News In The US
- Kenya's Christopher Kipyego Overcomes Finish Line Blunder To Win Grandma's Marathon By 0.20 Seconds, The Closest Finish In The Race's History He won in 2:12:16 after he stopped 60m before the line, mistaking a timing mat for the finish, and had to sprint to beat out Ethiopia's Teklu Deneke.
- Ethiopian Runners In The US Closing The Gap With Those Training Back Home
- Chaunte Lowe High Jumping At Nationals, Hoping To Make Worlds, 11.5 Weeks After Giving Birth, While Still Breast Feeding
- Sprinter/Blogger Supports New False Start Rule
- Details On FSU's Ngonidzashe Makusha's Turn To Pro After winning the NCAA 100 with a record 9.89 (and winning the long jump), he has decided to go pro, not able to pass up the six-figure salary he can use to help his family back home in Zimbabwe.
- Portland 9.88 100m Runner Ryan Bailey To Miss US Champs With Hamstring Issues
- In The US, There Is Only One Father-Son Duo To Win An Olympic Gold Medal In The Same Event Charles & Chip Jenkins in the 400 & 4 x 4.
- In Honor Of Father's Day, Top Female Athletes, Including Deena Kastor, Tell How Their Dads Helped Them Excel In Sports Deena Drossin Kastor: "They say track and field is an individual sport, but my dad has been my greatest teammate for the past 27 years."
European News + Euro Team Champs *Photo Gallery
- Phillips Idowu Calls UK Coach A Liar, Says "I don't need this kind of rubbish." "I've not tweeted once about my withdrawals until after I've told the official channels but it's not coming across like that and if Charles is still saying that we had a conversation ... that's a blatant lie."
- France's Christophe Lemaitre Beats UK's Dwain Chambers With A New NR Of 9.95 Seconds Chambers on Lemaitre: "... he is like an antelope!" *MB: Lemaitre 9.95 in Stockholm
- Christophe Lemaitre Known More For The Color Of His Skin Than His Times He shares that he was invited on a "courtesy" visit by the Klu Klux Klan, but ignored the letter.
- American-Born 400 Runner Shana Cox Has First Day As "Plastic Brit" Placing 3rd And Scoring 10 Team Points
- After First Day, Russia In 1st, Germany In 2nd And UK In 3rd
- Day 1 Recap: World Leads In Men's HJ And Women's Javelin/Pole Vault Ukrainian HJer Dymtro Demyanyuk tied world lead to win with 2.35m.
- GB Captain Dai Green Leads Team With 400m Hurdles Win Russia's Savinova beat UK's Jenny Meadows in the 800 - 1:58.75 to 1:59.47.
- Spanish Sprinter Digna Luz Murillo Dropped From National Team After Being Found To Have Been Working With Banned Coach
Upcoming
- July 3rd Sapporo International Half Marathon 2010 World Half Champ Florence Kiplagat, Asian Games champ Youngiun Ji and Tokyo Marathon star Yuki Kawauchi headline fields.
- 38-Year-Old Haile Gebrselassie To Run 38th 2011 BMW Berlin Marathon Geb hasn't finished a marathon in 17 months, having dropped out of New York last November and withdrawing from Tokyo with a knee injury. However, the last one he did finish was a 2:06:09 in 2010. 2:19 woman Irina Mikitenko (7th in London this year) leads women's field. *IAAF Article
- David Rudisha's Return Highlights Lausanne Diamond League Meet On June 30th The 800 will be Rudisha vs. World champ Mbulaeni Mulaudzi and Kenya's Alfre Kirwa Yego. The men's 5k also has a deep field led by Imane Merga and Tariku Bekele and includes 7 sub-13 minute runners.
- IAAF Preview Of June 18th World Long Distance Mountain Running Challenge Distance of 38km (2,500m uphill and 2,800m downhill). The US will defend its 2010 Men's and Women's titles.
Does Moses Mosop's 30K WR Bring The 2:02 Marathon Any Nearer? www.sportsscientists.com
Looking Ahead To USATFs
- Ken Goe Counts The Reasons Track Has Become Less Popular ... and wonders if anyone outside Eugene will pay any mind to US Track Champs.
*Kara Goucher Surprised HS Athletes Aren't Fans Of Elite T&F "... not everyone knew who the heck I was!" - Alberto Salazar Reveals That Some Of His Athletes Run 25-33% Of Their Mileage On Underwater Treadmill
- Brief Chat With NCAA Steeple Champ Emma Coburn She is ranked 3rd going into US champs. Her attitude is commendable as she says if she makes it, she won't focus her whole summer training on Worlds, as she has another XC season and "being in college, you still have your loyalty to you teammates."
- USATF Elite Athlete Spotlight - Reigning World Champ Trey Hardee He has a free pass to Worlds as he's defending champ.
2 Weeks In Review
LRC Week That Was: adidas, NCAAs, (And Pre) And Some Thoughts On USATFs We're a little late with our week in review, but it's worth the wait as we have some early thoughts on next week's USATF championships, we ponder whether Lukas Verzbicas' sub-four was the top high school performance last weekend, we have 5 thoughts on the adidas and NCAAs meets, and we call out the Prefontaine Classic meet for letting Justin Gatlin run but banning his ex-masseur. Plus quotes of the week and a photo of the week. Updated with 2011 Worlds qualifying info.
USATFs Start Next Thursday
- After 4:14 1,500m Opener Last Weekend, Lauren Fleshman Is Healthy And Ready For Next Week's USATFs
- Track & Field News USATFs Men's Form Charts
- Track & Field News USATFs Women's Form Charts
- Indiana Business Paper Looks At USATF CEO Search Seriously, it says something about our sport (or at least USATF) that they don't have a CEO 9 months after firing Doug Logan. Logan gets the last laugh, as he's probably on a beach somewhere spending USATF's settlement money.
