January 19, 2016 Homepage Archive

Donavan Brazier Talked To The Media on Tuesday

LRC His 1:45.93 Opener Is Just the Tip of the Iceberg for 800 Phenom Donavan Brazier Jonathan Gault spoke with the 18-year old phenom today and learned two surprising things. 1) He ran a 1:14 600 in practice in November. 2) He says he’s definitely not doing the US Olympic Trials. Story includes race video.
*MB: Check this out, Donavan Brazier ran a 1:14.98 600 in November!!!
*MB:America’s newest star has arrived!! True frosh Donavan Brazier runs 1:45.93 in first-ever collegiate 800!!

Message From Athletes: “Don’t Touch Our WRs”

Mike Powell Threatens “Slap” Anyone Who Suggests Resetting His Long Jump WR“Who is this person? Have they ever competed? Do they know anything about athletics? Do they know anything about human genetics? Who are they? Shut up!”
Usain Bolt Felt “Shocked And Let Down” By Doping Scandal, But Says Reseting The World Records Is “Really Pointless” “You can’t worry about the past, but try to build on the future.”

More Weekend Road Action *Rock ‘N’ Roll Arizona Results

Scott Bauhs Wins Rock ‘N’ Roll Arizona Half In 1:02:23 Over Ben Bruce, Janet Bawcom Runs 1:11:49Misikir Demissie (a 2:25 marathoner who is a new US citizen) ran 1:13 here, but her coach says of the Trials, “she can run 2:25.” *Top Results
*Organizer PR:Tears Of Joy For Last Minute OT Qualifiers
Nick Arciniaga (65:49) And Annie Bersagel (75:09) Tune Up For The OT With Wins At The Star Wars Disney Half Marathon Arciniaga had one of the coolest race celebrations ever as he broke the tape with a lightsaber.
Less Than A Month Out From The Trials, Fernando Cabada Runs 2:18:14 To Win Carlsbad Marathon Cabada said he set out to run a 2:22 tune-up, but felt good and got competitive with other runners.
*MB: WTF Is Fernando Cabada thinking???
RRW:Brief But Powerful Storm Forces Cancellation Of Naples Half And For Some, Olympic Trials Dreams Yesterday was the last day to qualify. *2nd Article
Heather Kampf Wins 4th-Straight Bermuda Street Mile She won in 4:42 over Jamaica’s 2006 World indoor 800 silver medalist Kenia Sinclair.
*Results The men’s race was really close 1-3 with New Mexico alum Adam Bitchell (4:26.51) winning; Jordan Chipangama (4:26.52) was 3rd.
Mike Kiprotich Mutai (2:12:12) And Letebrhan Haylay Gebreslasea (2:36:51) Win Hong Kong Marathon

Sprint Stuff: Good Things For Bolt And Felix

The Allyson Felix Rule: IAAF Amends Rio 2016 Schedule To Allow The Women’s 200 And 400 Double Instead of 75 minutes between 200 prelims and 400 final, there is 13 hours. France’s Marie-Jose Perec was the last woman to win the 200/400 double in 1996; before her, it was US’s Valerie Brisco-Hooks in 1984.
*Full Updated Olympic Track Schedule
Usain Bolt Reveals He Has A “Secret” Girlfriend Apparently they’ve been dating for over two years.

Do You Think They Run Out Of Room For All These AOY Awards?

Usain Bolt And Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Are RJR Sports Foundation Athletes Of The Year
Jav Thrower Julius Yego Crowned Overall Kenyan Sports Personalty Of The Year Award World Champ steepler Hyvin Kiyeng was the top woman, but Yego was best overall.

WADA Report #2

LRC Dick Pound’s Puzzling Endorsement Of Seb Coe, Looking For Heroes And Where Is The “Wow” Factor? – Analysis And Reaction To Part 2 Of WADA Report The good, the bad and the ugly from the report.

