LetsRun.com

The Week That Was

LRC Weekly Recap: US Mid-D Fans, It's Time To Get Nervous; Hope For Bekele; Meet Ayanleh Souleiman; Fast 800 Juniors; A Look Back At Jim Ryun; & Bolt Struggles - Or Does He? Last week, the world and even Usain Bolt himself panicked when he ran 10.04, but we start things off by telling Bolt there is likely little to worry about. However, there is plenty for fans of Nick Symmonds to worry about, as well as fans of Robby Andrews, Matt Centrowitz, Leo Manzano, Alan Webb, Andrew Wheating and Nick Willis. Along the way, we tell Pamela Jelimo she can't quite start celebrating yet. Plus hope for Kenenisa Bekele fans, a geography lesson on Djibouti, the world is confirmed to be round, and we introduce you to Ayanleh Souleiman - the world's new mid-d star? And we take a look at some fast junior times at 800 and before you can call them age cheats, we remind you what Jim Ryun did some 46 years ago.

Pre-Classic Is Saturday

*Collis Birmingham Getting Ready For Pre 5,000 In Mammoth Lakes Compatriot Craig Mottram also will run.
*Kenyan athletes hit US ground running - go for jog on Nike campus

German TV Hits Back On Kenyan Doping Charges

Don't Count On It: IAAF: Stellar Shot Put and Javelin fields may steal the show in Eugene *For the first time in 25 years, the men's javelin will be contested at the 38th edition of the Pre Classic at Hayward Field on Saturday. Germany's Matthias de Zordo, the 24-year-old reigning world champion reigns.

You're Welcome: Matt Tegenkamp Says He'll Double At Trials & Says Message Boards Helped Ignite US Distance Running

USATF Names New COO

News From The UK

• Column: Is Jessica Ennis Fat? Fat Chance
• 50 stunning Olympic moments No34: Kelly Holmes doubles up in Athens

Bolder Boulder Was Monday *Elite Men's Results *Elite Women's Results

Mamitu Daska (33:06) Wins 3rd Bolder Boulder - Americans Janet Cherobon-Bawcom 2nd (33:23) & Deena Kastor 3rd - Kenya's Allan Kiprono Wins Men's (29:54) Over Tadese Tola (30:03) Aaron Braun was 4th in 33:09 as the US women were 2nd in the team standings.
*Runner-Up Janet Cherobon-Bawcom Is Winning In Love & Running John Mayer gives insight into how her husband was a teacher in Kenya who fell in love with Janet when returning to the US and delivered a Care package to Janet from her mother.
*50,000 People Run On Picture-Perfect Day The event is much more than a race. It's an event (as shown by picture).
*Bolder Boulder: Josh Eberly, Nuta Olaru Win Citizens Race
*Former Romanian Olympic Marathoner Nuta Olaru Is Now A US Citizen At Age 41

*Pre-Race Recommended Read: A Great Profile Of 1972 Olympic Marathon Champ Frank Shorter
*Pre-Race RR: John Meyer: Deena Kastor, mother of running's rebirth, in Bolder Boulder field at 39 "I'm definitely in a different place now than I have been at any other track trials I've participated in.I usually go in not thinking about my competitors, just saying I want to win the race and run fast. This time I want to get in the top three and run the Olympic 'A' standard. My training is indicating that I am right there to be able to do that. It's going to take a tough and gutsy race, obviously, but I'm ready for the challenge."
*Pre-Race: Kastor & Sara Slattery Were Hoping To Do Good Things
*Shalane Flanagan, Kara Goucher In Town For Bolder Boulder Expo They talk about their friendship.
*Ethiopian Men Want To Repeat At Bolder Boulder

More Weekend Action

• Jessica Ennis (6906) Breaks British Record, Defeats World Champ In Heptathlon
• *Pics: How Ennis Broke Record
• Pat Butcher: "Fat Girl" Breaks UK Record
• Chernova: Ennis Won The Battle But Not The War Chernova finished with 6,774 points, which was 235 more than she scored at this stage last year.
• Russian Heptathlete Tatyana Chernova Not Fazed By Loss To Jessica Ennis, Says She Thinks Pressure Will Get To Ennis At Olympics
   
• Russian Club Champs: Irina Maracheva Unexpectedly Runs 1:57.82
   
• Dayron Robles Loses At Meet At Home In Cuba As Orlando Ortega Runs 13.09 There was an "irregularity" with the starting gun and Robles hesitated as he thought there was a false start. Ortega PRed by .20.

News From The UK/Ireland

• 66-Year-Old General Secretary Of The Ukraine National Olympic Committee Sacked After Being Filmed By BBC Trying To Sell Tix On Black Market
• 55-Year-Old Former Television Executive Has Been Appointed "Mayor" Of The London 2012 Olympic Village
• Wejo Would Agree: Dan Pfaff Is A Genius
  British Olympic Marthoner Mara Yamauchi Says Dan Pfaff Has Saved Her Running Career "When I had the hamstring injury I felt I wouldn't manage to get back to a condition where I could qualify for the marathon so I asked Dan to help me and he just looks at my running form. I see him once or twice a week, he watches me run and says 'that muscle is not firing or this muscle is tight,' so he keeps everything nice and smooth so the injuries don't build up."
  Tiffany Porter: "I am proud to be American, British and Nigerian."
• Irish Olympic Team Includes 19 Track Athletes
• Column: "The great thing about the Irish Olympic team is that it looks like Ireland." "The real Ireland, the complicated one we live in rather than some idealised official version."

