Week 1

Friday, September 21

A Look at the Top Entrants

 

Though the Trials race is too close to call, expect to see these athletes in the hunt

More than 160 men have qualified to compete in the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Men’s Marathon in New York City on November 3. In this field, the top tier consists of two experienced campaigners and an exciting new talent, while the second tier has an old lion, a former champion, and a throwback to a previous era.

It is an open race with many possible outcomes, but history does not suggest a return of the 2004 team of Alan Culpepper, Meb Keflezighi, and Dan Browne. Although five men have notched consecutive top-three Trials finishes since the Trials format was instituted in 1968, never have the same three men formed two consecutive Olympic squads.

Repeat Trials Top-Three Finishers

Kenny Moore	second in 1968, tied for first in 1972
Frank Shorter	tied for first in 1972, first in 1976 (medaled in both Olympics)
Peter Pfitzinger	first in 1984, third in 1988
Ed Eyestone	second in 1988 and 1992
Bob Kempainen	third in 1992, first in 1996
Mark Coogan	second in 1996, third in 2000

TOP TIER

Meb Keflezighi
Age: 32
Residence: San Diego, CA
Qualified: 2006 Boston Marathon, 2:09:56

Keflezighi was the Olympic silver medalist at the 2004 Athens Games, where he became the first American to earn an Olympic Marathon medal since Frank Shorter’s silver in Montreal in 1976. With a runner-up finish in the ING New York City Marathon in 2004, followed by a third-place showing in 2005, and then a third in Boston 2006, Keflezighi is a major-events veteran. But he has been snake-bit in his last two marathons, though in neither case has his fitness or his racing tactics been an issue. Last fall in New York, food poisoning the week before the race left him a hollow shell, and he lost contact with the leaders on First Avenue in Manhattan at 16 miles. Then in London this past April, a blister left over from his win at the USA 15K championship in Jacksonville, FL, in March left him hobbling and out of contention.

With solid performances on the summer road-racing circuit—in Iowa, Maine, and Cape Cod—and a controlled 27:41 10,000 meters on the track in Brussels in mid-September, Keflezighi’s best form is once again in evidence. He is about to start his 10th career marathon looking to take his first win over 26.2 miles. He’s a hard man to bet against for a top-three finish.

Abdi Abdirahman
Age: 30
Residence: Tucson, AZ
Qualified: 2006 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon, 2:08:56

Joining Keflezighi in the role of co-favorite is Abdirahman, a two-time 10,000-meter Olympian whose rapid improvement in the marathon makes him a formidable opponent. Abdirahman lives and trains in Tucson, and makes frequent trips to the altitude of Flagstaff before major competitions. He has progressed in the marathon from a 2:17:09 debut in New York City in 2004, to a fifth-place 2:11:24 in NYC in ’05, and finally a fourth-place 2:08:56 in Chicago last fall.

This past summer, Abdirahman won his third national 10,000-meter title in Indianapolis in June, set a half-marathon personal best in New York City in August, then finished seventh at the World Championships 10,000 meters in Osaka, Japan, later that month. Those results have him sealed tight as a drum. If he’s patient on November 3, he will be hard to deny.

Ryan Hall
Age: 25
Residence: Big Bear Lake, CA
Qualified: 2007 Flora London Marathon, 2:08:24

Hall’s results in early 2007 were electrifying, and like Barack Obama in the Democratic presidential field, he has energized the running nation. A 59:43 half-marathon win in Houston in January bettered Mark Curp’s 22-year-old American record by 1:12. When Hall backed that up with his American debut-record 2:08:24 at the Flora London Marathon in April, the entire world took notice.

But London’s flat course shares almost nothing with the Olympic Trials route in NYC. A California native, Hall trains in the mountains of Mammoth Lakes with Team Running USA, but he comes into the Trials untested. He decided not to race at the New Haven 20K/USA 20K Championships on Labor Day due to travel fatigue. With a seventh-place finish at the USA 10,000-meter Outdoor Championships in June as his most recent significant race, will Hall’s talent and training be enough to fend off more experienced marathoners? We go racing to answer just these sorts of questions. 

SECOND TIER

Alan Culpepper
Age: 35
Residence: Lafayette, CO
Qualified: 2006 Boston Marathon, 2:11:02

The 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Men’s Marathon champion, Culpepper went head to head against Meb Keflezighi and Abdi Abdirahman for more than 10 years, competing for all the American distance running titles. Known as the Big Three, they dominated the track, roads, and cross country through 2004.