Recommended Read: ESPN’s Bonnie Ford:Strict Liability Standard Applies To Olympic Athletes, But Not Their Leadership Olympic athletes are held to incredibly high standards. If they do anything wrong, even unintentionally, they are banned for two years. We should hold the administrators to similar standards.
IAAF Statement They are thankful for WADA’s work but point out that all of the Russians were ultimately banned.
Even Though She Was Basically Exonerated By The Report, Paula Radcliffe Is Upset The IC Didn’t Go Even Further In Clearing Her Name “I was a little bit disappointed, given I had submitted written requests to the independent commission – and specifically to WADA – asking the WADA experts to release their evaluation of my data and it didn’t quite go that far. But I think they did underline the fact that those allegations did not have substance.”
Police Investigate London World Championships Bidding Will Eugene, Oregon, be next?
America’s Top Anti-Doping Official Travis Tygart Says It’s Too Late For Russia To Be Ready For Rio
Tygart Is Upset That WADA Didn’t Declare IAAF Non-Compliant With WADA Code
It Is Clear Ex-IAAF Chief Lamine Diack And Sons Grasped Any Opportunity
European Athletics President Hansen Calls For “Cultural Revolution” In Track
Athletics Doping Scandal Q&A

Sprint And Hurdle News

Andre De Grasse Says It Was Hard To Leave USC But He’s Adjusting Well To Life In Phoenix
Devon Allen Has Returned To The Oregon Track Team His freshman campaign in 2014 was unreal as he won NCAAs and USAs but he missed all of last year with an injury.
400H Bronze Medalist Jeffery Gibson Is Taking Cello Lessons

More Distance News

Video Interview: Matt Llano Trying To Get In 2:09 To 2:10 Shape For The Trials
NXN Champ Kate Rainsberger Blogs About Her Experience At Great Edinburgh XC She was the top American in the junior race in 5th place.

London Produces Yet Again

LRCInsanely Good Women's Field Announced For 2016 Virgin Money London Marathon - Is This Race Tougher To Win Than The 2016 Olympics?

Once again, London has secured an amazing field with five women who have run under 2:20 and eight under 2:21. All of the top 5 from our 2015 World Rankings are in the field including the winners of 2015 Dubai, London, Berlin, Chicago, New York and Worlds marathons.

A Look Back At The Geniuses Of LetsRun From 2015

LRCLRC $200,015 Running Warehouse NCAA XC Prediction Contest Recap

A pre-med student, a collegiate record holder, and a guy dating someone on the Syracuse team took home the prizes.

London Marathon Stacked Once Again

LRCFour Thoughts On The 2016 London Men's Field: Olympic Implications, The Return Of Bekele And Karoki's Debut

The 2016 London men's field very well may be tougher to win than the Olympics. It is totally loaded once again as it includes the world's best marathoner, the world champ, the world record holder and a whole lot more. Surprisingly, it will mark the return to the marathon for Kenenisa Bekele and the debut of Bedan Karoki.

Return Of The Champions:Eliud Kipchoge Returns To The London Marathon To Defend His Title Against Wilson Kipsang, Dennis Kimetto And Kenenisa BekeleField also includes World champion Ghirmay Ghebreslassie, Tokyo champ Endeshaw Negesse (2:04:52), 2:04:55 man Stanley Biwott and Rotterdam winner Abera Kuma (2:05:56).
*MB: London Marathon elite men’s field looking good.

