LetsRun.com: The Home of Distance Running and Track and Field

Listen on Demand: LetsRun.com Track Talk: Zurich Weltklasse Preview: How Fast Will Mo Go? What Will Galen Do in Chicago? Clayton Murphy Joines NOP 50 minute podcast with Jonathan Gault in Zurich as we previewed Thursday’s Diamond League finale.

LetsRun Exclusives

LRC WTW: Gabe Grunewald Keeps Inspiring Us, Shalane Flanagan Gets Upgraded to Silver,and Why Wasn’t Dawit Seyaum at Worlds? A look around the running world.

LRC Is the 2017 Bank of America Chicago Marathon being watered down so Galen Rupp can win it? Normally a world marathon major like Chicago has at least 6 or 7 sub 2:07 guys who can challenge for the win. This year Chicago has just two. Is a victory for Galen Rupp almost pre-ordained?
*MB: Is the 2017 Chicago Marathon being set up so Galen Rupp is almost guaranteed to win it?

Assorted Distance News

GB’s Anthony Whiteman Goes Sub-1:50 To Break World M45 800m Record Whiteman ran 1:49.86 to break his own record by .66 and become the oldest man to ever go under 1:50.
Mo Farah “Wouldn’t Change Any Part” Of His Career After Ending With A Win In Birmingham Farah gave his singlet to countryman Andrew Butchart after the race and told him it was “his time to shine.”
The Denver Post: British Runner Ian Sharman Wins Leadville 100 For The Fourth Time
2020 Tokyo Olympic Marathon To Start And Finish At The Olympic Stadium And Follow The Tokyo Marathon Course The last time the Olympic marathon finished in the stadium was in the Bird’s Nest at the 2008 Beijing Games.
Runner Fights Off Attacker On The Trails In Eugene, Oregon The woman was brought to the ground by an attacker hiding in the brush, but she fought him off, possibly breaking his nose before escaping.

Upcoming Action: Caster Semenya Going For A WR?

Sunday: Caster Semenya Leads List Of Eight World Champions Competing In The ISTAF Meet At Berlin’s Olympic Stadium Semenya specifically requested that the meet run the 600 instead of the 800 and she may go for the 20-year-old WR of 1:22.63 while facing world silver medalist Francine Niyonsaba. Other world champions include Phyllis Francis, Ramil Guliyev, Dafne Schippers and Sam Kendricks vs. Renaud Lavillenie.
The World University Games Begin Today In Taipei GB is sending distance runners Jess Judd and Adelle Tracey while three-time world hammer champ Pawell Fajdek highlights the throws. *Live Results/Schedule/Start Lists *Entries
August 29: Zagreb Meeting Preview: World Discus Champ Sandra Perkovic Leads “Parade Of Stars” An interesting 100m features 200 world champ Ramil Guliyev against Asafa Powell, Yohan Blake and and Adam Gemili while Dawn Harper Nelson faces Queen Harrison, Christina Manning and Kristi Castlin in the 100H.
February: Indoor Track Returns To Georgia The meet will feature competition from the youth level all the way through NCAA and the pros.

Doping News

Justin Gatlin Issues “Official Apology” To Fans Who Booed Him At Worlds Gatlin admitted that it “hurt” when he was booed by the London fans and reminds people that he wrote apology letters to the IAAF back in 2010.
CAS Upholds Life Bans For Papa Massata Diack And Two Former Russian Officials They were all banned for covering up Liliya Shobukhova‘s doping and blackmailing her for it.
*IAAF Statement On CAS Ruling Upholding Bans On Three Former Officials
Shalane Flanagan Officially Gets Her 2008 Olympic Silver Medal Upgrade After Turkish Distance Runner Elvan Abeylegesse’s Doping Positive Flanagan decided to “celebrate in private” rather than receive her medal during any formal ceremony. *2nd Article

Truly Random

Usain Bolt To Open 15 Of His Tracks & Records Fast Food Restaurants In The UK
Just 3 Or 4 Journalists Showed Up To Hear People Complain About The IAAF Not Adding The Women’s 50k Racewalk Earlier
What Was The Best Throws Country In 2017? Poland. The good news for US fans is America was #1 in the shot.

