May 20, 2017 | LetsRun.com

LRC Watch The British 10,000 Trials Live Today At 3:15pm And 4:00pm ET: Highgate Harriers Night Of The 10,000m PBs Streaming Information Need your daily track fix? We’ve found a meet for you today when there is no NCAA or DL action.
*MB: Official Night of 10k PBs Live Discussion Thread

2017 TrackTown Summer Series Draft Is Complete

AP Article On Expansion Of TrackTown Summer Series To 3 Cities And Its Draft
MB: Tracktown Summer Series Draft #2 in the books
LRC Watch A Replay Of The TrackTown Summer Series Draft Star hurdler Devon Allen and Chaunte Lowe were the #1 overall picks for the Philadelphia Force. Paul Chelimo and Gwen Berry went #2 to the Portland Pulse. You can see the complete team rosters here.
TrackTown Summer Series Announces Team Names And Logos Are you ready for the San Francisco Surge, the Portland Pulse, the Philadelphia Force and New York Empire?

Want To Race Like A Pro? Read The Following

LRC Kim Conley’s Race Day Routine: Conley Shares Her Race Day Routine On The Newly-Formed LRC Instagram Account From breakfast at Whole Foods to some afternoon book time (Racing the Rain), Kim shares the secrets that have made her a two-time Olympian for New Balance. Follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Three Recommended Reads

LetsRun Forum Reader And Ultrarunning Star Anton Krupicka Contemplates If It Is Better To Be Popular Or Good Krupicka, aka LRC forum reader and “Jesus-man,” used to win big trail runs with regularity, now he is injured but more popular than ever.

NCAA Mile Champ Karissa Nelson Sometimes Only Ran 4 Times A Week As A Freshman As She Wanted To Be Social Even up through sophomore year, she wasn’t sure she wanted to be elite.
*MB: NCAA mile champ Karisa Nelson sometimes only ran 4 days a week freshman year as she wanted to be social –

Deshae Wise, The Fastest HS Girl In Oregon, Spent The First Six Years Of Her Life As A Hostage As Her Mom Was Sexually Trafficked In Vegas She’s a star now and will be going to Berkeley next year.

Also Interesting

Weekly Recap

LRC WTW: Molly Seidel And Erin Finn Are Both MIA, Devin Dixon Arrives, Mark Wetmore Produces An 800 Champ, And A Simple Rule Change Guaranteed To Make Track & Field More Popular This week we tell the NCAA of simple rule change that needs to be made immediately, take a look at the Colorado men’s first 800 champ in 28 years, and more.

Hosting / Bidding News

Chris Chavez Makes A Case For Each Of The Finalists Bidding To Host 2020 Olympic Trials Do the two California cities (Sacramento and Walnut) have any chance against Eugene?
USA Today: IOC Evaluation Commission Praises Paris’ Vision IOC members finished their three-day visit to Paris on Tuesday.
Paris’ Olympic Athletes’ Village Key Issue In Fight Against LA The IOC may want to award the 2024 and 2028 Games at the same time, but Paris says their site for the athletes’ village won’t be available in 2028.
Getting An Early Jump On The Corruption Allegations: Paris 2024 Chief Denies Conflict Of Interest After Company He Founded Is Awarded Contracts To Work For Bid
Rio 2016 Organizers Ask Local And National Governments To Help Pay Their Outstanding Debuts From The Olympics They still owe $37.8 million, but that’s mostly because the governments didn’t contribute the amount they initially promised.
Brazilian Olympic Committee Set To Be The Target of A Federal Police Investigation They are being investigated for corruption allegations related to the use of public money.
London Withdraws Interest In Hosting 2022 Commonwealth Games That leaves Birmingham and Liverpool as GB’s potential bid cities.

