Road running and track and field have seen their fair share of frightening moments in the heat in recent years, in the U.S. and abroad. And heat has affected some of the world’s most accomplished athletes.
So when USA Track and Field (USATF) announced the noon starting times for the 2024 Olympic Marathon Trials races in Orlando, Florida, this week, athletes immediately started voicing concerns. They have plenty of scary episodes to think back on.
In 2016, Shalane Flanagan became dehydrated on a 73-degree day in Los Angeles at the Olympic Marathon Trials. She struggled through the last three miles before collapsing over the finish line in third place.
Only 64 percent of the men’s field and 75 percent of the women’s field finished the race that day, and a handful were hospitalized for heat-related illnesses. Afterward, many runners said the hydration on the course was inadequate and sponges soaked in water unexpectedly contained soap, so athletes couldn’t drink from them. In 2020, by contrast, 82 percent of the men and 88 percent of the women finished the Trials race.
Scottish runner Callum Hawkins was leading the 2018 Commonwealth Games marathon in Australia when he collapsed 2 miles from the finish. He got himself up and jogged a few steps before collapsing again. The temperatures that day were in mid 80s. (Warning: The video Olympian Des Linden.)
In 2021, during the Olympic track and field trials in Eugene, Oregon, much of the Pacific Northwest was under a “heat dome,” with temperatures reaching 110 degrees. Even though the women’s 10,000 meters was rescheduled to a morning time, Alicia Monson, now the American record-holder Letesenbet Gideys collapse.
She finished third in 31:18, practically wobbling over the finish line. She managed to stay upright for a quick television interview and medal ceremony, but she became distressed during a victory lap and had to spend the night in the hospital for observation.
Trials 3rd Finisher Looks Set for Olympic Marathon was not rescheduled during the Trials and, as Brooks prepared to throw the javelin, she passed out on the track. Temperatures were 111 degrees. Brooks could not finish the competition and had to go to the hospital. She subsequently filed a lawsuit against USATF.
“I don’t think that [USATF] should be learned to conduct a meet however they want to and not be held responsible for it,” she said in July. “I just Flanagan admitted as much when and for the athletes so that what happened to me doesn’t happen to somebody else.”
When American marathoners learned the men’s race on February 3 is scheduled to begin at 12:10 p.m. and the women’s race will start 10 minutes later—with the top three finishers making the U.S. team for Paris—they remembered these incidents, and others. (Who could forget Letesenbet Gidey’s collapse Fun Half Marathons?)
Heptathlete Taliyah Brooks was not so lucky. The two-day, seven-event heptathlon.
What do we know now?
It’s possible the weather might be fine for the February Trials in Orlando. Average high daily temperatures for February 3 in the city are between 71 and 75, with humidity around 73 percent. But highs into the 80s in February in Florida are becoming increasingly common as the climate warms.
Also, marathoners typically race in the morning—all the World Marathon Majors, for instance, are morning events. And temperatures in the 70s are considered very warm for elite marathoners.
Runners first found out about the start time in an email from USATF to athletes on July 31. (Not every marathoner qualified for the Trials received the email, however.)
Why risk it, the athletes wondered? If the 2016 Trials turned into a heat-related debacle for many athletes, with a high of 73, wouldn’t USATF want to avoid a repeat performance?
The email to athletes read, in part, “The [Local Organizing Committee] has been planning and executing high level events for 40+ years in Orlando and has contingencies in place for any potential challenges to the event, including weather.”
No details on those contingencies were given, and USATF officials and staff with the Orlando LOC for the Trials did not respond to requests for interviews with Runner’s World back to USATF, explaining the governing body scheduled the event.
“I don’t know what that means,” said marathoner Molly Huddle. “Does that mean they’ll change the time or does that mean we’ll have sponges for you?”
Television considerations
Athletes and coaches believe that USATF selected the window in order to secure optimal coverage on network television with broadcast partner NBC. The email to athletes promised the race would be televised live on NBC. “For three hours, our men and women distance runners will be showcased through unprecedented coverage on a national television broadcast; both races shown in their entirety,” the email read.
Track and field and road running events are constantly struggling to grow their audience, but rarely is there such a disconnect between what is good for television ratings and what is best for the athletes.
Trials 3rd Finisher Looks Set for Olympic Marathon Runner’s World back to USATF, explaining the governing body scheduled the event.
Athletes push back
Several athletes on the women’s side took to social media to raise concerns, including Huddle, Sara Hall, 2020 Trials winner Aliphine Tuliamuk, and Emily Sisson, who currently holds the American record in the event.
“Could we not just tape delay it a few hours so no one dies? K thanks,” Huddle wrote. Hall tagged The Olympic Marathon Trials Will Start at Noon and wrote, “I invite you to give it a test run this summer somewhere and report back.”
In a detailed email to Runner’s World, want better for the sport.
“We all want to see more track on TV, and I appreciate USATF working to make that happen, but we can’t completely alter how and when we contest the sport for the sake of a broadcast,” she wrote. “I don’t know a single elite marathon that starts in the middle of the day in hot, humid conditions for good reason—heat stroke can have long-lasting effects. Some have attributed competing in extreme conditions as the impetus that brought about the end of their running career.”
