LetsRun.com

Alan Webb Is Back!

LRC Alan Webb Runs 3:41.16 1,500m (= 3:58.90 Mile) And 14:15 5k In Antwerp, Belgium The Webbster appears to be progressing very well in his comeback, as he won the race and beat a guy who has run 3:36 twice this year. *Webb Post-Race Video *Salazar Post-Race Video

Crim 10-Miler *Results

• Molly Huddle Can Relate To This
  Recommended Read Kenyans Go 1-2-3 As Fasil Bizuneh Captures US 10-Mile Championships Bizuneh ran the fastest time by an American at Crim in 11 years (47:29) to get 4th overall and get his 1st US title at age 30. Kenyan, Julius Kogo, who paid his own airfare to the race, was justly rewarded with victory. Random aside - this is a nice piece of running journalism. *LRC MBoard Talk On Race
• Women: Mare Dibaba Wins In 53:52 As 6-Time Champ Ndereba Finishes 5th (56:04)
• Paul Aufdemberge Wins Masters *USATF Release On Bizuneh's Win
• Video: Interview With Fasil Bizuneh *Video: Interview With Runner-Up Antonio Vega

54,000 Watch Finland Beat Sweden In Dual Meet *Results Here

Final DL Meet Brussels Was Friday *Results *LRC Brussels Photo Gallery *More Photos

LRC American Record For Molly Huddle, Manzano Impresses Again, Rudisha Over Kaki, Semenya Gets Beaten Huddle's record is what the record books will remember, as her great 2010 continues (she's dropped her 5k PR 33 seconds). Despite her record, she was only 10th in the race, thanks to emerging Kenyan women. The American distance performance of the night in our book was Leo Manzano's second-place finish in the 1,500m to Asbel Kiprop. If this race had been 1,510m, Manzano would have been the champ. David Rudisha prevailed over Kaki in their dual and Semenya was soundly beaten, making some wonder if it was on purpose. In the sprints, Tyson Gay won 9.79 over Nesta Carter's 9.85, Priscilla Lopes-Schliep performed well under pressure, and Blanka Vlašić completed a perfect Diamond League season (too bad for her it wasn't the Golden League).
*BBC Recap Of Brussels
*IAAF Recap Of Brussels
*Reuters Recap Of Brussels
*BBC Post-Race Video Interview With Caster Semenya We think if you watch the video, you'll conclude she didn't lose on purpose.

Brussels On The Boards: *Molly Huddle 14:44.76 American Record
*Manzano 3:32.18!!! PR Just Behind Olympic Champ Kiprop! The American distance performance of the meet in our minds, even though we'd rather have an American record.
*Semenya tanked on purpose?
*Rudisha Over Kaki

Sad News

20-Year-Old Trying Out For North Carolina A&T Track Team Drops Dead A tragedy for all involved, including possibly A&T, as it looks like lawsuits are in the making as a trainer wasn't present. Can people ever admit tragedies just sometimes occur?

New York Marathon News

• Pregnant With First Child, Deena Kastor Will Miss ING New York City Marathon This Fall
• Half Marathon Stud Mary Keitany Commits To Marathon Debut In New York Plus they got much more. The world champ Abel Kirui is running and barely mentioned. Plus Gebre Gebremariam comes back to the marathon hot on the roads, Peter Kamais, Emmanuel Mutai and Werkdnesh Kidane.

More Track News

• Recommended Read: How Mo Farah Beat Moorcroft's British 5,000m Record BBC The article takes a statistical look at Farah's run. It's hard to believe his run was the FIRST British male track record in over a decade. What has happened to the Brits?
• When Usain Bolt Is In Australia In September, He'll Study Fabrice Lapierre's Long Jump Form For Possibly Taking Up Event After 2012
• Tyson Gay To Run 100m In Zagreb On September 1 Getting a little more cash for his vacation.

Chicago Is Back - Take That, New York!!!!!

Boston And London And Olympic Champs Added To Chicago Field
The race officially announced its field and the addition of Tsegaye Kebede (who we crowned the current top marathoner in the world after his win in London) and Boston champ Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot with the previously-announced Ryan Hall and (unofficially-announced) Olympic champ Sammy Wanjiru make this a race for the ages. For those of you who don't know, that means you have the World Marathon Majors leaders(Kebede and Wanjiru) going head to head for $500,000, have the reigning Boston champ, the reigning London champ as well as and Hall. *Article On Chicago Written By New York Professional Athlete Consultant David Monti

The Week That Was

LRC Week In Review This week we praise a steroid user, rip the NFL, and talk about Wilson Kipketer, David Rudisha, Caster Semenya, Chris Solinsky, Adam Goucher and others. Along the way, we introduce you to a 16-year-old prodigy from Britain and try to cheer up Galen Rupp.

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"

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.

Great Meet Sunday In Rieti, Italy (Men's 1,500m At 11:50 am Eastern, 800 12:10 Eastern, 3k 12:50 pm) *Live results  *Live Thread

IAAF Preview This meet isn't in the Diamond League, but it's tremendous in the distance races this year. It's got what we think is the top 1,500m (Asbel Kiprop vs. Silas Kiplagat for the first time on European soil) in Europe this summer on the men's side, plus Rudisha trying to run really fast again, and a great list of names (Solinsky vs. Lagat plus Rupp) in the men's 3k for LetsRun.com fans. Could the American record fall?
*Athletics Weekly Preview of Rieti Possible world record attemps in the men's 110h and men's 800 and an American 3k assault by Solinsky and Lagat should get your attention.
*Rieti On Sunday: Solinsky Vs. Lagat Vs. Rupp In 3k, Donohue Vs. Rowbury, Pierce, Uceny In 1,500
*Robles Out Of Rieti

Kiprop Vs. Kiplagat First Time In Europe On Sunday
True Phenom: The Incredible Story Of Silas Kiplagat, Who Ran 3:29.27 For 1,500m In His First European Race Ever At Age 20 Silas Kiplagat started running two years ago thanks to the encouragement of Sammy Kitwara. Yes, the same Kitwara we highlighted last year: Sammy Kitwara: The Best Runner You've Never Heard Of. Because of Kitwara, Kiplagat wanted to run long distances, but coach Moses Kiptanui (former world record holder in the steeple) pushed him to the 1,500m. Thanks to the IAAF Focus on Athletes project and author Mutwiri Mutuota for letting us share this story with you. Kiplagat takes on Asbel Kiprop for the first time in Europe in a great 1,500m matchup Sunday in Rieti.