From The IAAF

Need A Job? IAAF Posting For A Head Of Event Operations Position
IAAF Tribute: RIP 69-Year-Old Cuban Track Journalist Enrique Montesinos

News Worth Noting

USATF Announces Finalists To Host 2020 Olympic Trials Eugene obviously, but also Sacramento and Walnut, California. A final choice will be made no later than mid-July.
*Ken Goe Suggests Delayed Renovations Could Possibly Be An Issue With Eugene Hosting 2020 Trials
London 2017 Won’t Be The Best Women’s Marathon Ever: Mary Keitany And Florence Kiplagat Turn Down Kenyan World Championships Marathon Spots There are mixed reports on what other selected team members (including Eliud Kipchoge and Wilson Kipsang) are planning to do.

NCAA Studs

LRC Top 10 Greatest Performers From NCAA Conference Weekend: Christian Coleman, Fred Kerley, Deajah Stevens, Grant Fisher, Dani Jones And More Shine Just another ho-hum NCAA weekend with a 9.97/19.98 double, 44.09 in the 400m, 11.05/22.09 double, 51.8-second lap in a 1,500m. Plus there was some great distance action. From Grant Fisher‘s domination of the PAC-12 1,500 to the arrival of Texas A&M’s true freshman Devin Dixon as an NCAA star (1:45 win at SECs), we’ve got the top performances from last week covered.

LSU Sprinter Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake Becomes Just The Second Brit Ever To Have Sub-10 And Sub-20 Second PRs Mitchell-Blake ran 9.99 and 20.09 to finish second to Christian Coleman twice at SECs.
Ken Goe: “The Ducks’ PAC-12 Title Sweep Was A Total Team Effort”
Oregon Women Move To #1 In Post-Conference National Rankings Arkansas moved from 5th to 2nd while top-ranked Texas A&M dropped to 4th.
Texas A&M And Florida Men Stay 1-2 In Updated NCAA Ranks
Event-By-Event Best 10 College Marks From The Weekend

Fast Monday 1,500 At Swarthmore

MB: Johnny Gregorek Wins Swarthmore 1,500 In 3:36.61 Over Jordy Willamsz (3:36.87) Robby Andrews was 6th (3:38.42) but how about the Ivy League with 3 guys under 3:40, led by Yale’s James Randon at 3:37.93. *Video *Full Meet Results

IAAF Publishes Qualifying Standards For 2018 World Indoors The standards didn’t change by much from 2016 World Indoors except the women’s 3,000, which got significantly faster from 9:00 indoors/8:36 outdoors to 8:50 indoors and 8:28 outdoors.

PA Sports Writer Bashes High School Track And Field; Gets Ripped Apart By Track Community, Including Ato Boldon In reaction to the writer calling track “as intense and high pressure as frisbee golf,” Ato Boldon wrote in the comments section, “Mike Gross, kindly return whatever sum you were paid to write this.”

LetsThrow.com

China’s 2012 Olympic Shot Put Silver Medalist Gong Lijiao Is Chasing An Elusive Gold At London 2017 Lijiao has medaled at five global championships, but they are all silver and bronze.
The Republic Of The Congo’s African Games Shot Put Champ And Olympic 4th Placer Franck Elemba Talks About One Of The Biggest Obstacles He Faced In Starting His Career Elemba talks about the difficulty of overcoming frequent moves from country to country in his childhood as he has lived in 7 different countries.
Alyssa Wilson Breaks High School National Shot Put Record With 17.41m Throw
From Last Weekend: Poland’s Two-Time World Hammer Champ Pawel Fajdek Extends His World Lead To 81.51m
This Weekend: IAAF World Hammer Throw Challenge Series Kicks Off In Japan

2017 Oxy USATF Distance Classic *Results

LRC Matthew Centrowitz Takes Down Mo Farah, Brenda Martinez Impresses – 2017 Oxy USATF Distance Classic Recap The Olympic 1,500m champ took down the Olympic 5,000m champ. Other highlights: Sheila Reid upset Shannon Rowbury in the 1,500m, Laura Weightman and Natosha Rogers had breakthroughs in the 5k, Eric Jenkins and Cristian Soratos battled in the second 1,500m heat, Olympian Hillary Bor looked great in the steeple, and his Olympic teammate Shadrack Kipchirchir came up short of the Worlds qualifying time.
*Alberto Salazar Thought Centro Would Run 3:36, Not 3:33, As He’s Been Dealing With “Abductor Muscle Strains” Salazar declined to comment on the NY Times doping story.

