Here's Everything You Need To Know About Saturday's U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials

Are you ready for some marathon racing?

For the first time in the history of the US Olympic Marathon Trials to select the runners who will represent the United States in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, will be broadcast live on Saturday, February 13th. Trials races in the past were usually consigned to tape delay, but 2016 will see start-to-finish coverage of both the men’s and women’s Trials in Los Angeles.

How To Watch:

Coverage will start at 12pm CST on NBC – the network that will also broadcast the Rio games – with the event streaming live over the internet on NBC Sports Live Extra.

Here's How It Works:

The top three finishers in the men’s and women’s marathon trials will comprise the United States marathon teams for the 2016 Summer Games in Rio.The United States is unique in that it is only country to use a stand-alone competition to select the team, whereas other countries utilize a committee to evaluate prospective participants’race performances to select their squads. The American trails are considered the fairest method, but have been known to produce some ‘underdog’ champions and qualifiers such as Pete Pfitzinger in 1984, Mark Conover in 1988 and Jenny Spangler in 1996.

The flat Trials course – which has been described as conducive to fast times – will start at the L.A. Convention Center and proceed into downtown Los Angeles for a two-mile loop.The runners will then head south for four six-mile loops passing such landmarks as the University of Southern California and the L.A. Coliseum, which hosted the track and field events for the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympic Games, before finishing back at the L.A. Convention Center.

Men To Watch:

As with any major sporting event there are the favorites to watch and the dark horses who could pull off a huge surprise and punch their ticket to Rio.

On the men’s side the two hands-down favorites are Meb Keflezighi and Dathan Ritzenhein.

Meb Keflezighi will not only be racing against the field, but against Father Time, as the 40-year old Keflezighi would be the oldest-ever man to make the US team if he finishes in the top three. His resume is nevertheless impressive: the only American man to win an Olympic medal in the marathon – silver at the 2004 Athens games – since Frank Shorter in 1976. Winner of both the Boston Marathon – in 2014 with a personal best of 2:08:37 – and the New York Marathon. He is the defending Trails champion – and went on to finish an impressive fourth at the 2012 London games. If anyone can turn back the hands of time it would be Meb.

Meb Keflezighi, of the United States, crosses the finish line to win first place in the men's race of the 118th Boston Marathon on Monday, April 21, 2014. (Photo by John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Dathan Ritzenhein has been a three-time Olympian, finishing 9th in the marathon at the 2008 Beijing games and owns a marathon best of 2:07:47 set at the 2012 Bank of America Chicago Marathon. He’s hoping to improve his place by one spot in the 2016 Trials – he finished fourth at the 2012 Trials in Houston.

Watch out for Luke Puskedra, the graduate of the University of Oregon ran a 2:10:24 at the 2015 Bank of America Chicago Marathon, the fastest time for an American runner since Keflezighi’s win at Boston in 2014.

The wildcard everyone is talking about is Galen Rupp, the 2012 Olympic silver medalist in the 10000 meters, who only two weeks earlier declared his intention to run his debut marathon in the Trials and also attempt to qualify in the 10000 meters on the track later this year. Rupp, with a half-marathon personal record of 1:00:30 – he qualified with a half-marathon time of 1:01:20 in December – and an American best of 26:44 in the 10000, has the speed to churn out a fast time in his first marathon, but has never experienced the punishment of running a full marathon.

Chicago Runners:

Keep an eye out for Fleet Feet Sports-Nike Racing team member Brandon Mull, who will be running in the Trials when his time of 2:18:14, at the 2013 Bank of America Chicago Marathon, made the grade after the USATF relaxed the qualifying standards for the Trials.

Fleet Feet Sports Nike Racing Team member Brandon Mull running in the 2013 Chicago Marathon.

Another runner with roots in Chicago is Chris Derrick of Naperville, who starred at Nequa Valley High School before heading onto an All-America career at Stanford University. The three-time U.S. cross-country champion ran a 1:03:41 half marathon time in January to qualify and, like Rupp, has the speed to make him a challenger.

Who Won't Be There:

Two big names will be missing from the men’s Trials. Ryan Hall, the 2004 Trials champion and owner of the fastest marathon time by an American, retired from competition earlier this year. Abdi Abdirahman, who finished third in the 2012 Trials, will miss the 2016 Trials due to injury, but plans to try to qualify on the track in the 10000 meters.

Women To Watch:

In the women’s race Shalane Flanagan and Desiree Linden are the two well-established favorites looking to clinch their spots for Rio.

Shalane Flanagan will be in Los Angeles to defend her 2012 Trials championship – she went on to finish 10th in the women’s marathon at the 2012 London games. The bronze medalist in the 10000 meters at the 2008 Beijing games, Flanagan has steadily improved her marathon times, culminating with the second fastest marathon ever run by an American woman, a 2:21:14 personal best in her 3rd place finish at the 2014 Berlin Marathon.

Desiree Linden poses the most serious challenge for Flanagan. Linden was runner-up to at the 2012 Trials in Houston, but did not finish at the 2012 London games due to a stress fracture in her leg. Since then she has been consistently tallying solid times for the marathon, her best being a 2:23:54 at the 2014 Boston Marathon. It was at the 2011 Boston Marathon where Linden ran her personal best of 2:22:38.

 Desiree Linden leading the pack for several miles during the 2015 Boston Marathon. 

Deena Kastor, the 2004 silver medalist in the women’s marathon at the 2004 Athens games and the fastest ever American woman in marathon with a 2:19:36, will like Keflezighi be challenging age as well as the field. The 42-year old Kastor set a women’s masters record of 2:27:47 in Chicago last October. While Kara Goucher – will be looking to make her third Olympic team and has posted some strong half-marathon results in the past year.

Ryan Hall may have hung up his racing flats and won’t be running in the men’s Trials, but his wife Sara Hall will attempt to make the women’s team and posted a solid 2:31:14 here in Chicago last October.

For those six fortunate to earn spots on the U.S. Olympic marathon squad the Women’s Olympic Marathon in Rio will be August 14th; the Men’s Olympic Marathon will be on August 21st.