- Khadevis Robinson To Run Victoria International Track Meet July 3rd The 800 is definitely an event where the top 3 won't have to go chase a time after nationals (more on this in our week in review).
News Of Note
- Jos Hermens On Kenenisa Bekele: "He will run the 10,000 at Daegu, that is for sure."
- While Too Many Colleges Are Cutting Track, OSU Builds New Track On Campus Coach Kelly Sullivan: "Our ladies still walk through campus wearing their T-shirts and people say 'I didn't know we had a track program.' ... When you don't have an on-campus facility, who would know?" *3
Runners Going For 35 Consecutive Grandma's Marathons
*Olympic Gold Medalist HJer Dick Fosbury Happy To See His Alma Mater Bringing Back Track "Fosbury Field" really does have a nice ring to it. - Antidote To LeBron James Is Lukas Verzbicas "He was exactly who he hoped to be and did exactly what he set out to do. He was actual. Emphatically so. Real and therefore undeniable. He was as he imagined himself to be."
- Ryan Hall Questions "Mileage Obsession" He states very clearly that he feels mileage is important, but not to be so obsessed with hitting a number that you don't list to your body/recover.
- Interview With Dartmouth's Freshman Abbey D'Agostino She placed 3rd in the NCAA 5k to set an Ivy League record at 15:40.69.
Tim Danielson Is Held Without Bail, To Be Arraigned Wednesday Neighbors said all seemed fine on Sunday night.
High School:
*West Chester Henderson Girls 4 X 8 Breaks 29-Year-Old PA State Record
*DyeStat: Profile On 9:16 3k Runner Haley Pierce And Her Team/Coach Looking Ahead To Nats
*DyeStat: 2011 World Youth Champs - Leading U.S. Candidates Update
Upcoming
- Final Entries For 2011 US's HS New Balance Nationals
- Updated Entries For 2011 USA Meet
- Entries For Wednesday's American Milers Club Races
- Final Entries For This Weekend's European Team Champs Are Announced
- IAAF Combined Events Challenge Starts Wednesday & Features World Record Holder Roman Sebrle
Tragic News: Tim Danielson (Sub-4 Runner In HS) Allegedly Kills Wife/Survives Suicide Attempt LetsRun.com has learned that Tim Danielson, the 2nd US high school runner to go sub-4 in the mile, has allegedly killed his wife as part of a murder-suicide attempt that wasn't completed, as the authorities got to Danielson before he had killed himself. *Update: Danielson Arrested On Suspicion Of Murder
Way More Interesting Than Your Average Diamond League Rabbitted Race
LRC The Wall Street Journal Introduces The World To The Man Versus Horse Marathon There is a interesting article and video in Tuesday's WSJ on the result of a bar argument from 1979 - who would win a long race - a man or a horse? The result is the Man versus Horse Marathon, which is the latest of many man versus horse races, as Jesse Owens once raced a horse back in the day.
2011 NCAAs *Final Results (PDF) *Event-By-Event Results *Quotes From Event Winners And Big Players *Photos
Saturday: Chelanga Ends His
Career In Style, Centro Outkicks Ulrey, Reid Wins Again, Coburn Comes Through & Both Meets Come Down To The 4 X 400, As Texas A&M Three-Peats (Times 2) The final day of the 2011 NCAA outdoor track and field championships was simply incredible. Teamwise, Texas A&M used thrilling victories in the 4 x 400 to capture the
men's and women's titles for an unprecedented
third year in a row by the narrowest
of margins. As for the individual action, the triple jumpers got a standing ovation, as Christian Taylor and Will Claye waged an epic battle that saw Claye jump 57'9.75" and lose, there was a 19.99w in the 200, and Jessica Beard had the fastest split in NCAA women's history (49.14). But we know the LRC nation cares most about the mid-d and distance action, where Matt Centrowitz blitzed a 53.38 last 400 to win the 1,500 over Dorian Ulrey
before
celebrating with a throat slit, Sheila Reid reigned supreme again over Jordan Hasay, who struggled home 8th, Emma Coburn came through as expected, and then Sammy Chelanga proved the doubters (including us) wrong with a sensational victory in the 5,000 to cap a magnificent career with style. We recap that all plus talk to Centro about starting a Centro nation.
*Was Jordan Hasay Over-Raced? If So, Then No More Than Was Sheila Reid
*Matthew Centrowitz Gets An NCAA Title For The Centrowitz Family
"My dad made the Olympics as a sophomore in college and he was on an NCAA championship cross country team. But he never won an individual title. He's here, so it's going to be awesome tonight."
*Oregon's Women's 4 X 4 Set A School Record, But It Wasn't Enough To Beat Texas A&M Texas A&M's 4 x 4 win gave them their 3rd straight title, but also gave Oregon their third
straight runner-up
finish.
MB: *NCAA 5000 updates *F*ck Yeah Sammy!!!! *Centro's throat slit *JESSICA BEARD!!! 49.14 split!!! *Laura
Roesler (FR)
spilt 51:45! *Hasay Falters..Reid completes the double *Look at Garcia overtake Coburn!
*AP Recap Of Overall Meet
*Jessica Beard's Record 49.14 Split Ensures 3-Peat For Texas A&M
*Oregon Women Let Title Slip Away As Coach Lananna Wonders If He Should Have Doubled Hasay Or What Would Have Happened If She'd Run Conservatively 3 years in a row, the Oregon women finish second to A&M. The big bright spot for Oregon came from the 10th-placed men, where Matt Centrowitz was "brilliant" according to Lananna.