More On Ryan Hall’s Retirement LRCTop 6 Moments in Ryan Hall’s Career LRC 30 Minutes of Video With Ryan From December

Sara Hall Blogs On Ryan’s Retirement: “An Incredible Ride: Thanks Ry” “He has been genuinely joyful and at peace ever since the decision. It was clear to him, and there were no second thoughts.”
Recommended Read:The Running World Reacts And Shares Stories About Ryan Hall Some very heartwarming stuff in here. Quotes from Dathan Ritzenhein, Alan Webb, Alicia Shay, Bill Rodgers and more.
RRW Flashback:Hall Wins 2006 USA Cross-Country ChampionshipsDavid Monti writes that when he saw Hall get third in the 4K on day 1 and come back and dominate the 12K on day 2 that is when he “realized that Ryan Hall was a truly special athlete.”
Chris Chavez For Sports Illustrated: “Hall Retires, Ending A Long Run Of Glory And Struggle”
Sometimes Coach Jack Daniels Reflects On Hall’s Career “Ryan was just born with certain advantages over a lot of other people. He has the perfect body for distance running and he had the desire to do it.”
2007 RRW Flashback:Hall Shatters Half Marathon Record & Wins U.S. Title

NCAA: Super-Fast Collegiate Mid-D Action *All NCAA Results

Pro: UW Preview: Kim Conley Runs 9:01.31 To Win 3,000m Over Canada’s Nicole Sifuentes (9:05.31); Trevor Dunbar Wins Mile/800 Double Conley was originally only supposed to rabbit the race, but felt good so stayed in.

MB: America’s newest star has arrived!! True frosh Donavan Brazier runs 1:45.93 in first-ever collegiate 800!!(link fixed)No rabbits, legitimate track and he’s just .05 off of the American collegiate record. Unreal.
*Texas A&M Article Brazier: “Now my goals are starting to go up a little bit. When I first got here I just wanted to make the travel team.”

Top 10 College Marks From The Weekend Per Event
MB:Penn State’s Brannon Kidder breaks collegiate record in men’s 1000 with 2:18.26
MB:Raevyn Rogers also ran really fast today – 1:26.34 for 600m That’s faster than the CR but it was run on an oversized track.
*Register-Guard Article
Pole Vault: Arkansas Freshman Lexi Weeks Clears 14-9 To Win Arkansas Invy That vault would have been good for 2nd place at NCAAs last year. Her twin sister Tori was second with 13-9.25.
Sprint: Houston’s Cameron Burrell Runs World-Leading 6.55 In The 60m

Boston Marathon Bomber Loses Bid For New Trial; Ordered To Pay Victims $101 Million In Restitution The restitution order is symbolic as he is in jail with no money to pay.

Olympic Scandals A-Brewin’

Bad Taste Or Do They Not Watch The News?Rio Organizers Use Image Of Oscar Pistorius To Advertise 2016 Paralympics
IOC Looking Into Possible Tokyo 2020 Olympic Bid Bribery The WADA report mentioned that Lamine Diack‘s vote might have been bought for $5 million in sponsorship money.
Another Plagiarism Controversy Brewing?Japanese Architect Denies Copying Original Tokyo Olympic Stadium Design Which Was Scrapped Sources say while the stadiums look stylistically different, there are are some similarities “too unusual to be coincidental.”

Ryan Hall Has Called It A Career

LRC Ryan Hall Has Retired – We Remember The Six Most Glorious Moments Of His Amazing Career Picking the greatest moments from his amazing career wasn’t easy but we’ve got our six favorites. Ryan, you will be missed.

LRC: 30 Minutes Of Video With Ryan Hall From December: “I’m not going to be someone who hangs on. When I know my body has had enough then (I’ll retire). I’ll always run and always love the sport.”

Amby Burfoot: Ryan Hall Dared To Be Great
Toni Reavis Reflects On Hall’s Great Career “Good luck with it, Ryan. And thanks. We’ll not see one like you again soon.”

More Should Coe Stay Or Go?

