[Editors UPDATE September 6, 2020 – The World Mountain Running Championships have been cancelled. The USATF MUT Council will not name a team in 2020. Selection criteria for the 2021 World Mountain Running Championships will be announced in December.]
The following is the updated selection criteria for the 2020 USATF Mountain Running Team scheduled to compete at the World Mountain Running Championships on November 13, in Lanzarote, Spain. This new criteria replaces the recently cancelled selection race and was approved by the USATF Mountain Ultra Trail Executive Committee on July 15, 2020. Four men and four women will be selected to the team, all of whom must be current USATF members.
A Standard: Winners of the 2019 World Mountain Running Championship will be automatically selected to the team. (Joseph Gray and Grayson Murphy)
B Standard: Resume submissions. Results from January 1, 2018, to the present to be considered. Consideration given to results from the 2019 World Mountain Running Championships and 2019 USATF Mountain Running Championships. Consideration also given to results at competitive sub-ultra distance mountain running races where candidates raced head-to-head and/or candidates’ times can be compared to times run by known fast elite mountain running athletes (e.g. past team members, etc.).
A selection committee has been appointed and is comprised of USATF Mountain Ultra Trail council members and active athletes. The athletes on the committee, if submitting a resume, will recuse themselves from the discussion about their gender’s team selection. The selection committee will put forth a team for final review and approval by the USATF Mountain Ultra Trail Executive Committee.
Resumes are due by September 15, 2020. Submit to Richard Bolt ([email protected]), and Nancy Hobbs ([email protected]). The USATF team for the World Mountain Running Championships will be named on October 1, 2020.
Also note the following change to USATF team selection for the World Long Distance Mountain Running Championships and Junior World Mountain Running Championships. Resumes are now due September 15 and the teams will be also announced on October 1, 2020.
NOTE: With the world championships still months away, and with the ever-changing dynamic related to the worldwide pandemic, the decision on U.S. team participation will continue to be monitored by USATF.