*Florida Men Have Too Many Things Go Wrong - Suffer Yet Another Two-Point Loss As Coach Mike Holloway Says He's "At A Loss For Words" Sprint phenom Jeff Demps had a horrible meet and didn't make the 100 final and then didn't get the baton home on the 4 x 100, but his coach Mike Holloway took the blame. Holloway: "It's another two-point loss and
I'm almost at a loss for words. I am the guy in charge of the program and I need to look at myself first. I need to figure out what we have to
do to quit coming up short like this. I am proud of our team, but we didn't perform like the champions that I know we are." *Florida Coach Upset After 3rd Straight Narrow Loss The Gators lost by 1 in 2009, 2 in 2010 and 3 in 2011.
*AP: Reid Becomes 1st Woman To Ever Win 1,500 And 5,000 At Same NCAAs "I gave probably the most embarrassing celebration ever."
*In Less Than 24 Hours, Sheila Reid Becomes A Legend Reid: "It was not easy ... but it was a lot of fun."
*CU Coach Mark Wetmore Was Pleased That Steeple Champ Emma Coburn Had Company Up Front From UVA's Stephanie Garcia
Friday: Robby Andrews Wins Epic Men's 800m in 1:44.71 We don't want to ruin the men's 800m for you if you have don't know the results. If you don't know the results, click on that link, as you can watch the race in the article.
*The Science Of Sport Takes A Look At The Different Pacing Strategies During The Men's 800 Final And Which Was Optimal They also talk about Caster Semenya and ask an interesting/crazy question: Is she losing on purpose?
LRC Day 3 Recap: What A Day!!! An Unreal Men's 800, 3 Titans Clash At 10k, A Repeat Champion In The Seeple And Sheila Reid Vs. Jordan Hasay Round 1 Friday night certainly was one to remember for a long, long time, as an incredible men's 800
field more than lived up to the hype and delivered a truly epic final and three titans clashed in the men's 10,000. Also, Sheila Reid vs. Jordan Hasay Round 1 in a great and fast women's 5,000
final and a repeat champion in the men's steeple. Plus, let us introduce you to Abbey D'Agostino.
More Day 3: *A Must Read: Charles Jock Overcomes Father's Death & Journey From Africa To 800m Stardom As a 3-year-old, Jock had to walk hundreds of miles to get out of
Africa. Then his beloved father passed away in 2005. See how those
experiences have made him into the stud that he is today.
*AP Recap Of Day 3
*Move Over, King Carl?: Ngoni Makusha Runs 9.89 NCAA Record In 100m And Wins Long Jump At NCAA Meet Makusha is the long jumper who earlier this year ran 9.97 in his first 100m in 4 years at the ACC meet. A star is in the making.
LRC Day 2 Of 2011 NCAA Champs: Reid And Hasay Lay Low As Wallace Struggles In Women's 1,500, Favorites Minus Foster Shine In Men's 1,500, And Lightning Delays Men's 10,000 In the 1,500 semis, Lucy van Dalen got knocked down but got up, while Jordan Hasay and Sheila Reid decided not to battle until Friday
(5k)
and Saturday (1,500), but it looks like the expected 3-way battle might only be a 2-person affair, as Lea Wallace struggled. An epic men's 1,500 final might also be in store on Saturday as the LetsRun.com favorites impressed, as the collegiate career of 2010 NCAA runner-up AJ Acosta and his fans (the AJ Nation) came to an end. All of that plus a Penn State mid-d runner once again showed great emotion in the media zone. The women's steeple prelims also took place, but not the men's
10,000
final, which was delayed until Friday due to a late thunderstorm.
LRC Day 1 2011 NCAA Champs: LetsRun.com Dark Horse Bottorff Wins 10k, Hot Men's 800m Semis, And Jeff Demps Out Of 100 The women's 10,000 featured an exciting finish with 8 women battling it out for the win over the final 1k before the LetsRun.com dark horse obliterated the field with
a stunning last lap that was a thing of beauty. The men's 800 was
simply amazing, as 22 guys broke 1:49
and 7 guys ran 1:47 but didn't advance. We recap it as best we can and get great insight from Elijah Greer, great class from Fred Samoei, and lots and lots of passion from a PSU 800-meter runner (maybe too much, malmo?)
2011 Pre Classic *Results *Friday Photos *Saturday Photos *Post-Race LRC Interviews *LRC Recaps: *Saturday *Friday 30k WR *Friday 10k/5k
LRC Prefontaine Saturday Distance Scoop: Lagat, Kaki And Sinclair Impress, Lukas Verzbicas Gets High School Record The distance races at Prefontaine were stellar as always. Bernard Lagat
won the men's 2 mile with his patented kick, Lukas Verzbicas smashed the high school 2 mile record, 5 guys went sub-3:50 in the
mile, Kenia Sinclair
ran
a world leader to win the 800m over Caster Semenya, and Abubaker Kaki ran
the first 1:43 in the history of Hayward Field. Plus, the Oregon 800m crew disappointed, and more. We have analysis, video, post-race reaction and results.
Saturday Recap From Eugene Register-Guard Eugene is not known for its sprinting, but the top marks were in the men's and women's 100m. The results made us scratch our heads (13 of the 16 ran seasonal bests, which we attributed to the legal tailwinds) and apparently even Usain Bolt, who
tweeted "Listen to me ppl that's the same track last US trial was kept and everybody ran fast and them they couldn't repeat."