NYT Columnist (And Lauren Fleshman) Thinks Coe Should Get 2nd Chance “With so much corruption in international sports, there would be no guarantee that Coe’s successor would be blemish-free.”
Radcliffe Thinks Coe Can Reform The Sport “I do believe he’s someone who cares deeply about our sport and will fight to put those changes in place.”
Matt Lawton:Lord Coe Still Standing After Athletics’ Darkest Day
Daily Mail:Lord Coe Breaks Bread With The Powerful. … So How Could He Know Nothing About Arguably The Greatest Sporting Scandal Of The Modern Age?
Phil Hersh: In Surreal Turn, Condemnation Of IAAF Leaders Exempts President Sebastian Coe
Independent: Astonishing That Lord Coe Did Not Hear The Whispers
Independent:Lord Coe Declared Fit To Clean Up Athletics – But Was He Part Of The Problem?
Telegraph: Lord Coe Admits To Failings

News From Oregon

Outside Magazine: “Can Galen Rupp Pull Off A 10,000 And Marathon Double In Rio?” They argue “it wouldn’t be that crazy” and remind you that back in 2012 Alberto Salazar predicted that Mo Farah would do that double for Rio.
*LRC’s Take: Will Galen Rupp Do The Olympic Marathon Trials?
Vin Lananna Says TrackTown USA Won’t Ask Lawmakers For $15 Million To Upgrade Hayward Field Ahead Of 2021 Worlds “We’re going to have to fundraise it. It may slow the project down.”
Good Read:The Oregonian: “Track Town Trips Over World Champs Funding Request” An in-depth look at the funding situation in Oregon and why organizers cut back their request for funds by more than a third, “admitting they miscalculated the level of political support for the event.”
Brianne Theisen-Eaton Hopes Portland Will Be Scene Of First Global Title Right now she’s Mrs. Silver as she’s finished runner-up in three consecutive World Championships (two outdoors, one indoors).
Register-Guard Roster Breakdown: “What To Expect From UO Men’s Indoor Team”Eric Jenkins was a key loss, Edward Cheserek is a key returner, Matthew Maton is a key newcomer.
RG UO Women’s Roster BreakdownJenna Prandini going pro was a big loss.

2016 Boston Marathon Field Announced

LRC Three Quick Thoughts On The 2016 Boston Marathon Field Both defending champs will be back. In terms of PRs, the men’s field is a little stronger than last year.

*MB: 2016 Boston Marathon field announced.
*MB: Neely Spence Gracey running Boston – good idea?

Neely Spence Gracey Skipping Olympic Trials To Debut At Boston Marathon

Houston Marathon / Half *Results

MB: Luke Puskedra runs 1:01:29 in Houston!!! What the….???Lelisa Desisa got the win in 60:37 as Puskedra was 4th.
Results:Mary Wacera Wins Houston Half In 66:29 As Sara Hall Is The Top American (70:07) In 5th Ethiopians Gebo Burka (2:10:54) and Biruktayit Degefa (2:26:07) won the full.
*MB: Can someone explain the “you shouldn’t race a half a month out from your marathon” logic?
Mike Cassidy Falls Short In Olympic Trials Qualifier Attempt Cassidy, who posted an essay on LetsRun after the 2013 NYC Marathon that generated more than 12,000 Facebook “likes,” ran 2:21:20 in Houston.
*LRC Archives: The Time of My Life: Staten Island Native Mike Cassidy Shares His Experience Finishing The NYC Marathon Hand-In-Hand With His Hero Meb Keflezighi
Organizer Press Release / Recap

XC News: Rack Up Another “W” For Kamworor

Geoffrey Kamworor And Vivian Cheruiyot Win Kenya Police XC Titles At one point, Kamworor, Asbel Kiprop, Caleb Ndiku and Augustine Choge were all racing neck-and-neck, but in the end Choge and Kiprop were a distant 2nd and 3rd. *2nd Article/Results
World XC 6th Placer Tamirat Tola And Worlds 1,500 Silver Medalist Faith Kipyegon Win Cross Internacional de Italica In Seville, Spain Tola won over Teklemariam Medhi as Conseslus Kipruto was back in 5th. *Results: *Men*Women
IAAF Weekend XC Round-Up:Two 17-Year-Old Ethiopians Clean Up In France World Jr. XC champ Letesenbet Gidey and Abadi Embaye (13:13 5K best) won the Cross Ouest France XC meet.
Kenya’s Africa Games 10,000m Champ Alice Aprot And Bahrain’s Aweke Ayalew Win IAAF Antrim XC MeetFionnuala McCormack (Britton) and Kate Avery were 3-4, separated by 3 seconds.