Culpepper won the 2007 USA Cross Country title in Boulder when few people picked him as a potential champion. That alone makes him a threat in any championship race. And until Ryan Hall popped his 2:08:24 in London in April, Culpepper’s 2:09:41 from Chicago in 2002 stood as the co-American debut record in the marathon. But that 2:09 remains his PR over 26.2, and with frustratingly rough run-ups to several of his recent marathons, has time finally caught up with Culpepper? He qualified in Boston in 2006, placing fifth in 2:11:02, with Brian Sell passing him in the final 600 meters.

But don’t count Culpepper out. He placed 12th in the 2004 Athens Olympic marathon, and he knows how to perform on big stages in big races. No one is more savvy or more disciplined. This will be his final Olympic cycle. He will be ready, and under the radar, where he performs best.

Brian Sell
Age: 28
Residence: Rochester Hills, MI
Qualified: 2006 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon, 2:10:47

Sell defines the strength runner. Training up to 160 miles per week—and more—with the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project in Rochester Hills, MI, Sell has about him the quality of the club runners of the 1970s. They might not have had the most talent, but their work ethic took them further than expected. For his part Sell has done nothing but improve since his performance in the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Men’s Marathon in Birmingham, Alabama, where, after leading from miles 7 to 21, he faded to 12th place in 2:17:20. But that performance was still a two-minute personal best, and he returned to Michigan to train even harder.

The results have been impressive. In 2005, Sell finished ninth at the World Championships Marathon in Helsinki, running a controlled first half and passing runners throughout the second half. In 2006 he finished fourth in Boston in a PR 2:10:55, overtaking Alan Culpepper in the final stretch. Then in Chicago last fall he knocked another eight seconds off his PR by placing sixth, running almost the entire distance solo. Though Sell was looking for a 2:09 in Chicago, the ability to run alone and finish strong, backed by that enormous well of strength, give him an arsenal to envy. But will that strength be enough against men with much greater foot speed? Sell couldn’t have asked for a better course on which to find out.

Dathan Ritzenhein
Age: 24
Residence: Eugene, OR
Qualified: ING New York City Marathon 2006, 2:14:01

The talents of “Ritz” have been on display since his sophomore year at Rockford High School in Michigan, when he broke nine minutes for two miles. But with brilliant performances often backed by lackluster ones, and a disquieting tendency toward fading late in competitions, we will have to wait to see which Ritz shows up in New York City on November 3.

Ritzenhein has multiple USA Cross Country titles on his resume, and he has done his best work to date on the turf. But he also has a liking for Central Park, where he set a course record at the 2007 Healthy Kidney 10K in May over much of the same pavement on which the multiple-loop Trials race will be contested. Ritzenhein’s only tour over 26 miles came last fall in the ING New York City Marathon, where he faded to 11th place in 2:14:01. But that type of performance is standard issue for a debut, and the cautious nature of the Trials race—particularly on the challenging Central Park course—could play to his strengths. People keep waiting for the monster to reveal itself in Ritzenhein. What better time and place to release the beast?

Khalid Khannouchi
Age: 35
Residence: Ossining, NY
Qualified: 2006 Flora London Marathon, 2:07:04

The American record-holder (and former world record-holder) in the marathon (2:05:38), Moroccan-born Khannouchi is a marathoner of historic accomplishments. He set the WR twice, and he is the only person ever to run sub-2:06 three times and the only American ever under 2:08. He won four LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon titles and another in London in 2002, in what may have been the greatest marathon ever run.

Khannouchi, however, is now at an age where the ravages of time have reduced his training to a pale shadow of its former brilliance. Though he has the fastest qualifying time in the field by well over a minute, a chronic foot injury has kept him from finishing a marathon since. And when he scratched from the field of the NYC Half-Marathon Presented by NIKE in August, the writing found the wall. “I can’t run with any power or force,” he lamented, before traveling to Spain for one more attempt to find the magic shoe inserts that would allow him to train and race pain free. Khannouchi has never made an Olympic team, and that goal remains his cherished dream. If he stands on the Trials starting line, his rivals would be foolish to count him out, and every mile that passes with him still in the hunt will make him more and more dangerous to the other contenders. 

LONG SHOTS

Peter Gilmore
Age: 30
Residence: San Mateo, CA
Qualified: 2006 Boston Marathon, 2:12:45

Like Brian Sell, Cal-Berkeley graduate Peter Gilmore is very likely to run to his full potential in the 2008 Olympic Trials. He finished eighth at the 2004 Trials in Birmingham, AL. Not a lead-pack runner, Gilmore relentlessly picks off the egos before him in the late stages of major marathons. With 10th-place finishes at the 2005 Boston Marathon and the ING New York City Marathon 2006—and a seventh in Boston in 2006 in 2:12:45, his PR—Gilmore runs well on tough courses, and finishes strong. The question is, how far will that ability take him on November 3?

