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The USA is the only country that uses a single race to select the three runners whio will represent it on the Marathon team for the Olympics. For 2020, both the Men’s and Women’s Trials will be held on the same day in Atlanta. This is the third time for this format – prior to Houston bidding on and being selected for both Men’s and Women’s Trials for 2012, Men’s and Women’s races were held on different days in different venues. According to varying criteria for the men and women, any athlete who had run faster than the “qualifying standards” is qualified to participate in the Olympic Trials Marathon and by the deadline 265 men and 513 women had qualified. That is an incredible number of qualifiers, more than double the previous

For 2020, the races would be held on a one-time use course designed as the previous Trials courses had been designed: a multi-loop format to optimize viewing by spectators and ease logistics. That said, Atlanta is hilly and the Trials course is quite hilly.

And while a foot race normally has one winner, there will be six (three men, three women) to emerge from the Atlanta Trials as “winners,” having won the right to represent the USA at the premier running and marathon event held every four years, the Olympic Games to be held in Tokyo in August 2020. Some runners will be thinking about winning the race, but really any will be happy with a top 3 finish and trip to the Olympics; that is the goal.

In the history of the Olympics, the USA has brought home 12 medals in the marathon: Thomas Hicks (St. Louis 1904 – gold), Albert Corey (St. Louis 1904 – silver), Arthur Newton (St. Louis 1904 – bronze), Johnny Hayes (London 1908 – gold), Joseph Forshaw (London 1908- bronze), Gaston Strobino (Stockholm 1912 – bronze), Clarence DeMar (Paris 1924 – bronze), Frank Shorter (Munich 1972 – gold), Frank Shorter (Montreal 1976 – silver), Meb Keflezighi (Athens 2004 – silver) and Galen Rupp (Rio de Janeiro 2016 – bronze). For the women’s Olympic Marathon, the USA has brought home only two medals: Joan Benoit who won the first women’s marathon event and set a world record while doing it (Los Angeles 1984 – gold) and Deena Kastor (Athens 2004 – bronze). If the USA hopes to improve on that count in 2020, it will have to happen from one of the men or women who will be competing at the 2020 Olympic Trials Marathon in Houston.

We will be continually updating this page to add content and commentary. Please come back often as we will try to provide the most intelligent coverage of the Olympic Marathon Trials available…

Full & Post-Race Coverage

The Best and Smartest Race Coverage 2020 Men’s Olympics Team Trials Race Recap 2020 Women’s Olympics Team Trials Race Recap Archive: As It Happened – Our real-time notes and comments

The Rosters/The Lineups

Up-To-Date Starters Lists Oddly, it’s hard to find the starting lists for the Olympic Marathon Trials. The starting list will remain in flux until just before race day. Here is our best efforts at creating the comprehensive start list: Men’s Starter List Women’s Starter List The Qualifiers List 161 Men qualified for the Olympic Trials and 112 entered, while 226 Women have qualified and 194 entered. These lists are a who’s who of American marathoners… Complete List of Qualifiers With Commentary Demographics/Statistics & More (all from the link above)

The History

Past Races The use of one Qualifying race to choose the USA Olympic Marathon Team was introduced for the men in 1968, 1984 for women. Each of the preceding Trials tells a great story of USA marathoning in that era. Men’s Olympics Team Trials History Women’s Olympics Team Trials History The Olympic Marathon On these pages we’ll prepare you for the watching and reading about and appreciating the 2020 Olympics. But for those who want to review the history of the event, we’ll encourage you to read the chapters on our site describing – The Origin of the Marathon and – The First Marathon

Previews/Profiles

MarathonGuide.com – Preview The quick overview of the race – what you’ll see. If your time is short and you can read just one thing – start here… 2020 Men’s Marathon Preview 2020 Women’s Marathon Preview