Quote Of The Day
– Emma Coburn talking about unexpectedly winning the Shanghai Diamond League steeplechase last Sunday when she “pulled a Meb” and gapped the field early to win by almost 6 seconds. Read our recap of the race here.
Get Pumped: The Inaugural World Relay Championships Are Sat & Sun. *Streaming / TV Info (6:15 pm ET) *Schedule / Results *Entries
LRC Women’s 4 X 800 Preview: Can The US Women Take Down Eunice Sum And Kenya And Win Gold? Kenya has the best anchor, but the US has Chanelle Price, Ajee Wilson and Brenda Martinez. What wins out? *MB:Can the US win gold?
LRC Men’s 4 x 800 Preview: Can The US Men With Duane Solomon Takes Down An Inexperienced Kenyan Squad? The US is led by the best guy in the field on paper, 1:42.72 man Duane Solomon. Kenya is led by a 17-year old who has never raced on the pro circuit and only broken 1:48 twice in his life. Big USA advantage, right? Think again. *MB:Can the US win gold? *MB:Is this the most entertaining 800 ever run?
- IAAF Men’s Events Preview Jamaica is the favorite in the sprints, US has the edge in 4 x 400.
- IAAF Women’s Events Preview Jamaica vs. USA in the 4 x 100 and 4 x 200 with Jamaica the favorites, US favorites in 4 x 400.
- $1.4 Million In Prize Money Up For Grabs There is a $50,000 bonus for WRs and it’s likely at least a couple of those will go down.
- Inaugural IAAF World Relays in Bahamas – Sold-Out Stadium And Extensive Global TV Coverage
- Jamaica Team Technical Leader For World Relays Maurice Wilson Says They Are Ready To Impress Despite Early Date He even mentioned the mid-d runners saying, “In terms of the women’s 4x800m, we are moving in the right direction and it’s clear that the JAAA is thinking long-term in the development of women’s middle-distance running.”
- The Nassau Guardian: Time Winding Down Fast For The World Relays The stadium just received its “class 1 certification” days before the event.
- Kenyan Sprinters Seeking Fast Times At World Relays
- Team Kenya Has Left on Wed. For The Bahamas
- Injury bug: Team Nigeria lists 6 Athletes as Injured for World Relays ……. that’s some bad luck
*Jamaica’s Stephenie McPherson Withdraws Under “Advice From Her Medical Team” McPherson has the 6th fastest time in the world this year and was the second fastest on Jamaica’s 4 x 400 squad.
Beijing IAAF World Challenge Meet *Full Results
Recap Of Beijing’s IAAF World Challenge Meet: Justin Gatlin’s 9.86 100 Win HighlightsIn the 800, Andrew Olivier ran 1:44.88 to beat Erik Sowinski (1:45.68) as Teng Haining set a Chinese NR in 4th place (1:46.32). Paul Kipsiele Koech won the steeple in 8:06.04 and Rababe Arafi the 1,500 in 4:02.71 over Gudaf Tsegay (4:02.83). Ana Simic improved her HJ world-lead to 1.98m and Brianna Rollins ran 12.58 in the 100H to tie the world lead. Veronica Campbell-Brown won the 100 (11.14).
*SA’s Olivier Talks About His 800 Win: “The [fast] times will come. I was in control of the race and that was the goal.”
*MB: Gatlin 9.86 in Beijing, 2014
Tyson Gay Drama Continues
Jon Drummond Sues Tyson Gay, USADA for Defamation
Either Drummond is telling the truth or this lawsuit was absolutely idiotic. We’re hoping for a full trial with discovery. That should clean up the sport. *Discuss
LetsRun Experiences The Craziness Known As Bay To Breakers *Crazy Costume Photos
LRCKenya’s Geoffrey Kenisi And Iowa’s Diane Nukuri-Johnson (Burundi) Get The Wins As Sara Hall (2nd) And Ben Bruce (7th) Are Top Americans Nukuri-Johnson recovered quickly from a 12th place showing in London to hold off Sara Hall.
LRC Nick Arciniaga Enjoying New Sponsor Under Armour; Says Yuki Kawauchi Is One Of His Heroes, Talks About Racing In A Spiderman Singlet Arciniaga thanks to Under Armour had a very cool singlet.- LRC Sara Hall Talks About The Difficult Bay To Breakers Course, Her Busy 2014 Racing Season and A Fall Marathon Debut
LRCThe LRC Singlet Comes Out Of Retirement As Employee 1.1 Represents The singlet got an official 12k PR and thankfully held off Scott Baughs and the Asics Aggies centipede team. “Bay To Breakers went from being on my ‘bucket list’ to one that I definitely have to do again.”
