© Copyright – 2024 – Athletics Illustrated

As World Athletics has added 20 universality positions to the Paris Olympic marathon fields, some athletes who were starting to look “qualified” may now be set adrift. Eleven were added to the men’s field and nine to the women’s.

Each country can send three qualified women and men, as long as they are globally ranked top 80 and have earned World Athletics points to bolster their position from multiple strong performances. It is also very important to run under the standards of 2:08:10 and 2:26:50 for the men and women, respectively.

The USA

The USA uses a Trials system. Two athletes, Connor Mantz and Clayton Young, went 1-2 at the Olympic Trials in Florida and have run faster than the Olympic standard, both are in. On the outside looking in is Leonard Korir, a former Kenyan. He has not run faster than the standard and finished third at the Trials. Korir managed only 2:09:31 in Paris in 2023 and 2:09:51 at the Trials. It is unlikely that the 37-year-old will make Team USA, but not impossible. Slower athletes will be running in his place.

And what about 73rd ranked CJ Albertson?

The three American women will not be affected, they are: Dakotah Lindwurm, Fiona O’Keeffe, and Emily Sisson. They went 1-2-3 at the Trials, respectively. Lindwurm ran 2:24:40 in Chicago last year and finished third in the Trials. O’Keefe won the event and finished well below the standard at 2:22:10. Sisson finished second and in 2:22:42. She also holds the North American record for the marathon, although that performance does not count toward selection. Sisson ran 2:18:29 in Chicago in 2022.

Three Canadians

In Canada, three athletes are going to the Paris Olympics who have fully qualified. It is unlikely that any more athletes from the country will make the Games. In are Malindi Elmore from her 2023 Berlin Marathon performance of 2:23:30. Elmore’s time is the second fastest in Canadian history.

Cameron Levins is named to the team by his 2023 Tokyo Marathon run of 2:05:36 — the North American record — and Rory Linkletter with his 2:08:01 run from Seville this past February. National record holder Natasha Wodak who ran 2:23:12 in Berlin in 2022 was not able to run sub-2:26:50 at the Houston Marathon in January nor the Hamburg Marathon two weeks ago. The universailty position does not appear to affect the Canadian selection process.

Kenya and Ethiopia

Kenya and Ethiopia, as typical, have many athletes to choose from. Their selection committees are rich with sub-2:08:10 and sub-2:26:50 athletes. Interestingly, at the tail end of their respective careers the world may finally see a duel between Eliud Kipchoge attempting his third consecutive Olympic Gold medal and Kenenisa Bekele.

Kipchoge is the former world record holder with his 2:01:39 and then 2:01:09 performances. Bekele is the former record holder of both the 5000m and 10,000m distances. In April, Bekele, ran a masters (40-plus) world record 2:04:15 in London. His best is from 2019, when he ran two seconds off of Kipchoge’s world record in Berlin with his 2:01:41 result. Shades of Ali and Frazer.

Great Britain’s six

Great Britain named their team in April. Emile Cairess, Mahamed Mahamed and Rose Harvey were announced to fill out the team which had already qualified Phil Sesemann, Charlotte Purdue and Calli Hauger-Thackery.

Cairess ran 2:06:46 during the qualification period. Mahamed ran 2:07:05 which moved him ahead of 1984 Olympian Steve Jones in the all-time list. Harvey joins Purdue and Thackery in the women’s marathon following a 2:23:21 clocking at last year’s Chicago Marathon. The 31-year-old, who has earned two top 10 placings in major marathons recently, will make her Games debut this summer. GB appears set. But not all countries are in this position.

Australia, a good problem to have

Six women have run fast enough to jusify running for Austraila in the marathon. They are: Jessica Stenson (2:23:59), Sinead Diver (2:21:34), Genevieve Gregson (2:23:08), Lisa Weightman (2:23:15), Izzi Batt-Doyle (2:23:27) and Eloise Wellings (2:25:47). All bettered the qualification standard during the qualifiation period.

Selection is less complicated in the men’s rankings. Three athletes who have qualified are the ones most likely to be selected, but not so fast.

Brett Robinson (2:07:31), and Pat Tiernan (2:07:45), appear set. However, Liam Anderson (2:08:39), globally ranked 73rd and Andrew Buchanan with his near miss of 2:08:58, were looking possible, now not so much. With the 11 male positions available internationally for the top 80 spots, it may be just Robinson and Tiernan stepping up to the start line in Paris. The women? Who wants the job of not selecting three? Going by time Stenson, Batt-Doyle and Wellings will be out. It’s never that simple though.

In terms of repeat performances Weightman and Wellings have accumulated deeper marathon resumes. Weightman has run 2:24:18 in Valenica in 2023 for 13th position. She has also run 2:24:32 (Osaka 2024) – 3rd, 2:30:50 (Budapest 2023 World Champs) – 16th and 2:31:42 (Tokyo ’23 – week following her Osaka PB) – 13th.

Wellings has gone 2:31:38 (Gold Coast 2023) – 4th, 2:32:09 (Nagoya 2023) – 18th and 2:34:50 (New York, 2022) – 18th, however did DNF in Nagoya 2024, which may influence selection.

How universality works

World Athletics’ aim in December 2022 was for 50 per cent of qualifiers in the men’s and women’s marathons to come through the entry standard. And 50 per cent through world rankings. However, with the current picture, neither the men’s nor women’s marathons are expected to see qualifiers from the world rankings. So much for good intentions.

In terms of Universality Places, any National Olympic Committee that has no male or female qualified athlete will be allowed to enter their best ranked male or best ranked female athlete in the marathon. Therefore like the Aussie men and Korir for the USA, slower runners will be competing in their place this summer — ouch.

Who has these universality spots now?

Of the 20 athletes named, only one has run near the standards. Dario Ivanovski of North Macedonia with his 2:08:26. Five of the women are over 2:30 and one well over three hours. How does that even work? Four men have run slower than 2:13:13 and one woman and one man have no time to submit whatsoever.

Men:
Dario Ivanovski, North Macedonia (2:08:26)
Il Ryong Han, North Korea (2:09:42)
Amine Khadiri, Cyprus (2:10:20)
Samuel Freire, Cabo Verde (2:11:01)
Cristhian Zamora, Uruguay (2:11:02)
Jordan Gusman, Malta (2:13:13)
Ilya Tyapkin, Kyrgyzstan (2:17:05)
Eduardo Terrance Garcia, Virgin Islands (2:17:09)
Valentin Betoudji, Chad (2:18:20)
Mo’ath Alkhawaldeh, Jordan (2:21:17)
Yaseen Abdalla, Sudan (no time)

Women:
Kwang-Ok Ri, North Korea (2:27:23)
Sardana Trofimova, Kyrgyzstan (2:27:32)
Lilia Fisikovici, Moldova (2:30:06)
Helalia Johannes, Namibia (2:30:53)
Mokulubete Blandina Makatisi, Lesotho (2:30:54)
Rutendo Joan Nyahora, Zimbabwe (2:32:00)
Militsa Mircheva, Bulgaria (2:32:03)
Kinzang Lhamo, Bhutan (3:26:42)
Shantoshi Shrestha, Nepal (no time)