(St. Louis Public Radio) – The race to the 2028 Summer Olympics begins in St. Louis: The city will host the Olympic marathon trials.
The 2028 U.S. Olympic Team Trials–Marathon will take place on March 25, 2028. The top three men and three women finalists will represent Team USA months later at the 2028 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer, sports commission leaders, Washington University officials and USA Track & Field and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee leaders made the announcement Thursday afternoon at WashU near the Francis Olympic Field.
East St. Louis gold medalists Dawn Harper-Nelson and Jackie Joyner-Kersee also took part in the announcement.
“[Athletes] are going to come from all over the nation to see what St. Louis has to offer,” said Joyner-Kersee, who is also the St. Louis Organizing Committee co-chair.
More than 100,000 people are expected to attend the marathon, which will be televised by NBC.
The trials will coincide with the Greater St. Louis Marathon, which will take place the next day. Go! St. Louis President Mona Vespa said the race will be a celebration of the Olympics, St. Louis and the local running community.
USATF CEO Max Siegel thanked the region’s organizing community for its work to secure the bid.
“Nothing highlights a city like a marathon,” Siegel said. “When we come back here again in two years, it will be for a day that changes lives.”
On the course, athletes will run by St. Louis landmarks, including the Gateway Arch, Forest Park, Busch Stadium and WashU, the site of the first summer Olympics and thus the first summer Olympic marathon in the United States. The trials will conclude in St. Louis City SC’s Energizer Park.
The announcement doesn’t come entirely as a surprise.
St. Louis leaders revealed in February that Energizer Park would be one of the venues hosting Olympic soccer matches in 2028.
Regional officials said at that time that the city was a finalist for the trials.
The trials are a full circle moment for the region. The 1904 Summer Olympic Games in St. Louis has been remembered for its various controversies and oddities, including very limited water stations. One runner was chased off course by a pack of wild dogs. Another had to be carried over the finish line after drinking strychnine sulphate, which can act as a stimulant in small doses but is used for rat poisoning in higher doses.
The last time the city hosted Olympic marathon trials was 100 years later. The Olympic Team Trials Women’s Marathon began at WashU and ended at the World’s Fair Pavilion in Forest Park. Athletes Colleen De Reuck, Deena Kastor and Jen Rhines qualified for the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens. Kastor won a bronze medal later that summer.
Other St. Louis-area track and field Olympians include Brandon Miller and gold medalist Ray Armstead.
The St. Louis Sports Commission President Marc Schreiber thanked the regional partners who helped secure the trials. He said 2028 is looking to be a massive Olympic year in St. Louis, with the marathon trials, soccer and potentially the Olympic torch relay, though he said it’s not a done deal yet.
“How many cities would yearn for that kind of Olympic activity and wish to be so closely connected to the LA Games,” Schreiber asked. “St. Louisans should feel darn good about that.”
Published with permission through a content sharing partnership with St. Louis Public Radio. View original story here: St. Louis to host Olympic marathon team trials in 2028 | STLPR