© Copyright – 2023 – Athletics Illustrated
American marathon runner Scott Fauble has been one of the country’s better marathon runners in recent years. The 31-year-old owns a best of 2:09:42 from the one-off Marathon Project that took place in Chandler, AZ in December 2020. However, he ran faster in Boston in April last year clocking 2:08:52. Any other time in the sport’s history, he would have qualified for a global championship with the former result. Finishing top top-three at the USATF Trials will be a requirement. Global ranking will matter too.
The 2023 Paris Olympic qualifying time is sub-2:08:10 for the men. World Athletics can submit 80 names to the International Olympic Committee and three per country. Hence the global ranking. The Golden, CO native is currently ranked 129th at a points rating of 1218 based on his 2022 and 2023 Boston Marathon performances. World athletics is using the average between his two performances of 1225 and 1211 points having run 2:08:52 and 2:09:44 respectively. Three times he has finished Boston as the top American.
Guten Tag!
— Scott Fauble (@scottfaubs) August 18, 2023
I’m running Berlin on 9/24! pic.twitter.com/Ixe7pWFoLK
As it stands, there are really two reasons to race Berlin: time and global ranking, but of course, one begets the other.
“Pretty simple reasoning to run Berlin. I didn’t like where my world ranking was. And kinda needed to either hit the standard and or improve my world ranking leading into the Olympic Trials in February,” Fauble told Athletics Illustrated. “And I thought Berlin was going to be the best chance to hit the standard and give me plenty of time to recover [for those trials].
The Trials will take place on February 3, 2024, in Orlando, FL. This will give athletes plenty of time to recover for the August Olympic running.
“The goal is 2:08:09 or better. I definitely feel like I’ve been in that type of shape a number of times before and based on training so far I think we’re on a good trajectory to get back there.”
Fauble has been training for several months for Berlin but only made the announcement over social media last week.
Berlin is the site of the men’s world record and eight of the top-19 times in history. World record holder, Eliud Kipchoge has run 2:01:09 and 2:01:39 in Berlin. Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele clocked a 2:01:41 in 2019. Three of the four fastest performances took place there. Twenty of the top-100 performances have happened in the German city. The rest of the best are scattered around the globe. Including London, Chicago, Frankfurt, Paris, Tokyo, Dubai, Valencia, Boston (which do not officially count toward records) and several others.
According to World Athletics rankings, Fauble is currently, the top-ranked nationally.
Top-10 American marathon runners’ national ranking
| Place | Competitor | DOB | Nat | Score | Event List |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scott FAUBLE | 05 NOV 1991 |  USA | 1218 | Marathon |
| 2 | Conner MANTZ | 08 DEC 1996 | USA | 1206 | Marathon |
| 3 | Matt MCDONALD | 10 MAY 1993 | USA | 1177 | Marathon |
| 4 | Teshome MEKONEN | 05 AUG 1995 | USA | 1176 | Marathon [Half Marathon] |
| 5 | Elkanah KIBET | 02 JUN 1983 | USA | 1174 | Marathon |
| 6 | Futsum ZIENASELLASSIE | 16 DEC 1992 | USA | 1170 | Marathon |
| 7 | Abbabiya SIMBASSA | 30 JUN 1993 | USA | 1163 | Marathon [Half Marathon] |
| 8 | CJ ALBERTSON | 11 OCT 1993 | USA | 1149 | Marathon |
| 9 | Leonard KORIR | 10 DEC 1986 | USA | 1144 | Marathon [25 km Road] |
| 10 | Nico MONTANEZ | 07 SEP 1993 | USA | 1144 | Marathon |