Post-Race Interviews
Friday Night At Pre
LRC Moses Mosop Smashes 30k World Record And He And Renato Canova Say He Can Run 2:02 For The Marathon Moses Mosop put on an exhibition to smash the
world record
at the Prefontaine 30,000m. Not only did
he run
a 63-second lap on his 45th lap of the race, but he aferwards talked of a 2:02 marathon in Chicago and his coach Renato Canova said a 2:02 is possible next year.
LRC Pre 5,000m And 10,000m: Rupp Doesn't Start, Solinsky Stops, Mo Farah
Shocks, Vivian Cheruiyot Wins Again The men's 10,000m was the most shocking race of the night. The much-hyped American showdown between Chris Solinsky and Galen Rupp did not take place, as Galen Rupp did not toe the line despite warming up. Chris Solinsky then dropped out before two miles and before it was all done, Mo Farah, who had had been near last place early on, pulled a huge upset and defeated the strongest 10,000m field since the World Champs. Interesting post-race comments
from
Solinsky, Alberto, and Mo. In the women's 5,000m, Vivian Cheruiyot showed she's the top female track distance runner on the planet. *Chris Solinsky, Mo Farah, Shalane Flanagan And Alberto Salazar Reaction At 2011 Pre Classic Distance Night In Eugene
It's Time We Revisit The Yuppie Vs. Blue Collar Runner Debate - Blue Collar People Rejoice, You Have A New Leader
LRC 34-Year-Old "Regular Guy," Working Dad Khadevis Robinson Talks To LetsRun.com About Beating The World's Best In Rome KD has always been one of the best interviews in the sport, and now we feature him when he's on top of the world after his shock win in Rome. Robinson, who went to Rome in part last week as he wasn't sure he could even get a lane at the upcoming two US Golden League meets, has almost always worked in addition to running.
April Fools News
LetsRun's 2011 April Fools Edition
Tokyo Marathon: A Legend Is Born *Photos
Hailu Mekonnen Wins, Japanese Amateur Yuki Kawauchi Runs Amazing 2:08:37 For 3rd And Faints At Finish Yuki Kawauchi's story is amazing.
A 13:59 5ker and 29:02 10ker, he has a full-time job and has stayed away from the Japanese collegiate and professional system, yet he stunned all of Japan with a 2:08:37 run. Dreams do become reality.
*On The Boards: 13:59 5k, 29:02 10k Japanese AMATEUR Runs 2:08:37 at Tokyo Marathon and Passes Out
The 10 Best High School XC Runners Ever
LRC Week That Was: The 10 Best High School XC Runners Of All Time, Verzbicas, Tribute To Gary Reed, The NY Times & The NE Patriots And More We've got the entire running world covered from San Diego to Japan, from the high school ranks to the pros, and even talk about the NE Patriots and the NY Times.
Boston Marathon *Live Boston Thread *Women's Reaction *Men's Reaction
*Video Highlights *Weather *Photos
One For The Ages In Boston: Desiree And The Fastest Marathon Ever Run "Unbelievable" is probably the best way to describe the 2011 Boston Marathon. First, American Desiree Davila, off the back of the lead pack multiple times, was gutsy as hell, battling for the win with Caroline Kilel down the final straight. There were 4 lead changes on the final straight before Kilel came out on top. In the men's race, American Ryan Hall ran 2:04:57 and lost by nearly 2 minutes. Yes, ladies and gentleman, Geoffrey Mutai and Moses Mosop ran faster than anyone else ever before the in the marathon, 2:03:02 and 2:03:06 respectively, thanks in part to 20 mph tailwinds. Mutai cemented his status as the strongest runner on the planet with the win. We give you some post-race comments below but purposely are holding off discussing the wind.
Webb Coaching Search Over
Alan Webb Moving Back To Virginia To Be Coached By Jason Vigilante We posted this on our home page two months ago when Steve Nearman wrote an article disclosing this information. However, both Webb's wife and agent denied that this was true, so Nearman deserves credit for sticking to his article, saying, "I stand by my story and I stand by my sources." *MB: Webb to be coached by Vig
Our Thoughts Are With Jeremiah Jensen & His Family
*HS Star Track Athlete Fights For His Life After Being Hit By Suspected Drunk Driver
*Peninsula High Students Wear Soccer Jerseys In Support Of Jeremiah Jensen
Last Day Of NBON & Other HS News *Meet Website *Results
- Chicago Tribune And Phil Hersh Look Back At Lukas Verzbicas' Incredible 2011
- Mary Cain On Her 4:17.84 Last Week: "I ran like I was being chased by a pack of jaguars, which I was."
*MB: MARY CAIN is easily the greatest running prodigy in the US since Mary Decker Slaney - NATIONAL RECORDS SET ON DAY TWO OF NEW BALANCE OUTDOOR NATIONALS Aisling Cuffe ran 9:54.22 to break Molly Huddle's 2-Mile NR.
- DyeStat Highlights From Day 3: 3 Under NR In Girls DMR With Harvard-Westlake Taking It In 11:22.23 Aisling Cuffe split a 4:41.24 for Cornwall and Amy Weissenbach had a 3:24.85 1,200. For the men, Edward Cheserek led St. Benedict's Prep to a DMR win and #3 all-time with a 4:02.30 anchor leg. *MB: Cheserek 4:02.3, Team 9:51
- Ammar Moussa Beats Out Rosa Twins In 2-Mile Moussa ran 8:51.80 for the win with Joe Rosa 2nd in 8:54.46 and Jim Rosa 3rd in 8:57.56.
- Aisling Cuffe Studied Field And Used Smart Tactics To Win 2-Mile
Coaching Issues, Lack Of Support Have Led To Olympic 800m Champ Pamela Jelimo's Fall In one season, she won the US$1 million IAAF Golden League jackpot, set the world junior record (1:54:01), remained unbeaten in 13 races and became the first Kenyan female athlete to win Olympic gold in Beijing. Now 3 years later, she is getting last place in the Pre Classic 800 and no one knows if she will get back to the top.
