One major obstacle stands in the way of Leonard Korir’s 2024 Olympic dreams. Korir finished impressively in third place at the US Olympic Marathon Trials. Korir has an good record, but his hopes of winning the Olympic marathon have been clouded by World Athletics’ decision to enter 11 “university runners” into the competition.
Korir’s hopes of winning the Paris Marathon are now in doubt due to his exclusion from the most recent list of marathon qualifiers, which was made public on May 8. This has caused disappointment and anxiety among the sports community. Now that the final roster is larger than anticipated, 11 spots are reserved for “universality runners,” going above the 80-man field limit.
Conner Mantz and Clayton Young, who match the strict 2:08:10 automatic qualifying requirement, may be the only two American competitors competing in the Olympic Marathon if no other competitors earn tickets through rankings.
Korir to run
The selection process is now unclear due to the unexpected influx of competitors into the marathon arena. Will all ranking qualifiers be replaced by these entrants, or will they compete with them? The world ranking played a major role in Leonard Korir’s Olympic career because his best qualifying time of 2:09:31 was not fast enough to meet the auto criteria.
Given this, supporters have expressed their dissatisfaction and worry, acknowledging the possible consequences for Korir and the other athletes who may be impacted.
“Nothing is quite as it should be when it comes to the “elite” men’s marathon in America. An entire nation, like the United States, has no business fielding three athletes in the race if it cannot generate three runners who can meet the Olympic qualifying requirement.” commenter said to essentially sports.com
A powerful tide of affirmation for Korir broke through the criticism and disappointment, highlighting his indisputable deservingness. A bystander captured the feeling best when he said, “Not cool. “He deserves to go,” the speaker said, expressing the general sense of injustice about Korir’s possible disqualification from the Olympics despite his outstanding accomplishments.
Cover Photo: IG
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