Hengelo Highlights Sunday *Results *Live Thread

LRC Haile G's Olympic Days Come To An End As Tariku Bekele Wins In 27:11.70 As Geb Gets Smoked On Last Lap, Ritz Misses "A" Standard updated The Ethiopian selection race came down to a kick on the final lap and there was no way the 39-year-old Gebrselassie was going to outkick his younger rivals. Afterwards, Geb said, "That's life. I am not disappointed." Dathan Ritzenhein missed the "A" standard of 27:45 on a warm day (78 at the start). In other action, Nixon Chepseba won in 3:29.90, Nate Brannen got a PR and an "A" standard, Janeth Jepkosgei ran 1:57.79, Hannah England won the 1,500, Adam Kszczot ran 1:43.84 for his second win in 2 days, and 18-year-old Luguelín Santos ran 44.45. *IAAF

*Post-Race Video Interview With Ritz He's not sure if he'll just run the 5k at the or go for the "A" in the 10k at the Trials. Says the heat was tough.
*Some More Quotes From Haile
*Pre-Race Video With Haile G With this race he became the fastest 39-year-old ever at 10k.
*SA 800m Runner Andre Olivier Hits Olympic Standard In Hengelo With 1:45.20
*Phillips Idowu Won The TJ In 17.31m
OTB: Live play by play of 10k thread
*Chepseba 3'29.90 !!!
*What will Ritz do now?

Gotzis: Jessica Ennis And Hans van Alphen Follow Up Day 1 Leads To Win Hypo Multis Jessica Ennis won with a new UK NR, beating World champ Chernova Tatyana and Olympic champ Natallia Dobrynska.
*Ennis' Score Was The Best In The World For The Last 5 Years It was also a good omen she broke Denise Lewis' NR, who went on to win the Syndey Games after setting it.
*Elsewhere: UK's 2004 Heptathlon Bronze Medallist Kelly Sotherton Retires After Having Surgery On Back Injury
*Day 1: Jessica Ennis And Surprise Hans van Alphen Lead Hypo Multis After Day 1 IAAF
*Excellent Recap On Jessica Ennis' Day 1 A poor high jump but a stellar 200.

Toronto: Geoffrey Mutai (27:41), Lindsey Scherf Win Ottawa 10ks It's ridiculous that Mutai, the Kenyan XC Champion and the best runner on the planet in 2011, won't be at the Olympic Trials next week or the Olympics in the 10,000m. *Results
*Former Harvard Standout Lindsey Scherf Wins Women's Race
*IAAF Article Windy conditions and lack of competition or pacemaker hurt Mutai's time.
*Laban Moiben Defends Ottawa Marathon Title In 2:09:13 For the women, favorite Teyba Erkesso (2:23:53 PR) dropped out with sickness, leaving the victory to Yeshi Esayias in 2:28:46.
On The Boards: I just watched Mutai destroy the field in Ottawa

Canadian High Schooler Runs 1:47.14 To Beat Nick Willis

Bolt Was In Ostrava Friday *Results *Yahoo Photos Of Meet

Latest: Bolt Still Looking For Answer On 10.04 In Ostrava, Will Race Powell In Rome On Thursday
*Rome Diamond League Start Lists

Bolt 10.04: "It's hard to explain. I don't really know what went wrong." Well, Bolt got a horrible start and still trounced the field. The times were slower across the board (Sanya Richards-Ross 50.65, Wallace Spearmon 20.14), due to the cooler weather (we think).
*Bolt Can't Explain Slowest Time Of Sr. Career - Maybe YouTube Will Help "I had some very good starts on the warm-up track so I have no explanation. My coach will see the race on YouTube and will comment about what I must do before Rome."
*Reuters Recap Of Bolt's Race *Video Of Bolt's Race
*Reigning Olympic Champ Pamela Jelimo (1:58.49) Crushes Caster Semenya (2:00.80)
*Caster Semenya Says She Will Dedicate Games Success To Nelson Mandela
*Oscar P Only Runs 47.66 - Fails To Qualify For London

Full Results & Flash Highlights

On The Boards: Bolt 10.04!!! Is He in Trouble?

Week That Was

LRC WTW: Dibaba's 3:57.77 Dashes US Medal Hopes?, Rupp's Medal Chances Rise, Meet Nick Hartle, And 1,500m Tactics First off, we put Genzebe Dibaba's 3:57.77 blazing 1,500m in perspective. Then we turn to Galen Rupp's speed and what it means, talk about 1,500m tactics and introduce you to a new high school star.

The Guy In The Fall

LRC The Collegiate Career Of Jake Hojnacki, The Guy In The Epic Steeple Fail, Comes To An End If you're like the other 516,654 people who have seen this video, you know Jake Hojnacki as a guy who took a dive into the steeple pit and pretty much almost drowned. Turns out Employee 1.1 is one of Jake's coaches. Jake's collegiate career came to an end this past weekend in notable fashion. We bring to you his story as runners like Jake represent the heart and soul of LetsRun.com.

Recommended Read: Two Years Ago, Joey Stoltz Almost Died And Today He Is A Marathoner "Less than two years ago, I was at the hospital and the doctors told me I wouldn't run again so those last two miles [of the marathon] were so emotional."