Jamaica Vs. US Sprinting
- Jamaica Trials Will Be Extremely Feature An Extremely Deep 100m As reigning World Champ Usain Bolt gets a free pass, so that leaves 7 other sub-10 second runners to fight for 3 spots. They are Steve Mullings, Nesta Carter, Asafa Powell, Michael Frater, Yohan Blake and Nickel Ashmeade.
- Usain Bolt Throws A Jab At Tyson Gay Via Twitter Bolt tweeted: "I think some athlete need to get them self a girl so they can get there mind off me" - insinuating that Gay has no life outside track.
- US Playing Catchup To Jamaicans In Women's 100 Bolt says it like it is: "I think it is all about where the talent is from. The majority of Europe is very much switched onto football. The USA is NFL, MLB and basketball; Canada is ice hockey. Jamaica is sprinting - we do a lot of track and field here."
- Jermaine Gonzales Gunning For Jeremy Wariner At World Champs Gonzales complains that Wariner has a "distinct advantage" because he gets to choose his lane and run from behind. He speaks as though that is the only deciding factor, but we think Wariner's PR being almost a full second faster might play a role as well.
- Asafa Powell Aims To Prove Doubters Wrong
New Balance High School Nationals Older News *Meet Website/Stream *Results
- !!! 9:54.22 !!! AISLING CUFFE NATIONAL RECORD
- DyeStat Highlights: 7:28.75 NR For Long Beach Poly Boys 4 X 8 With a 1:47.71 anchor for Myles Andrews.
- Two Records Fall At New Balance Nationals Wesley Frazier set national soph. record in 5k at 16:24.83 while Edward Cheserek broke meet record with a solo 14:25.74. *Edward Cheserek And Wesley Frazier Win 5,000s
- New Balance Outdoor Championships Highlight Videos
- ArmoryTrack.com Splitting With MileSplit
British News And Another Round Of 2012 Tickets
- UK Coach Charles van Commenee Furious At Phillips Idowu For Announcing He Was Pulling Out Of Euro Team Champs
- Euro Team Champs Via Twitter van Commenee says, he would expect a world champ like Idowu to "represent Britain with a certain responsibility and dignity." So would we, which is why we were surprised by Idowu's follow tweets, where he tweeted: "Read this crap!," followed with a link to van Commenee's comments.
- GOOD: London To Be Most Tested Games
- How Much Does Seb Coe Earn? To sum it up: a lot.
- London 2012 Announces 2nd Round Of Ticket Process After Two-Thirds Of People Miss Out In First Round 1.2 million people who applied ended up with nothing.
*Organisers Apologise Over Ticket Chaos
*Second Chance Guide: What Tickets Should I Buy In Second Chance Sales Period?
*100m Final Tickets Still Up For Grabs! - UK Coach Defends Athletes Who Have Been Accused Of Switching Allegiances From US To UK Just To Make Olympics
- Former Olympic/Three Time World Champ Carolina Klüft Rules Out Return To The Heptathlon She says she doesn't have the "motivation or energy" for it and will focus on the LJ. She will retire after 2012 and no longer wants to be involved in the sport.
- Other International News:
Head Coach Of South Korea's Marathon Team Accused Of Doping His Athletes - Blanka Vlašić Admits To "Big Pressure"
- Kenneth Kipkemoi The Surpise Winner In Kenya's Prisons Athletics Championships 10k
- Russia's Olympic Bronze Medallist Tatyana Chernova Wins IAAF World Combined Events Challenge Just 17 points short of Jessica Ennis's world lead.
- 3-Time World Steeple Champ Moses Kiptanui Pushes Athletics Kenya To Consider Athletes' Views
- Short Documentary On Peter Snell From 1964
NCAA News Of Note
- Ngoni Makusha & Claye Win National Athlete Of The Year Titles
- Sheila Reid, Sutej Claim National Women's Athlete Of The Year Titles
- Matt Hughes Talks About Being A 2x NCAA Champ In The Steeplechase "... it makes you realize you just need to find a sport you're good at, something you love, and work hard at it and your dreams can come true."
- NCAA Stud Ngoni Makusha Turns Pro He not only set an NCAA 100m record of 9.89, he won the long jump, and also broke 10.00 at the ACC meet in his first 100m in 4 years. A few months ago, he likely was looking at coming back for a fifth year at FSU. Now he's going to have a really fat endorsement contract.
- Sheila Reid Wins NCAA Honda Award For Track
Sad News
- 2000 Olympic Silver Medallist Alvin Harrison Pleads Guilty To Felony Drunk Driving, Gets 180 Days In Jail
- Sammy Wanjiru's Mother Explains Why She Didn't Attend His Funeral We're sure she's got her reasons, but we don't agree with them. Plus, we remember the words of the LetsRun.com poster who was close to Sammy and said not to trust the mother, and we saw her on video running around threatening people with a machete.
- Head South Korean Marathon Coach Investigated For Doping Athletes
Upcoming
- Boston Marathon Reunion At B.A.A. 10K On June 26th The field will be led by the winner of this year's Boston Marathon, Geoffrey Mutai, and will also include runner-up and 3rd-place finishers Moses Mosop and Gebre Gebremariam. The women's field will be headed by Boston champ Caroline Kilel and Kim Smith, who led the first 18 miles at Boston before dropping out with a muscle tear.
