St. Louis lands 2028 Olympic marathon trials for Team USA spots
St. Louis will decide six of Team USA’s first marathon berths for LA28, on a course expected to finish inside Energizer Park and pass the Gateway Arch.
The road to Los Angeles 2028 will run through St. Louis, where six marathon spots on Team USA will be decided on a course expected to pass the Gateway Arch and Washington University in St. Louis before finishing inside Energizer Park.
USA Track & Field and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee announced June 4, 2026, that St. Louis will host the 2028 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Marathon on March 25, 2028. Three men and three women will earn places on Team USA for the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028, making the race the first Olympic team selection event in the LA28 cycle. St. Louis won the bid over Phoenix, the only other finalist.
The event carries unusual weight because of its place on the Olympic calendar. The marathon trials will come 18 weeks before the Olympic marathons in Los Angeles, scheduled for July 29 and 30, 2028. NBC will broadcast the race live beginning at 11 a.m. CT, giving the city a national stage as elite runners chase a place on the starting line in California.
For St. Louis, the announcement is both a sporting assignment and a civic statement. The St. Louis Sports Commission and GO! St. Louis are organizing the event, and city leaders have pointed to the region’s longstanding relationship with USATF, its Olympic history and its modern sports infrastructure as reasons the bid stood out. St. Louis hosted the first Olympic marathon ever contested on U.S. soil in 1904, a connection officials have framed as a 124-year homecoming.
“Our Olympic legacy in St. Louis goes back to 1904,” said Marc Schreiber.
The course has not yet been finalized, but the early outline already signals how much the route matters. A marathon that threads past the Gateway Arch and Washington University before ending inside Energizer Park will not only test the athletes, it will also shape how the city presents itself to a national audience. The finish inside the home of St. Louis CITY SC links the trials to the city’s newer sports venues as much as its history, and the broadcast will turn that setting into a promotional showcase.
Beyond the medals and the berths, the event places St. Louis in the center of Olympic selection for the first time in the LA28 cycle. For one March morning in 2028, the city will not just host the race. It will help determine who gets to represent the United States in Los Angeles.
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