Kenyan News

• Athletics Kenya Says If Kenyans Are Really Doping Then Show Them Proof They're launching an investigation after doping allegations by a German national broadcaster.
• Edwin Kipyego Runs 28:06 To Beat Kenyan National Champ (And NYC Half Champ) Peter Kirui At Administration Police Inter-Departmental Champs
• Kenyans Who Don't Make The 10k Olympic Team At Pre On June 2nd Will Have A Chance Later In The 5k 5k Trials on June 21-23. The women will have the same chance except their 10k Trials is the week before.
• Mystery Of Sammy Wanjiru's Death Continues: Government Pathologist Reveals Details Contrary To Those Given By Police
• David Rudisha Says He Wants To Make Seb Coe Proud By Winning Gold In London
• Kenya's First Commonwealth Games Women's Marathon Winner, Irene Jerotich, Will Headline June 30th Kabarak University Half Marathon Winner gets a heifer.

More US News

• Great Article Reviewing The Career Of Nick Hartle, The Nevada Senior Who Won The 400, 800, 1600, And 3,200 At The State Meet Says he wants to get down to 1:47 or 1:46 for the 800 at nationals.
• Boston Marathon Grants 2,160 Heat Deferments Who Will Get Automatic Entry For 2013 Interestingly, about 2,200 runners were on the original list, but 45 were seen in photographs running the race after all.
• Q&A With Russell Brown "It's pretty amazing that the biggest meet of my life will be on my home track."

US News: Lolo Jones Talks About Being A Virgin, Shalane Thinks The Kenyans Underestimate Her *NCAA Regionals Start Lists

• Lolo Jones Says Staying A Virgin Has Been "Harder Than Training For The Olympics" She also talks about her tough childhood where she had to shoplift food in order to eat. *Discuss
• Brief Chat With Shalane Flanagan: Still Planning On Doing The Trials 10k "I just read something, I believe Edna Kiplagat, saying she can run 2:17 on the [London] course. I kind of laughed; does she actually see the course? ... I also read that they think that the Ethiopians and the Russians are the other contenders. And I told Kara, 'What are we, chopped liver?'"
• Interview With Leo Manzano On First Olympics In 2008 He says his dad was "a big hit with the Chinese people" as he wore a cowboy hat and kept getting stopped so people could take his picture.
• Q&A With Lance Armstrong About Being Back On Top In The Triathlete Talks a lot about nutritional strategy.
• Matt Centrowitz Hasn't Raced Yet Because He Had A Knew Problem Earlier In The Spring Article says the word is he's healthy now.
• Wall Street Journal: Falling Down - The Worst Way To Lose A Race They take a look at some famous 1,500 falls such as Jim Ryun and Morgan Uceny.

Olympic Trials Start 1 Month Away

1 Month And Counting:
Track & Field News Olympic Trials Men's Form Chart They've got Khadevis Robinson, Leo Manzano not in the top 3. Which reminds us, when is Centro Jr. going to race? He could not make the team.

On The Boards: Pick Em (Oly Trials 2012)
*answer this: webb, andrews, centro, wheating, lopez, leo are together with 400 to go at oly trials 1500... Plus Robby Andrews indicated he could run it and so did Nick Symmonds as the 1,500 is after the 800.
*Men's US Olympic 1500m team 2012


Track & Field News Olympic Trials Women's Form Chart They've got Shannon Rowbury not making the team. 1 of the big 4 in the 1,500 will be left out.

Great Action Sunday In Manchester *Manchester Run Results

BUPA Great Manchester Run
Haile Gebrselassie Wins In 27:39, Thinking Olympic 10,000m The great one turned back the clock in Manchester on Sunday with a comfortable win 27:39 over Tsefaye Kebede, Patrick Makau and Ayele Abshero. After the race, Geb turned his attention to making the Olympic team next weekend in Hengelo at the Ethiopian Olympic Trials, saying, "I am not surprised to run that fast. I wanted to run under 27 minutes."
*BBC Interview With Geb After Race *Top Results *IAAF
On The Boards: Great Manchester 10km - Gebrselassie DOMINATES!

Manchester City Games Street Meet: Wallace Spearmon, Sanya Richards-Ross, Jessica Ennis All Got Wins In Cool Conditions Ennis beat Olympic champ Dawn Harper in a PR but afterwards they found out there were only 9 hurdles instead of 10. She was understandably very annoyed. Spearmon looked great in his 14.87 150m win.
*Dwain Chambers Admits He Was Worried How The Crowd Would Greet Him He got 2nd to Spearmon.

2012 USATF Occidental HP *Results *LRC Photos

LRC Men's Recap: Mo Farah Wins Twice! Galen Rupp 3:34 & Robby Andrews 3:34! Donn Cabral Collegiate AR! Ritz 13:14! What a meet! The men's very entertaining from start to finish. The meet started off with an Evan Jager face plant and American collegiate record in the men's steeple and ended with a world champion rabbitting and then winning the men's 5,000. Along the way, Galen Rupp showed speed he's never shown before that made us think he might be a medal contender and Robby Andrews PRed by 5.99 seconds as both ran 3:34, David Torrence got the "A" and a whole lot more, including an Andrew Wheating loss to a guy you've probably never heard of. Oh yeah, so much happened we almost forgot Alan Webb ran 3:37.
*Dathan Ritzenhein Visibly Happy And Excited In Interview After 5k

LRC Women's Recap: Morgan Uceny Loses, Anna Pierce Almost Wins & Deena Kastor Does All The Work The women's action at the 2012 USATF Occidental High Performance meet confirmed what we already knew - the US women's 1,500 team is going to be very hard to make (world #1 Morgan Uceny was beaten and world champion Jenny Simpson ran 2 seconds slower than she did last year), Deena Kastor is very tough and still motivated at age 39, and Bridget Franek, Lisa Uhl and Jackie Areson are all in good form even if Uhl and Areson did zero work and let Kastor do it all. Plus Shannon Rowbury wins.


