LetsRun.com

Brussels Is Friday *Start Lists

Provisional Start Lists For Brussels Diamond League The meet was supposed to feature a Bolt-Gay-Powell showdown but with Bolt and Powell injured, that is gone. The highlights are a Kaki-Rudisha 800m matchup (which hopefully can be like their last matchup, where Kaki was closing on Rudisha), a stellar men's 1,500m (with the hot Leo Manzano getting another crack) and 16 Diamond League final events.
*Steve Hooker Hoping To Redeem Himself In Brussels
*Paul Doyle, Asafa Powell's Agent, Says Powell Is Still A Popular Draw The article makes it sound like Powell still gets $75,000 appearance fees. And to show stats aren't always the truth, it claims Powell was the most popular athlete in the world prior to the 2008 Olympics.
*Jacob Hernandez Focused On Future The only connection this article has to Brussels is Leo Manzano. But if Leo is a 1:44 guy, then Hernandez had better start thinking he can run 1:43 if he wants to be competitive.

A Classic in Chicago

Sammy Wanjiru, Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot and Tsegaye Kebede (and Ryan Hall) Racing at 2010 BofA Chicago Marathon The race officially announced it's field and the addition of Kebede (who we crowned the current top marathoner in the world after his win in London) and Boston champ Cheruiyot with the previously announced Ryan Hall and (unofficially announced) Olympic champ Wanjiru make this a race for the ages.

Road/XC News

Parkersburg Half Marathon Course Records Broken This used to be the US Half Marathon champs course and is a very difficult half marathon.
*Video Of Parkersburg From Local TV Station

News We Missed: Edna Kiplagat Throws Out First Pitch At Dodgers Game She won the LA Marathon last spring, which we completely ignored since the race does not drug test despite having the resources to do so.

Could XC Running Really Come To The Winter Olympics? espn.com Think of what a legend Paul Tergat would be. One race, one true champion. Anyone remember Alan Culpepper's win in Boulder?

Menjo Does It Again - 3:53 Solo Mile! The LRC cult hero who soloed a 12:55 5k earlier in the week capped the week off in style by soloing a 3:53.62. Adrien Blincoe was second in 3:59.27. *Meet Results Here *LRC MBoard Thread On Menjo's 3:53

World Youths *Results

• Recap Of Final Day Of Youth Olympics IAAF
• Team USA Ends Youth Champs With 8 Medals
• Day 5: Africans Sweep Boys 3,000 As Boys Run Really Fast Over 1k The 1k results were crazy: 2:19 to win, 2:21 to medal for 16-year-olds, including one Brit. In the 3k, a Japanese boy came .02 short of medaling and a Japanese girl got silver. *Japanrunningnews Recap With Video
• Recap Of Day 4 At World Youth Champs
  
• Kipketer, Fredericks, Coe And Bubka: Youth Olympic Games "A Golden Opportunity"

Drug News

• Lead Article Front Page Sunday NY Times: A Champion Against Cancer, Now Under Siege (Lance Armstrong) New York Times
• NFL Drug Testing Gets Criticism For Notifying Athletes In Advance Of Tests New York Times
• Some Not Happy Drug Cheat Alene Reta Still Running The Roads

5 Interesting/Recommended Reads

• NY Times Goes To Berlin To Cover Caster Semenya's Return And Finds That Her Competitors Are Irate She's Back We must say that while we feel bad for Semenya, we feel worse for her competitors. *Thread #1 *Thread #2
• Cross-Country Running's Bid For 2018 Winter Games Making Headlines On ESPN
• NY Times: Harold Connolly Was An Unapologetic Fan Of Steroids Connolly was roiding it up in the '50s and '60s and still a fan of steroids when he died. We praise him 100% for his honesty. Connolly: "Pro athletes who can pay for medical guidance should take steroids. They can give fans a better performance, a nice luxury. The argument against it is that they are role models and kids will find the black market."
• Drug Cheat Alan Reta And LetsRun.com's Ripping Of Him Garner Press In California *The MBoard thread they talk about in the article is here.
• Eugene Register Guard's Eulogy To Scott Davis - The Legendary Voice Of The Pre Classic

We're Not Sure Why We Cover Mediocrity *Results

Justin Gatlin Wins Again 10.28 into a 2 m/s wind. It's equal to a 10.15 with no wind. We probably should quit noticing when he runs, as he's an unapologetic cheat. But what do we know? Nike still sponsors him according to this thread.

Asafa Powell Almost Certainly Out Of Commonwealth Games

Training Tip

USATF: Stretching Doesn't Help Reduce Injuries 16% of runners are going to get hurt every 3 months whether they stretch or not. The article does say to do whatever you've been doing. *AP Recap Of Study *LRC MBoard Talk

Blasts From The Past: Irish Junior Record (30:17) At 10k Is 40 Years Old Before you think that is impressive, the US high school record by Rudy Chapa is 34 years old. Oh yeah, his record is 28:32.

