United States Olympic marathon trials in Los Angeles will show city has "five-ring fever", it is claimed

LA Marathon chief executive Tracey Russell claims holding the Olympic marathon trials will help showcase Los Angeles ©LA Marathon

Staging the United States Olympic marathon trials in Los Angeles next year will allow the city to show the world it has “five-ring fever” as it continues its campaign to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2024, LA Marathon chief executive Tracey Russell said today.

The trials are due to be staged on February 13, the day before the LA Marathon takes place, and will see competitors battle it out for selection on the US team for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

The competition will give organisers the chance to showcase Los Angeles, one of five cities bidding to host the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics along with European contenders Budapest, Hamburg, Rome and Paris.

“The event can help amplify the reasons why Los Angeles should be selected to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games,” Russell said.

“We’ve been in talks with the LA Bid Committee to leverage the trails in LA and to show off the city.

“We’ve had tremendous support from stakeholders who have been rallying behind the event to help put on the best Olympic trials for the American athletes.

“By broadcasting the event, we will be able to show the city has five-ring fever and show exactly what the Olympic Movement means to Los Angeles.

“We are continuing to build on the Olympic legacy from the Games in 1984 and this event is another example of that.”

The first-ever women’s marathon was held as part of the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, the last time the event came to the city, and was won by home favourite Joan Benoit.

She remains the only American woman to have won an Olympic marathon gold, while Frank Shorter is the last man from the country to claim victory in the event, which came at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, though Meb Keflezighi earned silver in Athens in 2004.

The 2016 Los Angeles Marathon will take place the day after the United States Olympic marathon trials — The 2016 Los Angeles Marathon in February will take place the day after the US Olympic trials ©Getty Images

"It is special to compete in Los Angeles after it staged the first women’s marathon all those years ago,” Desiree Linden, who won a silver medal in the 10,000 metres at the Pan American Games in Toronto this year and represented the United States at London 2012, said.

“I won’t be surprised if it creeps into my mind during the race and I hope the event can continue to showcase women’s marathon.”

Russell’s comments after Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti claimed at the recent Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) General Assembly that members of the International Olympic Committee had been talking about the success of Los Angeles 1984 rather than Boston’s failed attempt to stage the 2024 Games.

Boston’s bid was dropped by the United States Olympic Committee in July, before Los Angeles stepped in September, after the city’s Mayor Marty Walsh refused to sign the host city contract, and also due to the fact that public support was continuing to wane.

Garcetti emphasised how the latest campaign will seek to embrace similar themes which contributed to the success of the last Games in the Californian city, although it will not seek to replicate it in every way.