Occidental On The Boards:

• Jager - Face Plant on Final Water Jump!
• Mo Farah: 3:34 1500/13:12 5000 in 90 minutes
• WEBB 3:37.26
• Robby Andrews!!! New American Collegiate Record 3:34.78
• Could Rupp get down to 3:31 or even 3:30 for the 1500 if he trained for it?
• AJ Acosta Unattached 3:36.41
• Can Donn Cabral get some love?

News From The UK

A Fantastic & Informative Read: Learn All About 9-Time Olympic Gold Medallist Paavo Nurmi A fascinating read. Nurmi was an absolute machine. Did you know that in 1924 that after winning the 1,500 and 5,000 he was mad he wasn't named to the 10,000 team so he ran a 10,000 on the practice track faster than the winner of the 10,000 at the same time of the race just to show he should have been selected to the event? He also divorced his wife because his son was born with feet too small for a runner.

Lots Of Additional Action

Thursday: Craig Miller And Heather (Dorniden) Kampf Take Titles At 2012 USA 1 Mile Road Championships *Results Kampf will always be a LRC heroine for winning one of the most amazing races we've ever seen.

Sunday: Meb Keflezighi Racing Bay To Breakers Up against former Boston Marathon winner Deriba Merga and CR holder Sammy Kitwara.
*Bay To Breakers To Feature Sobriety Checkpoints

*Kara Goucher Running Sunday's Rock N Roll Portland Half Marathon Ryan Bak and Sage Canaday headline men's field.

75 74 73 Days Until London - USOC Media Summit

LRC: Bernard Lagat Talks London 2012: "I'm More Hungry Now" The American 5,000m star talks about the Olympic Trials, admits Chris Solinsky almost cracked him last year, looks ahead to London, and gives his assessment of rivals Kenenisa Bekele and Mo Farah. Text and video.

LRC: Michelle Obama Gives Track Athletes Some Love The First Lady attended the US Olympic Media Summit to expand her "Let's Move" campaign. In the process, she gave LaShawn Merritt and Wallace Spearmon great TV time standing behind her, Lashinda Demus got a hug, and Bernard Lagat a handshake.
*Alan Abrahamson On Michelle Obama's Visit

LaShawn Merritt: "When I was at home, looking at a bank account when I wasn't getting paid, it was, 'OK, what am I going to do if I won't be able to run in the Olympics?'"

Samsung Diamond League Doha *Results *LRC Recap *MB: Discussion *IAAF Recap

Doha: LRC LetsRun.com's Recap Of Doha 2012: The Samsung Diamond League Starts Off In Style If all the meets this year are as good as this one, we're going to have an incredible Olympics. Asbel Kiprop went sub-3:30 for the first time ever and lost to Silas Kiplagat, a race was perfectly designed for Vivian Cheruiyot to lose and she won, Kenenisa Bekele looked average, Paul Koech tore up the steeple, and Pamela Jelimo may have a new challenger. American stalwarts LaShawn Merritt and Allyson Felix impressed, and Americans Russell Brown and Molly Beckwith did what they wanted in the distances.

Pro Distance News

Korir Running Chicago
LRC Wesley Korir: From #T248 To #1 At Chicago The first time Wesley ran Chicago (photo here), he paid his entry fee like everyone else and started with the masses. Now 4 years later he's returning as the Boston Marathon champ. Learn more about Wesley (he hopes to be a US citizen soon) and how the late Sammy Wanjiru inspired Wesley to be a champion.

Women's 2012 London Is History *Top Results *Live Splits *Video Highlights *Mary Keitany Photo Gallery From Kenya *Getty Images Photos From Kenya

LRC Mary Keitany Runs Fastest Final 10km In Marathon History To Repeat & Become The #3 Performer In History The Kenyans certainly came to play when it was time to battle it out for the title and London Olympic spots, as they went 1-2-3-4-5, but in the end, everyone was left talking to about Keitany, who used a 5:07 23rd mile and 4:59 24th mile to pull away from world champion Edna Kiplagat and mark herself as the Olympic favorite.

On The Boards: *Live Update Thread *Kenyan Olympic team

Diamond League #3 Is Thursday - 2 PM ET

LRC A Fan's Guide To The 2012 Rome Diamond League Track & Field Meet: Bolt Vs. Powell, Uceny Vs. Dibaba, And An Olympic Preview At 800 For a casual sports fan, the meet is all about the matchup of Asafa Powell and Usain Bolt at 100 meters. But for the LetsRun.com fan, the meet features a fantastic women's 800 which looks to be an Olympic preview for all practical purposes, a great women's 1,500 where 2011 world #1 Morgan Uceny will try to stay close to sensation Genzebe Dibaba, a men's steeple with the Olympic gold and silver medallists battling the 2012 world leader, and a women's 5,000 with all three of last year's medallists. Plus 5 of the top 10 fastest for 2012 in the men's 800 and more.
*IAAF: Powell vs. Bolt vs. Collins Headlines Rome
*AFP Preview Of Rome

