Tony Tomsich
Marathoner Tony Tomsich came up seconds short on Sunday in Spain.
Tomsich, a Fairbanks native, finished the Valencia Marathon in 2 hours, 18 minutes and 10 seconds, just 10 ticks shy of the 2:18:00 standard needed to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Trials this upcoming February in Orlando.
That means the 2024 Trials will feature no Alaskans after five of them, including Tomsich, raced there four years ago. The window for qualification ends on Tuesday.
Tomsich, who now lives in Germany and tried to qualify 10 weeks ago in Berlin, ran Valencia’s first half in 1:08:30 and was on pace to qualify for most of the race.
Tomsich was undone by two main factors: U.S. Track and Field lowered their men’s standard in 2024 by one minute from 2:19 to 2:18; and he lost contact with a strong group at Valencia about halfway through that was moving well within the qualifying pace.
Strava post by Tony Tomsich after the Valencia Marathon.
Tomsich now has experienced both sides of the qualifying fence: in 2020 he made the qualifying time by just 11 seconds.
He wasn’t beating himself up over the near miss this time, however.
“To be able to get that close to the mark was really satisfying and something to really be proud of,” Tomsich said.
Tomsich reached midway on Sunday in 1:08:30, which gave him a little cushion had he kept nearly the same pace. But after his slowest split from 30-35 kilometers (16 minutes, 44 seconds), Tomsich has fallen behind the mark. He then surged and ran 35-40K in 16:13 and finished strong, but it wasn’t quite enough.
“At 35K I knew it was going to be close, so I tried to rally as best I could,” he said.
Tomsich, 36, hasn’t ruled out another Trials attempt in 2028.
“We’ll see if it’s in the cards to take another crack four years later,” he said.
Tomsich was joined at the 2020 Trials by Aaron Fletcher and Anna Dalton of Anchorage, Megan Youngren of Soldotna and Keri McEntee of Fairbanks.
The women’s standard for 2024 was lowered dramatically from 2:45 to 2:37, making a qualifying bid for the Alaskan women less achievable.
Riley Howard
Taylor (Ostrander) Deal
Meanwhile, at the California International Marathon in Sacramento on Sunday, 26-year-old Riley Howard of Anchorage made his marathon debut and also had his sights set on a U.S. Trials qualifier.
Howard, a Service High School graduate finished in 2:23:46, good for 103rd place among 5,534 men. Howard ran the first half in 1:09:36 and moved up 42 spots despite slowing down a bit towards the end.
“I hit the half feeling great, and started to lower the pace, but my left quad just really got tight and mile 19-20,” Howard said via text.
Taylor (Ostrander) Deal of Anchorage also raced CIM, finishing in a personal-best 2:54:50 to place 197th among 3,659 women in the extremely competitive field. Deal, 29, reached halfway in 1:25:48 and moved up 25 spots in the second half.