ATHLETES HOPE TO SEAL OLYMPIC BERTHS AT CHEVRON HOUSTON MARATHON
By David Monti, @d9monti
(c) 2024 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved - Used with permission.

HOUSTON (13-Jan) -- There's more than the usual prize money and record incentives on the line at Sunday's Chevron Houston Marathon.  For a select group of athletes here, their performances will impact their chances of gaining Olympic team selection by either posting qualifying times or raising their positions in the World Athletics ranking system.  The stakes are high.

For Morocco's Zouhair Talbi, 28, the door remains open for Olympic team selection, but his is an uphill battle.  His North African country of 37 million people boasts seven male qualifiers and Talbi is only sixth on the list.  He earned a qualifier by finishing fifth in last year's Boston Marathon in 2:08:35 (top-5 finishes at World Athletics Platinum Label marathons are considered qualifiers).  A fast time on Houston's flat, record-eligible course will bolster his case with the Moroccan federation for team selection.

"That's exactly what I'm trying to do," Talbi said at a press conference on Friday.  The Asics-sponsored athlete continued: "To make it easy to make the Moroccan federation (select me)."

Unlike Talbi, Australia's Pat Tiernan doesn't have to worry about competition among his compatriots.  Only one Australian athlete, Brett Robinson, has made the qualifying time so far (he ran 2:07:31 at Fukuoka in 2022).  If Tiernan can run sub-2:08:10 on Sunday the Puma-sponsored athlete is essentially assured of team selection.

"Getting the qualifying time basically puts me in the best position I can be in to make the team," Tiernan told Race Results Weekly in an interview.  "Everything's a little bit hazy with the world rankings."  He added: "To me I'm trying to make it as simple as possible.  If I run the 2:08:10 standard then I'll be one of two athletes in Australia to have that done, and so that puts me in the best position to be selected."

Tiernan, 29, has prepared for Sunday's race in North Carolina where his Puma Elite team is coached by Olympians Alistair and Amy Cragg.  He had a successful block of training in the fall, illustrated by his second place finish at the chilly and hilly B.A.A. Half-Marathon in Boston on November 12 (1:01:56).  He feels like 2:08:10 is well within his capabilities, and that pace could also land him on the podium here where prize money will be paid $30,000, $15,000, $12,000.

"It's been good," said Tiernan about his build-up for Houston.  "Amy and Alistair have made a lot of time for me."  He continued: "I think the biggest thing for me is that I've just had consistent training.  Twenty twenty-three was not a great year for me as far as injuries go.  So, we kind of took a step back in August and September to make sure we had everything sorted.  I had a good run to kind of start my season in the Boston Half.  That gave me a lot of confidence coming into this."

Local forecasters predict cold conditions on Sunday, around 3C/37F at the start and 6C/42F at the finish with moderate winds and no rain.  Tiernan says that will be fine.

"I don't mind cold," said the 2016 NCAA cross country champion for Villanova.  "Cold weather has always treated me well."

Canada's Natasha Wodak is in the same position as Tiernan.  Only one Canadian woman, 43 year-old Malindi Elmore, has achieved the women's Olympic entry standard of 2:26:50 (Elmore ran 2:23:30 in Berlin last September).  So, if the 42 year-old Wodak makes the time, she is assured of team selection.  She ran a national record 2:23:12 in Berlin in September, 2022, but that performance was outside of the qualifying window which didn't open until November 6 of that year.  Wodak was an Olympian in both 2016 (she finished 22nd in the 10,000m) and 2021 (13th, marathon).

"I've been able to be on 20 national teams and gone to the Olympics," Wodak said at yesterday's press conference.  "Unfortunately, Tokyo was the quarantine games.  My friends, my family, my coach, they weren't there.  So I really want to go to Paris and have my friends, my family and my partner, and everybody there to see the marathon.  There's nothing like it.  Hopefully, I'll get a shot."

Wodak doesn't see her age as an impediment.  She said that she discussed it with Elmore, who made her first Olympic team in 2004 in the 1500m and didn't run a marathon until she was nearly 39 in 2019.  Elmore finished ninth in the 2021 Olympic Marathon, a race where three over-40 women finished in the top-11.

"After the Olympics in Tokyo I was sitting there with Malindi and I was saying, I'm turning 40," Wodak recounted.  "Maybe this is time (to stop)?  She said, 'There's no expiration date!  It's not like you turn 40 and you're done.  You're just running until you can't.'  There's no number when you're 44, or 45.  So, I'm just continuing to run and not even thinking about age.  I'm just surrounding myself with an amazing support team that believe in me, and not doubting myself because of my age."

But that doesn't mean that Wodak is doing the same training she did nine years ago when she ran the Canadian 10,000m record of 31:41.59 (since broken by Andrea Seccafien).  She has to be smarter now and look after her body more carefully.

"I think, also, recovery is key," Wodak explained.  "It's one thing I've always taken very seriously.  I still take days off every ten to 14 days, even during marathon training.  Most athletes don't do (that), but for me that's what I need to do.  Is it because I'm in my 40's and need more recovery?  I don't know."

Wodak admitted that age would eventually catch up with her, but she has no idea when.

"Maybe, science says probably when I'm 50, maybe," the Asics-sponsored athlete said with a hearty laugh.  "But for now, I continue to get faster and my training shows that I'm in peak shape."

Two German women, Deborah Schöneborn and Kristina Hendel, also hope for Paris 2024 qualifying marks.  Germany already has three qualified women (Melat Yisak Kejeta, 2:21:47; Domenika Mayer, 2:23:47; and Laura Hottenrott, 2:24:32) so both women would need to surpass at least Hottenrott's time to move into consideration for Paris.  Deborah's twin, Rabea, is also running the half-marathon here and could informally pace her sister.

Although American Galen Rupp is not running the marathon here (he's doing the half), his performance could still help his chances for making his fifth Olympic team.  If he runs fast enough and earns a top place in the race, he could score enough World Athletics ranking points to move into the top 64 in the qualifying list for Paris.  Any athlete ranked higher than the 65th athlete on January 30th will be considered qualified, according to the World Athletics qualifying procedures.

"It would be tremendous," said Rupp, who would still have to secure a top place at the USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Orlando on February 3.  He added: "It would be awesome to make a fifth team."

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Two talented Kenyans are making their marathon debuts here, Shadrack Kimining and Vicoty Chepngeno, but both athletes have raced in Houston before.  Kimining has run the half-marathon here twice, finishing third in 2020 (59:27) and and fifth in 2022 (1:00:53).  Chepngeno won the 2022 Aramco Houston Half-Marathon in a personal best 1:05:03, the fastest time ever on USA soil. En route she also set the USATF all-comers records for 15-K (46:04) and 20-K (1:01:45).  Both athletes said they felt comfortable running their first marathons here.  Chepngeno summed it up best.

"I like Houston that's why I decided to come and debuting marathon here," Chepngeno told reporters.  "Houston changed my life.  I trained well for marathon so I'm hoping for the best on Sunday."


PHOTO: Four of the top male contenders for victory at the 2024 Chevron Houston Marathon (left to right): Shadrack Kimining (KEN), Patrick Tiernan (AUS), Zouhair Talbi (MAR) and Tsedat Ayana (ETH)  (Photo by David Monti for Race Results Weekly)