- Yuki Kawauchi Is Building Up For World Champs With A 50K Ultra This Sunday "... You can't get faster if you don't try new things that other people haven't tried. In that respect I think I should do whatever it seems to me like I should do."
- Britain Ready To Lay Down Gauntlet To Russia At SPAR Euro Team Champs This Weekend
Wall Street Journal Profiles Japan's 2:08:37 Citizen Runner (And LetsRun.com Hero) Yuki Kawauchi Kawauchi is a hero to us for sure and the WSJ is unofficially the best major publication at covering running. We guess rich guys like to run.
Ryan Foster Starts Website (RunFosterRun) & Praises LetsRun.com For Giving Him QOD But Criticizes Us For Poor Punctuation Hey, it wouldn't be letsrun without a few typos.
Alan Webb Not Running US Champs Webb, who ran 3:37 back in early March but has been MIA since then, told Trackfocus.com he's had a shin problem that is now fixed but he's behind on his training. Already some are speculating he's stalling until he gets a new shoe contract.
adidas GP *Results *Dream Mile Video *Lukas V Photo Gallery #1, Photo Gallery #2
Steve Mullings Edges Tyson Gay, Bernard Lagat Outkicked In 5k, Allyson Felix Wins 200 In the 100, Tyson Gay was slow out of the blocks, made up the ground, but then mistimed his lean,
losing to Steve Mullings, who clocked an identical 10.26 time with a strong headwind. In the 5k, Dejen Gebremeskel held
off a late surge from Bernard Lagat to win in 13:05.22, only .24 ahead of Lagat. Tariku Bekele was 3rd in 13:06.06. The 800 saw late entry Alfred Yego winning in 1:46.57 with World Champ Mbulaeni Mulaudzi in 2nd (1:46.68) and Boaz Lalang in 3rd (1:46.75). Abubaker Kaki dropped out with a hamstring issue. Jeremy Wariner wins close 400. Blanka Vlašić's 9-meet Diamond League winning streak ends. American David Torrence won the 1500m over Nick
Willis as Olympians Lopez Lomong and Leo Manzano struggled.
*LRC Lukas Verzbicas Breaks Four
The Dream Mile saw 4 high schoolers at 4:03 or better, as LV became only
the 5th HSer to ever break 4 in the mile. LV: "At 600 meters to go, I thought sub-4 was off the table, but I still had a race to win. I wasn't
about to give up." MB: LV 3:59.72!!!!!! *Lukas V Photo Gallery #1, Photo
Gallery #2
*Post-Sub-4 Interview With Lukas Verzbicas
*Kenia Sinclair Wins 1,500, Showing Jamaica Is About More Than Sprints
"Whenever I go to Jamaica, I try to perform at my best no matter the competition and run sub-two-minutes on the track so that they know it is
possible. We have it in us. I want to set the standard for the younger ones who want to do something over 400m."
*US 1 Mile Road Champ David Torrence Beats Out Nick Willis In 1,500
*Nick Willis Interview After Runner-Up Finish
*adidas Girls Dream Mile Video And Recap: Cami Chapus Wins Close Race In 4:42.71 Cami Chapus wins close race in 4:42.71.
*Kenya's Milcah Chemos Stutters On Last Barrier, But Recovers To Win Steeplechase In 9:27
*"Blade Runner" Oscar Pistorius Misses Olympic "A" Standard But Runs Near PR Time In Rainy/Wet Conditions Standard is 45.25, and he overcame the wet conditions and Lane 1 assignment to run 45.69.
*Athletics Weekly Recap Of adidas Grand Prix UK's World Champ Phillips Idowu wins TJ in 16.67m unchallenged by France's Teddy Tamgho, who failed to make the 6-man final cut, jumping a miserable 15.55m.
*SA's Van Zyl's Winning Streak Ends In Slow 400 Hurdles Time
*USATF Event-By-Event Recap Of adidas GP
Olympic News
- Phillips Idowu Confident He Can Retain His World TJ Title; Says He Would Like To Stay At His "Mum's House" During The Olympic Games
- Mark Lewis-Francis Wants To Make Olympic 100m Final So He Can See It Since He Can't Get Tickets
- Will NBC's $4.4B Olympics Bid Cost Them Or Help Them In The Long Run?
- IOC Happy With Preparations For 2016 Rio Games
NYRR New York Mini 10k *Video
Kenya's Linet Masai Dominates For 2nd Consecutive Year; Deena Kastor Makes Return To Racing Masai won by 29 seconds in 31:40 over a field that included NYC marathon champ Edna Kiplagat (4th in 32:24) and NZ's Kim Smith (6th in 32:32). Magdalena Lewy Boulet was first for the US in 9th at 33:09. Deena Kastor made her return to racing only three months after giving birth, finishing in 25th with 35:00. *IAAF Recap
Sammy Wanjiru Can Finally Rest In Peace *Funeral In Photos
*Wanjiru Gets 21 Gun Salute At Funeral
*1000s Attend Funeral As Wanjiru Is Burried In Kenya Many top Kenyan runners attended, including 3k WR holder Daniel Komen, former women's marathon World Champ Catherine Ndereba and former 5k World Champ Benjamin Limo. However, conspicuously absent was Hannah Wanjiru, his mother.
*Samuel Wanjiru's Final Journey
*Sammy Wanjiru's Death Turned Into Tabloid Fodder
More Weekend Results
- Bobby Mack Wins USA Men's 8k Championships In 23:05 He beat pre-race favorites Aaron Braun (2nd) and Josh Moen, as well as US WC team marathon leader Nick Arciniaga (18th).