Top Women In The News

• Profile Of Surprise Kenyan Champion Nancy Langat The world's best 1,500-meter runner was first seen way back in 1996 and struggled as she was in the wrong event. Now she's basically unbeatable in tactical races.
• Lisa Koll Talks About Decision To Move To Oregon And Sign With Nike She also talks about her recent engagement to Kiel Uhl.
• Running Times Looks At Shalane Flanagan's Move To Schumacher And The Marathon

Sad News - Track And Field Loses Three Heroes

• Olympic Hammer Champ And World Record Holder Harold Connolly Passes Away Good read for those of you wh know very little on this legend. New York Times
• Meb Keflezighi Shares His Memories Of Scott Davis
• Philip Hersh: Track And Field Has Lost 2 Of Its Greats In Harold Connolly And Scott Davis
• Track Announcer And Former Mt. SAC Director Scott Davis Passes Away He announced NCAAs, Pre and the World Juniors champs this year but contacted an infection in Canada and died on Wednesday. *IAAF Eulogy *Message Board Thread On Davis' Passing
• Unsung Hero Of Kenyan Athletics, Joseph Chelimo, Has Passed Away The coach of world/Olympic champions Reuben Kosgei, Richard Limo, Enock Koech, Eliud Kipchoge and Brimin Kipruto was respected by many in Kenya as 2,000 turned out for his funeral.

Catching Up With Adam & Kara Goucher And Amy Begley

• Adam: Close To Retirement? "I always told myself I'll never be that guy, that's 35 years old and can't see the writing on the wall. I'm sure the vast majority of people out there are saying (I) can't see the writing on the wall." *LRC MB: Adam Goucher is coming to grips with retirement
• Kara Talks About Being 6 Weeks Away From Birth And Says Lisa Koll Was Run "Ragged" In College
• 2010 US 10k Champ Amy Begley Has Achilles Surgery

TIA
Gambian Olympic President To Be Removed After Being Sentenced To Death

Week In Review

LRC Week In Review We open our mouths big time this week and have our first $3,350 guarantee regarding Alan Webb. Plus, we confirm that Andrew Wheating is better than Nick Symmonds right now and wonder what happened to Asbel Kiprop, David Rudisha and Alysia Johnson for that matter. And we go ga-ga over David Moorcroft one more time.

Shaq Vs. Tyson

Shaq Vs. Tyson Gay Recap updated with video We have to recap this because it will be the most watched track and field event of the year in the United States by probably a factor of 3 or 4 (we're not joking). Shaq took on Tyson Gay over 30 yards (Gay ran 60) and then Shaq, Mo Greene and Desean Jackson (NFL) took on Tyson Gay, Chris Johnson (NFL) and Dwight Howard (NBA) in a relay.
On The Boards: *Tyson Gay 6.05 60m? #1 all time outdoors?
*Bad move by Tyson Gay?
*Shaq vs. ???

The Comebacks Begin

• LRC: Alan Webb Comeback Begins With 1:52.32 800-Meter Race The American record holder in the mile got off to a slow start and never passed anyone in the race and finished 7th out of 9. The link above includes the race video. Updated: We now have up a new story that has the finishing times of all of the competitors and find the conditions probably added 1-2 seconds to everyone's time.
• LRC: Olympic Silver Medallist Nick Willis Edged By Russell Brown At CIGNA Falmouth Mile As Both Break 4:00.00. The final tally was 3:59.61 to 3:59.73. Willis is on the comeback trail after knee surgery (although he did run 3:35 in Feb.). Link includes race finish.
• After Tough Summer, Russell Brown Pleased To Defeat Willis Brown, wh opened his outdoor season with a 3:36 but never ran faster, was honest about what he accomplished: "I don't think I raced against the real Nick Willis."

Falmouth Road Race

• Gebre Gebremariam's Super-Hot Summer Continues As Ayalew Upsets Chepkurui In Women's Race Gebremariam got yet another sprint victory and now he's won Healthy-Kidney, Peachtree, Beach to Beacon and Falmouth. A day after finishing 4th in the mile in 4:02, American Ed Moran was 5th just behind marathon legend Martin Lel.
• Better Safe Than Sorry, Meb Withdraws From Falmouth The defending ING NYC champ is playing it safe as he was able t run 14.5 miles the day before the race.

