January 25, 2017 Homepage Archive

The Week That Was Is Back From Paternity Leave

WTW DJ Principe Almost Breaks 4:00, Matthew Centrowitz Gets Disrespected, And A Statistical Reason As To Why Men’s Track Is More Popular Than Women’s This week we also take an in-depth look at how often the world #1 wins the Olympics and compare the depth of the three Spring world marathon majors.

The New Balance Indoor Grand Prix Is Saturday In Boston Start Lists / Schedule Meet Home

Women’s 3K:Shannon Rowbury Takes On A Great Field With Sifan Hassan, Olympic Silver Medalist Hellen Obiri And Dawit Seyaum
Sydney McLaughlin Added To Team With Jenny Simpson, Emma Coburn And Brenda Martinez For A DMR World Record Attempt The 10:42.57 record was set in 2015 by a team that also included Martinez.
DJ Principe Leads Junior Mile Field At NBIGP Fresh off his 4:00.97 against the pros, Principe will be back up against high school competition this Saturday.

Latest Russian Doping News

Russian Athletics Fed. President Dmitry Shlyakhtin Says They Will Check Claims From Latest ARD Documentary What is there to check? There is video of a banned coach working with athletes. Those athletes should now be banned as well.
Shlyakhtin Vows To Take “Very Tough Measures” On Coaches Who Dope Athletes We’ll believe it when we see it.
Russian Coach Sergey Epishin Threatens Lawsuit Against Russian Whistleblower Andrey Dmitriev
World 110H Hurdle Champ Sergey Shubenkov Expects A Ruling From IAAF Soon His His Neutral Athlete Application Shubenkov and 10 other Russians including two-time world champ HJer Maria Kuchina have appliced to compete internationally as neutral athletes.
International Paralympic Committee President Reveals That Russia Could Remain Banned For The 2018 Winter Olympics

Track Action: New Balance Games Results All NCAA Results

RRW Ajee Wilson Runs 1:25.23 For 600 (#2 All-Time US) As Drew Hunter Wins Mile And HSer D.J. Principe Almost Breaks 4:00 Hunter won the mile in 3:58.92 as Principe finished 3rd (4:00.97). Kate Van Buskirk won the women’s mile in 4:30.14.
*Video:Interview With Principe Principe threw up post-race and had to cut the interview short to sit down.
*Video Q&A With Drew Hunter
*MB: High Schooler DJ Principe Runs 4:00.97
*Organizer Release: Drew Hunter Wins in Professional Indoor Debut; Wilson Soars to 2nd Best American Ever in 600m

Sammy Watson Breaks 600m High School Indoor National Record In 1:28.67 She won the race by 9 seconds to break the previous mark by .11.
Molly Seidel Opens Season With 4:44 Mile Win At Notre Dame Invy Erin Finn won the 3,000 in 9:07. *Results
4 X 4 Olympic Silver Medalist Javon Francis Gets 800m Win In 1:54.08 In Jamaica
Florida’s Grant Holloway Joins Ashton Eaton As Only Athlete To Jump 8.05m And Run Under 7.75 In The 60H Indoors
UTEP Freshman Emmanuel Korir Sets World Indoor 600m Record With 1:14.97 He took .15 off the previous record from 1999. *Discuss

International Distance News

Mo Farah:“I dream of making Britain my home again – but only after I’ve had one last shot at the marathon.” Farah says he’ll have one more year on the track for London Worlds and then focus more on the road.
Faith Kipyegon’s Coach Says She Could Do The 1,500/5,000 Double In 2020 And Thinks Her Talent Could Extend All The Way To The Marathon The Olympic 1,500 champ is a believer in the benefit of running cross-country and will try to make the Kenyan squad for World XC.
Vivian Cheruiyot Wins Kenyan 2016 Sports Personality Of The Year Award Cheruiyot won the overall award while Eliud Kipchoge was the sportsman of the year.
Vivian Cheruiyot Hopes To Emulate Eliud Kipchoge’s As She Transitions From Track To Road A track-to-road switch like Kipchoge’s is setting the bar high, but Cheruiyot says she gets confidence from her 67:54 half marathon debut last year.
Runner Tribe’s Len Johnson: “Kenenisa Bekele Leaves Us Wondering As Marathon Humbles On Of Its Most Prestigious Challengers” Johnson writes, “Say what you like about Kenenisa Bekele, but the man … is never boring.”
New Zealand’s Olympic 800 Runner Angie Petty Now Being Coached By Danny Mackey She hasn’t decided yet if she’s moving to Seattle permanently, but will be visiting this spring.
Edna Kiplagat Wants To Prove Herself In Boston So She Can Get A Chance To Go For A Third World Marathon Title At London 2017

Staten Island To Host Pro Indoor Meet In February The Ocean Breeze Grand Prix will have over $30,000 in prize money.