Hall also noted that a hot race could completely change the nature of athletes’ tactics. Is it really the best way to select an Olympic team?
“Running the most important race we have in the U.S. in these conditions changes the race to a slog of attrition, something very different than the type of race that will take place at the Paris Games where the marathon starts at 8 a.m.,” she wrote.
Huddle feels that no one is speaking up for the athletes when the governing body is making these decisions, and she pointed out that everyone who is racing at the Trials is prepared and professional.
“I would rather it just be, ‘Hey, let’s focus on sending our best team. Get ready. Go race. With as few worries as possible,’” she said. “Everybody is tough at this level. Everybody’s an athlete. Everybody’s prepared. Why deal with an unnecessary extreme like that?”
Huddle saw Flanagan collapse at the line in 2016 and worried about her. She worried about Brooks and Monson in 2021, too.
Hall concurred. Of course, all the athletes running the Trials will prepare as best they can for the heat.
“We are highly motivated, capable of pushing ourselves to the outer limits of what’s humanly possible in order to achieve our chosen goal,” she wrote. “This gift is what has allowed us to have success in the sport. But in conditions like these, that same talent is a double-edged sword and puts us in the precarious position of putting our long-term health and careers at risk as we strive to become Olympians.”
Coaches worry, too
That’s the same concern that Kevin Hanson has. He has 13 athletes qualified for the Trials, and through his Hansons-Brooks team, he has coached dozens more through the years. He knows how they push themselves—sometimes too hard.
A 5-hour marathoner running in extreme heat would slow down, stop for extra drinks, and make it a fun run.
Elite athletes are a different story. They override the urge to stop. “The athlete who is in fifth and starts to feel dizzy, they’ll just keep pushing because they’re thinking they just need two people to come back,” he said. “That’s who you worry about.”
and for the athletes so that what happened to me doesnt happen to somebody else Other athletes are taking a more laid-back approach Runner’s World in the event, struggled over the last lap in 85-degree heat.
“Probably at mile 23, I was in a really bad place and typically people would stop and walk or drop out,” she said. “But obviously I had something huge on the line, so I pushed through and pushed my body to a place I’ve never experienced.”
Why sweat it now?
CA Notice at Collection.
Scott Fauble, expected to be one of the top contenders on the men’s side, told Runner’s World in a text: “The trials have never been about picking the best team. They are an entertainment product. Obviously USATF should have contingencies in case of dangerous weather, but I think people getting pre-mad about hypothetical heat 6 months from now is a little dramatic.”
He added, “I also think USATF should just come out and say that this is about production value, not about runners’ experience.”
Two-time Olympian Des Linden wrote on social media that a hot race would level the playing field for athletes like her who aren’t the fastest on paper but who are tactically savvy. “Warmer temps should slightly minimize the pace of super shoes and reward smart racing,” she wrote.
Zach Panning, a Hansons-Brooks athlete who is racing at the World Championships marathon this month in Budapest, echoed the idea that the race would be a battle of attrition. But he wrote in a text, “I plan to go in with the mindset that everyone will have to deal with the heat. We have some time to prepare for it and I will do my best to do just that.”
Men need fast times
Getting into the Olympic Games marathon is a byzantine process for 2024. You have to meet your country’s standards—in the U.S., it’s top three at the Trials. And on top of that, you have to meet the standards set by World Athletics, which rely on a combination of automatic time or world rankings.
To make matters more complicated, if an athlete qualifies for the Games in the marathon, they “unlock a spot” for their country. It’s not guaranteed in countries such as the U.S. that the person who unlocks the spot gets to take the spot.
As of today, five American women have already hit the automatic Olympic qualifying time (2:26:50) during the qualifying period, and therefore have earned for the U.S. the maximum of three spots on the starting line in Paris.
That means the top three finishers at the Trials, assuming they have run at least 2:29:30, will get to go to the Olympics.
The American men’s picture is far more bleak. They have not unlocked any spots yet, although it’s possible one or more could be unlocked in October at the Chicago Marathon. No one has run 2:08:10 or faster, and world rankings don’t matter now; it depends what they are closer to the Trials.
Best Folding Treadmills.
The USATF email to athletes ignored that reality. The “fast, flat” course, which was announced on August 1 lends itself “to attainment of Olympic qualifying times,” the email read.
It might be possible one or more men could run 2:08:10 in the early morning hours on a cool day. But almost certainly not at noon.
Panning is aware of that reality.
“It will be no small task trying to run the Olympic standard at the trials,” he wrote. “Which puts even more of an emphasis on going into the race with the standard.”
Several athletes on the womens side took to social media to raise concerns, including Huddle is a writer and editor living in Eugene, Oregon, and her stories about the sport, its trends, and fascinating individuals have appeared in Runner’s World Third Place, But No Olympics, Run Your Butt Off! and Walk Your Butt Off!