Bolt's Book "Usain Bolt: 9.58" Is Coming Out Thursday, Sept. 2

• Book Excerpt - Bolt: "If there were medals for partying I'd have won them all." The sprint king has no problem being honest in the book.
• The Telegraph: Bolt's Fast & Loose "I don't want to talk about the old days. I was really bad. I'd go all night. But I never got drunk. I don't do drunk."
• More: Bolt Reveals Some Jamaicans Think He Was Bribed To Tank In A World Championship
• Report: Bolt's New Puma Deal Is Worth $32 Million, But That's Just .02% Of The Richest Sportsman in History. Apparently the Roman gladiator Circus Maximus made the equivalent of $15 billion in prize money during his career. Also, apparently an Indian cricket player makes more than Bolt does currently.
• Usain Bolt Q&A About Puma Deal He has to answer a stupid question as to whether or not Puma is exploiting Jamaicans.

Alberto Salazar's Group Talks From The Netherlands

• Galen Rupp Talks About His 2010 Season And His Upcoming 3,000 Rupp starts things off by giving the details of a recent 1,200-800-400 workout and talks about his relationship with Alberto Salazar. He then tells you what he thinks he needs to do to reach the next level and tell you his favorite and least favorite workouts. *LRC MB Talk Of Interview
• Interview #2: Alberto Salazar: "Alan Webb will break American records in the 1,500 and the mile." Salazar also says that everyone in his group, including Dathan Ritzenhein and Galen Rupp, know that Alan is most the talented of the bunch. *LRC MB: Salazar Drops the Gauntlet saying Webb WILL break ARs
• Interview #1: Alan Webb Talks Confidently About His Comeback

Bolt: If There Were Medals For Partying, I'd Have Won Them All

Embarrassment Of The Week
Recommended Read: European Athletics Association Tried To Hide Hind Dehiba's Drug Suspension From Her Profile This is a great article as it points out that Dehiba can run in the Diamond League but Dwain Chambers is banned.

Sprint News

• Tyson Gay: Eyes 4 x 400 For 2012 Games Gay might go down in history himself as the GOAT if he could pull that off, assuming he wins and Bolt doesn't do it as well.
• Audio Interview: Bolt Says He Needs Extra Push To Break WR
• We Hope He Got More Than This: Bolt Got More Than $15 Million For 3 Years The article says Bolt is in the same league as Cristiano Ronaldo. We say he's worth more.

Random US News

• Stat Of The Day
  USATF Revenue Down 22.2% In 2009 See page 28 to see the drop of 3.7 million.
• A Brief Chat With Lisa Koll

Midweek Action

• 18,000 Show Up In Villeneuve D'Ascq, France To Watch LeMaitre Get Beaten, Teddy Tamhgo And Renaud Lavillenie Impress LeMaitre had not raced since Europeans and it showed.
• Christian Cantwell's 21.91 Highlights Dubnica, Slovakia Meet
• Mustafa Mohamed Wins Steeple, 5k, 10k At Swedish Champs It sounds more impressive than it is.

The Real Story At Shaq Vs. Tyson Gay

The Inside Scoop On Shaq Vs. Tyson Gay (Shaq's Injury And TV Ratings) The ratings are in and Tyson Gay was a huge hit on Shaq Vs., as ratings were up 34% from the week before. More people watched Shaq Vs. than the COMBINED audience of the Prefontaine Meet, Reebok Meet, NCAA meet and any other meet you want to throw in there. Plus, thanks to two people who were at the taping, we reveal that a third race between Shaq and Tyson had to be cancelled because Shaq suffered an injury of sorts in the second race (which you can see if you study the video carefully). Fortunately for Shaq and the Celtics, the injury wasn't serious.

Recommended Reads

• Excellent Tribute To Scott Davis In Orange Country Register
• LetsRun.com Now In Hebrew Well, it's recommended if you speak Hebrew. We always said we're world famous.

Take That, Nike

Usain Bolt Re-Signs With Puma And Is Reportedly The Highest-Paid Track Athlete In History Bolt is living large as, being injured, he was home in Jamaica on his birthday for the first time in 7 years. *2nd Article From ESPN *Article In WSJ: "I want to make for Puma like what Michael Jordan made for Nike."
*Bolt Excited To Do Long Jump After Winning 100-200 In 2012 He thinks that he'll be a star at the event. Apparently, he jumped while warming up in Czechoslvakia a few years ago. We'll pay someone $1,000 for that video. Meanwhile, enjoy this video.
*Believe It Or Not: Bolt's Bday Celebration Was Very Low-Key

More Aftermath On Semenya And Rudisha

Recommended Read David Rudisha's Dad Missed His Son's World Record As His TV Wasn't Working Dad was an Olympic silver medalist in the 4 x 400 and is very proud.
*David Rudisha Given Wild Card To Commonwealth Games Apparently the star is going to go to India.
*More Great Diane Cummins Quotes About Semenya "Unfortunately for Caster, she's grown up in an environment that is complicated not just for her but for human science."

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!

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.