Good Reads

Recommended Read Tianna Bartoletta Writes Great Blog Stating She’s Upset She Was Booted Off 4 X 100 Team
LetsRun Visitor Writes About U.S. Army’s World Class Athlete Program For ESPN’s “The Undefeated” Article quotes Rojo and has this great quote from Andy Bayer: “I think our country was built by immigration. Welcoming new citizens is what the nation has been about. At times I’ve gotten frustrated because I didn’t want to lose to them, but when I step back and see how we should be as a people, it’s a lot different.”
*MB: Check out an article I wrote on the WCAP
Sarcastic British Fans Are Happy They Will Have A Dual Meet With US Next Year: “Less chance of finishing fourth I suppose.”
British Journalist Wonders If Mo Farah Should Do A Podcast With Someone Like LetsRun (Like Evan Jager) About Doping Instead Of Getting Annoyed By Questions

Post-Worlds Reaction – Ireland Didn’t Win Any Medals And Britain Only Won 2 Individual Medals

Pat Butcher Is Far From Impressed From Britain’s Success In Relays As He Thinks Relays Are A Joke “Athletics is an individual sport; one man or woman (more or less) against the rest, and the best one wins.” On that front, GBR was awful as Farah was the only Brit to medal individually.
Cathal Dennehy Says World Champs Were One Of Worst Ever For Ireland They only put one non-walker in the top 20 of any events.
Sonia O’Sullivan Is Very Upset That Ireland Didn’t Wear Green Warmups At Worlds – Say They Looked More Like The New Zealand All Blacks We agree.

Kiwi Coach Is Satisfied: NZ Coach Pleased With Worlds Performance: “I’d say it was six or seven out of ten.” The article also says the Robertson twins “probably” will be moving to the marathon.

2017 Weltlkasse Zürich Is Thursday Schedule & Results TV & Streaming

LRC A big tidbit from Zurich: Mo Farah thinks he could have run a 5,000 in 12:45 (and an 800 in 1:44-5) had he time trialed one in his prime Plus Emma Coburn gives her thoughts on whether the 9:00 barrier is breakable.
*MB: Mo Farah told us today he thinks he could have run 12:45 in his prime…. Agree or disagree?

LRC 2017 Weltklasse Zurich Preview: Mo Farah Says Goodbye To The Track, Emma Coburn Chases Sub-9:00 & Elijah Manangoi Looks To Close Out Big Year In 1,500 With $100,000 on the line per event, Thursday’s action should be spectacular.

New Points System Is Keeping Some Big Names Out Of The Diamond League Finals Ajee Wilson and Jenny Simpson are world medalists, but didn’t earn enough DL points through the season to get into the final meets.
IAAF Preview: First Of 16 Diamond League Champions To Be Crowned In Zurich Top non-distance action includes Dafne Schippers vs. Elaine Thompson and Shaunae Miller-Uibo over 200m and Sam Kendricks trying to stop Renaud Lavillenie from winning his 8th DL trophy in the PV.
MB: The Zurich DL final is Thursday – Will Mo Farah end his track career as a winner? Will the 5k AR fall?

LetsJumpAndThrow.com

IAAF Profile: The More Pressure The Better For Mutaz Essa Barshim Barshim says he moved the bar up to 2.40 in Birmingham because there wasn’t enough pressure at the lower heights.
Good Read: Bermudan LJ Record Holder Tyrone Smith Shares The Challenge Of Being A Pro Athlete While Working Full Time As A Car Salesman Smith talks about the dilemma as whether or not to answer sales calls during training and anti-doping testers showing up while he’s in the middle of a sale.
Post Worlds Podcast Featuring Interview With World Champ Sam Kendricks And Silver Medalist Jarrion Lawson
European Athletics: Barbora Spotakova Still Striking Gold At Age Of 36 It’s almost 9 years since Spotakova set the javelin WR and it had been 10 years since she had won her only world title, but her London gold showed she’s still the top woman in the event.
Video Interview: “Who Is USA Hammer Hottie?” Olympic shot put champ Michelle Carter interviews USAs 4th placer Amber Campbell.

