June 30, 2018 Homepage Archive

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Archived Homepage For June 30, 2018

Quote Of The Day

“For reasons I will never understand, Hale was unable to work through that bump. We talked after he returned from [Ivy League cross country championships] in Princeton Saturday evening. That final conversation is forever etched in my memory. He was distraught about his performance. I fumbled for things to say to make him feel better. I later wondered whether I could have been more supportive or asked more questions. But he had told me was going out that night to celebrate a friend’s birthday. I didn’t see any cause for concern.

By all accounts, Hale seemed his normal self that night. He participated in the customary Sunday morning run with the team. But late that afternoon he was found unconscious in his suite in Calhoun. It was too late to revive him …

I know that Hale pushed himself very hard and had extremely high expectations in all of his pursuits. [In HS] and at Yale, he had been on an accelerating path of academic and extracurricular accomplishments; like most of his peers, the sky seemed the limit. Perhaps, in his adherence to the Prefontainean mantra, his relentless striving to reach a nearly unattainable version of ‘his best’ contributed to the sacrifice of the ultimate gift.”

– Jack Ross, father of Yale cross-country runner Hale Ross, who killed himself a day after the 2016 Ivy League championships, writing in a nearly 4,000 word essay entitled, “The Dark Lining of the Prefontaine Mantra: Lessons from Hale Ross’ life at Yale.”

If you are struggling, please get help. The national suicide hotline # is 800-273-8255.

*MB:Yale Runner Dies (thoughts from a mom who lost a son to suicide at Yale) *MB: Yale Runner Hale Ross Dies

2018 Paris DL Full Results TV & Streaming

Full Results

LRC 2018 Paris DL Recap & Video Highlights: What An Incredible, Incredible Meet – World Leaders Galore If you missed the 2018 Paris DL, you missed a TRULY INCREDIBLE MEET. From a 46.98 men’s 400 hurdles – the fastest time in more than 25 years – in the first event to a 9.88 world-leading 100 in the last event, this meet had world leaders literally from start to finish. In between, there was a 1:54 women’s 800 and a 3:29 men’s 1,500. This meet had excellence in it from start to finish.

LRC Caster Semenya Runs 1:54.25 With No Rabbits To Become 4th-Fastest Ever And Destroy World’s Best In Paris Semenya was spectacular.

Paris DL Talk On The Message Board
*Official Paris DL Discussion Thread
*Caster Semenya has just destroyed her lifetime PB, without any rabbits. 1:54.25!
*Timothy Cheruiyot runs 3:29 FTW in Paris!
*Ferguson Rotich just closed a 1:43 race in 25.5. Where does that rank in the all-time best closes?

Results From Europe

Olympic/World Champ Sandra Perkovic’s 66.46m Discus Throw Highlights Second Day Of Mediterranean Games Albania’s Luiza Gega went wire-to-wire to win the women’s steeplechase in 9:27 over Tunisia’s 2012 Olympic champion Habiba Ghribi (9:34).
Half Marathon Golds For Morocco’s Mohamed Reda Al Araaby (64:03) And Italy’s Sara Dossena (1:13.48) At Mediterranean Games
Belarus’ Elvira Herman Prevails Over Queen Harrison In The 100H (12.64 to 12.69) At The PTS Meeting In Slovakia World bronze medalist Wojciech Nowicki won his 4th-straight hammer competition with 76.89m, beating world champ Pawel Fajdek. Kenya swept the top 3 spots in the men’s 1,500 led by Boaz Kiprugut (3:50.57).

You Never Forget Your First Sub-4

Recommended Read:Nate Brannen: “Only 1,497 Humans Have Ever Broken The 4-Minute Mile And I’m One Of Them” You probably can name most Americans that went sub-4 in high school, but Brannen was actually the 7th North American high school athlete to break the barrier. Here he reflects back on that night and how it helped shape the rest of his career.

