There are many reasons that I think the standard should be 2:45 for 2024, and only one of them is selfish. Having a standard that's achievable for many non-professional runners is great for the sport. Each woman (and man) who qualifies is part of a network, so the effects of one person qualifying are truly exponential. I don't think anyone could argue that increased attention to running is only going to help our sport. We may never be popular on the level of football or baseball, but we can increase the popularity of running, and more qualifiers is one way to do that.
The effects of any one woman qualifying is going to have ripple effects. Young girls may be encouraged to become active, youth cross-country runners may be inspired to dream bigger, other women will think "why not me too?", and non-runners who know her will learn more about marathoning. Why wouldn't we want to have a big field of qualifiers to create these exponential effects? In light of COVID-19, I think all of us can now really grasp ripple effects on a country's population!
I agree that in celebrating Olympic hopefuls, we lift up our communities. Any good news that gets publicity is a good thing!
In a similar vein, in addition to keeping 2:45 as the women's B standard, how about loosening the men's B standard to 2:20-2:21 to get more male qualifiers in the field? This Running Rogue podcast mentions this, although I promise I wrote this draft before I listened to it (great minds think alike, Running Rogue!).
It's easy to suggest these things when I'm not the one who has to coordinate the logistics of a large Trials race, but since most marathons are much larger than the 700-some entrants in the 2020 Trials, it's clear there are great methods out there to coordinate things. I'm sure the Boston Marathon, New York Marathon, Houston Marathon, and Chicago Marathon could offer some tips - and also Grandma's Marathon and the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon (those both ran like well-oiled machines when I ran them).
For starters, as awesome as it was for the Atlanta Track Club to pay for everyone's expenses, the 2024 Trials can go back to paying expenses for A standard qualifiers only. They could also limit personal bottle service on the course to the top 50 qualifiers of each gender.
Allison Wade wrote a great piece on the topic here, and said it well on her Fast Women account below.
Finally, I believe that no matter the time, there will be many qualifiers just under the standard. 50% of the 2020 qualifiers ran between 2:42:48 and 2:45:00. These women had 2:45 to aim for. If the standard is 2:42, I am sure that 50% of the qualifiers will run 2:40-2:42. Whatever the time is, women will chase it and qualifying times will cluster just under it.
While I agree that you bring up some valid points to maintaining the current standard, I feel that 2:42 would be a great B standard for the women's US OTQ. I feel that women's marathoning is currently deep enough in our country to still draw a huge field with this 3 minute drop in time standard. The standard has experienced an ebb and flow since the introduction of the Women's Marathon in the 1984 Olympics, and yet we have continued to increase the number of women capable of running sub-2:42. As we usher in a new generation of post-Title IX female athletes, I have no doubt that they will rise to meet the challenge of a faster time standard.
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