Duel In The Sun

LRC Investigates Epic iPhone Failure: iPhone Fails To Record Solar Eclipse – Is This A Sign From Above It’s Time To Short Apple (AAPL)? A LetsRun.com investigation reveals that Apple’s much-hyped iPhone is incapable of properly recording the solar eclipse. Is this a sign that it’s time to dump AAPL?
*MB: Discuss

2017 Birmingham DL Compiled Results Video Interviews *Full Coverage

LRC Recap: Farah Exits British Soil With A Win, Hassan Impresses, Americans Struggle, Barshim Goes 2.40 The American distance runners weren’t great, but we can forgive them after their medal haul in London. Jenny Simpson may be forced to watch the DL final from home. *Full Results

LRC Birmingham Post-Race Interviews

MB Talk

Outside Coverage

Klosterhalfen Is Thrilled With 2nd In 3,000 “I beat the world champion (Obiri). I cannot believe it. I am so happy. It has been such a memorable year for me.”
Farah Takes Off His Vest And Gives It To Andy Butchart To Mark Symbolic Changing Of GB Guard
BBC Puts Random People On Treadmill And Has Them Run At Mo Farah’s 5,000m Pace For As Long As Possible (Video)
Barshim Became The First Man To Ever Jump 2.40 Or Higher In 5 Straight Years
Week After Relay Glory, Britain’s Top Sprinters Are Brought Back To Reality In Birmingham

A Look Back At 2017 Worlds

LRC Track Talk Post-Worlds 2017 Podcast We took a look back at the highs and lows of Worlds, wondered if Emma Coburn‘s gold was the result of white privilege and got excited for the rest of the DL season. Archive coming soon.

LRC The Grades Are In: USA Distance Runner Report Cards From The World Championships In London We rank everyone from A++ to D.

LRC The Five Races We Most Want To See After The World Championships, Including Jenny Simpson Vs. Emma Coburn In The Steeple The good news for track fans is they should see 4 of these matchups in the next 2 weeks. The Jenny vs. Emma one is the only one not likely to happen.

LRC What A Year Sam Kendricks Is Having And Hope You Didn’t Bet Big On The Favorites If you placed bets on the favorite at Worlds, you would have lost a lot.

Young Stars In The News

With Mo Farah Gone From The Track, Joshua Cheptegei Feeling Confident He’ll Dominate The 10k “There is nothing that is going to stop me from dominating the 10,000m race,” said Cheptegei.
After 200/400 Double Didn’t Go As Planned, Shaunae Miller-Uibo Is Taking Long-Term Approach: “I’m still young and I still have a lot more years in me …”
Paul Ereng Has No Problems With Fact That Korir Went Pro: “The decision for him to turn pro not only benefits him but also the program.”

Drug Stuff

Linet Masai, Like Shalane Flanagan, Was Happy To Receive Her 2008 Olympic 10,000 Medal Upgrade “Without Any Pomp” Masai moved up from 4th to 3rd after Turkey’s Elvan Abeylegesse‘s positive retest.
Fancy Bears Release TUE Information On 2010 FIFA World Cup Players The files reveal 25 soccer players that received TUEs.

Things To Watch

Movie Review Of Netflix Doping Documentary, Icarus Athletics Illustrated’s Chris Kelsall gives a rundown of the new film which he says “brings you a step closer to the proverbial big red doping machine of Russia.” *Trailer
Running Themed Music Video – “I Keep Loving You” The song, written by 2:17 marathoner Pete McNeill, isn’t about running, but it’s the theme of the music video which features a number of DII and DIII NCAA athletes.
Check Out The New Documentary On Gabe Grunewald GABE shows Grunewald’s journey as she tries to train and race while battling cancer for the fourth time.
PSA: Kara Goucher Teams Up With PETA To Remind Dog Owners That Running With Your Dog In The Heat Can Be Fatal Dogs can’t cool themselves as well as humans can and Goucher warns rather than stop, they will “try to soldier through until they collapse.”

**2017 New Balance Falmouth *Results**

RRW Stephen Sambu Edges Leonard Korir To Win 4th-Straight Falmouth Title; Sambu Is Now Winningest Man In Falmouth History Olympian Leonard Korir didn’t want to do any of the leading but Stephen Sambu was still able to outkick him and move past Bill Rodgers for the most men’s wins in Falmouth history.