Usain Bolt Talks To Press In Rome About Ostrava Struggles
*BBC "I've been trying to get a lot more sleep and eating better."
*Independent: "Even if I lose every race up to the Olympics it doesn't matter because I know that I have one focus and that is just to go to the Olympics and do great things."
*Dismisses Gatlin To Eurosport: We love this quote. "I don't want to be rude or anything but I think that Gatlin had his chance. It's funny the things he says. I think he has a few guys to get past before worrying about me."
*Jamaica Observer: Bolt: "I definitely think Rome is a fast track, Asafa (Powell) proved that when I think he ran 9.7 twice on this track."
*IAAF
*Steve Hooker: Trust Is Key To Comeback

Coming To America - June 9th

LRC David Rudisha Q&A: World Record Holder Is Excited To Be Coming To NY And Excited To Take On Challenge Of Being 1st 800 WR Man To Win Gold In 36 Years A confident Rudisha spoke to the media on Tuesday morning and revealed himself to be a true student of the sport, one who is familiar with the history of the sport, and one who doesn't seem fazed by trying to be the first 800 world record holder to win the Olympic 800 title since 1976. Considering Rudisha runs the majority of his races in rabbitted time trials in Europe, we asked him if he feared the championship style racing that is found at the Olympics and Rudisha sounded very confident when he said he did not.
*AP On Rudisha

Kenyans (Most Of Them) Arrive In Oregon - Haile G Goes To Jail???

*Kenyan 10,000 Runners Pumped To Be In Oregon - Some Think Trials Might Be Harder Than Olympics Titus Mbishei: "This will be the like the Olympic final. I can say the top three in Oregon can easily be the top three at the Olympics in London."
*Visa Issues Cause Paul Tanui To Miss Flight To Oregon For Kenyan 10,000 Trials The WChamps team member will still compete.
*Rest Of Kenyan Olympic Hopefuls Show Up In Eugene

Depressing News From Kenya: "It is now official that Central Kenya is drinking itself into oblivion." 34% of men are alcoholics apparently and there are 20% more bars than schools.

News From Ethiopia: As Part Of Business Dispute, Haile Gebrselassie Faces Criminal Charges & Will Be Arrested Haile will face a simple imprisonment of one year or less.

Random But Interesting: Sho Kawamoto Sets New National 800 Jr. Record In Japan (1:46.89)

US Mid-D/Distance Guys In The News

"100 Olympic Hopefuls In 100 Days" New Pro Robby Andrews Gets USA Today Profile He talks about Alan Webb's prodigious workouts, how Vig doesn't appear to be scatterbrained, and not having girls at practice. "It's definitely different having just two people in practice. You don't think your coach is scatter-brained and you're not thinking about the 20 other guys on the track and you're not thinking about the girls at the track. You're only thinking about you and your partner." *MB: Discuss

Trevor Dunbar, You Won't Be Missed? With Scholarship Money Freed Up, Portland Pilots Secure One Of Top Distance Classes In Country Led by Izaic Yorks, who had a 1:50/4:04 double, they also have an 8:57 guy and a 4:10.40/9:01.96.

USATF Q&A With Andrew Bumbalough, Who Will Likely Run Mile At Pre Classic - Says Workouts Are Going Well It sort of sounds like he can't get into the 5,000.

Ryan Vail Q&A "It rains all the time in Portland. Running in the rain can be miserable."

News From South Of The Equator

*South Africa's 22-Year-Old Andre Olivier Isn't Satisifed With His 1:45.20 - Thought He Should Have Run 1:44
*Olympian Jeff Riseley Will Headline $50,000 Road Mile In Middle Of Outback 1st place gets $6,000 and a nugget of gold. *More Outback Info
*Ryan Gregson Blogs Before Getting Last In Rabat He was complaining that Kim Kardashian was only the 65th hottest woman in the world.
*South Africa's Top Ultra-Distance Runner Farwa Mentoor's Hoping To Finish Better Than 5th At Comrades Next Week She's been 5th the last 3 years.

Rabat, London, Bangalore

• Rabat: LRC Mohammed Aman Beats Leonard Kosencha In 1:43.58 Vincent Chepkok won the 5,000m in 12:59.28, Justin Gatlin the 100m in 10.12.
  *IAAF: 30,000 Watch Chepkok Break 13:00
  *400H World Champ Dai Greene Loses Season Opener In Rabat As He's 2nd To Felix Sanchez
   
• Bangalore: World Jr. XC Champ Geoffrey Kipsang Wins TCS World 10k Running 28:00 In Wet Conditions Recent 25k WR setter Dennis Kipruto Kimetto was an early leader, but faded way back to 27th as 2009 race winner Deriba Merga was 51st place. Helah Kiprop won the women's race.
   
• London: Mo Farah Wins Bupa 10k On Olympic Marathon Course He just ran for the win in a tactical 29:21 over two members from Japan's Olympic marathon squad and UK marathoner Scott Overall. UK's Mara Yamauchi won the women's race.
• Other: Aussi 2011 DL LJ Champ Michael Watt Has His Best Season Opener Ever After Coming Back From Achilles Injury

RR: Follow-Up Story On University Of Alaska Anchorage Kenyan Runner Who Lost His Feet In A Blizzard

11 Years Ago Yesterday, Alan Webb Ran 3:53 To Break Jim Ryun's HS Mile Record

Nick Willis Keeping The Easy Days Easy And Says He Hasn't Felt This Fit Since His Early 20s Willis: "The beauty of staying [in Michigan] is that you are out of the limelight. No one knows you're an Olympic medallist which is a bonus when you get passed by people with baby strollers."

