The Men's Contenders: 5 Through 1
With one day left until the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Marathon, we're breaking down the top five contenders, based on qualifying time, who head to the start line tomorrow at noon. Below, see the top five men entered into the race.
5. JACOB RILEY
Residence: Boulder, CO
Hometown: Bellingham, WA
Age on Race Day: 32
Best QTQ: 2:10:36 (Chicago, 2019)
Olympic Marathon Trials History: 15th, 2016 (2:18:31)
Claim to Fame: 9th overall and top American, 2019 Bank of American Chicago Marathon (2:10:36)
After appearing to be a rising star and finishing 15th at the 2016 Olympic Marathon Trials, Jake Riley disappeared from the sport for almost three years, hampered by Achilles issues. After eventually being diagnosed with Haglund’s syndrome and having surgery in 2018, he was finally able to race another marathon this fall – and finished as the top American in a PB. “I wasn’t sure I would ever get the chance to race as an elite again,” he said. “It was surreal.” Among the changes in Riley’s life since the 2016 Trials, he moved from Michigan to Colorado, where he is studying for a master’s degree in mechanical engineering and working as a test-prep tutor. Riley graduated from Stanford in 2011 as a 2-time Academic All-American and 8-time All-American, and says that his favorite running memory is going 1-2-3 with teammates Elliott Heath and Chris Derrick at the 2010 PAC 10 Cross Country Championships, in a Stanford sweep.
4. JARED WARD
Residence: Mapleton, UT
Hometown: Kaysville, UT
Age on Race Day: 31
Best OTQ: 2:09:25 (Boston, 2019)
Olympic Marathon Trials History: 2016, 3rd
Claim to Fame: 6th, 2016 Olympics
When an eligibility mix-up kept Ward from running cross country at BYU in 2013, his coach – two-time Olympic marathoner Ed Eyestone – suggested he train for a marathon instead. A career was born when he ran 2:16:17 to as sixth American at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. By 2015 he was USATF Marathon Champion. Although he came into the 2016 marathon Trials seeded 12th, he finished third (splitting a remarkably even 1:06:31/1:06:29) to make his first Olympic team. Then, in Rio, he finished a surprising 6th. After that Olympic race, Ward battled a string of injuries that almost kept him out of New York in 2018; instead; he finished as top American and the news has been all good since then. Off the roads, most semesters Ward teaches a statistics class at BYU; recently appeared on an episode of “Shark Tank” seeking funding for MyoStorm, a heated massage-therapy ball; and with his wife, Erica has four children: Paul, 7; Ellie, 5; Julia, 3; and Magnolia, 1.
3. SCOTT FAUBLE
Residence: Flagstaff, AZ
Hometown: Golden, CO
Age on Race Day: 28
Best QTQ: 2:09:09 (Boston, 2019)
Olympic Trials Marathon History: Debut
Claim to Fame: 7th, 2019 Boston Marathon (2:09:09, top American); 4th, 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials 10,000m
After graduating from the University of Portland in 2015, Fauble signed with HOKA ONE ONE Northern Arizona Elite and just a few months later finished 3rd in the USATF Club Cross Country Championships, leading the team to victory. The next year, he finished 4th at 10,000m at the U.S. Olympic Trials and was runner-up in the USATF Half Marathon Championships, stamping himself as a distance star to watch. He ran his debut marathon, in Frankfurt, in October 2017 in 2:12:35; his breakthrough came at the 2019 Boston Marathon, where he finished 7th overall despite coming into the race with the second-slowest seed time in the elite field. In 2018, Fauble and coach Ben Rosario documented their four-month training journey to the New York City Marathon in a book, “Inside a Marathon.” He also hosts “Showrunners” podcast, in which he talks with other elite athletes about movies, and is known for a love of burritos.
2. LEONARD KORIR
Residence: Colorado Springs, CO
Hometown: Iten, Kenya
Age on race day: 33
Best OTQ: 2:07:56 (Amsterdam, 2019)
Olympic Marathon Trials History: Debut
Claim to Fame: Fastest debut marathon ever by an American (2:07: 56); 2016 Olympian at 10,000m; 10-time USATF Champion
Leonard Korir didn’t start running until he was 20, when it was required at the school he was attending in Kenya, but at Iona College, just outside New York City, he became a two-time NCAA Champion and 8-time All American, graduating in 2012 with a degree in political science. In September 2015, he joined the U.S. Army, gained U.S. citizenship and in January 2016 began competing for its World Class Athletics Program. Korir promptly made Team USA for the 2016 Olympics. On October 20, 2019, just two weeks after finishing 13th at 10,000m in his second-straight World Championships, Korir ran the Amsterdam Marathon in 2:07:56, the fastest-ever debut at the distance by an American. But in one of his first races after college, the Belmar Chase 5K in New Jersey, Korir won after entering via regular registration, telling race organizers afterward that he didn’t ask for an elite bib because “I didn’t think anyone would know who I was.”
1. GALEN RUPP
Residence: Portland, OR
Hometown: Portland, OR
Age on Race Day: 33
Best OTQ: 2:06:07 (Prague, 2018, PB)
Olympic Marathon Trials History: 2016 Champion (2:11:12)
Claim to Fame: 3-time Olympian (2016 Bronze Medalist, Marathon; 2012 Silver Medalist, 10,000m); 2017 Bank of America Chicago Marathon Champion, 2018 Prague Marathon Champion; American record-holder 10,000m outdoor, 3000m, 2-Mile and 5000m indoor
A speedy freshman on his soccer team in 2000, Rupp caught the eye of Alberto Salazar, found a new sport, and was soon setting Oregon high school track on fire. Since making the 2008 U.S. Olympic team at 10,000m while still at the University of Oregon, Rupp has become one of the greatest distance runners in U.S. history, in 2012 becoming the first American male since Billy Mills in 1964 to win an Olympic medal at 10,000m and then in 2016 becoming the first American to own an Olympic medal at both 10,000m and the marathon. In late 2018, Rupp underwent surgery to correct Haglund’s deformity (a congenital defect of the heel bone), and in late 2019 joined forces with a new coach, Mike Smith, for the first time in his career. He has not finished a marathon since Chicago 2018, but on February 8, 2020, tuned up with a 1:01:19 win at the Spouts Mesa Half Marathon in Phoenix. Rupp and his wife, Keara, are the parents of four children, including 5-year-old twins.