St. Louis was announced as the host city of the 2028 Olympic Marathon Trials on Wednesday, according to USA Track & Field.
The city emerged as the leader among a short list of cities and ultimately beat out Phoenix for hosting duties, with the trials set to take place on trials March 25, 2028 — around four months before the Los Angeles Games.
“Throughout the bid process, the local organizing committee demonstrated the professionalism, vision, and passion necessary to host one of the most important events on the road to Los Angeles,” USATF CEO Max Siegel said. “We are confident this event will provide an exceptional experience for the entire running community and ensure the top runners are prepared to face the world’s best in LA.”
In January, the St. Louis Sports Commission said it looked to host major sporting events like NCAA championships and the 2030 figure skating championships, along with the marathon trials after a noted history of helping stage large scale productions. In 1904, the city hosted the third Olympic Games.
“As America’s first Olympic city, we’re also ecstatic to add another exciting chapter to our rich Olympic history – not to mention further connect St. Louis to the 2028 LA Games,” St. Louis Sports Commission president Marc Schreiber said. “With St. Louis hosting the Marathon Trials and Olympic Soccer matches, it is going to be a special year for our community.”
At a ceremony on the campus of Washington University, Olympians Dawn Harper Nelson and Jackie Joyner-Kersee who are both from East St. Louis, were on hand with USATF and local officials to announce that the city had been chosen.
Outside of St. Louis and Phoenix, the other cities that submitted bids has not been made public. Following the warmer conditions of the 2024 trials in Orlando, Nashville was initially rumored to be considered as a host.
At the 2024 trials Conner Mantz, Clayton Young and Leonard Korir took the top spots in the men’s race while Fiona O’Keeffe, Emily Sisson and Dakotah Lindwurm grabbed the women’s slots.
Well ahead of the unveiling of a bid from St. Louis, USATF revealed its updated qualifying standards for the 2028 trials.
In June, the governing body said male qualifiers must be two minutes quicker than previous races but the women’s time will remain the same as 2024, with 2:16 or better for the men and women staying at 2:37.
“The standards and qualifying window were formed with direct feedback from athletes, coaches and agents at the front of mind with the goal of creating an environment that prioritizes athletes’ performance needs.” USATF director of Long Distance Running Programs Amy Begley said at the time. “We’ve had such a surge of young, record-breaking talent on the roads in recent years and we can’t wait to see what’s in store for 2028.”
Runners will also be able to qualify with top half marathon performances, with a 1:03 standard for men and 1:12 for women.