- Turin Recap: Amine Laalou Breaks El Guerrouj's Meet Record With 3:31.92 In 1,500, Olympic Champ Dayron Robles Wins 110 Hurdles
- Recap Of Kenya Armed Forces Championships: Michael Tiony Upsets Deep Field To Win 5,000 This was a big upset over defending champ Leonard Oloitiptip, 2009 World XC champ Joseph Ebuya, current World XC bronze medallist Vincent Kiprop & 2007 World Military Games gold medallist Mark Kiptoo.
- 2011 Japanese Nationals - Day One And Two Results *10k Recap/Videos
Oslo Diamond League *Results *Photos Via Yahoo
Usain Bolt Blasts 19.86 In Rain, Asbel Kiprop Shows He's The Top Miler In The World, And Caster Semenya Beaten Again This is how our sport works - wherever Usain Bolt goes, he is the story. Bolt
did not disappoint on Thursday in Oslo, as he ran 19.87, beating second place by .57. In the Dream Mile, Asbel Kiprop showed he's the top miler in the world, as he got revenge on Prefontaine winner Haron Keitany. Kiprop
had horrible tactics at Pre, but here he was near the front and got the win on the homestretch. On the women's side, Halima Hachlaf, who burst on the season with an early season 1:58 last year, did it again this year to win the 800 over Caster Semenya. Meseret Defar won the women's 5,000m with another stellar kick, showing her speed is still there.
*Usain Bolt Storms To 200m Victory In Oslo
*Athletics Weekly Recap
*Video Highlights: US Visitors Watch The 200, 800 And Dream Mile
Three Recommended Reads Because All Three Articles Are Very Entertaining And Are About More Than Running
1) Molly Huddle And Kim Smith To Both Race In New York The Weekend Of 2011 ING New York City Marathon Huddle will race a new 5k the day before the 2011 ING New York City marathon, whereas Smith will run the marathon (as well as an upcoming 10k, which is good news, as she's almost healed after being injured in Boston).
We were
hoping that Huddle was going to run the marathon as well - many Americans will be skipping fall and spring marathons to get ready or recover for the Trials. Please click on this article to see who won the Tug of War Contest - Huddle or Smith.
2) As AJ Acosta's College Career Comes To An End; He And The AJ Nation Will Be Leaving Behind A Huge Legacy At Oregon This article is a fantastic recap of AJ's impact at
the U of O. The writer clearly understands AJ as well as LetsRun.com, as he called AJ "perhaps the most quotable individual in any Oregon sport." That certainly has to be true. However, our favorite line of the story was this: "The denizens of the forums at LetsRun.com - the country's premier track and field website, covering professionals and amateurs alike - took to their keyboards." To read more about the AJ Nation, click here
or here.
3) AP: Wallace Spearmon Wants In On Tyson Gay/Usain Bolt Rivalry At 200m Spearmon, who currently is hurt and swimming as an Achilles injury heals, wants in on the biggest rivalry in track and field. Spearmon: "When we first started off, there was Bolt, Tyson and myself. I beat them, they beat me." The article also talks
about his Twitter fight with
NFL star Chris Johnson, who responded to Spearmon with the classic line of: "Beat bolt then holla at me."
Ostrava & Usain Bolt On Tuesday *Results *Photos
Ostrava: Bolt Wins Again With 9.91, Veronica Campbell Brown Blasts 10.76 PR Usain Bolt got the attention like he always does and ran 9.91 for the second time in a week, but this time into a headwind. Veronica Campbell Brown (VCB), however, had the performance of the night. She blasted a 10.76 100m. Last year, she had the top 100 and 200 times in the year despite racing infrequently.
Sammy Wanjiru Will Probably Be Buried On Wednesday According To His Wishes - Wanjiru Loved Wednesday, As He Supposedly Won Several Marathons On A Wednesday The only problem is Wanjiru never ran a marathon on a Wednesday from what we can tell. Meanwhile, the article also says his Mom has asked for a lawyer to be removed as the head of his burial committee, as she represented Sammy and his wife in matters and is biased.
Recommended Read/Free Coaching Advice
Struggling AJ Acosta Tells How He Was Able To Qualify For NCAAs In 1,500 After Finishing 7th At PAC-10s - "I treated (regionals) as the NCAA final." We like this article, as it provides great advice to up-and-coming mid-d runners. AJ apparently share some of our same beliefs
about mid-d racing. Remember: 1) It always opens up and 2) Don't kick too early. "I didn't want to make the same mistake I made at PAC-10s, which was all-out with 300 meters to go. I kind of closed my eyes a little bit and
was telling myself to be patient, something will open up, because I didn't want to swing out to lane three. I told myself just be patient, it will open up, it will open up, it will open up."
Rome Diamond League *Results *Photos *IAAF Recap
LRC: Usain Bolt Nips Powell, Khadevis Robinson Storms From Last To First To Shock The World In 800 47,000 fans and a worldwide television audience
were focused on the
Usain Bolt-Asafa Powell showdown and it did not disappoint, as Usain Bolt - who said he was nervous for the first time ever - overtook Asafa Powell in the final meters. The surprise of the evening was
the men's 800m, where
8 time US champion, 34-year-old
Khadevis Robinson put on a stunning display the final 250m, going from last to first to win (video here). Last year, KD was rabbiting Golden League races, now he's winning them. In other action, Allyson Felix went sub-50 to defeat Sanya Richards-Ross in the 400 and world XC Champ Imane Merga showed his great finish in the 5,000m, running 12:54 and throwing down the gauntlet to Bernard Lagat, whom he'll race in 25 weeks
in NYC. Sara Hall had a 9-second PR to get a Worlds and Olympic qualifier in the steeple and Christin Wurth Thomas led the women's 1,500 at the bell before finishing 6th in a qualifying 4:03.72.
