Marathon standards were set well and, in effect, were similar to the A-Standard difficulty of a qualification by Marathon.

The Men's Standards A-Standard (trip to the Trials is paid) Marathon - 2:15:00 and under B-Standard Marathon - 2:15:01-2:19:00 Half Marathon - 1:04:00 and under

The Women's Standards A-Standard (trip to the Trials is paid) Marathon - 2:37:00 and under B-Standard Marathon - 2:37:01-2:45:00 Half Marathon - 1:13:00 and under

Race by Race Trials History/Results:
Men's Trials Complete History 1968-2016
Women's Trials Complete History 1984-2016

The Qualifying Standards - History, Pre-2008 (Marathon-Only)
The Men's and Women's Long Distance Running (LDR) divisions of USA Track & Field (USATF) set separate qualifying standards and they may change during each four-year cycle. Prior to 2008, all qualifying was done through times achieved at the marathon distance and two standards were available: a tougher standard (the A-Standard) which gave the runner a fully-paid trip to the Trials and a B-Standard which allowed entry, but required the athlete to pay his/her own way. An exception to the marathon-only qualification was set for the women's marathon in 1988 and 1992, when B-Standard qualifying times were set for achievements at the Half-Marathon and 10,000m distances.

Qualifying Standards - 2008 (Marathon + Track!?!)
For the 2008 Trials, Men's and Women's LDR added shorter standards to the Qualifying distances in the hope that some promising track stars might choose to jump up to the marathon distance and/or that promising marathoners who were unable to run a marathon in the qualifying window might still find multiple opportunities to qualify as it is theoretically easier to run a bunch of 10,000m or Half Marathon races compared to the toll a marathon puts on a body. For 2008, the Women's qualifying standards added the 10,000m (track) distance as an additional B-Standard; and the Men's qualifying standards included a 10,000m (track) AND 5,000m (track) distances to the qualifying standards as B-Standards. Ultimately, the addition of the 10,000m standards for men and women had limited success as they added 25 qualifiers (only 8 starters) for the men and 10 qualifiers (only 1 starter) for the women. The idea of adding a 5,000m standard for the men was a dismal failure as it added 16 "qualifiers" to the list, but not a single one was interested in actually participating in the Olympic Trials Marathon.

Qualifying Standards - 2012 = Discrimination? (Men/Women Differ)
With some success at prior use of shorter qualifying distances, both the men's and women's standards for 2012 included Half Marathon (great idea!|sub 1:05:00 men/sub 1:15:00 women) and 10,000m (limited efficacy|sub 28:30 men /sub 33:00 women) standards for qualifying. Men's LDR made the bold decision of removing a B-Standard from the marathon qualifying times, we think a questionable decision. What separated the men and women's qualifying for 2012, was that virtually ALL of the men's standards were being considered A-Standards, meaning that ALL men would gain a free trip to Houston, even as it seems that a minority are using the marathon to gain entry to the Trials. On the other hand, women qualifying by the Half Marathon or 10,000m distances would have a B-Standard and MOST women would need to pay their own travel and hotel for the Trials. [as a result, 161 of 161 men qualified for a fully paid trip, whereas only 45 of 226 women qualified for a paid trip to the Olympic Trials.] In addition, for the first time a standard for elevation drop was added: no courses with a net drop of more than 3.25meters/km would be allowed as a qualifier. The result of that was that past favorites such as the St. George Marathon were no longer eligible.

The Qualifying Standards - 2016
After some strange decisions for qualifying standards for the prior two Olympic cycles (see below), USATF got it more or less right for 2016 (in our opinion). The standards allow runners to earn an A-Standard (paid trip to the Trials) with a fast marathon time; a B-Standard with a Half Marathon time; and/or a B-Standard with a slower Marathon... We note that the Half Marathon standards are not similar for the men and women. For the men, the 1:05:00 Half Marathon standard is roughly equivalent to a 2:18:00 marathon or the B-Standard Marathon. For the women, the 1:15:00 Half Marathon standard is nearly as difficult as the Marathon A-Standard and much much harder than the women's Marathon B-Standard. With those standards, We expect most of the men (especially those incapable of the A-Standard) will achieve their standard in a Half Marathon whereas the majority of women will achieve their standard int he Half Marathon. With that differential, the Half Marathon is a great benefit to the men but limited benefit to the women.
Note: on December 11 2015, USATF eased the Marathon B-standards to match the eased IAAF standards. The men's standard was eased by one minute (to 2:18:00) and the women's standard was eased by two minutes (to 2:45:00).

Detailed Men's Qualifier Lists - Athletes Alphabetical (M) - Athletes By Rank (M) - All Qualifiers by Quality (M) - Races Where Qualified (M) - Qualifiers by Month (M/F) - Athlete Home States (M/F)

Detailed Women's Qualifier Lists - Athletes Alphabetical (F) - Athletes By Rank (F) - All Qualifiers by Quality (F) - Races Where Qualified (F) - Qualifiers by Month (M/F) - Athlete Home States (M/F)