Nukuri-Johnson’s Win At Bay To Breakers Was Just One Of Many Great Performances Across The US For Iowa-Based RunnersShelby Houlihan, Katy Moen, Edward Kemboi, Rob McCann all thrived as well.
More Big Weekend Road Action We Didn't Have Space For
World Half Champ Geoffrey Kamworor Obliterates The Field At $160,000 TCS World 10K In India, Wins $28,500 Kamworor won by 40 seconds in 27:44 as Lucy Kabuu won $28,500 with a new course record on the women’s side as well (31:48).
A USATF Controversy History Lesson
“Trouble At The Track”: Running Times’ Richard Lovett Chronicles USATF’s History Of Breaking Its Own Rules The most recent Gabriele Grunewald DQ episode is just the latest in a series of controversies which Lovett follows back to the 1996 Olympic Trials.
Alberto Salazar Says He Uses Medical Lasers With His Athletes To Help Heal/Prevent Injuries Apparently as an alternative to standard pain-killing drugs.
*MB Thread
Post-NCAA Conference News
- Columnist: Who Takes Over At Washington St. And What Do They Focus On?Rick Sloan is out after 20+ years. Wayne Phipps and former CougdecathleteRodney Zuyderwyk are possibilities.
- Trayvon Bromell Talks About His Windy 9.77
- Athletics Kenya Adds US-Based Sprinter Carvin Nkanata To Men’s 4 X 200 For World Relays The University of Pittsburgh runner has a 200 PR of 20.17 and was the ACC champion this year.
Upcoming: Get Excited For Pre 5,000 Next Weekend
- Stacked 5,000 Led By Yenew Alamirew, Edwin Soi, Bernard Lagat, Augustine Choge, Hagos Gebrhiwet And Isaiah Koech Set For Pre Classic Also in the field: Ben True, Ryan Hill, Chris Derrick, Caleb Ndiku, Hassan Mead, Cam Levins.
*MB: Pre Meet Just Got Really, Really Interesting - Wednesday:IAAF Preview: Russian Olympic HJ Champ Ivan Ukhov Highlights World Challenge Meet In BeijingJustin Gatlin vs. Michael Rodgers, Kim Collins, Dwain Chambers in the 100, Veronica Campbell-Brown in the 200, Brianna Rollins in the 110H.
- Busy Weekend: Iceland’s Teenage 800 Runner Anita Hinriksdottir Running The 800, 1,500 And 4 X 400 At This Weekend’s European Champion Clubs Cup In Amsterdam
Abrahamson: US Distance Runners In The News
LRC Emma Coburn Talks About Her Shanghai Win, American Records And Training With Jenny SimpsonCoburn surprised herself by winning and had to miss a scheduled post-race massage she had scheduled as she had to do interviews and a victory lap. She thinks her training partner, Jenny Simpson, can get the US record of 3:57.12 in the 1,500.
*Coburn USATF Athlete Of The Week- Athletics Illustrated Q&A With Molly Huddle Huddle talks about her early days growing up in Elmira, NY, how her dad was the one who got her into running and her racing plans for this year and beyond, which may include a marathon before 2016.
- Kara Goucher, Nick Symmonds, And Alysia Montaño Sign With Soleus Watch Company Goucher now has separate sponsors for apparel (Oiselle), shoes (Skechers) and now watches (Soleus).
- Next Saturday:Race Preview: American Women Look To Retake Podium At Freihofer’s Run For Women 5K For The First Time In A Decade The American field with US XC champ Amy Van Alstine, Jen Rhines, Megan Hogan will take on a currently unannounced international field. *Elite Field Bios
Pre Classic Keeps Getting Better
Ken Goe: It’s been three months since the Albuquerque DQs and still nothing from USATF In the aftermath of USATF accidentally released the DQ video Jill Greer said that the working group’s report will be done in June. We agree with Goe that it’s ridiculous it’s taken this long.
More Upcoming Distance Action
- World Half Marathon Champ Geoffrey Kipsang Leads Field For Ceske Budejovice Half Marathon On June 7th In The Czech Republic The 58:54-man says he eventually wants to break the WR. 1:07:55 woman Pauline Njeri leads the women’s field.
- Good Women’s 800 Field Set For June 11th Oslo DL Meet: Eunice Sum Faces Janeth Jepkosgei, Caster Semenya And Ajee Wilson
Prosecutors Says Boston Bomber Used Christmas Lights For Fuses And Remote-Control Detonators From Model Car Parts Prosecutors are arguing against a defense motion to have Dzhokhar Tsarnaev‘s statements to FBI agents thrown out because he was questioned without a lawyer.
