USATF Marathon Road Championships, presented by Toyota – Official Website – News

USATF Release

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The final race of the 2022 USATF Running Circuit presented by Toyota season gets underway Sunday morning, as the USATF Marathon Road Championships presented by Toyota host an incredible collection of distance running talent with both the men’s and women’s fields having more than a dozen top contenders capable of claiming victory in Sacramento.

The USATF Half Marathon Championships, hosted by the California International Marathon, will be shown live on USATF.TV beginning at 6:50am PT and can be viewed with a +PLUS subscription.

Headlining the men’s field, veteran Noah Droddy tops the start list. Droddy enters Sunday’s contest with the top marathon PR in the field and only sub-2:10 performance, running 2:09:09 at The Marathon Project in December 2020. This season, Droddy has finished sixth at the USATF Half Marathon Championships and seems poised for another big marathon performance.

Brendan Gregg is coming off a victory at the 2021 California International Marathon, the host of this year’s championship race, where he ran 2:11:21. Gregg will no doubt use that experience, along with his recent 1:03:37 half marathon performance at the United Airlines Rock ‘n’ Roll San Jose Half Marathon, to make a charge at the win. Gregg has completed six marathons since 2018, never having finished slower than 2:16:46, showing incredible consistency.

Futsum Zeinasellassie could come away with the win during his debut effort over the marathon distance. Zeinasellassie is having a terrific 2022 campaign, currently sitting third in the USATF Running Circuit standings with 56.5 points, only behind leader Leonard Korir (104 points) and Sam Chelanga (60 points). Zeinasellassie has already finished second at both the USATF Half Marathon Championships and USATF 25 km Championships.

Jacob Thomson is another standout capable of earning the victory in Sacramento. Thomson ran a 1:02:25 half marathon effort in Mesa in February, following that up with a 1:02:46 third place performance at the USATF Half Marathon Championships. Layer on top his 28:21.91 10,000m mark and Thomson has the accolades this year to be a top contender. 

Another key name entered in Sunday’s race is Matt Llano. Llano placed second at the 2018 USATF Marathon Championships, while earning a fine performance at the Boston Marathon this year, running 2:16:39.

Will Nation, another USATF Running Circuit veteran, is also entered in Sunday’s contest. Nation placed…