The Selection Policy

For track events from 200m – 5000m, no world rankings invites will be accepted, so only athletes who have the Olympic standard will be selected. Athletes with the standard who place in the top two at the trials will be selected. The third spot is in effect a discretionary pick for the selection committee based on a number of factors.

Firstly, medallists from the 2023 World Championships will be selected in their event if they compete in any event at the trials, which means that several medallists are running off events, like Josh Kerr (1500m medallist, running 800m), Keely Hodgkinson (800m medallist, running 400m), Matthew Hudson-Smith (400m medallist, running 200m). Additionally, 100m bronze medallist Zharnel Hughes has been given a medical exemption from competing at the trials and is expected to be selected in the 100m and 200m, assuming he recovers from an untimely hamstring injury.

Secondly athletes who have met the qualifying standard but are outside of the top two at trials will be considered based on a number of criteria, including, for example, current form – shown between April 1st and June 30th.

Then there is also a wonderfully generic criterion of ‘any other factors the selection panel deem relevant.’

In other events such as the 100m, 10,000m, or field events, there is also a UK Athletic ‘B’ standard which entitles you for consideration for selection via a rankings invite. There are a number of athletes, especially in the throwing events, who are close to these standards and comfortably within the rankings quota, but won’t even have a chance of being selected unless they pull out a special performance to hit the relevant standard at the trials.

Women’s 800m

With Keely Hodgkinson running the 400m, this leaves four athletes entered in the trials with the standard fighting it out for the remaining two spots.

These are: Olympic seventh placer Alex Bell, Keely Hodgkinson’s training partner Erin Wallace, Tokyo fourth placer Jemma Reekie, and break-out 17-year-old Phoebe Gill. The favorites here are likely to be Reekie and Gill, with both of them showing 1:57 shape this season. Reekie didn’t have a great race in the 1500m at Euros, and we have to see how Gill copes with the two rounds and more tactical racing, but she has handily beaten many of her competitors over the last few weeks in solo front running fast performances. There is also added significance here. With Athing Mu out of the Olympics, any 1:57 athlete will surely fancy their chances at a medal so this is a great opportunity for the Brits. Gill has been selected for the European U18 Championships in mid-July, which means she may choose not to go to the Olympics even if she were offered a spot on the team.

Men’s 800m

Ben Pattison is the sole Budapest medallist who can rely on being selected if he doesn’t make the top two. Others with the standard are Daniel Rowden, who has not broken 1:45 this season, Elliot Giles, who had a relatively poor performance at Euros after a relatively decent start to the season, and the enigma that is Max Burgin. Giles has chosen not to contest the 1500m where he made the team in 2023 so has clearly decided his chances are better in the 800m. The injury prone Burgin will, as was the case last year too, open up his season at the trials. But he is the most prodigious talent the UK has, having been the world leader with a 1:42 in 2022 going into the World Championships, and leading several Brits to PRs and 1:43 clockings at the London Diamond League last year.

Burgin’s presence is also intriguing because of his tendency to go out catastrophically fast in the first lap. Even if his lack of race fitness means he himself does not hold on, this has the potential to open the door for several other current 1:45/1:46 Brits to get the standard at the trials and be selected for Paris. For added intrigue, Josh Kerr is also in this race albeit it is highly unlikely he would attempt a double in Paris even if he did qualify.

Women’s 1500m

This is an intriguing race with Laura Muir losing to Katie Snowden last year. She’s not just looking to reclaim her title – the Olympic spots up for grabs.

Laura Muir, Georgia Bell, Katie Snowden, Revée Walcott Nolan, and Melissa Courtney-Bryant are the five athletes competing for the three spots. Bell has looked the best of the Brits this season with her European silver and fourth place at World Indoors, whilst Muir, after opening up with an excellent 3:56 performance at the Pre Classic, has looked mortal running 2:03 for 10th in her most recent 800m race in Nice. Courtney-Bryant and Snowden have not looked anywhere near as good as when they were running multiple sub-four clockings last season but Snowden has still run 4:00, whilst Walcott-Nolan has been on an upward trajectory, running 4:00 PBs in her last two races. Muir and Bell still look like favorites for the team, but it could still be any combination of the five athletes. Expect Muir to take it out hard after losing last year in a slow race.

Men’s 1500m

Josh Kerr is running the 800m, so there will be a shootout with the top two getting the remaining two spots, and there is every possibility that 2022 world champion Jake Wightman gets left at home. Neil Gourley, George Mills, and Adam Fogg are the other key contenders, but it is worth remembering that there are a number of other talented British runners without the standard who could sneak a win in a tactical race, such as Piers Copeland, who was the surprise winner indoors earlier in the year, which could leave the athletes’ fates in the hands of the selection panel.

Neil Gourley’s usually reliable kick deserted him at Euros but he is perhaps the most dangerous as he has a way of making it through when it counts. Mills has thrown all his eggs in the 1500m basket but has a chance of a discretionary selection in the 5000m following his European silver behind Jakob. Wightman isn’t quite back to his 2022 best so it will be interesting to see how things play out and whether we can get all three Scots to the starting line to challenge Jakob come Paris.

Men’s Sprints

With Zharnel Hughes pulling out due to a hamstring injury and Matthew Hudson-Smith racing the 200m instead of the 400m, the main intrigue for the men’s sprints lies in the 100m, where NCAA champion Louie Hinchliffe will be looking for a top two placing to guarantee selection. We hope Jeremiah Azu is healthy and ready to go after pulling out of Euros shortly after running 9.97 at the end of May. Reece Prescod is the only other entrant with the standard, but there are others such as world’s fastest accountant Eugene Amo-Dadzie and former Jamaican Romell Glave who certainly could run the standard and try to secure a spot (albeit the cool and likely windy conditions may make that difficult).