Sad News

Antonio Pettigrew Has Died Updated article.
The 1991 world 400m champ, who admitted to using drugs from 1997-2003, was found dead at the age of 42. He was most recently an assistant coach at UNC. We commend Pettigrew for admitting his drug use and for UNC for giving him a second chance.
*Fair Obituary On Antonio Pettigrew In British Newspaper

On The Boards: RIP Antonio Pettigrew
*Career Facts On Pettigrew Eurosport Yahoo
*2008 Article On Pettigrew's Name Coming Out In Court ESPN

1:41.09 Aftermath

Rudisha Dedicates His Victory To His Family And Colm O'Connell; Wilson Kipketer Talks, And Rudisha Will Take On Kaki In Brussels The legendary Kenyan coach Colm O'Connell is Rudisha's coach. Rudisha had left his family to go train with Colm in Iten. If you want to see how beatiful Iten is and why you should never blame training facilities on your lack of progress, click here.
*Billy Konchellah Talks About David Rudisha's World Record Konchellah, the two time 800m world champ, father of Yusuf Kamel (and convicted rapist), is from the same area as Rudisha.
*May 2008 Profile On David Rudisha From Athletics Weekly Rudisha is only 21. Great things were predicted for him 2 years ago.
On The Boards: Bolt vs Rudisha 400m
*Rudisha 800m training
*Rudisha ist der Hammer!

Caster Semenya

Caster Semenya Turns Attention To Commonwealth Games
*Caster Semenya's Coach Ignores New Gender Criticism In case you haven't seen video of her race in Berlin, take 2 minutes to watch it. On paper, it looks like a half-second victory but then when you see it, you see her make a mockery of the competition. We're not sure if we've ever seen an 800m like it before. Video on right or here. After the race, some of her competitors spoke on the sensitive subject of gender: "You have to be diplomatic and keep your opinions to yourself but sometimes it is so frustrating." telegraph.co.uk

ISTAF Berlin (The World's Most Popular Track Meet Attendance-Wise) Was Sunday *Results *Photos *Video Of Rudisha's WR

LRC: David Rudisha Does It - 1:41:09!!! Wilson Kipketer's nearly 13-year-old world record is now a thing of the past as David Rudisha more than erased the bad memories he had in Berlin from not making the World Championships final there last year. The race video is absolutely unreal. In other action, Caster Semenya's return to Berlin was a pleasant one as she broke 2:00 and won (video on right or here). In the men's 3,000, Bernard Lagat's American record attempt came up short as Tariku Bekele shined again. Lastly, in the 1,500, world leader Silas Kiplagat turned things around and dominated to get his 2nd European victory.
More: Semenya Wins And Her Competitors Aren't Happy About It We certainly see why they think it's unfair. Diane Cummins: "There are guys who can challenge Usain Bolt but nobody can challenge Caster Semenya," she said. "She is four or five seconds better than any of us and that's incredible."
*IAAF Recap Of Meet
*Pacemaker Bekele Runs World-Leading Time In 3,000 We're not convinced he was the rabbit - he may have agreed to help out in the latter stages.
RR Who Is David Rudisha? Read this nice profile from 2008.
*Science Of Sport: 49-Second 1st Lap Is Critical
*Kenya Celebrates Rudisha's WR
*BBC Recap Of WR
On The Boards: *RUDISHA WR 1:41:09
*Tariku 7:28, bernard falls off
*Rudisha ist der Hammer!
*No 3k AR for Lagat
*Kiplagat 3:30.61
*Can Solinsky be the first non-african under 7:30 @ Rieti?

Olympics

• 3-On-3 Basketball At 2016 Games? The tournament to pick the USA team would generate millions.
• George Steinbrenner Helped Seilala Sua Make The Olympics
• Craig Virgin Interview He did not have great Olympic success but was a 2 time World XC champ: "It means the same thing now that it meant back then - for two days in my life I was the best in the world at something."

Sprint News

Asafa Powell Calls An End To His Season We were thinking Powell should run Commonwealths so he could win a competition under pressure, but he did win in 2006. Yohan Blake, if he runs, would be stiff competition.

Drugs

• NY Times: Harold Connolly Was Open About Steroids (The Olympic Champ In 1956 Says He Was Using By 1960)
• Oregon 400m Recruit Michael Berry Tests Positive For Weed

Liu Xiang Returns To US To Consult With Doctors

Commonwealth Games Are Approaching - Will They Be Safe?