Oxy ON The Boards: Official 2017 Oxy Live Discussion Thread
*What’s up with Centrowitz?
*Can Centro Challenge The Men’s 1500M WR?

*The Oregonian‘s Ken Goe Won’t Be Shelling Out 70 Bucks For NBC Sports Gold Track And Field Past Goe writes, “I find this to be disastrous to any hope elite track and field will grow its audience.”

It Was A Great Night For The NOP On The Track But A Horrible Morning Off The Track

NY Times Publishes 2,400-Word Expose On The Nike Oregon Project: “This Doesn’t Sound Legal” – Ritz Testifies Under Oath The Times has secured access to the 269-page report that the USADA has written about the NOP. Dathan Ritzenhein testified under oath that he felt compelled to take an L-Carnitine injection that he thought didn’t “sound legal” as Nike was reducing his payments. Ritz also said Alberto Salazar had him take thyroid medication to rev up his endocrine system for a race “instead just whatever was best for my health.” The report also indicates Tara Welling lied to investigators about ever being a patient of Dr. Brown and that Dr. Brown sent investigators altered medical records. When pressed about what sort of treatment she received from Dr. Brown, Welling cried and said, “I don’t know if Alberto did something to me.”
*MB: NY Times Article on Nike Oregon Project implicates Ritz and Farah
*Ken Goe’s Quick Takes From The Latest Story Alleging Doping Within Alberto Salazar’s NOP

Non-Oxy Mid-Week Results

Olympic Silver Medalist Joe Kovacs Threw 22.57m in Tucson On Thursday – Farthest Throw In World In 14 Years
World-Leading Jump Performances From Brittney Reese (LJ), Will Claye (TJ) And Yulimar Rojas (TJ) Highlighted The Action At Guadeloupe International Meet Mike Rodgers beat out Andre De Grasse in the 100 (10.08 to 10.10) and there was also a world lead in the 400H from Kori Carter (54.53) and Jenna Prandini won the 100/200 double. LaShawn Merritt won the 400 (44.99) and Ryan Crouser won the shot.
*Mike Rodgers Takes Down Andre De Grasse At 100m In 10.08 (Race Video)
20-Year-Old Turkish Javelin Thrower Eda Tugsuz Throws Stunning 67.21m In Azerbaijan

Pre Is Next Week Men’s 5,000 At Pre Is Going To Be Le LOADED More than half the field has a global medal. It includes Farah, Geoffrey Kamworor, Conseslus Kipruto, Yomif Kejelcha, Paul Tanui, and Americans Paul Chelimo, Ryan Hill, Ben True and Eric Jenkins.

Women’s 200 Will Also Be Loaded Field includes Elaine Thompson, Dafne Schippers, Allyson Felix, Shaunae Miller-Uibo and Tori Bowie.

NCAA News

Track And Field News NCAA Women’s Form Chart Now That Regionals Are Set: Oregon Has Already Won
Track And Field News NCAA Men’s Form Chart Now That Regionals Are Set: Texas A&M And Florida In Virtual Tie
Mike Maynard Out As UCLA Coach After 5 Years As Men’s And Women’s Director Are you a college coach? Discuss the latest job openings here: 2017 College Track & Field Open Coaching Positions Discussion

This Saturday’s Action

Some Great Sprint Showdowns Set For The Jamaica International Invitational Asafa Powell vs. Yohan Blake in the 100, Andre De Grasse vs. LaShawn Merritt over 200, double Olympic champ Elaine Thompson is in the 200, Allyson Felix in the 100, Devon Allen in the 110H and Olympic TJ champ Caterine Ibarguen and US HJer Brigetta Barrett highlight the jumps.
Four Sub-61 Men Lead Field For The Mattoni Karlovy Vary Half Marathon In The Czech Republic Sub-60 man Gilbert Masai is the fastest in a field that includes 2:05 marathoner Mark Korir. Mercy Kibarus (68:18 and 2:26:52 PRs) leads the women’s race.
Bangkok Midnight Marathon Preview Kenya’s Estehr Machariai (2:30:50) and Uktraine’s Igor Olefirenko (2:12:04) lead fields. *Free Live Stream 1PM ET
June 27: Poland’s World Hammer Champions Anita Wlodarczyk And Pawel Fajdek Highlight IAAF Hammer Challenge At Ostrava Golden Spike World hammer champions of Poland will return to the Golden Spike meeting, part of the IAAF Hammer Throw Challenge, in Ostrava on 27 June in an attempt to break the meeting records.

