Galen Rupp races at the Prefontaine Classic on May 30

By Lincoln Shryack

The fight for the top 3 in the men’s 10,000m at USA’s is likely to come down to just five men, that being Galen Rupp, Chris Derrick, Hassan Mead, Diego Estrada, and Ben True. As a six-time defending champion and American record holder (26:44), Rupp will be heavily favored to make it seven straight, but who he brings with him to Beijing is still up for discussion.

Derrick was the runner-up at USA’s a year ago, his highest finish ever. Although the 24-year-old would be considered a lock to make his second World team under normal circumstances, Derrick was banged up during the spring after finishing 24th at World XC in March. He didn’t even open up on the track until Portland Track Festival on June 14th, where he was a disappointing seventh in 13:40. Perhaps Derrick was just rusty there, but he’ll need to be on his “A” game in Eugene against Estrada and True, who have been hitting on all cylinders of late.

Diego Estrada will compete in his first U.S. Outdoor Championships since he decided to represent United States (he competed for Mexico in the 2012 Olympics).The 25-year-old has been solid to start 2015, winning his first ever half marathon in January at the U.S. Championships in 60:51, while recently running a 27:30 10K PB at Pre on May 29th. The 25-year-old is a savvy racer, never afraid to go to the front and dictate the pace if he feels the need. In a race that’s sure to be tactical, don’t be surprised to see Estrada do a lot of the leading on Thursday night.



Then there’s Ben True, who’s been on fire recently. First, there was his American road 5k record in Boston (13:22) in April, where he just slipped past dominant road racer Stephen Sambu. After grabbing his 10k standard at Payton Jordan (27:43), the 29-year-old continued his tear on the roads by winning the Healthy Kidney 10k in late May over Sambu once again, as well as marathon kings Geoffrey Mutai and Wilson Kipsang. Most recently, True won his first ever Diamond League race in New York over Nick Willis and several talented East Africans, impressive even though the pace was slow (13:29). Everything is just going too well for True right now for him to miss the team to Beijing, and a banged up Chris Derrick only opens the door even more for True to finally finish top 3.

Hassan Mead is the wild-card in this race. The 25-year-old was just a few seconds back of Estrada at Pre, running a 27:33 PB to finish 11th. Although he was beaten by his fellow American there, Mead has a big advantage over Estrada with his 13:02 5K PB, which should come in handy in the championship race setting. After years of focusing more on the 5K, this could be Mead’s team to make. He did race in two 10Ks in May, which could be concerning or could just make him more prepared than anyone else in the field for whatever is thrown their way.