– 1976 Olympic 10,000 Bronze Medalist Brendan Foster speaking out about the UK Education Secretary Michael Gove proposing using running laps as a form of punishment in schools.
The day before they take a crack at the WR of 7:13.94, the NY/NJ guys ran open 800s and destroyed the record as if you add it up, they ran 7:08.70. Michael Rutt came out on top 1:46.71, Brian Gagnon 1:46.98, and Robby Andrews with an indoor PR of 1:47.07.
Saturday's 2014 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix features a spectacular men's set of mid-d and distance events. Seriously, it's hard to imagine a better set of men's fields this early in the year. Galen Rupp will take on the true milers in a fantastic men's mile that features three Olympic silver medalists, Ryan Hill and Sam Chelanga will battle with three 5,000 medalists in a stacked men's 3,000, and there is a world record attempt in the 4 x 800.
Our preview of the women's action, which features a clash between teen phenoms Mary Cain and Ajee' Wilson in the 1,000, a women's 2,000 with Kim Conley, Shannon Rowbury, Morgan Uceny, Treniere Moser and others, and a women's two-mile where Jenny Simpson and Sally Kipyego renew their rivalry and try to hold off Ethiopia's Sentayehu Ejigu.
More: IAAF Preview
*Mary Cain gets front page sports story in Boston Globe: Track phenom Mary Cain to run at Reggie Lewis centerCain, who says Alberto Salazar’s first call to her was an “amazing moment,” talks about the “two different kind of lives” she lives as a high school student and pro athlete.
Two-Time World Champion Edna Kiplagat Isn’t Worried About Tirunesh Dibaba Making Her Debut At The London Marathon Kiplagat said, “It’s good we are having Tirunesh as a debutante but it will not be easy for her. Marathon is four times what she has been running, 10,000m. She has to make a lot of sacrifice to make sure she is going to handle the marathon.”
Two-time World Cross-Country champion Craig Virgin has called for more transparency in the legal supplements/medications athletes may be taking. LRC spoke with Virgin on his comments and with Galen Rupp’s agent Ricky Simms about Virgin’s comments and the calls for more transparency. Plus, Simms tells LRC Mo Farah has never been on thyroid medication.
Un-American Quote Of The Day?Nick Symmonds Isn’t Going To Watch The Super Bowl “Apparently, it is called the ‘Super Bowl,’ and several hundred million people will sit down to watch it. I know I’m in the minority, but I must be honest: I couldn’t care less about this particular game or the sport of football in general.”
The 2016 Olympic Trials Marathon will be in Los Angeles. Reportedly, a USATF panel voted 5-0 to put the Trials in Houston, but that recommendation was ignored by USATF CEO Max Siegel. One big change, likely because of the panel favoring Houston, was the date of the LA Marathon (and the Trials) being moved to the middle of February, so athletes could double back to the Track Trials.
Discuss: Olympic Marathon Trials to Be in LA
The four stars squaring off in the mile on Saturday revealed a little about themselves. Leo Manzano is self-coached, Galen Rupp discusses not going for the World record in the mile, Nick Willis and Lopez Lomong are ready to battle.
What secrets did Mary Cain, Jenny Simpson, Kim Conley and Emma Coburn reveal on Friday? Find out - plus a quick update on Kara Goucher from coach Mark Wetmore.
LRCLeo Manzano Reveals He’s Now Self-Coached, Hoping To Represent USA At 2014 World Indoors We flew up to Boston a day early and are glad we did as the pre-race press conference certainly was informative. Ryan Ponsonby is no longer coaching Leo, who is looking to hit it hard in indoors this year. Guess what he ran recently for 1k in practice?
IOC Debates Changes To Olympic Bidding Process A big topic of discussion is having a country bid, rather than a city, so that the Olympics could be spread out in different venues throughout a country. While this could reduce costs, many argue that it will kill the Olympics as a unified event.
Hampden Park In Glasgow Will Host London Leg Of Diamond League As Olympic Stadium Is Under Construction This is good preparation for the facility as it gets ready to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Sweden's Aregawi wanted to break the WR before the home crowd but that task got a lot tougher after Genzebe Dibaba lowered the WR by 3 seconds to 3:55.17 this past weekend. The men's 1,500m features the top 5 in the world in 2013, including Silas Kiplagat and Ayanleh Souleiman. Mo Aman in the 800 and more.