US Distance News
- Galen Rupp Waiting To Decide Whether To Run The 5,000 Or 10,000 At Prefontaine ClassicAlberto Salazar says optimally he will race the 10,000 on Friday night, but pollen count will be taken heavily into account. He also said he and Rupp weren’t worried about him losing to Collis Birmingham in the last lap of the Oxy 5,000.
- Sarah Baxter Ends Her High School Career Going Out Undefeated Over 3,200m She won her last race Saturday, winning the 3,200 in 10:30.78. Afterwards she announced it would be her last race as she’s been dealing with a stress reaction injury all season. *MB: Baxter out for good?
- High Schoolers Mary Cain And Elise Cranny Will Face Off At The Pre Classic 1,500 Cain should beat her, but Cranny did run 4:10 this year. The real focus of the race though will be the battle between Abeba Aregawi, Hellen Obiri and Jenny Simpson. 3:56 woman Faith Kipyegon, 800 world champ Eunice Sum, Brenda Martinez and Treniere Moser are also in the field.
Diamond League #2 – Shanghai DL Was Sunday *Full Results*TV/Streaming Info
WSteeple: LRCEmma Coburn Pulls A Meb: Gaps The Field Early, Runs PR And Stunningly Wins The Steeple In her first steeple of the year, Coburn was brilliant as she ran a PR and got a convincing victory.
*Emma Coburn pulls a Meb – gaps field early and shockingly wins Shanghai DL*EMMA MF COBURN!!!
W1,500: LRC Abeba Aregawi Wins In 3:58, Jenny Simpson Nearly Breaks 4:00, Runs Second-Fastest Time Of Her Career Not a great day for Treniere Moser and Morgan Uceny. *4:00.4 for Jenny Simpson – Incredibly smart race!!
#EPICFail M800: LRC Taoufik Makhloufi Sticks Out Tongue And Arms Celebrating His 800m “Win” And Loses As A Result Makhloufi snatched defeat from the jaws of victory as an emerging star, Robert Biwott, arrived from Kenya. The Americans Johnson, Mulder and Sowinski, all struggled. *Hahahah MackDaddy LOSES while celebrating!!!!*Makhloufi What a Jackass
Full Coverage, Including Pre-Meet News, Can Be Found In Our Shanghai Diamond League Special Section
Week That Was
LRCSome Ridiculous NCAA Performances, Analyzing Emma Coburn, Calling Foul On Greg Rutherford, And Sports Gene Proven To Be True
It was a crazy week as Emma Coburn got a huge DL win, Courtney Okolo set the NCAA 400m record but may not be the best 400m runner on her team, Kennedy Kithuka and Erin Finn dominated, Trayvon Bromell ran 9.77 and Nick Arciniaga ran in a spiderman suit.
Wetmore Speaks
LRCMark Wetmore Talks About Emma Coburn's Big Win, Jenny Simpson's Four-Flat And What The Future Holds For Ben Saarel
Wetmore gave his star steepler splits to hit 9:19 and that's what she did. The expected PR came with an unexpected bonus - victory. Plus what is Jenny Simpson focusing on? And what will Ben Saarel run at NCAAs?
Oscar Pistorius Will Start Mental Evaluation Next Week As The Trial Will Be Postponed Until June 30th He’ll be treated as an outpatient at a mental health institution and be evaluated by a panel of experts.
2014 Oxy HP Complete Coverage*MB Thread *Video*2014 Results
- LRC Men: Collis Birmingham Stuns Galen Rupp; Centro Cruises; Elijah Greer Beats Robby Andrews At His Own Game; Dan Huling 8:17 It was a real late night for people staying up on the East Coast but they were jolted awake in the very last race of the night.
LRC Women: Brenda Martinez Edges Maggie Vessey As Both Break 2:00; Shannon Rowbury Wins As Jordan Hasay PRs; Kate Van Buskirk PRs- LIVE THREAD: Official 2014 Oxy HP Performance Thread – Rupp, Centro, Willis, Martinez, and Mackey, and more!
Team USA For World Relays Announced
LRCTeam USA For World Relays Announced: US Women's 4 X 800 Could Get Gold, US Stars Simpson, Symmonds, Centro And Cain NOT Running
The inaugural IAAF World Relays Championships later this month are going to be amazing - US and World records are going to drop and many US medals will be won. Too bad many American stars such as Jenny Simpson, Nick Symmonds and the entire Nike Oregon Project will miss out.
*Discuss
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