So does Parker Wolfe got to Paris?

Blanks will go. Wolfe ran amazing over past couple of months but odds are stacked against him. USA distance is in good a great place going forward with Blanks , Wolfe and Nico. Can’t wait to see these guys over the next few years.

Will be interesting to hear the athletes opinion of the points system after final selections are made.

Yea but look where that got blanks. (it got him hurt). It was a risk that seems like might pay off if he sneaks on the team, but it cost him an Ncaa title for sure. Parker is the better runner right now because of his patience through indoor.

Graham Blanks my KING 👑👑

Those who got in over faster (at the trials) athletes will say the points system is alright for 2 years. Everyone else will hate it including most fans. A guy is going to the olympics because he ran a fast time on a super track in december and hasn't been at that level since.

And the other guy was in the same race

Grahams has the standard. Wolfe does not. That has nothing to do with ranking. Get rid of ranking and Blanks still goes.

This is true...it did hurt Blanks, he ended up injured and had a frustrating spring season. If he ends up on the Olympic team with his 4th place finish, is it worth it to go through all of that frustration of injury? Idk.

I think Parker Wolfe made the right approach with his coach. Almost too right! Lol. They were aiming for success at the trials, I surmise. wow, huge break-out spring (and winter) season.

edit: I personally would prefer the Parker Wolfe approach. Take training seriously. Don't get injured. Peak at the right time - even that means not going to the Olympics. It's something to aim for the next time.
I just wouldn't sign up for the injuries Graham Blanks had. It was risk/reward.

A lot more hate for Wolfe on this thread than I expected. He’s an NCAA champ and almost broke the collegiate record in the 3k indoors, in a solo run. With how close he was to Nico indoors, his races at NCAA outdoors and the trials, I’m inclined to believe that Wolfe could run around 13:00, give or take a few seconds.

In his post race interview, Wolfe said that he was pretty tired during cross. They trained hard. He was still dealing with the fatigue at that indoor 5k. From there, the focus shifted to the NCAA season. He ran a mile, a 3k, a DMR then ACCs and NCAAs. As mentioned above, the 7:37 was solo the second half. Blanks was meant to be in it, but pulled out last minute with injury. Together, they could have broken the collegiate record. The point is, Wolfe hit a new level indoors and another new level outdoors.

Wolfe is a great racer, I see him in the mix with Fisher and the others in a couple years pushing 12:50. Graham is steadily getting back to his December shape so it would be great to see him break 13 this year if the 5k prelims happen to be fast.

Wolfe has to hope for a lot of visa problems

The current Olympic qualifying process is incredibly confusing. NBC TV coverage makes it worse?

Is American record holder Kara Winger going to the Olympics in Javelin? No idea. NBC acts like she's not.

Then someone will get 3rd in an event without the standard (and a poor ranking) and I'll see them with 100 social media reposts congratulating them on making the Olympics.

Some grandma got 3rd in 20k racewalk then there's an article in the paper congratulating her on London.

Why is the media so terrible at reporting on this?

The only opportunity he had for a fast 5k outdoors in the USA was at Drake on May 17th with Teare and Hocker but that was 1 week before regionals.

Blanks is definitely on the rise though. He was dominant in November/December before getting hurt. Then was obviously not in great form yet in April/May but getting closer in June. In four more weeks Blanks could reasonably be back in sub 13 fitness.

Wolfe will have an average points score of 1201. The time w/o bonus points that gets you 1201 points is 13:02.48, which is under the standard and faster than Blanks ran. It shows an inconsistency between rankings and times.

Yes. Came here to say this.

Parker ran a great race yesterday, but he didn't make the standard. Blanks did.

He was on my flight this morning. I thought about talking to him but chickened out.

Anyone who doesn’t think Graham doesn’t deserve to go is crazy. He’s already closing the gap on Parker since NCAAs and in another month will likely be better than Parker. The fact he finished 4th after 2m off shows he’s right there. I would rather Blanks than Parker representing the US. That’s not a knock of Wolfe. Just an endorsement of Graham and his upward trajectory.

I admit I don't like that the window ends right after the Trials meet. It creates a bit of unfairness based on whether your final was earlier in the meet or later. For a surprise top-3 person that can make a big difference. James Corrigan was a surprise third placer in the steeplechase, and because the final was early on he had time to set up a later race and chase the standard/ranking/whatever he needed. He successfully hit the standard and now he's going to Paris. Wolfe should have the same opportunity to take one shot at improving his ranking/hitting the standard/or whatever could get him in, but he doesn't have that chance because his final was on the last day of the Trials. Even if it's a tough ask to run another 5k in less than a week, I think WA should mandate that all selection meets be finished at least one week before the cutoff date. If they're setting up a system that brings back the old right to chase a standard, it should be available for everybody. Both Corrigan and Wolfe made shock results that put them theoretically in contention for Paris, but only one got to take the shot?

Maybe this is something that only really impacts the big countries like the US or the countries with massive depth in certain events like Kenya or Ethiopia, but if the system allows for chasing, it should allow everyone to chase.