NCAA Regionals Complete Results: *East *West *DII National Results *DIII National Results

• James Dunway's Recap of NCAA Regionals For The IAAF
  
• USTFCCCA NCAA Regional Headquarters (link fixed) The top 48 made each regional and the top 12 in each regional made nationals.
  
  
• Final Day Saturday: Jeff Demps on Friday pulling out of the 100m was the big name not making NCAAs. On Saturday, German Fernandez made NCAAs as Riley Masters fell, Jordan Hasay made it, but NCAA indoor American 3,000m record holder Ryan Hill didn't in the 5,000, but did make it in the 1,500.
  
  On The Boards: Riley Masters goes down!!!
  *Besides Jeff Demps What Favorites Didn't Make NCAA Meet?
  
  Day 2 Friday: *Duke Decathlete Curtis Beach Qualifies In 800
  *Oregon's Mike Berry Runs 44.86! *Lananna Excited By Berry's School Record

High School

Golden South: Tyreek Hill Runs 20.14 To Miss Roy Martin's High School Record By .01 In one day, Hill dropped his PRs from 20.94 fo 20.14 and from 10.44 to 10.19. Crazy. And Hill probably didn't know it, but he paid homage to Roy Martin by saying in this interview when he goes to New York for the adidas 100m, he hopes to see tall buildings and a bunch of McDonald's.
*Video Of 200m Race *100m Race Video & Interview He credits his new adidas spikes.

PA: MileSplit Weekend HS Coverage: Angel Piccirillo Wins PA State Meet 1600 In 4:39; Doubles Back To Win 800 In 2:09 After being wrongfully disqualified and then reinstated, Eric Futch won the 200m, the 300H, and ran a leg for his team's winning 4 x 4.

Washington: Izaic Yorks 1:50.56, 4:04.77 Double

Delaware: Hailey Pierce 4:41, 10:24 Double
*WV: 1:54, 4:08, 8:57 Triple

Olympic News

• Andrew Wheating Will Likely Double At Trials, But Will Run Mile At Pre
• Sunday Preview: Two-Time Olympic Champ Haile G Will Battle Sileshi Shihine (26:39:69), Imane Merga (26:48:35) And Gebre Gebremariam (26:52:33) For Final 2 Olympic Spot In Hengelo As Bekele Gets Wild Card
• Preview Of Sunday's Rabat, Morocco Meet: Aman (800), Gatlin (100) Headline
• IOC Head Rogge Says There Is Zero Chance Saudi Arabian Women Will Compete In 2012 Olympics Under IOC Flag They have to compete for Saudi Arabia, which refuses to send women.
• Meet The Greatest Olympic Jumpers In History - Carl Lewis Leads List
• Jessica Ennis Called "Fat" By British Officials
• Ireland's Maria McCambridge Is "Gutted" To Be Left Off Olympic Team Despite Having "A" Standard In Marathon
• Ireland's Roseanne Galligan, Who Ran 2:01.76 In 2010, Is Irate With Athletics Ireland They went with the three fastest and she's #4.

Thursday's News

• Big USOC News
  USOC-IOC Get 20-Year Revenue Deal Done Through 2040, US Expected To Bid On 2022 Or 2024 Olympics The details don't matter for most of you, but this is a big deal for the USOC to have out of the way.
• Phil Hersh: USOC Chairman Larry Probst And CEO Scott Blackmun Get Revenue Sharing Deal Done
• Mid-Week Action: Zoe Buckman Runs 2:37 To Break Australian 1,000m Record
• 3rd Placer In Doha, Bethwel Birgen, Wins Kenyan Police Champs, Will Race Next At Pre

Lolo Jones Virginity Update

• Lolo Jones Update: Tim Tebow Comes Into The Locker Room And Teammates Chant "Lolo, Lolo"
• Phil Hersh: Lolo Jones Marketer Extraordinaire And you all agree: "Lolo Jones is a marketing genius."
• Joke From The Message Boards: Now we know why she biffed the final hurdle in Beijing. She couldn't go "all the way."

Next Week

• Dream Mile In Oslo: Olympic Champ Asbel Kiprop, World Champ Youssef Saad Kamel, And Lamine Laalou Highlight Oslo Dream Miles On June 7th
• Pre: Strong Pre Jumps: Brittney Reese Vs. Janay DeLoach And Funmi Jimoh, Christian Taylor Vs. Will Claye
  Rome Diamond League Is In 8 Days Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell, Christophe Lemaitre, Lerone Clarke and Kim Collins in the 100. Lolo Jones vs. GB's Tiffany Porter in the hurdles.
• Olympics Preview: Men's 110 Hurdles Stacked At Pre Field has Dayron Robles, Liu Xiang, Jason Richardson, David Oliver, Aries Merritt and Ashton Eaton.
• World Champions Brittney Reese & Christian Taylor Highlight Pre Classic Long & Triple Jumps

