Korir third at Olympic Trials to Provisionally Qualify for Paris Games; Kibet Fourth in New Masters Record

Colorado Results Scoreboard

The 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Marathon was held on Saturday (3-Feb) in Orlando, Florida.  Sixty-six (66) athletes from Colorado qualified for the trials with 46 crossing the finish line. A total of 380 athletes (215 men; 165 women) qualified for the trials with 267 (150 men; 117 women) finishing.

In the men's race, Leonard Korir (Colorado Springs - pictured above), who finished fourth in 2020, used a late race surge to move from fifth to third place over the last two miles stopping the clock at 2:09:57.  At 24 miles he was 36 seconds behind Zachary Panning who was holding the coveted third place position. With 1.2 miles he was still in fifth place trailing Panning by 17 seconds while fellow Coloradan Elkanah Kibet (pictured above in the white singlet) was in fourth place just three seconds behind Panning and 14 seconds ahead of Korir. Over the next mile, Korir overtook both Panning and Kibet and was able to celebrate down the final 400m; waving the small American flag he was handed from the crowd. With his third place finish he has provisionally qualified for the Paris Olympic Games. He must run under 2:08:10 before May 5 to secure his Olympic spot. 

Kibet, who turned 40 last June, stopped the clock at 2:10:02 to finish fourth; breaking the American masters record by just one second. Abdi Abdirahman set the previous record at the 2020 Olympic Trials in Atlanta.

Also cracking into the top-ten was Reed Fischer, 28, of Boulder. The Tinman Elite member stopped the clock at 2:11:34; just 40 seconds off his career best.

Connor Winter, 30, of Frederick, who competes for the Hammer & Axe Running Club was one of a handful of men that ran a career-best in Orlando. He placed 12th running 2:13:03 to surpass his career best by 2:48. 

Frank Lara, 28, of Westminster, Sydney Gidabuday, 27 of Lafayette, and Garret Lee, 30, of Denver all ran to top-30 finishes. Roots Running Project teammates, Lara and Gidabuday finished 19th (2:15:55) and 23rd (2:15:51), respectively while Lee finished 27th running 2:16:35.

Forty-two-year-old Benjamin Payne of Colorado Springs finished 34th running 2:17:05. He was the second masters athlete to complete the course as he only trailed Kibet's record-setting performance.    

In the women's race, Caroline Rotich, 39, of Colorado Springs and Lindsay Flanagan, 33, of Superior ran to top-eight finishes. Rotich, who became a U.S. citizen in October, finished sixth running 2:26:10. She came through 24 miles with eventual third-place finisher Dakotah Lindwurm of Minnesota; as the two held the third and fourth positions. Just past that point, Lindwurm was able to continue at 5:45/mile pace while Rotich was not and began to fall back. Flanagan finished just 15 seconds behind Rotich running 2:26:25. Molly Grabill, 33, Superior, RISE Athletics) finished 13th running 2:30:16. Other Coloradans finishing the top-30 were Margareta Montoya (28, Boulder, 2:33:12) who finished 22nd and Marybeth Chelanga (33, Colorado Springs, 2:33:33) in 23rd place. Chelanga was competing in her first marathon.