Random Road Running News

Boston Marathon Race Director Dave McGillvray Among A Group Doing The World Marathon Challenge (7 Marathons In 7 Days On 7 Continents)
Joan Benoit Samuelson Wants To Be The First Woman Over 60 Years Old To Break 3 Hours In The Marathon The WR in the 60-64 age group is 3:01:30 and Samuelson ran a 55-59 WR of 2:50:33 when she was 55.
*MB: Happy 60th BDay Joan Benoit Samuelson!! Will she soon become the first 60 yr old woman to break 3 in the marathon?
14-Year Old Completes 50th State Marathon To Raise Money For Vision Care For Kids
Runners Misdirected By Course Marshal At Maine Coast Marathon, Run An Extra Half Mile About one-half to two-thirds of the runners ran the extra distance, some of them missing out on Boston qualifiers because of the mistake.
Duluth, Minnesota To Hold Road Race In Tribute Of A Popular Neighborhood Cat
Minneapolis-St. Paul Named The Fittest City In The Nation DC was pushed down to the second fittest city after holding the #1 spot from 2014 to 2016.
North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis Is Fine After Collapsing During Road Race And Being Taken To Hospital

TrackTown Summer Series Draft 2.0 Is Friday *Watch It Live At 7pm ET

LRC Watch The TrackTown Summer Series Draft Live On LetsRun.com At 7 PM ET On Friday

LRC “GM” Nick Symmonds, Hoping To Make USAs One Final Time, Is In 1:50 Shape Right Now, Ready For Friday’s Tracktown Summer Series Draft This is Symmonds’ final season on the track and he’s hoping to qualify for USAs and see what happens. Meanwhile, as GM of team San Francisco, he’s getting ready for Friday’s Tracktown Summer Series draft, and also getting ready for life after being a pro track runner.

Citius Mag’s 2017 Tracktown Summer Series Unofficial Mock Draft
Seven Top Athletes Sign Contract Extensions For 2017 TrackTown Summer Series Emma Coburn, Brenda Martinez, Ben Blankenship, Brittney Reese, Queen Harrison, Phyllis Francis and Erik Kynard have all signed with teams for 2017.

More Upcoming Action

May 28: Tirunesh Dibaba Will Defend Her Title At The Great Manchester Run 10K
May 27: US Champ English Gardner And Olympic LJ Champ Tianna Bartoleetta Lead Pre Classic 100m Field Veronica Campbell-Brown and Trinidad and Tobago’s Michelle-Lee Ahye are also in the race.
May 27: Five Major Championship Medalists Lead Heptathlon Field For Hypo Multi Meet In Gotzis GB’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson will be hoping to get back to the level which saw her win the meet in a lifetime best of 6,682 points back in 2014.
May 28: Defending Champions Nick Goolab And Sarah McDonald Return To The Westminster Mile Seb Coe is running the “Olympians Mile” along with other former UK sporting greats.
June 4: Noah Lyles And Four Olympic Champions Announced For Boston “Street Meet”
June 15: Dafne Schippers Announced For Oslo Bislett Games 200m

RIP

1956 Olympic 10,000 Bronze Medalist And Houston Coaching Legend Al Lawrence Has Died
*MB: RIP Al Lawrence — 1956 Bronze Medalist

