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What We Learned From the Olympic Marathon Trials

Published by
DyeStatPRO.com   Feb 13th 2016, 11:15pm
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Three Quick Observations from Saturday's Race

By Scott Bush


 

The U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Marathon was full of drama, hot temperatures and a few surprising results. The warmest U.S. Trials marathon on record, the first half of both the men's and women's races were honest, but the back half of each was more of a test of how to handle heat more than anything. 

With nearly 400 athletes toeing the line in Los Angeles with Olympic dreams floating in the air, here's what we took away from Saturday's race.

Portland, Nike Dominate the Show

So it turns out Amy Cragg's move to sign with Nike, join the Bowerman Track Club and train under the influence of Jerry Schumacher and spend weeks on end training with Shalane Flanagan paid off for the veteran. Cragg finished fourth at the Olympic Trials in 2012 with a heartbreaking finish in Houston. While she eventually earned her Olympic team spot on the track, her goal of making an Olympic marathon team was left unrealized. Cragg showed that a change in scenary and switching up the team around her was worth it.

While Cragg won the women's race, Galen Rupp showed he's the future of American marathoning, easily striding away from Meb Keflezighi, on his way to a win of more than a minute ahead of second. This was Rupp's first marathon, in heat that he hasn't always been the strongest in and he impressed fans, media and countless others that the marathon could very well end up his best event. 

For Flanagan, breaking away from the field with Cragg seemed like the right move, that is until the final few miles where she was clearly hurting and in jeopardy of missing out on another Olympic team. While Flanagan ran a gutsy final three miles and narrowly hung on for the third spot, she ultimately accomplished what she set out to do, which was to earn a trip to Rio. 

What do Cragg, Rupp and Flanagan all have in common? Well, they are all Portland-based runners and sponsored by Nike. It was a special day for the Pacific Northwest city and adds a little more excitement to the host of the USATF Indoor and IAAF World Indoor Championships next month. 

The Key to Success - Patience

For third-place finisher Jared Ward and runner-up finisher Desi Linden, when the leaders moved and put space on them, both athletes kept themselves poised and focused on the task at hand, which was finishing in the top three. We've seen Linden do this before, time after time, picking off athletes in the final miles of the race to come out on top. 

Linden did much the same on Saturday, first pulling away from the chase pack of Janet Bawcom, Maegan Krifchin and Kara Goucher, then passing Kellyn Taylor and eventually cruising by Flanagan on her way to earning another Olympic berth. 

For Ward, he stayed back as Rupp, Keflezighi and Tyler Pennel made their moves to break the rest of the field. Ward kept within 15 seconds of the pack and when he noticed Pennel starting to fall off from Rupp and Keflezighi, he made his move over a few miles, catching and passing Pennel and never looking back. 

Many picked Linden to make the team, some picked Ward to make the team and while they both booked their trips to Rio, it was their patience that played a key part.

Teammates

When Flanagan and Cragg broke free from the pack, it seemed as though Flanagan was the one who was leading the duo to put countless seconds on their competition. But as the miles wore on it was realized that Cragg was actually carrying the two forward. Cragg talked to Flanagan when she started to feel the heat and it was Cragg who kept pace with Flanagan as she started to hit the wall. Ultimately, Cragg had to push ahead and leave her training partner and friend behind, but it was inspirational seeing two women who've spent nearly every day of the past three months training together finish first and third. Their communication, their passion for helping each other and the embrace at the finish was truly inspiring and a great example for all younger athletes out there. Teammates are what prop you up when times are hard.

Top Ten Results

Men

1 Galen Rupp 2:11:12

2 Meb Keflezighi 2:12:20

3 Jared Ward 2:13:00

4 Luke Puskedra 2:14:12

5 Tyler Pennel 2:14:57

6 Matthew Llano 2:15:16

7 Shadrack Biwott 2:15:23

8 Patrick Smyth 2:15:26

9 Sean Quigley 2:15:52

10 Nick Arciniaga 2:16:25

Women

1 Amy Cragg 2:28:27

2 Desiree Linden 2:29:00

3 Shalane Flanagan 2:29:26

4 Kara Goucher 2:30:30

5 Janet Bawcom 2:31:20

6 Kellyn Taylor 2:32:56

7 Maegan Krifchin 2:33:35

8 Serena Burla 2:34:29

9 Katja Goldring 2:35:27

10 Alia Gray 2:35:54



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History for U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Marathon
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2024 1 22 12 188  
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