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Over the next two days, we're breaking down the top 10 contenders with a chance to make Team USA on Saturday. Below, see the back half of the top ten contenders on the women's side.

10. STEPHANIE BRUCE

Residence: Flagstaff, AZ
Hometown: Phoenix, AZ
Age: 36

Best OTQ: 2:27:47 (Chicago, 2019)
Olympic Marathon Trials History: DNF, 2012

Claim to Fame: 2018 USATF 10 km Champion, her first national title, which she earned in winning the AJC Peachtree Road Race; 2019 USATF Half Marathon Champion; 2nd, 2019 USATF 10 km Championships and 2018 USATF Marathon Championships.

Bruce, among America’s most popular distance runners, has long focused on inspiring and lifting up other women in the sport – and the mother of two certainly serves as a fine example. Since having two children just 15 months apart (sons Riley in June 2014 and Hudson in September 2015), the HOKA ONE ONE Northern Arizona Elite athlete has shared her postpartum journey on social media. That journey led to one of the best years of her career in 2019, when she finished as the top American woman (33rd overall) in the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, won her second U.S. title (in the half marathon) and ran personal bests in both the half marathon and marathon – after closing out her 2018 with a runner-up finish and PB in the USATF Marathon Championships just a month after finishing 11th at the TCS New York City Marathon. Bruce, who copes with celiac disease, is also a co-founder of Picky Bars. She is married to Ben Bruce, a steeplechaser and distance runner who during his career has represented the U.S. on the track, on the roads and in cross country.

9. ALIPHINE TULIAMUK

Residence: Flagstaff, AZ
Hometown: Posoy, Kenya
Age on Race Day: 30

Best OTQ: 2:26:50 (Rotterdam, 2019)
Olympic Trials Marathon History: Debut

Claim to Fame: 9-time USATF Champion; 15th, 2017 World Cross Country Championships (top American)

After earning a degree in public health from Wichita State, the 9-time All-American and native of Kenya became a U.S. citizen in April 2016 as a way to help her family – she has 31 siblings from her father’s four wives – and as “the least I could do, because I wanted to give back to this country that gave me an amazing opportunity.” Tuliamuk soon won her first national title, at the 2016 USATF 25 km Championships; that summer, she finished 8th at 10,000m in the U.S. Olympic Trials on the track. Among her titles is one at 10K, earned at the 2017 AJC Peachtree Road Race. In late June 2019, Tuliamuk was diagnosed with a stress fracture; she barely ran a step until August 28 but managed to finish 12th at the TCS New York City Marathon on November 3. Tuliamuk’s interest in health care began when she was 10 and a baby brother died despite her efforts at sprinting from one closed dispensary to another seeking help.
@aliphinetuliamu @aliphine

8. DES LINDEN

Residence: Charlevoix, MI
Hometown: Chula Vista, CA
Age on Race Day: 36

Best OTQ: 2:26:46 (New York, 2019)
Olympic Marathon Trials History: 13th, 2008; 2nd, 2012 and 2016
Olympic Marathon History: DNF (injury) 2012; 7th, 2016

Claim to Fame: 2018 Boston Marathon Champion; 7th, 2016 Olympics

The Trials will be the 20th marathon of Linden’s career, highlighted by becoming the first American woman to win the Boston Marathon in 33 years when she broke the tape in 2018 amid a cold and windswept downpour. Should she finish in the top three on February 29, she will make still more history as the first American woman to earn a spot on three Olympic marathon teams. Since finishing 18th in her debut marathon in Boston 2007, Linden has rarely finished out of the Top 10 any of her World Marathon Majors races, and she’s been in the Top 5 nine times. Although her 2018 victory was historic, her 2011 runner-up finish in Boston was at least as remarkable: Largely under the radar, Linden came from behind late in the race to put herself in a sprint finish on Boylston Street, coming within two seconds of victory before sealing the deal seven years later.

7. MOLLY HUDDLE

Residence: Providence, RI
Hometown: Elmira, NY
Age on Race Day: 35

Best OTQ: 2:26:33 (London, 2019)
Olympic Marathon Trials History: Debut

Claim to Fame: 28-time USATF Champion and holds seven American Records. This will be her fifth U.S. Olympic Trials, going back to 2004; she made Team USA in 2012 at 5000m and 2016 at 10,000m. In Rio, she finished 6th at 10,000m, setting an American record of 30:13.17.

One of the most successful U.S. athletes of her generation on the roads and track, Huddle is competing in the U.S. Olympic Team Trails – Marathon for the first time. Huddle made her long-awaited marathon debut at the 2016 TCS New York City Marathon, where she finished 3rd in 2:28:13. She started 2018 in fine form, breaking Deena Kastor’s 12-year-old half marathon American record in 67:25 in January, but suffered brutal conditions (while running with a tooth infection) the Boston Marathon a few months later to finish 13th in 2:50:29. She bounced back in New York that fall with a 2:26:44, good for 4th, and then lowered her PB in London when she finished 12th in 2019. She’s known for painting her fingernails a different color the night before each race, and is a co-host of the “Keeping Track” podcast.

6. EMMA BATES

Residence: Boise, ID
Hometown: Elk River, MN
Age on Race Day: 27

Best Qualifying Performance: 2:25:27 (Chicago 2019)
Olympic Marathon Trials History: Debut

Claim to Fame: 2014 NCAA Champion at 10,000m; 2018 USATF Marathon Champion; first American in 2019 Bank of America Chicago Marathon (2:25:27)

A 12-time All American at Boise State University, Bates spent the first two years of her pro career in Boston before returning in late 2017 to Boise. She and her then-fiancé/coach, Kameron Ulmer, bought a house about an hour northeast of Boise, where they live with no electricity or running water, using solar power and batteries and getting water from a natural spring or bringing it back from Boise. Their goal is to eventually live off the land. The move rejuvenated her career: about a year after relocating, she ran 2:28:19 to win the USATF Marathon Championships in her debut at the distance. Unsponsored at the time, she did so wearing a black shirt inscribed “Run for Camp Fire Relief,” to help raise funds for those affected by the deadly California wildfire. She and Ulmer were married last fall a week after Chicago.