The following article was compiled by ATRA team member Andy Wacker and features trail and mountain runners who have qualified to race in the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. Featured photo of Rachel Drake racing in Argentina at the 2019 World Mountain Running Championships.
Every four years, USATF holds a championship-style race where the top three men and the top three women are selected to the U.S. Olympic Marathon Team. To qualify for this year’s trials, competitors had to hit an Olympic Trials qualifying time (OTQ) within the qualifying window of January 1, 2022 through December 5, 2023. Men had to run under 2:18:00 in the marathon or 1:03:00 in the half, while the women’s standard was 2:37:00 in the marathon or 1:12:00 in the half.
The 2024 US Marathon Olympic Trials will be held in Orlando, Florida, on February 3, with the men starting at 10:00 a.m. and the women starting ten minutes later at 10:10 a.m.
When the qualifying window closed this year, 227 men and 173 women had hit the OTQ, including several athletes who are successful mountain, ultra and trail runners.
MUT Women who have qualified for the Trials
Grayson Murphy*
Rachel Drake*
Peyton Thomas
Flannery Davis Love
USATF Mountain Running Championships
Sunapee, NH; April 30. (c) Mike Scott 2023.
MUT Men who have qualified for the Trials
Christian Allen*
Eddie Owens*
CJ Albertson
Chad Hall
Patrick Smyth*
Tyler Jermann
Tyler McCandless
Jonathan Aziz*
Zachary Ornelas*
Charlie Lawrence
David Fuentes*
Adam Sjolund*
*Has represented USA in international competition
David Fuentes racing at the 2020 NACAC Mountain Running Championships.
And wait, there’s more
In addition to the list above, several Olympic Trials qualifiers have raced at least one event under the MUT umbrella.
Women:
Molly Seidel
Lauren Hurley (Goss)
Bria Wetsch
Sarah Reiter
Amelia Keyser-Gibson
Mary Denholm
Abbie McNulty
Men:
Sam Chelangan
John Raneri
Wesley Robinson
Bijan Mazaheri
Benjamin Payne
Fernando Cabada
Kurt Roeser
Noah Droddy
What the athletes are saying
We asked 2023 Mountain Running Classic World Champion, Grayson Murphy, why she races on the roads? She responded, “I like to challenge myself in all disciplines and it’s great to explore the different talents I have in those areas.”
Christian Allen, who competed for Team USA at Challenge Stellina in August, qualified at California International Marathon (CIM) on December 3. Allen explained, “I decided to hop in a road marathon to challenge myself and prove to myself I can be competitive across all surfaces. I also have the perfect guys to train with where I live so it makes sense for me to put my trail fitness to a shorter marathon block.”
Christian Allen (USA) earns the win at Gran Canaria. Photo: Marco Gulberti
Trail running stars Peyton Thomas and Rachel Drake ran together in Sacramento to get the OTQ at CIM. When asked why she decided to run a road marathon, Drake said, “It felt good to have a more objective measure of fitness. That’s not something we always get with trail running. I was craving a marathon training block. I felt like I was missing this kind of quicker turnover training in my trail races this year, so I’m excited to apply this to the trails.”
Where might Drake apply that speed? “I have my eyes set on Black Canyon.” Unfortunately, it is a week after the trials, so Drake may not compete in Orlando.
Peyton Thomas qualified for the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials at CIM.
Thomas said, “I think I’m going to run the trials! I really love racing roads because it makes me feel fast and I just wanted to prove to myself that I can hang. I want to be a part of the fast road women movement!”
Find a list of all qualifiers here.