Track / XC Gets Four Mentions On List Of 16 Best Oregon Sports Teams From 2016

Doping News

Most Ridiculous Doping Excuse Ever?Vitaly Mutko Blames “Sexual Intercourse” For Russian Women’s Ice Hockey Players Showing Male DNA The 100% more likely scenario is that this is proof of sample swapping by the Russians during the 2014 Sochi Olympics. This is up there with Dennis Mitchell‘s excuse that he tested positive due to having sex with his wife 4 times and drinking 5 bottles of beer.
Kenyan Athletes Back Plan For Six Internationally Accredited Doctors To Provide Medical Support The goal is to help curb the rise in rogue doctors who help dope Kenyan athletes.
Russia Wins!!! Russia Has The Most Track Athletes Caught Doping In 2016 36 Russians were sanctioned in 2016 with India (24) and Morocco (20) finishing 2nd and 3rd on the list.
Haile Gebrselassie Pledges To Work With Kenya To Fight Against Doping Geb and David Rudisha disagreed a bit about punishment for dopers with Geb pushing for criminal charges and Rudisha arguing that athletes who unknowingly dope get a break.
Valerie Adams Renews Calls For Lifetime Ban For Doper Nadzeya Ostapchuk Ostapchuk’s 4-year ban from London 2012 is over, but she’s since been caught in retroactive tests from 2005 Worlds and the 2008 Olympics.
WADA Gives Advice On How To Avoid Supplements With Banned Substances In Them They give 14 red flags to watch out for.

Sub-2 Hour Marathon Season Is Here

Recommended Read:The Guardian: “Can Nike’s Two-Hour Marathon Quest Learn From Roger Bannister?”Michael Crawley explains how Bannister’s sub-4 actually has a lot in common with Nike’s sub-2 hour marathon project. Even if low tech by today’s standards, at the time there were actually concerns about the legitimacy of Bannister’s approach.
Sports Scientist Ross Tucker:The “2-Hour Marathon” Season Begins With Dubai Tucker is pretty critical of the 2-hour hype and doubts it can be done without doping anytime soon. He jokes that the “barrier is now ‘in sight,’ even if a telescope is required.”

Presidential Corner

Interesting Read:InsideTheGames: The Olympic Rings And The Oval Office: From Teddy To Donald And interesting history lesson on US presidents and the Olympics. The author points out for Donald Trump to open the 2024 Games, two more elections would need to go his way.
MB: Official LRC President Donald J Trump Inauguration Thread
President Obama Praises Michael Phelps And Simone Biles In His Final Press Conference

LetsRun.com’s World And US Rankings

*Men’s Marathon:Eliud Kipchoge Caps A Historic Year As World #1 As Breakout Marathon Star Galen Rupp Leads The Americans
*Women’s Marathon: London/Olympic Champ Jemima Sumgong Tops The List; Shalane Flanagan Top American
*Men’s 3,000/5,000:Mo Farah Is #1 Again; Paul Chelimo Tops U.S. List After Shock Silver In Rio
*Women’s 3,000/5,000: Almaz Ayana Is World #1; Shannon Rowbury Or Molly Huddle For U.S. #1?
*Men’s Steeple: Men’s Steeple: Conseslus Kipruto Ascends To #1 After A Year To Remember; Evan Jager (#2) Leads Americans Again
*Women’s Steeple:Ruth Jebet Leads The Way; Olympic Medallist Emma Coburn Tops U.S. List For Third Straight Year
*Men’s 1,500: Olympic Champion Matthew Centrowitz Is Our World #1
*Women’s 1,500:Faith Kipyegon Unseats Genzebe Dibaba As World #1; Jenny Simpson Back On Top Of U.S. Rankings
*Women’s 800:Caster Semenya Is the Clear World #1; Kate Grace Finishes A Shocking Year As U.S. #1
*Men’s 800 David Rudisha Is On Top For 2nd Year In A Row; Olympic Bronze Medalist Clayton Murphy Leads The Americans

Usain Bolt’s Triple Triple Technically No Longer Exists

Bolt already made the cover of Sports Illustrated this year Usain Bolt stripped of 2008 4 x 100 after Nesta Carter tests positive for methylhexaneamine In case you are wondering, it’s a nasal decongestant that acts as a stimulant.

