An Unexpected Path to the Olympic Track and Field Trials
“We’re huge fans of the sport, and to have all of the pros come out and commit, it was a big opportunity,” Knowlton said. “So we hired a production team down there, and decided to put it out there for free on YouTube, and figure out the business model around that.”
Usually, if you hope to watch the fastest runners in the world, you have to do your homework. Many meets are streamed on sites like FloTrack, RunnerSpace, or USATF.TV, with each demanding a subscription fee. Others are on cable networks and usually fall in the middle of the day.
The Trials of Miles team decided to hold its events at night, when viewers are accustomed to tuning into live sports. So on Feb. 26 and 27, Trials of Miles streamed more than seven and a half hours of live track and field.
Konstanze Klosterhalfen broke the German national record in the 10,000-meter race in 31:01.71. Keira D’Amato hit the U.S. Olympic trial qualifying time by running 32:16.82, just 9 seconds under the standard. Isaiah Harris ran the men’s 800-meters in 1:46.19, and the 2016 Olympic medalist Ajee’ Wilson ran the women’s 800-meters in 1:58.93.
Altogether, both nights of the event have been viewed more than 136,000 times. Klosterhalfen’s race, later uploaded separately, has been viewed 118,000 times.
Trials of Miles kept the momentum going by hosting track events in Kansas City, Kan., on May 1 (the Kansas City Qualifier) and in New York City (the NYC Qualifier) on May 21. All meets were streamed live online.
