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JAAF to Hold Another Single-Race Trial for Paris Olympic Marathon Team Selection

On June 21 the JAAF announced details on the marathon team selection process for the 2024 Paris Olympics. In broad strokes the plan is to use the same single-race trial format as used in selection for the Tokyo Olympics. The new Marathon Grand Championship race will be held in the fall of 2023, with the top two men and women earning places on the Olympic team. As with Tokyo, the final place will be decided based on performances in the MGC Final Challenge, a designated series of races. Some details will be determined at a later date and remain under consideration at this point.

Translator's note: Since the original Marathon Grand Championship many of the races used for qualifying for it and as part of the winter 2019-20 MGC Final Challenge series have disappeared. The Saitama Women's Marathon is gone, the Fukuoka International Marathon will shut down after this year's 75th running, the Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon is being replaced by the Osaka Marathon, and the Osaka International Women's Marathon is unlikely to survive the larger Osaka Marathon's move from the fall season to February. 

As such, the JAAF is in the process of developing a new Japan Marathon Championship Series to deal with qualifying, selection for World Championships teams, and further development of the level of domestic Japanese marathoning.. More details on the plan here.

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Andrew Armiger said…
Glad to see this. MGC Race built intrigue, excitement, and engagement with overseas fans, and apparently that was felt exponentially domestically.
June 22, 2021 at 10:38 PM
Stefan said…
MGC was spell binding viewing for all those interested in distance running. The format worked brilliantly and there was excitement all the way to the very last race. Excellent news! I am already looking forward to this ... after the Olympics :-)
June 24, 2021 at 4:05 AM
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