Claire Hallissey, Louise Damen and Liz Yelling will hope to book the last spot in Great Britain's women's team when they run in Sunday's London Marathon.
Paula Radcliffe and Mara Yamauchi have already qualified and Jo Pavey, who is not running, is ranked third in the UK.
But Hallissey, Damen and Yelling could boost their chances if they run faster than Pavey's best time in the last race before the team is announced on Monday.
Benedict Whitby and Lee Merrien will be seeking to make the men's team.
Pavey's time of two hours 28 minutes and 24 seconds in London last year puts her third in the rankings over the last 12 months.
That time is 63 seconds quicker than her closest rival for selection, Hallissey, who ran her time in Boston last October.
"I see Jo also has half an eye on running the 10,000m at the Olympics as a back-up," Hallissey said. "I would much rather be going out racing and having it in my own hands.
"We all know what time we need to go for so we will be going for it. Then it all comes down to racing against each other."
Damen, 29, is a self-coached PE teacher who made her marathon debut in London last year and ran an excellent time of two hours and 30 minutes, exactly one minute inside the Olympic qualifying standard.
Damen, who was forced to drop out of her only other marathon in Yokohama last November, said: "I've probably experienced the two ends of the spectrum.
"I had a great experience on my debut in London and then a horrible one in Yokohama. It taught me you can have a brilliant build-up but things can go wrong over 26 miles."
Mark ButlerBBC Sport athletics statistician
Ten years ago in London we were raving about an epic three-way race between Khalid Khannouchi, Paul Tergat and Haile Gebrselassie which ended in Khannouchi setting a new world record of 2:05.38. Such has been the advancement in men's marathoning over the past decade that Khannouchi is no longer in the world all-time top 30. Kenyans and Ethiopians have redefined the marathon in the 21st century.
Yelling, who finished 24th in the 2004 Olympics in Athens and 26th in Beijing, is determined to make her third Olympics and make amends for her disappointment in 2008, when an injury hindered her progress.
The 37-year-old, whose personal best of 2:28.33 was set in London in 2008, said: "I led for the first nine miles and then got tripped at 10 miles.
"I went down quite hard and did not realise at the time that I had cracked a rib, and when I stepped up the pace I was unable to breathe. That inhibited my ability to run and I was really annoyed."
Two of the three men's GB places are still to be filled, with Scott Overall securing his place with a brilliant performance in Berlin last September.
Overall will be one of the pacemakers for the likes of training partner Whitby - a London policeman - and Merrien, with the target being the Olympic 'A' standard of 2:12.00.
"I know sections of the course and often go out at lunch and run between the 13-17 mile points; that stretch is very familiar," said 35-year-old Whitby.
"Having someone there like Scott, who you can trust to set the right pace, is really beneficial."
Emmanuel Mutai will defend his men's title against five fellow Kenyans all vying for places on their country's Olympic team.
Mutai smashed the course record to win in 2:04.40 last year, but will need to be at his best in a field which includes 11 men who have run under 2:06.
In the women's race, last year's winner Mary Keitany goes up against her fellow Kenyans as she looks to secure Olympic selection, with the likes of world champion Edna Kiplagat, silver medallist Priscah Jeptoo and Berlin winner Florence Kiplagat all in a high-class field.
Britain's David Weir, who claimed his first London title in 2002, is chasing the victory in the wheelchair race that would see him equal the six titles won by Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson.
In the women's race, American Amanda McGrory will be hoping to repeat last year's success, when she took almost two minutes off the course record.
Among this year's fun runners are shadow chancellor Ed Balls, BBC newsreader Sophie Raworth, chef Gordon Ramsay and model Nell McAndrew.
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