Pro Track Action

Jordan Hasay 4:49 Mile, Shannon Rowbury 8:53 3k, Centro 7:55 3k At TrackTown USA Indoor Meet In Portland The meet was held on the track that will host World Indoors. *Full Results*Ken Goe

World Champ Shawn Barber’s Hot Start To Season Continues – He Joins 6.00m Club (19-8.25) At The Pole Vault Summit In Reno
*Slow Motion Video
Alana Boyd’s 4.71m Pole Vault Highlights Aussie Weekend Action Elsewhere, Nick Willis won a low-key 800 in New Zealand in 1:49.88.

US Stars In The News

USA 10,000m champion Molly Huddle in advance of the 2015 .US National Road Racing Championships in Alexandria, Va. (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly) Molly Huddle Gets Huge Feature In Her Hometown PaperRay Treacy summed the 31-year-old up perfectly: “The thing is she just keeps getting better.”

RRW Meb Keflezighi And Shalane Flanagan Both Refuse To Call Themselves Favorites For Next Months Marathon Trials

The Latest Seb Coe / IAAF News

A bearded Seb Coe is grilled in a recent interview with CNN's Amanda Davies. LRCAnti-Doping Experts Michael Ashenden and Robin Parisotto Issue Statements In Response to WADA IC Report – Both Men Are Willing To Let Seb Coe Lead The IAAF Moving Forward Both men found encouraging aspects in the WADA report and in the end, both took the high road and concluded their statements by saying they are willing to let Seb Coe lead the IAAF.

Alan Abrahamson: Sebastian Coe Is The Answer, Not The Problem
Telegraph Columnist Thinks The Fact That Coe Is Risking His Entire Reputation On Heading IAAF Will Make Him A Better Leader Plus the columnist thinks Coe is “pathologically committed” to the sport unlike most bureaucrats for whom it’s just a job.
IAAF Wants To Figure Out What Happened To $25 Million Russian Bank Supposedly Gave It In 2013 For TV Rights The suspicion if a large proportion of the money was pocketed by the Diacks.
Russian Olympic Committee Head Says WADA Admits It Has No Proof Doping Positives Were Delayed Because Lamine Diack Had Become Good Friend With Vladimir Putin
Head Of UK Athletics Welcomes Investigation In 2017 Worlds, Says London Has “Nothing To Hide” We agree. Awarding the Worlds to London was a no-brainer.
USATF Says It Will “… fully cooperate with the IAAF on any actions or requests that they deem appropriate” Into 2021 Worlds Investigation
Germany Wants Emergency IAAF Membership Meeting After Latest WADA Report

The 2016 US Marathon Trials Are Less Than One Month Away

LRCLess Than A Month From LA 2016, Kevin Hanson & Desi Linden Talk Marathon Trials, Bobby Curtis & Galen Rupp

Linden went into depth about her Trials buildup and the trickiest parts of the LA course, while Hanson discussed Linden and Bobby Curtis before discounting Galen Rupp's chances (should he elect to run) and reminding people why they shouldn't underestimate Jake Riley.

LRCChris Derrick On The Olympic Marathon Trials, Pro Running Being A Sweet Part-Time Job, The NY Jets, And The Decreasing Marginal Utility Of Income

Chris Derrick joined us on the podcast and talked about his potential marathon debut at the Trials, the doping crisis in the sport, the ticking clock on 60 minutes, Twitter, the New York Jets, how he "was" a big fan of LetsRun.com and how professional running is like a part-time job.

Meb Keflezighi And Shalane Flanagan Share Their Thoughts On The Olympic Trials Marathon Course