The UBC runner has turned heads with a 7:54.57 3,000 and 3:57.71 mile last weekend. The action in Boston features the 4 x 800 American record attempt and Galen Rupp in the mile run. Full NB BIG Coverage here. Previews coming this week. Meet live on NBCSports Network.
In Case You Missed It: Galen Rupp Running New Balance Indoor Grand Prix Mile On Saturday
LRCWill Geoghegan Q & A: The Secrets Of Going From 4:05 To 3:58 In The Mile Are Revealed Will Geoghegan‘s story shows not all track stars are born overnight – it just seems like it as he went from 4:05 to 3:58 last week. The Dartmouth senior is on a roll in 2014, leading the NCAAs in the mile, but it was not an easy ride to the top. Freshman year, he quit the Dartmouth team and was flunking his courses; now he’s going to have his pick of schools for his fifth year, unless he takes an LRC internship.
*MB:Will Geoghegan to NOP?
Rojo, Wejo and Yohan Blake performing "The Beast" is our personal LRC photo of the year. What's your 2013 running photo of the year? Submit or tweet your entries to us. Winner gets a cool $100.
Just 5 days after setting the 1,500 WR, Dibaba ran at Stockholm's XL Galan to break the 8:23.72 record set by Meseret Defar in 2007. Including outdoor times, only 3 women have ever run faster: China's Wang Junxia, Qu Yunxia and Zhang Linli. Other big performances in the meet included Sweden's Abeba Aregawi running the second quickest indoor 1500 of all-time. She won by more than 10-seconds with 3:57.91 which would have broke the previous WR if Dibaba hadn't just ran 3:55. Mohammed Aman set the 800 World lead with 1:45.08 and Morocco’s Mohamed Moustaui got the win/WL in the 1500 in 3:35.0 over Ayanleh Souleiman with Silas Kiplagat and Nixon Chipseba way back. There were also several world leads in the jumps.
*MB: GENZEBE DIBABA 3000m WORLD RECORD 8.16
*Video
We're a little bit late getting this up this week, but it's worth recapping a week that saw possibly the greatest women's 1,500m ever run, one of the greatest high school 3,000m ever run, and some crazy-fast collegiate DMR action.
University Of Oregon’s Pepsi Team Invitational Gone Without Explanation The invy is a quadrangular meet that has been a “centerpiece of Oregon’s home track & field regular season since 1987,” but is now gone and in an interview, head coach Robert Johnson refused to explain why. Ken Goe points out that this was always the key home meet and one of the rare scored meets in the NCAA.
Russian Athletes Prepare For Russian Indoor Champs Feb. 17th – 19th Coach of Olympic HJ champ Ivan Ukhov says Ukhov didn’t hit the WR in his last meet because he was “over motivated.”
LA, according to Torres, is offering $100,000 less in prize money for the Trials than Houston. If LA is such a great place to offer the Trials, shouldn't that mean more publicity, more sponsorship, and more $ for the athletes. What about the athletes?
*Discuss
Biomechanics Expert Debunks Treadmill-Running Myths: The 1% Incline “Rule” Isn’t Actually A Rule A study found that setting the treadmill at a 1% incline made it equivalent to regular running only at 7:09 pace or faster.
Great news for track and field fans as Galen Rupp is now racing on live national television for the first time this year this Saturday at the NBIGP. It is also now official that Rupp will not try to break the American or world indoor record in the mile February 15 at Boston University.
Genzebe Dibaba, the younger sister of Tirunesh Dibaba, ran 3:55.17 for 1,500m in Karlsruhe, Germany to absolutely destroy the previous world record of 3:58.28 by Yelena Sobolova of Russia. Dibaba's time is arguably the greatest 1,500m ever run as it is the fastest time indoors or out since 1997. Nixon Chepseba ran 3:37.02 to win the men's 1,500m. Caleb Ndiku won the men's 3,000m in 7:36 with Augustine Choge, Yenew Alamirew and Bernard Lagat 2-4.
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