Dan Browne
Age: 32
Residence: Portland, OR
Qualified: 2007 Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational 10,000 meters, 28:10.73

In his third career marathon, Browne made the 2004 Olympic team with his third-place Trials finish in Birmingham, Alabama. After the Athens Games he underwent two knee surgeries and an emergency appendectomy, and his career stalled for the better part of two years. This summer, Browne left his home in Portland, Oregon, for Mammoth Lakes, California, to train with Meb Keflezighi. The move has rejuvenated Browne at just the right time. He won his third national 20K road title with a convincing run in New Haven, Connecticut, on Labor Day. He followed that with a close third-place finish at the September 16 CVS Caremark Downtown 5K in Providence, RI, and earned the USA 5K title.

Browne knows what it takes to make an Olympic marathon team. He qualified via a 28:10 10,000-meter performance at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational in Palo Alto, CA, this past spring. He’s in perfect position to surprise in November.

Clint Verran
Age: 32
Residence: Lake Orion, MI
Qualified: 2006 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon, 2:14:23

Verran finished 11th in the 2000 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Men’s Marathon, then fifth at the Trials in Birmingham, AL, in 2004. The veteran on the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project squad and a physical therapist by profession, Verran utilizes his steady-pace tactics to his best advantage. At these Trials, though, with so many talents in front of him, it will be difficult for Verran to work his way onto the podium.

Mbarak Hussein
Age: 43
Residence: Albuquerque, NM
Qualified: 2006 USA Marathon Championships (Saint Paul, MN), 2:13:53
Even at age 43, Kenyan native Hussein poses a threat to the top Trials contenders. He is younger brother of 1987 New York City Marathon champion and three-time Boston Marathon winner Ibrahim Hussein, and was the USA Marathon champion in 2005, winning the Twin Cities Marathon in 2:18:28 in hot and humid conditions. He came back to Twin Cities in 2006 and ran 2:13:53 after having run 2:12:53 in Seoul in the previous spring. Hussein was the top American finisher in Osaka at the World Championships in August, finishing 21st in 2:23:04. He has won three Honolulu Marathons, and is a veteran who won’t beat himself.

Fernando Cabada
Age: 25
Residence: Bristol, VA
Qualified: 2006 Fukuoka International Marathon (Japan), 2:12:27

Having made a name for himself running at Virginia Intermont College, an NAIA school in Bristol, VA, Cabada announced himself to the roads with a 1:04:57 win at the hilly Country Music Half-Marathon in Nashville in 2004. He broke through in 2006 when he won the USA 25K Championships in Grand Rapids, MI, in an American-record time of 1:14:21. Last December, Cabada ran an unheralded 2:12:27 marathon debut in Fukuoka, making him the seventh-fastest qualifier in the field. Though had a poor day representing the United States in Osaka at the IAAF World Championships Marathon in August (50th in 2:35:48), Cabada carries a lot of natural confidence; he’s also young and has another Olympic cycle ahead. Without any pressure, he’s free to explore endless possibilities.

James Carney
Age: 29
Residence: Boulder, CO
Qualified: 2006 Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational 10,000, 27:43.64

Any athlete who runs a sub-13:40 5000 meters or a sub-28:45 10,000 meters during the qualifying window is eligible to run the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Men’s Marathon, and Carney is one of several track specialists taking advantage of the opportunity. A graduate of Millersville University, he ran in the 2007 USA 15K Championship in Jacksonville, FL, in March, but missed the track nationals in June with a heel problem. Returning to form, he ran to a strong seventh-place finish at the Falmouth Road Race on Cape Cod in August, and followed up with a second-place finish to Dan Browne at the USA 20K Championships in New Haven, CT, on Labor Day. After taking sixth in the 10,000 meters at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials, Carney is the kind of wild card entrant who will make the 2008 Olympic Marathon Trials the most intriguing ever.

Josh Rohatinsky
Age: 25
Residence: Portland, OR
Qualified: 2007 Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational 10,000, 27:55.86

“Rohat” capped his collegiate career at BYU by winning the 2006 NCAA Cross Country title. He is another of the young track stars availing himself of the unique opportunity to compete at the Olympic Marathon trials. The Trials will only be his second professional race after a tune-up at the Great South Run in Birmingham, England, in September—then the longest race of his career. An age-group star since winning the junior national 3000-meter title in the sixth grade, Rohatinsky’s coaching selections alone make him an intriguing candidate. At BYU he was mentored by two-time Olympic marathoner Ed Eyestone, and now as a member of the Nike Distance Project he takes his lead from former marathon world record-holder Alberto Salazar. Rohatinsky will be a great marathoner one day. Could that day possibly be November 3?

Any way you look at it, the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Men’s Marathon field comes away as the strongest in history, and too close to call.