More Bolt News

Usain Bolt’s finishes picking his team for 1st-ever Nitro Athletics competition It’s full of Jamaican stars, Olympic champs and young Australians. Americans Kerron Clement and Jarrion Lawson make the cut. “Of course I’m going to bring my fellow Jamaicans, they were the first to be picked,” said Bolt.
Bolt picks “the next Craig Mottram” , Matthew Ramsden, for his team The 19-year old ran 3:42 and 14:01 at age 18.

America Has a New Distance Star

LRC America Has a New Distance Star: Olympic 10,000m Silver Medallist Sally Kipyego Now a Citizen The Olympic silver medallist at 10,000m in 2012, has a 5,000m pb faster than any American and was 2nd at the NYC Marathon this last year.

Women In The News

Yelena Isinbayeva isn’t happy with the informants in the newest German ARD documentary “Why don’t the informants contact investigating authorities instead of filming material on a hidden camera and then selling it? Why don’t they go to the Ministry of Sports or anti-doping agency to declare the violations?”
Woman Who Ran Marathons In Tutus To Raise Money For Charity Dies of Brain Cancer at 38
Stacy Dragila, who will be inducted into Sacramento HOF Friday, reflects back on her career She’s thankful her coach bribed her to pick up the pole vault. “‘If you’ll cut my pentathlon practice in half, I’ll try it.’ It was all about bribery.”
Tatyana McFadden considers herself to be a runner While the sentiment is nice, we do not. She says, “Being a runner means putting in hard work and learning from your failures.”
South African 11.06 sprinter Carina Horn desperately wants to break 11.00
Valerie Adams is looking for a new coach as her coach has decided to retire
*Podcast on Adams’ search for a new coach

More Upcoming Action: Get Psyched For The Wanamaker Mile

Feb. 11: Defending Champion Shannon Rowbury And Olympic Medalist Clayton Murphy To Highlight Wanamaker Mile Fields At The 110th Millrose Games As always, the fields are stacked with American talent with Murphy up against Robby Andrews, Eric Jenkins, Leo Manzano, Drew Hunter while the women’s race includes Kate Grace, Alexa Efraimson, Brenda Martinez, and high schooler Kate Murphy.
Sunday In Kenya:World XC Champ Geoffrey Kamworor And Silver Medalist Bedan Karoki Will Battle It Out At Discovery XC Meet Steepler Jairus Birech is also in the field while World XC champ Agnes Tirop leads women’s race against Florence Kiplagat and Olympic champ Jemimah Sumgong. *2nd Article
Feb. 4:Olympic Silver Medalist Hellen Obiri And GB’s Laura Muir Will Go Head-To-Head Over 3,000m At The Karlsruhe Indoor Meet
Jo Pavey Added To Star Studded London Marathon Elite Women’s Field Pavey’s PB is 2:28:24 from her debut in 2011. Now, she hopes to run under 2:36 and finish as the top 2 Brits to earn selection to the 2017 World team.
Wayde Van Niekerk Will Race For The First Time Since Winning Olympic Gold In Rio At A Low Key Meet In South Africa This Weekend He will run the 200 and possibly the 400 as well.

Post Weekend Track Updates

Keni Harrison Opens Her Season With Quick 7.75 PB In The 60H At The Rod McCravy Invy
Event-By-Event Top 10 NCAA Marks From The WeekendIsaiah Harris dropped a 1:46.65 at the Rod McCravey Memorial Meet.
Florida Men Strengthen Lead In First Regular Season NCAA Rankings Oregon is ranked a distant 2nd.
Status Quo Remains In Place In NCAA DI Women’s Rankings Oregon stays ranked #1 with Arkansas and Georgia 2-3.

More XC / Road Results

Ethiopian World Junior Champions Selemon Barega And Beyenu Degefa Win Famous Windmill Course Cinque Mulini XC Race In Italy
IAAF Weekend XC Round-Up: World 5,000m Silver Medalist Senbere Teferi Defeated Olympic Steeple Champ Ruth Jebet To Win Juan Muguerza XC Meet Uganda XC Trials champ Joshua Cheptegei won the men’s race with Olympic steeple champ Conseslus Kipruto in 3rd.
Kenyans Peter Cheruiyot Kirui (60:56) And Antonina Kwambai (69:49) Win Santa Pola International Half Marathon
AW Weekly Round-Up:Brit Andy Vernon Wins CrossCup De La Province De Liege In Belgium
Jess Judd And Dewi Griffiths Win UK Cardiff XC Challenge

