The Olympics are only five months away, and the world is bracing up for a spectacle. Along with that, the world’s athletes are already warming up to start their journey on the road to Paris 2024 with hopes of a podium finish. Ahead of the Games, the country’s top track and field stars also congregate in Eugene with the desire to secure their spot on the national team. However, for a US military sprinter, this weekend might present one more hurdle on his way to the French capital.

Leonard Korir is a renowned name when it comes to the Marathon community. As Portugal readies itself to host the Lisbon Half Marathon this Sunday, Korir will attempt to take the first step toward achieving his personal Olympic glory moment.

Army athlete’s challenges on the road to Paris 2024

A Twitter post by Citius Mag CEO Chris Chavez sheds light on how Korir can punch his tickets to Europe this weekend as he faces a stringent challenge. Leonard finished last month’s Olympic Marathon Trials in third place, and the upcoming half marathon can well become the beginning of his road to Paris dreams. “U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials third place finisher Leonard Korir is racing the Lisbon Half this weekend“, reads the post, as it goes on to note how completing the race can also work as a significant boost to Korir’s ranking.

Leonard is currently ranked 70th in the Marathon qualifying quota, as mentioned in Chavez’s post. “This is a good opportunity to boost his World Ranking with a fast performance.“, denoted the social media post, highlighting that a good result in Lisbon can easily see Korir being named in the Road to Paris list in May. The final 80-man participant list will be unveiled by the Olympics on May 5, and Korir will have to buckle up if he wishes to push his last month’s results from Orlando further. However, his challenges won’t end there.

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The 2023 Lisbon Half saw all the top four finishers complete the race under 60 minutes, something that this year’s participants will no doubt wish to surpass. However, Korir may have a few tricks up his sleeve as well. While Korir is an amazing track and field sprinter, his ticket to Paris is still in a lot of confusion. So, what is it that makes things difficult for Korir to participate in the coming Olympics?

Korir’s Olympic 2024 Ambition gets tougher

However, this year things were still difficult for this sprinter. He finished the third position in the Olympic Trials following 2:09:57 time. Now Korir’s time is slower than 2:08:10, which is a standard qualifying time for the Olympics given by the World Athletics Committee. To secure his spot, this American track and field athlete needs to participate in the spring marathon and finish within the qualifying time. Since 63 spots of the total 80 seats are already filled by participants, Korir needs to focus and work hard if he wishes to travel to Paris this year. But his coach is upbeat.

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“I’m 95 percent confident [Korir’s ranking will be good enough to secure an Olympic spot],” Scott Simmons, Korir’s coach, told Runner’s World recently. With that goal in mind, Korir will also run the Rotterdam Marathon on April 14, according to letsrun.com. But won’t it be too tiring to run a marathon just 10 weeks after the US Olympic trials?

According to Simmons, Korir has fully recovered and was back to the workouts “within two weeks” of the trial. Meanwhile, some of Korir’s national colleagues rest more comfortably. Despite the blazing heat in Orlando, Conner Mantz managed to finish the Olympic Marathon Trails on a high note, with his training partner Clayton Young coming in second. It remains to be seen if Korir can join them in the Parisian arena.

2024 Olympic Marathon Trials: Leonard Korir Unveils Hidden Drive Behind His Unreal Final Stretch to Get an Epic Podium Finish