Toni Reavis Remembers The Great Grete Waitz 6 Years After Her Passing

This Saturday’s Action

Some Great Sprint Showdowns Set For The Jamaica International Invitational Asafa Powell vs. Yohan Blake in the 100, Andre De Grasse vs. LaShawn Merritt over 200, double Olympic champ Elaine Thompson is in the 200, Allyson Felix in the 100, Devon Allen in the 110H and Olympic TJ champ Caterine Ibarguen and US HJer Brigetta Barrett highlight the jumps.
Four Sub-61 Men Lead Field For The Mattoni Karlovy Vary Half Marathon In The Czech Republic Sub-60 man Gilbert Masai is the fastest in a field that includes 2:05 marathoner Mark Korir. Mercy Kibarus (68:18 and 2:26:52 PRs) leads the women’s race.
Bangkok Midnight Marathon Preview Kenya’s Estehr Machariai (2:30:50) and Uktraine’s Igor Olefirenko (2:12:04) lead fields. *Free Live Stream 1PM ET
June 27: Poland’s World Hammer Champions Anita Wlodarczyk And Pawel Fajdek Highlight IAAF Hammer Challenge At Ostrava Golden Spike World hammer champions of Poland will return to the Golden Spike meeting, part of the IAAF Hammer Throw Challenge, in Ostrava on 27 June in an attempt to break the meeting records.

Doping Updates

Doping Decision On 400 Hurdler Kaliese Spencer To Be Made Before Jamaican National Champs Spencer is accused of evading a drug test and faces up to a 4-year ban.
Kenyan Article Shares Out-Of-Competition Testing Numbers On Kenyan Athletes The article isn’t well written and we doubt its accuracy, but it states “the IAAF has 57 athletes under investigation for related doping offences.”
*MB: 57 Kenyans on doping watch list?
Maria Sharapova Denied Wild-Card Invite To French Open The French Tennis Federation president said, “If there can be a wild card for the return from injuries, there cannot be a wild card for the return from doping.”
*Independent.ie: “Maria Sharapova Snaps Back With Defiant Tweet After Her French Open Snub”
WADA Vice President Rejects IOC Proposal That WADA Athlete Committee Members Should Be Elected Rather Than Appointed
International Paralympic Committee To Provide Update On Russian Reinstatement Process Next Week Russian paralympic athletes have been suspended from all events since before Rio.
WADA Discussing Update On Russia’s Reinstatement Efforts At Board Meeting Today

A Friendly Debate – A Noted Sub-2 Optimist And Pessimist Share Their Thoughts On What Eliud Kipchoge’s 2:00:25 Means

LRC Was Eliud Kipchoge’s 2:00:25 A Monumental Step Forward In Marathoning? No, It Was Not – We Still Are 20+ Years Away From A Legitimate Sub-2 Marathon LetsRun.com co-founder Robert Johnson said four years ago that are nowhere close to a sub-2 in a legitimate race and he’s not backing down.

LRC Guest Column By Dr. Michael Joyner: Kipchoge’s Run & What Might (Or Might Not) Happen Next What does the man who famously predicted way back in 1991 that a human could run a marathon in 1:57:58 think of Eliud Kipchoge’s 2:00:25 run? Find out here.

MB: Dr. Michael Joyner and LetsRun’s Robert Johnson share their thoughts on what Eliud Kipchoge’s 2:00:25 means.

Sprint Stuff

Usain Bolt Donates His World Record Spikes To Raise Money For Charity Bolt gave up the spikes he wore when he broke the 100m WR in 2009 to be auctioned off to raise money for a charity which provides equipment and medical services for Jamaican hospital pediatric wards.
Good Read/Watch: Article And 22-Minute Documentary On Jamaica’s Boys’ And Girls’ Champs The documentary follows several sprinters before and through the biggest high school meet in the world.
Olympic Hurdler Queen Harrison Stars In TV Show “Say Yes To The Dress” Harrison is engaged to three-time Olympic medalist Will Claye, who proposed in the stands after winning TJ silver in Rio. *USATF Article
Multi News: Good Listen: Podcast Q&A With Former World Decathlon Champion Trey Hardee In a three-hour interview, Hardee opens up about his career, training and life as an athlete/father.
NCAA Athletes Of The Week Are Sprinters Christian Coleman And Deajah Stevens Coleman is the first collegian (8th man in history) to go sub-10 and sub-20 in the 100/200 on the same day while Stevens put herself #2 on the NCAA all-time 200 list with a 22.09.