Olympics champion Rai Benjamin has shared why he feels the US Track and Field trials are tougher to navigate than even the Olympics Games.
Olympics 400m hurdles champion Rai Benjamin has weighed in on the unforgiving nature of the USA Track and Field (USATF) trials, terming it more difficult that running at the Olympics itself.
The US trials either for the World Championships or Olympics are known for being highly competitive and also brutal as form, pedigree and past achievements count for nothing.
Unlike other countries, like Kenya, where trials are conducted but there is a reserved slot for at least one runner in each discipline which is determined by a panel of selectors, at the USATF, only the first three across the line make it to the World Championships or the Olympics.
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This has seen some of the big names miss out either for failing to get into the top three due to unfortunate circumstances, like it happened with Athing Mu, who failed to defend her Olympics 800m title after a fall in her final at the 2024 trials, and missed out on a place on the podium.
The Olympics champions have opened up on the intrigues that make the Olympics Games look ‘stupid’ given what athletes put in for four years.
Benjamin agrees, getting through at the US trials is the hardest thing to do for any American track and field athlete as the pressure and competition, added the fine margins, make it even more difficult than the championship itself.
“The hardest thing to do is get through the USAs, it is the hardest meet in the world to go through. I experience things there that I didn’t experience at the Olympics,” Benjamin said on the Beyond the Records podcast co-hosted by himself as well as fellow Olympics champions Noah Lyles and Grant Holloway.
“I go to the USAs and I never stop to think about hitting hurdles, and I never hit hurdles, but I hit a hurdle probably every single round at USAs and I was like; ‘Why am I doing this?’ It makes no sense but it is just one of those things that when you get there and everyone is trying to get into this one team and you have to hit your best shot.”
Just like Mu was left in tears, Benjamin agrees it can be brutal on the athlete after putting in four years of hard work with an eye on the Olympics only for one moment to deny you a place in the US team.
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Athing Mu’s unfortunate fall at the US Olympics trials has brought into focus the cruel nature of America’s selection criteria, showing why it could be good to go the Kenyan way.
“We don’t pick teams, whoever shows up on that day, you go to the Olympics yet you train all these years for this single moment and if you don’t get it, it is just devastating,” he added.
“Lining up on that final, everyone thinks they will win, no one comes thinking they are coming second.”
The US system has had its critics, with some feeling that it can deny the country its best athletes at major championships if they fail to make it past the trials for various reasons, but USATF has insisted it will never change.
USATF prefers the system because of the huge pool of talented athletes at their disposal yet there are only a few slots to fill, forcing them into a rigorous selection process to come up with the team.
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Olympic champion Vernon Norwood has urged British Olympian Hudson-Smith to follow up on his promise for a showdown against the world’s top sprinters.
Their other argument is that it eliminates politics as whoever goes through is considered to have earned their place on merit and not through a boardroom decision.
