Olympic Trial Marathon 2012: Meb Keflezighi Wins With Personal Best Time

The Houston Marathon Committee hosted the 2012 Olympic Trials Marathon on Saturday. The top three finishers will represent the men and women on the 2012 United States Olympic team. The 26.2 mile race began at 8:00 a.m. ET for the men and 8:15 a.m. ET for the women. The start/finish line was at the Avenida de las Americas in front of the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston.

For the men, 36-year old Meb Keflezighi ran his best marathon time ever to finish the race first and qualify for the 2012 Men’s Olympic Marathon Team. Keflezighi with an unofficial time of 2:09:07 with favorite win the the race Ryan Hall coming in second finishing just under the 2:10 mark. Abdi Abdirahman rounded out the top three, also finishing the marathon in under 2:10, making all three qualifiers finish under the 2:10 mark for the first time in U.S. trials history and the first time in which all three men have done it in the same event. U.S. Half-Marathon champion Mo Trafeh fell back after about the Mile 15 mark and dropped out of the qualifying. Dathan Ritzenhein came in fourth place, potentially becoming the Men’s alternate for the U.S. Men’s team.

USA Track & Field and the Houston Marathon Committee will host the men’s and women’s Olympic Trials Marathon today, starting at 8:00 a.m. The top three finishers in the men’s and women’s 26.2-miles races will represent the United States at the 2012 Olympics this summer in London.

Ryan Hall, who ran the fastest ever American marathon last year in Boston, is the favorite to make his second Olympic team. Don’t forget about Mo Trafeh, a two-time U.S. champion at 15 kilometers. Desiree Davila is considered the favorite to win on the womens side.