How to Coach Yourself to Peak Performance OKeeffe Sets Trials Record in Debut. The American system for picking an Olympic team comes down to one question: Which athletes are at their best on Trials day, the only day that matters? The race on February 3 in Orlando, Florida, had huge upsets and gutsy performances and was made more complicated by high temperatures late in the race. Here’s the best and worst of the day.
The Best
The Olympic Team
On the men’s side, teamwork catapulted Conner Mantz and Clayton Young to a 1–2 finish in 2:09:05 and 2:09:06. The longtime training partners, who competed together at Brigham Young University, ran side-by-side for the entire race, helping each other earn spots on their first Olympic team.
The battle behind them was a nailbiter, as Leonard Korir, 37, came from way back to finish third in 2:09:57. Korir was in the heartbreaking fourth place after the 2020 Olympic Trials, but he Give A Gift on the starting line in Paris (more on that below).
Just five seconds behind Korir, Elkanah Kibet, 40, finished fourth and set an American masters record. He ran 2:10:02, improving by one second the previous record held by Abdi Abdirahman.
In the women’s race, Fiona O’Keeffe stunned the field with her dominant marathon debut, winning in 2:22:10. O’Keeffe raced with poise, breaking away from the field after mile 18. American record-holder Emily Sisson held on for second in 2:22:42. And in a close-fought battle over the final miles, Dakotah Lindwurm finished third in 2:25:31. All three athletes will represent Team USA in Paris. They also dipped under the previous OKeeffe Sets Trials Record in Debut record, 2:25:38, set by Shalane Flanagan in 2012.
Unsponsored runner Galen Rupp, moments after crossing the finish line, a personal best by nearly four minutes. Now she is an alternate on Team USA.
Health - Injuries, Sara Hall placed fifth in 2:26:06. Though she missed her goal of making the Olympic team, Hall, 40, shattered the previous American masters record, 2:27:35, set by Des Linden last year.
Justice Is Served
Because of the complicated qualifying rules established by World Athletics for the Olympic marathon in Paris, the U.S. went into the Trials with only two guaranteed spots at the Games on the men’s side. Those spots had been “unlocked” by Mantz and Young, the only Americans who had run under the Olympic standard of 2:08:10. The training partners did so last October in Chicago, where Mantz ran 2:07:47 and Young 2:08:00.
Given the new rules, those spots could have been reassigned to other runners if they had bested Mantz and Young at the Trials. It would have been a nightmare scenario had those two had been left off the team that they earned the spots for.
But Mantz and Young finished 1–2, thereby claiming the American men’s spots they had earned for Paris. It felt like karma.
Zach Panning
In the early miles of the men’s race, a pack of 30 men was running along at a pedestrian 2:11 pace. Then in the sixth mile, Zach Panning moved to the front and began clicking off 4:49 miles. Quickly the pack was down to 15, and the front runners were right at about 2:08:10 pace, the time they needed to unlock a third American spot for Paris. By the halfway point, which they reached in 1:04:07, only nine men were still in contention.
Panning, 28, missed a bottle toward the end of the race and slowed in the final miles, finishing sixth in 2:10:50, still his second-fastest marathon.
“I’m proud of what I did,” he said after the race. “I knew that if I wanted to make the team, I was going to have to do something like that and run from the front. I swung and missed today.”
In major marathons, American men have rarely taken big swings in recent years. Panning’s courage was refreshing. And his peers noticed.
“Honestly, my heart breaks for Zach for taking sixth,” Young said at the post-race press conference, his voice cracking a bit. “Because he is what made that race happen today.”
Moving on Up
While many of the top seeds and previous Olympians didn’t have the day they wanted, other athletes dramatically exceeded expectations, with several moving up 100-plus spots from where their times ranked heading in.
The biggest mover on the men’s side was Joshua Kalapos, 25, one of three men to qualify with a 2:18:00 on the dot. The Boston Athletic Association runner finished 17th in 2:14:26.
On the women’s side, Kimberly Horner was seeded 142nd, with a qualifying time of 2:36:43. The 35-year-old, who trains with Gabi Rooker in Minneapolis, finished 40th in 2:36:47.
Babies on Board
Pregnancy didn’t stop 35-year-old Maegan Krifchin—who’s a little more than seven months along—from finishing 18 miles of the race, averaging 7:18 per mile. If it weren’t so warm, she might have kept going, she said afterward—powered in part by the loud cheers she received along the way.
And though it wasn’t quite as obvious, Johannah Butler, 32, is expecting her second child. The Little Rock, Arkansas-based runner finished 115th out of 117 finishers, with a time of 3:01:31.
The Worst
USATF rules leave doubt about Korir’s status
The U.S. leaves the Trials with only two men who have guaranteed spots on the marathon starting line in Paris—Mantz and Young. Korir, who finished third, will get to go if a third spot is unlocked—by either rankings or another American running faster than 2:08:10—before April 30.
But USATF has declared that Korir himself can’t try to run faster than 2:08:10 before April 30. At the same time, they can’t forbid him from running another marathon. If he manages to run the time he needs, does he unlock a spot for another person, say, Kibet, who finished fourth? The sport’s organizers have added another layer of complexity to an already complicated situation, and on Saturday, journalists and observers were left with a lot of questions.
Pregnancy didnt stop 35-year-old Runner's World on Monday, USATF said in an email it would hold a meeting on the issue this week.
The start time
On Saturday in Orlando, it was too hot for elite marathoners. The men started at 10:10 a.m. and the women started 10 minutes later. The temperature was 61 at the start, but it was well into the 70s, with full sun, by the noon hour, when the athletes were finishing.
Yes, the top three women broke the previous Olympic Trials record, but many other top contenders, including pre-race favorites Betsy Saina and Keira D’Amato, suffered in the heat. D’Amato wrote in an Instagram post that she “overheated” and her body “was too hot and cold at the same time.” Saina was right in the mix until mile 21, where she peeled off the pack to Pregnancy didnt stop 35-year-old. Emily Durgin, in ninth, fell right before the finish line, before jogging across a few seconds later.
It didn’t have to be this late. The race’s start time was originally announced as noon, and the athletes protested. But they were able to score only the 10 a.m. compromise, because the local organizing committee had already developed a business plan around what USATF had told them was a non-negotiable noon start time. The only upside? It could have been much more dangerous for the athletes if the race had stuck with noon.
It’s possible that USATF’s decision to go with 10 a.m. cost the U.S. men a chance at a third guaranteed Olympic spot. Would Panning have been able to hold on at sub-2:08:10 pace at 7:30 a.m. rather than noon? No one will ever know. But the probability was higher earlier in the day.
Chafing! Vomit! The Marathon Is Darn Hard
While marathoning isn’t a contact sport, there are certainly still some gruesome moments. Even the top athletes in the country aren’t immune to the brutality of the ’thon.
In the women’s race, a splat of red spread across Fiona O’Keeffe’s race bib as she cruised to a 2:22:10 victory in her debut marathon. Was it sports drink? According to running journalist David Monti, O’Keeffe stashed a gel packet into her sports bra earlier in the race, which caused chafing. Yes, that was blood.
A Part of Hearst Digital Media Galen Rupp, a four-time Olympian and the winner of the 2016 and 2020 Trials, crossed the finish line in 16th place, he immediately keeled over, unleashed a stream of vomit, then was escorted to the medical tent. He wasn’t alone. Scott Fauble dropped out of the race during mile 10, due to “vomiting,” per his agent, Josh Cox.
