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JAAF Announces Time Standards for Third Spot on Paris Olympic Team

On June 7 the JAAF announced the time standards for the MGC Final Challenge, the battle to pick up the third spot on the men's and women's marathon teams for the Paris Olympics. To earn the third spot on the team men will have to run 2:05:50 and women 2:21:41 at one of the major domestic Japanese marathons in the winter 2023-24 season.

The other two places on the Olympic team will be given to the top two men and women at the Oct. 15 MGC Race, with the 3rd-placer there given a provisional spot. From December, 2023 through March, 2024 if any athletes run the MGC Final Challenge standard at one of the three races named for men or two for women, the athlete running the furthest under the standard will earn the third spot. If nobody breaks the standard, the 3rd-placer at the MGC Race will be finalized as the third Olympic team member.


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Stefan said…
For the women's, I have the feeling the 3rd place position will go to whoever wins the Nagoya marathon in March 2024 as the weather conditions should be more favorable for a fast time (vs Tokyo MGC race) and 2:21:41 is definitely attainable. I'd be curious to see who enters the Osaka marathon instead of the Nagoya marathon especially after what happened to Mizuki Matsuda last time round. Surely the best and safest strategy would be to enter the Nagoya marathon. You then would have a good 5 months to recover and get ready for the Olympic marathon in August. Ample time to recover then head into a training camp at altitude. Exciting times ahead and congrats to the organizers for creating so much interest in the qualification process. It's wonderful as an armchair viewer!
June 8, 2023 at 10:24 AM
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