The 2028 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Track & Field will return to Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, June 17-22, 2028, making it the sixth consecutive Olympic Trials held in TrackTown USA. USATF and the USOPC made the announcement today.

Eugene has hosted the 2008, 2012, 2016, 2021 and 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials. The city also hosted the 2022 World Athletics Championships, which is the first and only time the event has been held on American soil. TrackTown just wrapped the World Athletics U20 Championships this month.

The full Team USA selection schedule is set with Eugene handling track and field (June 17-22), St. Louis handling the marathon (March 25). Qualifying standards and windows will be announced in 2027.

What's new for 2028: The competition format has been trimmed from eight days to six, following direct athlete feedback. With the Trials falling less than a month before the Olympic Games open in Los Angeles, athletes wanted a more efficient selection process with more recovery time built in.

– Decathlon, heptathlon, and 10,000m team selection will be moved to earlier in the spring. Dates and location for those events will be announced separately.

– Paralympic qualification details will come at a later date

The 10,000m and multi-events move: The decision to hold 10,000m and combined events selection outside the main Trials follows the successful 2022 model, when USATF moved those races to the Prefontaine Classic and the University of Arkansas ahead of the 2022 World Championships. This gave athletes in grueling double events (the 10,000m/5000m in particular) adequate recovery time.

One scheduling note worth watching: the Prefontaine Classic has been held the first weekend of July for the last three years. If that holds in 2028, it would fall just two weeks before Olympic competition begins, which is a tight window that USATF will need to navigate carefully.

Overall, athletes had 32 days between the end of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials and the start of track and field at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Athletes had 33 days between the end of the U.S. Trials and the start of track & field in Tokyo in 2021.

Why not LA: There had been genuine hope — and some precedent — for holding the Trials at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as a dress rehearsal for the Games. The U.S. did exactly that in 1984, and again with the Olympic Stadium in Atlanta in 1996. But the idea ran into a wall of practical obstacles. LA28 chairman Casey Wasserman acknowledged in June 2024 that cost and logistical issues added "a level of complexity to our planning that I'm not sure is best for the athletes." The complicating factor: the Coliseum's track for the Olympics is a temporary installation that hasn't even been laid yet. USATF CEO Max Siegel said as recently as November 2024 that they would "do everything that we possibly can to try to have our trials at the Coliseum." It was not to be.

The Olympic schedule context: LA28 track and field runs July 15-24 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, with the women's marathon on July 29 and the men's marathon on July 30, back to the traditional final day of competition. With the Trials ending June 22, athletes will have roughly three weeks before Olympic competition begins.

Hayward Schedule: Between now and the 2028 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials, Hayward Field will also host: 2027 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships (June 9–12, 2027), 2027 Prefontaine Classic (July 2–3, 2027), the 2027 USATF Outdoor National Championships (TBD), 2028 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships (June 7–10, 2028), and the 2028 Prefontaine Classic (TBD).

Also noted within the announcement: NBC, Peacock, and NBCSN will carry the Trials as part of NBCUniversal's exclusive U.S. media rights package through the 2036 Games.

What They Had To Say:

USA Track & Field CEO Max Siegel: "TrackTown USA and Eugene's record of success in selecting America's best track and field athletes speaks for itself in the 52 Olympic gold medals U.S. athletes have won since 2008. There is no doubt these Trials will produce a team that is built for LA."

TrackTown USA CEO Michael Reilly: "TrackTown USA is honored to welcome back the nation's best athletes, coaches, and fans to Hayward Field at The University of Oregon for the 2028 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Track & Field. Our community looks forward to hosting an amazing celebration of the sport and the world’s No. 1 team.”