• English Officials Tell Athletes Games Are Safe But To Expect Terrorist Attacks On Soft Targets Prior To Games
• Former Aussie Star Fears "Another Munich" Will Happen In New Delhi
• New Delhi To Take "Drastic" Security Precautions

Zürich In The Books (Berlin Is Sunday) - *Results *Photos

LRC 2010 Zürich Diamond League Recap: Like Old Times Wariner, Spearmon, Felix, Phillips, US 4 X 100 Impress, Solinsky Gets Closer It was like we went back a few years with all the top American stars from a couple of years ago kicking butt. Besides David Oliver, the one newcomer to the party was American Chris Solinsky, who had his best performance of the year, a third place finish in another sub-13 minute clocking in the 5k, as younger American Galen Rupp ran over 13:00 but a PR. In the women's distance action, Nancy Langat won again and guess what - she didn't break 4:00. Incredible. $40,000 went to 16 Diamond League winners.
*Mo Farah Gets David Moorcroft's British 5,000m Record
*World Leader For Jeremy Wariner In Zürich
*Tyson Gay Leads Fast 4 X 100
*IAAF Recap Of Zürich: David Oliver's 12.93 Leads Way

On The Message Boards:
*Zurich womens 1500: Pierce and Uceny DNF?
*Zurich 5000m thread.
*Solinsky starting to remind me of Pre
*pro runners and narcissism
*Is Solinsky done?
*What happened to RUPP?
*Watler Dix Lost Out on $40,000 by Not Running Zurich

Sad: ING NYC Marathon To Finish At A Hot Dog Stand

NY Post: Local Union And Mayor Bloomberg Have Shut Down And Bankrupted Tavern On The Green Tavern on the Green the landmark, where the NYC Marathon finishes, has been shuttered since the start of the year. It looks like it's going to stay that way solely because of politics. The restaurant was NYC highest grossing last year and is the #2 grossing restaurant in the US, yet it's closed. Crazy.
*NY Daily News: Tavern On The Green's Future As Hot Dog Stand This article is older, but people outside of NY have no idea of what is going on.

More Euro/African News

• Olympic High Jump Champ Belgian Tia Hellebaut Is Pregnant Again And Will Announce Retirement
• What The Hell Happened To Pamela Jelimo? That's not the actual headline but it's what we're thinking.
• British Athletes Who Go To Commonwealths Are Being Told To Skip Indoor Season independent.co.uk
• Recap Of S. African 10k Champs Despite a $7,000 bonus, Wejo's PR of 28:06 could not be beaten.

Recommended Reads/London-Related Articles

• David Oliver Talks About His Rise From A Foot Locker Employee With No Contract To #1 In The World In 4 Years Along the way, he rips the European competition: "Outdoors, I don't really pay attention to any European guy."
• To Be One Of The World's Best, Mo Farah Eats, Sleeps & Trains Like/With The Kenyans Farah: "There's no distractions - no television, no going to the cinema. I realised if I was going to achieve anything I would have to do what the Kenyans were doing."
• Thanks To Yohan Blake's 9.89 In London, Jamaica Is Now 1st Country To Have 4 Sub-9.90s In One Season

Aviva London DL Friday-Saturday *LRC LiveThread *Full London Results *Friday Recap *Saturday Recap *Photos *Gay's 9.78 All-Comers Record!

Oliver, Wariner And Felix Headline Day II, Leo Goes 3:50 In Mile
American sprinters and field eventers, led by David Oliver (13.06), dominated the final day in London. In the distance events, Kenyan Augustine Choge took the men's mile in 3:50, while Leonel Manzano came back with another fine performance, running 3:50.64 to place 3rd and set himself atop the 2010 US mile leaderboard. 2 Americans (Uceny and Pierce) broke 2:00 in the 800 but Mariya Savinova (1:58) proved she's the world #1, as Alysia Johnson and Maggie Vessey were well back. Biggest surprise of the day? Christian Cantwell loses a 20-meet win streak in the shot put.
*IAAF Recap Of Day 2: Felix Completes Sprint Double As Christian Cantwell Loses For 1st Time All Year
*Top Coaches Ricky Simms, Terrence Mahon And Alberto Salazar Talk At UK Distance Summit Rule #1 - Make sure you coach some of the most talented people on the planet.
*After Excelling At Euros, Brits Flop At Home
*US Stars Dominate
*Carolina Klüft Profile Very few photos included.
*Oscar Pistorious Still Way Short Of Commonwealth Games Time
LRC MBoard Talk
*Leo Goes 3:50 For 3rd
*Maggie Vessey???
*Elite Coaches Meet, Talk Training In London

London Friday: Tyson Gay 9.78 Into A Headwind!!!
With Asafa Powell and Usain Bolt sidelined and rainy, cool conditions for the first of two days in London, American Tyson Gay ran the fastest time of 2010 despite not being sure if his groin would hold up. Aviva Grand Prix Day 1 also featured PRs for Oregon grads Wheating and Rupp, a win for Lagat in the 3k, and the return of Tirunesh Dibaba to the top of the world 5,000 ranks.
*Andrew Wheating 1:44.56 PR For 2nd Ahead Of Nick Symmonds Again
*Men's 3k: Lagat Wins 7:40, Farah 2nd, Rupp 7:43 PR, Mottram 7:45
*Full Friday Results
*Tyson Gay Blitzes Field With World Leading 9.78 Eurosport/Yahoo Recap
*IAAF's UK Respondent Has Laptop Stolen