MEN

Friday night's premier Olympic Trials final will pit Alberto's boys, Galen Rupp and Eric Jenkins, against Hassan Mead, Ben True, and Diego Estrada.

First, the odds that Rupp fails to finish in the top three are about as unlikely as Prefontaine rising from the grave. Rupp already made the team in the marathon, but he and Salazar said the 10K will be the event where he will truly shine. The real question is where in that top three Rupp will finish.

There has been speculation about his ability to rock the 5K/10K double in Eugene (not to mention a potential triple in Rio), especially after a recent mediocre third-place finish at Stumptown Twilight:



Among those challenging Nike Oregon Project's golden boy are Mead and Kipchirchir, who also raced the 10K at the World Championships last year in Beijing. Mead's 27:33.04 seed time and his blazing 1500m finish at Oxy in May suggest he is a greater threat to Rupp's plan for 10K domination. Nine men in this field also declared for the 5K race only a week later, and nearly all are top contenders in each event. Rupp might not be the only double Olympian in the field.

The Flo staff was unanimous in placing both Mead and Rupp somewhere in their top three, but that third spot...

Let's break down the candidates:

Ben True

He earned his 10K standard more than a year ago at Payton Jordan, but he's used the time since to solidify his place at the top. He finished second in the 5K AND 10K last year at USAs. Will it be spot No. 2 for True again in 2016? I bet Ötzi thinks so!

Eric Jenkins

He's another competitor in the mix for Salazar and the Nike Oregon Project. Like Mead, he won handily at Oxy, and proved he could compete with the big dogs at Prefontaine in May, where he earned his 27:48.02 qualifier.

Hahahaha have you guys seen the entries for the #PreClassic 10k!? Racing a bunch of nobody's

— Eric Jenkins (@_EricJenkins) May 26, 2016

Bernard Lagat

He could prove age is just a number and make his third Olympic team at 41. The master's world record holder in the 10K qualified for the Trials in May at Payton Jordan, and hasn't had a stellar race since, but his experience as a 1500m Olympic silver medalist could pull him through to put him in that third 10K spot for 2016.



———————————

WOMEN

Like Rupp, Huddle is an overwhelming favorite to make the team on the women's side. Barring any major race mishaps on Saturday, she's put in plenty of time training and is ready to run fast. I'd bet any money that she makes this team.



If her American record in the 5K wasn't enough to convince you of her talent, Huddle has only further proven that she might be America's best distance runner this year. She won her third straight B.A.A. 5K in April and her 30:47 PR in the 10K puts her well ahead of the other entries in the field.

The other contenders:

At the top of my list for the second and third spots are Emily Infeld and Kim Conley. Infeld was at her prime last year around this time for USAs and the World Championships in Beijing, where she won the bronze medal. Though the injury-prone Infeld reported she had another stress fracture this winter, she's proven before that she can bounce back from major injuries. If her fitness compares to that of her fellow Bowerman teammates Colleen Quigley and Sammy Silva, who looked strong at Stumptown Twilight, I wouldn't be surprised to see Infeld push the pace with Huddle on Saturday.

Coming off a win in the 5K at the Portland Track Festival, Conley also seems to be in great shape. She too has suffered from injuries that kept her from racing much last year, but has shown she's not wasting time in 2016 with a huge win and new world lead in the 5K indoors at Washington and a 15:10 finish at the Prefontaine Classic.



But the true beauty of the Trials is the three spots on the team will go to whoever shows up on Saturday. Beyond Huddle, Infeld, and Conley lies a deep field stacked with former NCAA champions and other women who just haven't raced much on the track in 2016.

Not to be forgotten is Marielle Hall, who had a breakout 10K in a star-studded field at this year's Payton Jordan Invite. Liz Costello, Emily Sisson, and Kellyn Taylor (who finished eighth at Payton Jordan after the Marathon Trials) have all ran under 31:45, and could also be in the mix with the leaders.



Finally, I'm biased, but my former college teammate Jordan Hasay has a real chance to be the dark horse in this race. Coming back from the first actual injury of her entire career, I think Hasay's build this year has been slow and steady. She didn't blow anyone out of the water, but earned a solid qualifying time of 31:58 at Payton Jordan and has since been training at altitude in Park City, Utah. She's focused on silencing any doubts to make this team in 2016.

The men's 10K is Friday at 6:15 p.m. PT, and women's race is Saturday at 11:04 a.m. PT