2020 Olympics In Tokyo, Madrid, Or Istanbul ... 2024 In The US???

• AP: Doha And Baku Cut From 2020 Olympic Bid Field Baku was cut due to lack of experience hosting and Doha mostly for heat/schedule problems.
  *US (And European) TV Executives Sank Doha Bid NBC said hosting in October would clash with the NFL and NBA seasons, which would kill TV ratings.
• 2024? Update With Details On New IOC-USOC Revenue-Sharing Deal Which Is Expected To Be Approved Today This would open up the possibility for the US to host future Games, but Canadian IOC member Dick Pound hinted that the US might still have a hard time.
• Paralympics And Olympics Merger "Possible After 2020"

News From Over The Pond

• Steve Cram Says Dwain Chambers Still A Long Way From The Olympics As He Still Has To Make GB's Team Chambers' first two races haven't impressed and he admits he's been seeing a sports psychologist to deal with emotional exhaustion from a 9-year legal battle with the IOC.
• Radio Interview With Irish Miler Ciarán Ó Lionáird He talks about changing coaches and his prep for London.
• GB Jav Thrower Suspended For Possessing Banned Doping Substances

A Result We Missed From The Weekend: Pasalia Chepkorir Kipkoech 30:57 10k On The Roads In Brazil

Upcoming Action

• More Stars Added To adidas GP: Tirunesh Dibaba Headlines Women's 5k Robby Andrews will race David Rudisha, Abubaker Kaki and Mbulaeni Mulaudzi at 800. Oscar P will try to hit "A" standard again in the 400.
• Deep Field Set For Freihofer's Run For Women In Albany, NY On June 2nd Field includes recent Bay to Breakers/Bloomsday champ Mamitu Daska, CR holder Emily Chebet, 1:07 half marathoner Joyce Chepkirui and Aussie Olympic marathoner Benita Willis.
• Men's 110 Hurdles Stacked At Pre Field has Dayron Robles, Liu Xiang, Jason Richardson, David Oliver, Aries Merritt and Ashton Eaton. Fantasy leaguers, good luck picking that one.

You Might Want To Read This High School Track News

Bizarre: Bill Bowerman's 41-Year-Old Daughter-In-Law Takes 17-Year-Old To Prom And Is Rightfully Fired As Volunteer Track Coach Her husband is 73-year-old Jon, son of legendary coach Bill. They are the two who found the original Nike Waffle Iron and gave it to Nike earlier this year and in return got a track built. *Deadspin Has More Message board thread here.

Shameful: Pennsylvania Officials Claim To Kick Star Sprinter Out Of Meet For Being Disrespectful, But Reporter Overhears The Real Truth Officials said they kicked Eric Futch out of a meet; a reporter, however, overheard them conspiring in the press box. Thanks to Milesplit.com for sending us this. More here.

Random But Great Video: 91-Year-Old Woman Long Jumps, Throws The Disc And Shot

*Shanghai Diamond League #2: Saturday *Results *Yahoo Photos

LRC: Shanghai In The Books: Liu Xiang And Genzebe Dibaba Impress, Bekele's 5,000m, 17-Year-Olds Go 1-2 In Tthe 800, And More Liu Xiang's 12.97 in the rain was incredible, as was Genzebe Dibaba's 3:57.77 world leader in the 1,500. There wasn't a sub-4:00 all last year and now there was one in the first DL race of the year. In other action, two "17"-year-olds went 1-2 in the 800, VCB and Carmelita Jeter battled in the women's 200 in a driving rain, and of course Kenenisa Bekele's return to 5,000. Recap, analysis and results.
*Race Videos In Recap

LRC: Women's 1,500 And Men's 5,000: Genzebe Dibaba Runs Brilliant 3:57.77! And Kenenisa Bekele 5th In 13:13.89 We break down the two most important distance races of the night. The full recap of the meet above has this story as well.
*5,000m Winner Hagos Gebhriwet Only Started Running 2 Years Ago

On The Boards: *Bekele's Done!
*Shanghai Live Thread

LRC Rojo Speaks: Is Kenenisa Bekele Done? Rojo says everyone who is predicting Kenenisa Bekele's demise is jumping the gun. He compares Bekele's run to Dathan Ritzenhein's the night before.

Ethiopian Marathon Team

LRC: Ethiopian Olympic Marathon Team Announced And Tsegaye Kebede Is Not Even An Alternate Kebede, Ethiopia's best marathoner the last four years, wasn't even named to the team as an alternate as Ethiopia went solely off of times people ran in races in 2012 and did not factor in courses or fields. 21-year-old sensation Ayele Abshero leads the men's team and 2:18 perfomer Tiki Gelana leads the women's.
*Discuss

Sammy Wanjiru RIP: Nov 10, 1986 To May 15, 2011

• Wanjiru's "Recognized" Wife, Fellow Athletes, Former Coaches Painfully Remember The Fallen Hero "He always took care of his children and was always there to support them and make them happy."
• Wanjiru's Widow, Fellow Runners Mark His Death With Low-Key Ceremony In Nyahururu - Mother Conspicuously Absent

4 Really Great Recommended Reads *Also Look For A Great Wanjiru Article In Print Version Of The New Yorker

#1 - Journalism Still Exists: ESPN The Magazine's Shaun Assael Writes 5,122 Word Epic On Sammy Wanjiru's Life And Death From his start as a schoolboy to details as to why his mother claims he was murdered, Assael leaves no stone unturned. He also points out that many other successful Kenyans before Wanjiru have also struggled with fame, including Paul Kipkoech, Richard Chelimo and Benson Masya, who all died young. Sadly, Wanjiru was going to train in San Diego to get away from it all but couldn't because of a gun charge. *Interview Of Author On Right Column

