Olympic Trials announcement kicks off an exciting year ahead

Christian Smith tastes Olympic (Trials) glory

With today's release of the 2012 Olympic Trials schedule, the momentum is already starting to build for the Olympic year. Many athletes careers will take off in 2012 and many others will fall short and retire from professional running. It's the four year cycle that Track and Field fans have become accustomed to. New sponsorships will be earned and old sponsorships (that end at the end of 2012) will be lost.

At the Chicago Marathon this past weekend, we were reminded once again about the qualifiers for the 2012 Olympic Trials Marathon. The window is closing for the January 14, 2012 race on December 15th (30 days prior), which leaves the prior weekend as the last chance to make Olympic (Trials) dreams a reality. Expect a big group runners to take one last crack at the qualifying standard at the speedy California International Marathon on December 4th. Expect some extreme last chancers at the Rocket City Marathon in Huntsville on December 10th, only 100 miles from the 2004 Men's Olympic Trials Marathon.

Many new stars will emerge on the track through the collegiate system, well timed breakthroughs will take place from people like Christian Smith, who was the last seed in the 800 in 2008 (and came in third) and many old stars will surprise as well.

The Olympic Trials standards (for distance events) are as follows (not taking into consideration the Olympic Games standards):

Men				Women
Automatic (“A”)	Provisional (“B”)	Field Size & Rounds	Event	Automatic (“A”)	Provisional (“B”)	Field Size & Rounds
1:46.50	1:48.30	(30–3)	800m	2:01.30	2:05.90	(30-3)
3:39.00	3:43.00	(30–3)	1500m	4:12.93	4:17.00	(30-3)
13:33.00	13:50.00	(24–2)	5000m	15:35.00	15:50.00	(24-2)
28:15.00	29:00.00	(24–1)	10k	32:45.00	34:00.00	(24-1)
8:32.00	8:45.00	(24–2)	3000m SC	9:55.00	10:15.00	(24-2

US Olympic Team Trials - Track & Field June 22 - July 1, 2012

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