LetsRun.com’s 2014 World Top 10 And US Top 5 Rankings

Over the final five days of the year, we’ll be breaking down the best in the world in the 800, 1,500, steeple, 5,000 and marathon.

Day 2:Women’s 1,500: LRCAmerican Jenny Simpson Is On Top Of The World At #1 Simpson has been world champion and DL champion before, but now for the first time she can rightfully claim the title of of World #1. Shannon Rowbury also cracks the world top 10.

Men’s 1,500 LRC Ayanleh Souleiman Is The Best In A Historically Good Year, Leo The Lion Roars In The US It was an amazing year in the 1,500 – so amazing that Seb Coe‘s 1979 WR of 3:32.03 would have put him as the 17th fastest man in 2014. No one was faster than Silas Kiplagat but in our minds no one was better than Ayanleh Souleiman. Thanks to HOKA One One and John Hayes, a resurgent Leo Manzano claims US #1.

Day 1: Women’s 800: LRC Eunice Sum Is World #1, America’s Ajee Wilson Is World #2 20-year-old American Ajee Wilson ran the fastest time in the world and had a great year but Eunice Sum‘s season was just a little more special. It’s a great event for TEAM USA as three Americans made our global top 10.

Good Profile: World Jr. 100 Champ Dina Asher-Smith Turned Down Harvard And Florida State So She Could Pay $14,000 A Year To Go To King’s College In The UK She’s a very serious student.

Fernando Cabada Returning To Brad Hudson As His Coach Cabada has been self-coached for the last year and a half, but worked with Hudson in 2012.

Upcoming

• Sunday: Kenya’s Cornelius Kangogo Will Defend His Title At The Corrida Pedestre International de Houilles 10K He faces a competitive field in Olympic 5,000 bronze medalist Thomas Longosiwa, Micah Kogo and Frankfurt Marathon champ Mark Kiptoo. Bahrain’s 9:20 World Junior steeple champ Ruth Jebet leads the women’s field in her first race over 5,000. She faces 1:09 half runner Peris Jepchichir.
• Jan. 25:Ukraine’s Two-Time Osaka Women’s Marathon Winner Tetiana Gamera Will Return This Year To Go For Her Hat-Trick Win She’ll face 2012 winner Risa Shigetomo, 38-year-old Jelena Prokopcuka (won in 2005, 4th in NYC this year) and 2:23 Kenyan Margaret Agai.

The IOC Can And Has Done Worse:Creator Of World Of Warcraft Says Video Games Should Be In The Olympics His argument is that “Video games are well positioned to be a spectator sport.” There also is mention of “lightning quick reflexes.” *10 Wackiest Olympic Events Ever

Pro News

• Jeff Benjamin For SILive.com: “The State Of Athletics Worldwide: Can It Get Any Worse?” If you haven’t been following all the drug scandals and other controversies recently, this will give you the basics real quick.
• A Now Healthy Chanelle Price Is Reunited With Coach J.J. Clark
• Chris Derrick To Lead US Team, Defend Title At Great Edinburgh XC
• Olympic Discus Champ Robert Harting Apologizes To Winter Sports Athletes After Winning German Athlete Of Year Award Is it really harder to win an Olympic medal in the Winter Games than at the European Championships in a summer sport?
• IAAF End-Of-Year Review For Multi-Events

Unbroken Opens Today

• “Unbroken” Stirs Resentment In Japan Let them be pissed: “According to the U.S. Defense Department, nearly 40% of Americans taken prisoner by the Japanese during World War II died in captivity.”
• Eugene Residents Recall Louis Zamperini Visiting Eugene High School in 1958

Three Interesting Distance Reads

• RunnersWorld’s Amby Burfoot: “What’s The Women’s Equivalent Of A Sub-2 Hour Marathon?” Apparently the Journal of Applied Physiology says Paula Radcliffe has already hit it with her 2:15:25 WR. They say her time is worth 1:59:55 for a man.
  *MB:RW: Radcliffe has run the equivalent of sub-2 hr marathon
• Janet Bawcom Blogs About Training In Kenya She says the big difference in Kenya vs. the US: “Hills and Fartleks.” How about 30 x 1 minute hard, 1 minute “easy” where by the end you are alternating 4:30 pace and sub-6:00 pace.
• Interesting Piece In The New Yorker About The Limits Of Endurance The Role The Mind Plays In Fatigue A recent study found that subliminal messages could be used to actually increase endurance in time-to-exhaustion tests. This shows, as many runners have found, that endurance sports are mental as well as physical.

• Dawn-To-Dusk Race Run In Alaska On Winter Solstice Runners ran as far as they could with the only 3 hours, 41 minutes and 30 seconds of daylight they had. Dallas Critchfield covered the most ground with 25.5 miles, while Hillary Zelton was the top woman with 18.6 miles. Temperature during the race was -9 degrees.
• Video:Runner Races DC Metro She exited at one stop and ran to the next, trying to make it in time to board the next train. Watch the video to see if she made it.
• RunningTimes Gallery Celebrates Running In Art
• IAAF End Of Year Reviews: Relays … USA Wins Inaugural World Relay Women’s 4 X 800

• TMZ Sports:Usain Bolt Hit Up Three Parties In One Day This Past Weekend
• Did Police Recover Cathy Freeman’s Missing Bodysuit Which Mysteriously Disappeared During The 2000 Olympics? Aussie sprinter Freeman wore the famous outfit when she lit the flame at the Sydney Olympics, but it was stolen from her dressing room.
• Scary:Earlier This Month A Runner Was Mistaken For A Deer And Shot By A Hunter The man who was shot was listed as stable and transported to the hospital while the hunter was arrested for multiple charges including unlawful possession and careless use.

Doping Updates

• Full Interview (Translated) With Russian Doper / Whistleblower Yulia Stepanova, Who Says Even Though WADA And IAAF Are Supposedly “Investigating,” Neither Has Contacted Her To See All The Extra Evidence She Has She says she told WADA 2 years ago about Russian systematic doping, but they did nothing. She calls them a “toothless tiger” and says Russia should be suspended for 2 years.
• Jamaican Parliament Passes New Law To Give Jamaican Anti-Doping Commission More Power JADCO’s budget has also been increased by 110% so it can conduct in- and out-of-competition testing.

Strange / Random News

• That’s One Way To Fill An Empty Stadium:In Qatar, Migrant Workers Are Paid To Be “Sports Fans” Article says these workers fight to squeeze onto buses to get the chance to sit through an event they don’t care about to earn 5 bucks.
• New Event Company Hosting 0.0 Mile “Instant Gratification Run” In Philly Basically a post-race party without the race.
  *MB: Are Color Runs Just Too Competitive for You? Don’t Worry, An Alternative Exists…
• Alysia Montano Racing USAs Pregnant Featured In Boston Globe’s “Nine Women’s Sports Stories That Deserved More Attention” In 2014 They link to LRC’s post-race interview with her.

The Next Dibaba? The Next Huddle?

• Profile On Ethiopia’s Former Steeple WJR Holder Turned 5,000 Runner Almaz Ayana, Who Is Being Called The “Successor To Tirunesh Dibaba And Meseret Defar” Ayana actually beat Genzebe Dibaba to win African Champs and also won the IAAF Continental Cup. She has a 14:25.84 5,000 best and talks about going for Tirunesh’s 14:11.15 WR.
• USATF Ratifies Alexa Efraimson’s US Junior Road 5K Record From The Silicon Turkey Trot She ran 16:08 to break Molly Huddle‘s previous mark, despite collapsing near the finish and getting back up and finishing.