Sports

MARATHON MEN

When the U.S. Olympic marathon trials begin at 7:35 a.m. Saturday in Central Park, there will be at least a half-dozen men with a chance of making it to Beijing next summer, but Meb Keflezighi and Khalid Khannouchi are two of the runners who stand out.

Keflezighi, a naturalized native of Ethiopia, is a reigning Olympic silver medalist, the first U.S. man to do so in 32 years. The Moroccan-born Khannouchi is a proud, 35-year-old former world record holder trying to regain the form that he lost to injuries. Now a resident of Ossining, he hopes of making his first Olympic team for his adopted country.

Khannouchi came to Brooklyn as a 22-year-old who washed dishes to make a living as he rose up the road-running ranks. He’s the American record-holder at 2:05.38, but chronic right-foot injuries have slowed him since 2002.

They cost him the trials, forcing him to drop out of this year’s London race and hampered him in a 13th-place finish in the San Jose Half-Marathon.

“To be honest, I [stunk],” said Khannouchi, who tellingly never once looked up at a video of his two record races.

“That’s past. That’s history,” he said. “This is the present. I have a dream of representing the U.S. in the Olympics. Hopefully I’ll rise to the occasion.”

He’s hopeful after Dr. Edwin Osorio discovered he has a neuroma between his second and third metatarsals, and convinced him to race in orthotics, since his left leg is 9 millimeters shorter than his right.

Keflezighi’s injury woes haven’t been chronic, just untimely. He was slowed by some bad chicken fettuccini here last year and forced to quit last year in London with a blister.

Now healthy, Khannouchi said Keflezighi – who ran a 27:41.26 10,000 meters last month before hurting his calf – has the speed to break his U.S. mark.

“It gives me chills to hear that,” said Keflezighi, who trains in the 9,000-foot altitude of Mammoth, Calif. “Khalid is an inspiration to me. I haven’t won yet. I’m still driven. I want to run as fast as Khalid says I can. I don’t want to retire and be the guy who never won a race.”

brian.lewis@nypost.com