By David Melly
July 3, 2024
The best part of the Olympic Trials is celebrating the incredible athletes who make the team. The worst part of the Olympic Trials is trying to console the athletes who showed up and, for one reason or another, won’t be donning the red, white, and blue in August.
The temptation to treat Trials as a pass/fail test where you either make the team or you don’t is understandable. And the frustration of athletes working hard and making it all the way to Hayward, only to go home devastated, is totally understandable. So we’re going to be the glass-half-full guys this week and celebrate some of the best performances from Olympic Trials that didn’t result in an Olympic team.
Sinclaire Johnson: How the HECK do you run 3:56.75 and not make the team? More importantly, how do you run 3:56.75 when you’ve only been working out healthy since March? These are questions we, and everyone who loves and supports Sinclaire Johnson, will be asking for a long time. The 2022 U.S. champ kicked her way to 6th on the American 1500m all time list – the only problem was that the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th runners on that list finished ahead of her. If Sinclaire had citizenship anywhere else in the world that wasn’t the U.S. or Ethiopia, she’d not just be going to the Olympics; she’d be considered a medal contender. But because of our incredible, and at times unfortunate, depth in this event, she’ll have to settle for running the pants off the competition at Diamond League meets all summer (more on that below).
Dalilah Muhammad: We loved Anna Cockrell’s shoutout to training partner and mentor Dalilah Muhammad, the 2016 Olympic champion and former world record holder in the 400m hurdles. Muhammad has eight global medals (counting relays) including two Olympic golds, and came around from a slow start to the season to qualify for the final in hopes of making her third Olympic team at age 34. And while she clocked a season’s best 54.16 in the semis and finished 6th in the final in 54.27, the bar for the event has been raised too high – thanks, in large part, to the foundation she laid before the arrival of Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. Muhammad has said that this will be her last Olympic Trials, but not necessarily her last season, and we hope she found the drive to at least keep going a little longer from this performance.
Nia Ali: The 2019 World champ and 2023 U.S. champ is a wily veteran at 35 years old, as shown by her performance in the first round of competition. With a few entry scratches guaranteeing that everyone competing in the prelims would advance to the semis, Ali decided to play chess while everyone else played checkers, jogging a 20-second qualifier that burned no effort but still got her to the next round. There, she made the final from lane one with a 12.55, and in the final clocked a season’s best 12.37, good for #7 in the world this year. The only problem was that the three women in front of her all clocked personal bests at 12.31 or faster. Ali is a gamer, and she competed well – she just got beat by some truly stellar hurdling.
Jess McClain: What’s worse than finishing fourth? Finishing fourth twice. The resurgent Jess McClain (née Tonn) first reminded people that she’s still around, still tough, and still talented with a fourth-place finish at the Olympic Marathon Trials in February, then she bounced back to finish fourth in the 10,000m on the track as well in 32:04.57. She likely wouldn’t have had the ranking to make the team should she finish top 3, but it’s hopefully some consolation that McLain clocked a lifetime best 31:35.28 in May and beat a whole crew of very good track runners in Eugene.
Evan Jager: One month ago, it didn’t look like Jager, the American record holder in the steeplechase, would even qualify for Trials as his season’s best was only 8:33.19. But he got a qualifying mark at Portland Track Festival on June 8, then made the final, then finished fourth in said final at age 35. For Jagerheads, it seemed like perhaps we’d be in for another season like 2022, where the dean of the Bowerman Track Club clawed his way back from injury to finish sixth at the World Championships. But alas, Jager’s qualification for the Olympics was contingent on third-placer James Corrigan not having the standard, and thanks to some quick meet organizing, an alleged private jet, and some excellent pacing from Dan Michalski, Corrigan banged out the Olympic standard with an 8:13.87 victory in Philadelphia one day before the cutoff. So Jager will be watching Paris from home, but with an Olympic medal already on his shelf. We’ve gotta take our hats off for the man who put American steeplechasing on the map.
Kara Winger: Earlier this year, the 38-year-old four-time Olympian decided to unretire and go for her fifth team. Unfortunately, her unretirement came a little too late, as you need five performances within the qualifying period to attain a world ranking and Winger only has three. So she needed to hit the auto qualifying mark of 64.00m at Trials, and although she finished second, her best throw was 62.94m which won’t make the cut. Still, an incredible attempt at one last ride from one of Team USA’s all-time great throwers.
Justin Stafford: The Kansas-based hammer thrower picked a great time to have the best competition of his career. Stafford has clocked not one, not two, but FIVE personal bests this year – not something you see often from a 28-year-old who graduated college in 2019. The most recent two were his qualifying and final rounds of the Trials, where he cleared 76 meters for the first time, and then 77 meters for the first time, to finish third overall. But unfortunately he’s still only ranked 42nd and barring many unexpected scratches won’t make the quota.
David Melly
David began contributing to CITIUS in 2018, and quickly cemented himself as an integral part of the team thanks to his quick wit, hot takes, undying love for the sport and willingness to get yelled at online.