Previous XC / Road Results

Olympic 5,000 Silver Medalist Hellen Obiri Defeats Olympic Marathon Champ Jemima Sumgong At Kenyan Defence Forces XC Championships Obiri won handily, beating Sumgong by 28 seconds. Emmanuel Kipsang won the men’s race as 40-year-old Mark Kiptoo finished an impressive 5th.
African XC Champion Alice Aprot Takes Kenyan Prisons XC Championship Title Bernard Muia was the surprise winner in a competitive men’s race which saw 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Thomas Longosiwa finish 27th.
Augustine Choge And Caroline Kipkirui Win Kenyan Police XC Championships Choge won in a sprint finish where sub-27 10K runner Emmanuel Bett finished 3rd.
World Half Marathon Champ Peres Jepchirchir Wins Nandi XC Championship Abraham Kiptum won the men’s race.
Nagano Wins A Record Seventh National Men’s Ekiden Title
Universal Entertainment Wins Kita-Kyushu Invitational Women’s Ekiden

Tokyo – The 1st AWMM Of 2017 – Is Feb. 26

2017 Tokyo Elite Fields Released – Wilson Kipsang Headlines Men’s Field – Betsy Saina And Sara Hall In Women’s Field The men’s field features 10 guys who have broken 2:07 while the women’s field features 4 women who have broken 2:23 plus the debut of Saina. Andrew Bumbalough will also make his marathon debut.

2017 NYRR Millrose Games Are Feb. 11

LRC Olympic Champion Matthew Centrowitz To Race 2-Mile At 2017 NYRR Millrose Games – Will He Attack Galen Rupp’s 8:07.41 American Record? The 3-time Wanamaker mile champ will be seen for twice as long this year as he’ll clash with many of America’s best, including Ryan Hill, Ben Blankenship, Hassan Mead, Mo Ahmed, Donn Cabral and Ben True.

Winners, Losers And More From Houston

LRC Jordan Hasay Is Now One Of America’s Best Half Marathoners, Here’s Why She May Be An Even Better Marathoner Wejo claims he didn’t want to hype her up too much, but then drops a Paula Radcliffe comparison.

LRC The Winners, Losers And Most Confused From The Houston Marathon: Leonard Korir, Jordan Hasay, Kiya Dandena, Becky Wade, & The US Cross-Country TeamWe give you the winners (above), losers (those seeking a fast time) and most confused (TV fans) from the Chevron Houston Maraton and Aramco Half Marathon, plus an update on Galen Rupp‘s injury and Paul Chelimo.

2016 Was A Record Year For Us In Terms Of Traffic – Thanks For Visiting

An Inside Look At How LRC Operates How a Ragtag Crew Of Almost Journalists Created Running’s Most Controversial Website Author Charles Bethea embedded himself with us during the US Olympic trials and got a behind-the-scenes look at how we operate. His article in Outside magazine includes some really nice quotes from Tim Layden, “… their best quality is that they don’t give a shit about offending people,” and Nick Willis, “It gave me a ton of inspiration. LetsRun is one of the primary reasons high-quality coaching and training have improved in America.”
*MB: Long Article on Letsrun… in Outside Magazine

Enjoyed The Article Above?Then Check This Article On LRC’s Founding From Marathon And Beyond In 2009The LetsRun Phenomenon

Sprint / Throw / Jump News

2-time Olympic 400h champ Felix Sanchez is in Kenya helping coach the hurdlers He thinks Kenya should consistently produce sprint stars as well as distance stars. “There is no reason why they can’t produce greats in sprints consistently.”
Even though UF is #1 in men’s track, they haven’t had a guy win a 60m race all season Mike Holloway says it’s his job to get them running faster, “I’ll get those guys going.”
Jacko Gill threw a new pb of 21.01m over the weekend
Wayde van Niekerk and Caster Semenya named to provisional South African team for World Relays They’ll probably both be in the 4 x 400. We’d love to see Caster on the 4 x 800.
Olympic pv champ Thiago Braz now can’t walk down a Brazilian street without being recognized
40-year old Kim Collins to Open Season in Czech this Saturday

Assorted Distance News

Recommended Read:Abbey D’Agostino Update:“D’Agostino Returns To Running With Fresh Outlook” D’Agostino has recovered well from her post-Olympic surgery and is back to running on solid ground and hopes to be ready to race again by USA Champs this summer.
Chinese Website Calls Japanese Women’s Distance Running “Cruel” And “Appalling” After Running The National Women’s Ekiden In A Whiteout Blizzard
Two-Time NXN Champ Casey Clinger Commits To BYU The decision was down to BYU or Oregon, but Clinger felt BYU was the “better fit.”
*MB:Clinger chooses BYU*MileSplit Article
Halie Gebrselassie Gives Investment Tips To His Fellow Athletes “You need to have your own income, otherwise you will be a big loser.”