#2 - 50 Stunning Olympic Moments No. 30: Zola Budd In 1984 Do most people remember Budd was just 17 when she set the WR in the 5,000 at 15:01 and when she collided with Mary Slaney? The article reveals that Budd's family disintegrated after she left South Africa to compete for GBR and it also reveals Mary Slaney to have been unbelievably rude to rip a 17-year-old. *Zola Budd - In Pictures

#3 - Wall St. Journal Profile Nails Abdi Abdirahman's Personality Perfectly!!! "Going for Gold - or Whatever The Secret to an Aging Olympian's Endurance: Don't Let Training Get in the Way of Fun" Is Abdi's love of life (ohers might say laziness) an asset?

#4 - What Really Happened At 1st Olympic Women's 800 In 1928? Despite what was reported, 5 of the 11 runners didn't drop out with another 5 collapsing at the finish. The only person collapsing at the finish that year was Paavo Nurmi, but women's mid-d and distance running would be banned for years nonetheless.

Swarthmore Last Chance Meet

Columbia's Kyle Merber Sets American Collegiate Record* Of 3:35.59 updated *Instagram Proof If You Don't Believe Talk about your dreams becoming reality. Merber pulled a Brian Hyde and beat a stellar field and lowered his PR nearly seven seconds!!! A guy who was recently 14th at Stanford in 3:42.49, got outkicked by Donn Cabral at Penn, and has never scored a point at NCAAs is the NCAA American record holder. Unbelievable. But Merber is legit as he was a former Millrose champ in HS who missed all of last year with an injury. He may have just missed the Olympic "A" of 3:35.50 but we bet he doesn't care as he likely started the race hoping to not embarrass himself. Merber was in 9th with a lap to go. Nick Willis paced for 1,300 before dropping out. Jordy Williams 2nd (3:36.74), Nate Brannen 3rd (3:36.77). Will Leer and Lee Emanuel were back in last and second to last. *MB Thread
*Video Of Merber's Race

Kenyan News

One Year Later, The New Yorker Looks At Sammy Wanjiru's Death & Says He Looked Into Running For Qatar We imagine that piece of info was included to get people to read it, as he wasn't hurting for money. *New Yorker Article On Wanjiru Subscription needed for whole article.

A Brief Chat With "Running With the Kenyans" Author Adharananand Finn The subtitle is "Discovering the secrets of the fastest people on earth."

Ryan Hall

Meb, Abdi, Ryan Go To The Empire State Building
LRC: Ryan Hall Talks Olympic Marathon Atop The Empire State Building Prior to Saturday's UAE Healthy Kidney 10,000m with a $25,000 first prize, the US men's Olympic Marathon team of Meb Keflezighi, Ryan Hall and Abdi Abdirahman talked to the media on Thursday atop the Empire State Building. Employee #1 talked Olympic Marathoning with Ryan Hall. Read all about it.

Men's 2012 London Is History *Top Results *Live Splits *Video Highlights *Getty Images Photos From Kenya

LRC A New #1: Wilson Kipsang Destroys One Of Greatest Marathon Fields In History In his first marathon major, Kipsang certainly wasn't scared of the bright lights, as he did something unheard of in major marathoning in the year 2012. He took off before halfway and used a 14:09 fifth 5km to obliterate the lead pack, as a 1:02:12 halfway wasn't fast enough for him, and he went to earn the largest margin of victory in 30 years, while Martin Lel was second. We recap it and speculate as to who gets the Kenyan Olympic spots and tell you why a DNF in our minds is a positive for someone's Olympic hopes.

LRC Meet Wilson Kipsang: "If I had to compare him to an NFL quarterback, I'd compare him to Peyton Manning."

Alberto's Book On Sale Now, Buy It From Our Partner Amazon And Support LRC

Great Read If You Didn't Read It Yesterday: Alberto Salazar Unplugged - Part II This interview with Amby Burfoot is great. From Ritz's struggle in the marathon, to Ritz's form change, to Alberto's competitive relationship with Jerry Schumacher, to Galen Rupp's marathon future and, to Alberto's biggest regrets, Amby Burfoot leaves no question unasked and Alberto doesn't shy away from any of them and talks about Rupp running 12:45 and in the 26:20s.
*Part I: Alberto's Book & The "Duel In The Sun"
MB: An Incredible Amby Burfoot Interview With Alberto Salazar

Non-London Marathon News

Meet Glenn Randall
LRC The Story Behind Glenn Randall (The Guy Who Led Boston) Who was that dude leading the first 10k of the Boston Marathon? Believe it or not, he's an NCAA champion (in another sport). LetsRun.com talks to the guy who made the first 10k of the marathon entertaining. His frontrunning was no stunt and has paid off big time in the past. This time it resulted in a 2:37:13 61st place finish.

Boston Marathon Monday *Men's Results/Splits *Women's Results Splits *Winners Photo Gallery *Video Highlights

Recommended: Excellent Post By Science Of Sport On Boston Conditions: The Surge Between 25 And 30k And The Sun Did The Leaders In We'll have more LRC analysis but this post does an excellent job of explaining what happened. Also read this post that explains why telling people to over-prepare for the heat may not be the best idea. And only 427 people deferred to next year's race.