More Rome:
- Bolt On Rome: "I was so nervous. I got a bad start and then kind of started to panic."
- The Guardian: Five things we learned from the Rome Diamond League meeting
- On The Boards: Khadevis Robinson beats start studded Rome 800m field to win in 1:45.10
- Allyson Felix Defeats Sanya Richards Ross In 400 In Rome AP
- IAAF Recap Of Rome Golden Gala Meet
Time To Learn Some T&F History - 40 Years Ago, Jim Ryun & Marty Liquori Ran A Dream Mile In Philly & It More Than Lived Up To The Hype
- Recommended Read #1 NY Times: 40 Years Ago, Track Was At The "Front And Center" Of America's Consciousness, But Today We Are Indifferent (& Millrose's Move Proves It) 40 years ago, the US public was very much into the Dream Mile rivalry of Marty Liquori and Jim Ryun. "Forty years on, it's hard to imagine the average American giving a second thought to any track rivalry, never mind debating it on sports radio. That is probably why the move by Millrose, uptown and perhaps into obscurity, has been met with barely a shrug. It deserves better."
- Recommended Read #2 The 40th Anniversary Of The Dream Mile Between Marty Liquori & Jim Ryun Passes With Hardly A Whisper From The Media A couple of good quotes from Liquori: "I guess, as they say, things were a lot different in those days. There was no ESPN. Everyone watched the same events. It was a very focused thing for the nation to see that race. The buildup had been coming for two years ..." "Perhaps the thing that made it so unusual is sometimes big rivalries rarely live up to the buildup. They just don't pan out. But the two of us separated ourselves and literally sprinted almost all-out from 600 yards out."
"The Road Of Death"
Feature On Somali Runners Training Each Day On "Road Of Death" For London 2012 (Video) The video shows how some Somali athletes avoid gunfire each day to realize their dream of competing and winning at the 2012 Games. *LRC MB: Top Video on MSNBC Is Feature on Somali Runners Training Each Day on 'Road of Death' For London 2012
Final Lap (Or Full Race) Of Aisling Cuffe's 9:54.22 National 2-Mile Record (More New Balance Nationals Here)
A Must Watch (We're Not Sure How We Missed This) - Sammy Wanjiru's Mom Theatens Others With A Machete 2 Weeks Ago (More Here)
You Know You're An Athletics Fan If ...
Post Of The Day
Who Is This Alan Webb Guy? Great post on the nature of the LRC message board.
New adidas GP Photo Gallery
Dream Mile - LV Goes Sub-4
Centro Nation Is Born (More Coverage Here)
Sheila Reid Makes History At NCAAs (More Coverage Here)
Worthy News
- It's Only June: 15 People Have Broken 10 Seconds In The 100 This Year - An All-Time Record That doesn't count the new guys who did it Friday night at NCAAs.
- Irish Times: Why Usain Bolt And Tyson Gay Never Race Each Other (Money)
- Steve Cram Talks About Mo Farah Training In The States Under Alberto Salazar BBC
- Worth A Read: HJ National Champ Chaunte Lowe Hoping To Make Worlds After Giving Birth In April Her doctor told her to not train for 6 weeks. She started 2 days after giving birth.
Usain Bolt Blasts 19.86 In The Rain In Oslo (More Video Here, Including Dream Mile)
Lagat Wins 2 Mile At Pre, Verzbicas Gets HS Record!!! (More Coverage Here)
Definitely The Interview From Pre Classic - An Upset Solinsky (If You Were Gone Over the Weekend, Read All About It Here, Men's 30k WR And 2:02 Marathon Prediction Here, Saturday Pre-Distance Recap Here)
Photos Of The Week
- Jerry Buss Track & Field Photo Album Buss, the 77-year-old owner of the Lakers, is notorious for dating much younger women, and in all the photos of him at USC track meets the last two years, he's seated next to a much younger woman. Surprised no one has discussed this on our forums. No doubt Phil Jackson is upset. *LA Lakers Owner Jerry Buss Is Track Fan Who Knows The Name Of Oregon Sprinter English Gardner
- African 10k Champ Wilson Kiprop Wins 10k In Iten In 28:55 Be sure to check out the photo of the timing clock being powered by a car battery.
Train Smarter (More In The Training Forum)
- Lydiard vs magill vs malmo for summer cross country training
- Couple questions about summer training?
- Peter Snell Interview and his thoughts on Lydiard training
- Sprinter to Distance : My quest to run sub 2
Remembering Sammy Wanjiru (News On Events Surrounding His Death In Left-Hand Column)
LRC RIP Sammy Wanjiru: The World's Greatest Marathoner Has Died Yesterday in the article above, we paid tribute to Sammy's incredible career and now athletes, journalists, and industry insiders are all paying their respects to the incredible marathoner Sammy Wanjiru.
Train Smarter (More In Our Training Forum)
- Questions about Summer of Malmo
- SHORT REST INTERVAL TRAINING WITH DANNY HENDERSON 1983-1984
- Summary of Renato Canova principles
- Staying motivated when you want to stop
- 2 long runs + 2 workouts a week
- Workout Heroes vs. Workout Zeros
Boston (Updated Photo Gallery Below) *Recap Analysis: *JK On The Wind *Wejo On Desiree *Rojo *London And Boston *Video Highlights
Desiree Davila Pure Guts
Women's World XC In Photos
Men's World XC In Photos
Train Smarter (More In The Training Forum)
- Wow, Lydiard training seems ridiculously hard
- best marathon improvement after age 40?
- How does "strength" differ from "speed" and "endurance" as a runner?
- "A runner needs a LT run every 2 to 5 days in order to not lose any aerobic ability."
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