GB News

Steve Cram Writes About His Stay In South Africa At The GB Distance Training Camp Cram writes about their long days and says, “A meal out with a dessert every once in a while is their idea of a wild night out here.”
Sprinter James Ellington Back In The UK And Will Have An Operation On His Injuries From His Motorcycle Crash Ellington has a suspected broken leg and pelvis and will need “significant rehabilitation” after the surgery.
Olympic Long Jumper Jazmin Sawyers Is Also A Talented Musician And Was Picked As A Contestant On The TV Show “The Voice”
*Athletics Weekly Profile On Sawyers She recently switched coaches and is now training under Olympic bronze medalist heptathlete Kelly Sotherton.
*SPIKES:Sawyers Says She Uses Music To “Wind Down” And Make Her Happy “I’m very much the kind of athlete that needs to be happy outside of athletics to be doing well in it.”

A New ARD Report, A New Russian Whistleblower

Latest ARD Doping Report:New Russian Whistleblower Provides Footage Of Banned Coaches Still Working With Athletes And Says “No Changes Really Took Place”(includes video and article) Russian 1,500 runner Andrey Dmitriev thinks 70-80% of Russian athletes are doping. *Discuss

Russian Athletics Federation President Is “Hopeful” Good News Will Come Out Of Today’s Meeting With The IAAF Given the ARD report that aired last night, he might not want to get his hopes up.
Banned Russian Distance Runner Anastasiya Bazdyreva Accuses WADA Of Violent Interrogation Tactics She bashes whistleblower Andrey Dmitriev, claiming he “agreed for a piece of silver to make up non-existent stories.”
*MB:Bazdyreva: WADA tried to forcefully lock me in a room, as part of their violent interrogation and strong-arm tactics
Ban The Whole Organization?International Biathlon Union Dismisses Cases Against 22 Russians Named In McLaren Report Not surprising considering it took the threat of athletes boycotting for them to move their 2017 Worlds out of Russia and they still awarded Russia the 2021 championships despite it being against the WADA code.
Will Never Happen:German Olympic Sports Confederation President Calls For Russia To Be Banned From The 2018 And 2020 Olympic Games The IOC showed their stance by refusing to do the right thing and ban Russia from Rio 2016.
ARD Video Interview With WADA Director General Olivier Niggli On Whistleblowing In Sports Niggli says WADA has put new policies in place to protect athletes who speak out.

Ryan Hall And Michael Wardian Have Started Their 7-7-7 World Marathon Challenge

Ryan Hall And Michael Wardian Running 7 Marathons On 7 Continents In 7 Days Challenge Wardian wants to get the event record (avg. 3:32 per marathon) while Hall (who has been running 30 miles a week) will run the final leg of the trip in the singlet he wore for his marathon debut (he claims it’s never been washed).
Washington Post Article:Wardian: “I like to do stuff that scares me.”Ryan Hall: “If I finish within an hour of [Wardian] in each marathon, I’d be surprised. However, I guarantee I can bench more than him.”
Follow Their Progress On The World Marathon Challenge Facebook Page Wardian won the Antarctic leg in 2:54:54 while Hall finished 5th in 3:26:31.

2017 Sandard Chartered Dubai Marathon *Results

MB: Official 2017 Dubai Marathon Live Discussion Thread

LRC Olympic 10K Bronze Medalist Tamirat Tola Runs 2:04:11 CR (#9 All-Time) As Kenenisa Bekele Drops Out And Everyone Else Blows Up A fall at the start doomed Bekele, and the suicidal pace (2:01:48 pace 1st 5k) and near 70-degree temps doomed everyone else except Tola.

LRCUnbelievable: Kenenisa Bekele Falls At Start, Gets Injured, And Later Drops Out Of The Dubai Marathon The world’s richest prize money marathon didn’t get the start right.

LRC Worknesh Degefa’s Marathon Debut Is A Huge Success As She Runs 2:22:36 To Win $200,000 Degefa was already one of the world’s best half marathoners; being a marathoner pays a lot better.

LRC Listen To LetsRun.com’s 2017 Dubai Marathon Pre-Race Podcast We were joined by Sean Hartnett – The Marathon Professor – who has seen every WR live since 1988 (and wasn’t in Dubai).

*Statement From Kenenisa Bekele He says he was “ready for something special today” and adds “See you in London in April.”
*Pat Butcher’s Recap: Tola Triumphs, Bekele Blows Out!

2017 Dubai On the Message Board