The U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials: Everything You Need to Know About Qualifying and Our Thoughts on the New Standards

The new standards for the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials have recently been announced, along with a few other changes concerning qualifying for the Trials. Here’s everything we know about the 2028 qualifying process:

The women’s qualifying standard actually remained the same(!) this time around (2:37, or 5:59/mile), after USATF (the governing body for Track and Field in the U.S.) drastically dropped the 2024 Trials qualifying time for women by a whopping 8 minutes—from 2:45 to 2:37.

This time around, the men’s qualifying time dropped 2 minutes from 2:18 to 2:16 (5:11/mile), which is, of course, challenging but also understandable considering the rising success of U.S. marathoners.

Qualifying based on a half marathon time also remains a possibility— women need to run 1:12 and men need to run 1:03 in order to qualify.

Chasing the U.S. Marathon Olympic Trials standard has become a passion for many elite and sub-elite distance runners—after the highest number of qualifiers ever competed at the Atlanta Trials in 2020, runners chasing the dream of qualifying for an Olympic Trials has dramatically increased!

After USATF dropped the women’s qualifying time by 8 minutes at the 2024 Trials, many women who had been flirting with the 2:45 range saw this as an opportunity to level up and attempt to work towards the higher standard!

Chasing a goal like this can help us unlock something inside of us we never dreamed could be possible—there’s excitement in the chase… whether or not we achieve this big dream, we are demonstrating vulnerability and making an effort to grow and learn more about ourselves in the process.

Steve Magness and Brad Stulberg stated in their book, Peak Performance, that “the process of setting a goal on the outer boundaries of what we think is possible, and then systematically pursuing it, is one of the most fulfilling parts about being a human.”

Each time USATF drops the standard, this provides an opportunity to rise to the challenge and further emphasizes finding true joy in the process of chasing after big goals!

Other Considerations:

The marathon Trials standards stated above are technically the “B” qualifying standards; USATF has yet to announce the “A” standards, which will provide the opportunity for qualifiers to receive travel funding to the Trials.

Separate “A" and "B” standards were eliminated at the 2024 Trials; however, in an attempt to decrease the financial burden on potential host cities, USATF is returning to separate tiers of qualification.

Another change now includes the acceptance of populated chip times, rather than solely gun times from races. This provides more opportunity for those who get stuck way in the back of start lines or don’t currently have the race times to receive elite perks in marathon fields.

Finally, any marathoner from the 2016, 2020, or 2024 U.S. Olympic Marathon teams who remains as an active USATF member is technically considered to already have the “A” standard meaning retired pros like Shalane Flanagan, Meb Keflezighi, or Des Linden, to name a few, technically possess the opportunity to run at the next Trials— so we’ll see if any of these legends want to come out of retirement for one more Marathon Olympic Trials!

Let's AWAKEN Your Potential!

It's exciting to see more runners go after the Olympic Trials standard, and we would love to come alongside you on your journey to chase your dreams! Whether you're going after the marathon standard or trying to run your first 5K-- we're here for you!

And if you're struggling with pain or injury getting in the way of your goals, WE CAN HELP!

Don’t get stuck in an injury cycle– we’re here to come alongside you and break you out of your injury rut!

We get it– we not only specialize in working with runners, we are runners ourselves!

It's our mission at AWAKEN to provide the highest level of care through our process of determining the root cause of your issue, then establishing an individualized plan to help you prevent recurrence and come back stronger than before!

We offer several specialized services including orthopedic and sports physical therapy, strength and conditioning, 3D Running Gait Analysis, and personalized run coaching. All of our services include one-on-one individualized care with a doctor of physical therapy. 

Reach out via the link below today to request a FREE phone consultation and learn about how our services can help you AWAKEN YOUR POTENTIAL!!!

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Written By: Mackenzie Lowe and Dr. Gregory Lowe PT, DPT, cert. MDT, CSCS, cert. RRS