European News: British Champs This Weekend

BBC:Laura Muir, Zharnel Hughes And Dina Asher-Smith Among Those To Watch At This Weekend’s GB Champs Our race of the meet will definitely be the men’s 1500 which has Josh Kerr, Chris O’Hare, Jake Wightman and Charlie Grice.
Bummer:Appendicitis Forces Greg Rutherford To Miss GB Champs It was his last chance to rack up another national title as he’s retiring this year.
Athletics Weekly: “Ones To Watch At The British Championships”
Lawyer For Russian Whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov Dismisses Reports Of A Suicide Attempt And Claims He’s “Happy And Healthy” The Russian media reported that Rodchenkov attempted suicide last week, but his lawyer dismissed it and says his client is “working productively with anti-doping authorities.”
Sweden’s Daniel Stahl Edges Out Jamaica’s World Leader Fedrick Dacres To Win Discus At Sollentuna Grand Prix With 66.17m
European Athletics European Mountain Running Championships Preview: Will Italy Regain The Team Title After Rare Defeat To France In 2017?

Andre De Grasse / Harry Herome News *Harry Jerome Results

Olympic Medalists Nia Ali And Andre de Grasse Are The Proud Parents Of A Baby Girl We imagine the Candians and Americans may be battling over this baby when the 2040 Olympics roll around.
Andre De Grasse Only Third In 100 At Harry Jerome (10.36) Aaron Brown was the winner in 10.21.
De Grasse Anchors Canada To 4 X 100 Victory At Harry Jerome The event was part of the $30,000 China-Canada Sprint Challenge.
7-2, 320-Pound, One-Armed Shot Putter Placed Third In Shot At Harry Jerome Greg Stewart has been doing the event for less than a year and is focused on the 2020 Paralympics.

Should There Be A Women’s Decathlon?

The Guardian:Women’s Decathlon: Overdue Game-Changer Or Heptathlon Killer? The first USATF-approved women’s decathlon championship is this weekend, but a lot of heptathlon athletes and coaches are against the idea, fearing the change in event order could lead to more injuries.

High School Corner

Katelyn Tuohy Named Gatorade Girls Track And Field Athlete Of The YearSydney McLaughlin surprised Tuohy with the award as she went to pick up what she thought was her dad’s birthday cake, but was actually for her. After winning XC in the fall, Tuohy becomes the first athlete in the history of the award to win it in two different sports in the same year. *Surprise Video
*MileSplit Article The only athletes two win the award in track more than once are Marion Jones and Sydney McLaughlin. Since Tuohy is only a sophomore, she has a good chance of doing that herself.
Ping Sisters Dominate In The 1,600/3,200 Double At The Minnesota State MeetGrace won the 1,600 in 4:57.86 to Lauren‘s 4:58.25 while Lauren won the 3,200 in 10:29 and Grace ran 10:38 for third. *Results

Off The Track At USAs

LRC My Sac out USATF Board Meeting Recap – USOC Slams Mt. SAC Bid For Olympic Trials: “Thank goodness that embarrassment is behind us.” Highlights and lowlights of USATF Board meeting with the biggest lowlight being when the Board violated USATF’s own bylaws to extend the terms of two of its members. At the meeting it was also stated that after Mt. SAC won the bid they were very interested in finding out if they’d get “free clothes.”
*Discuss Here

Depression Is Real And It’s Powerful

Recommended ReadThe Dark Lining Of The Prefontaine Mantra: Lessons From Hale Ross’ Life At Yale A personal essay from the father of the Yale XC runner who committed suicide just days after a disappointing run at the Ivy League championships. Does Pre’s mantra of “to give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift” take a psychological toll?
*MB: Yale Runner Dies (thoughts from a mom who lost a son to suicide at Yale)
*MB: Yale Runner Hale Ross Dies

Week That Was

LRCNew Blood At USAs, Attendance At Nationals Worldwide, Another Look At Kellyn Taylor’s 2:24:28, Dafne Schippers False Start Plus it is a travesty Haron Lagat is not eligible to run for US.

British Sprint News

GB’s Former Olympic 400m Champ Christine Ohuruogu Retires At 34 Years Old “I didn’t feel ready to retire after last season but a combination of my studies and a niggling injury restricted how much training I was able to do this year.”
Athletics Weekly:“High Flying Zharnel Hughes Is Reaching For The Sky” Hughes says he is “setting myself up for my future” by working towards a commercial pilot’s license alongside his track career.
The Telegraph:Britons Leading In Race To Succeed Usain Bolt But are they really? By our count, Americans have the three fastest times in the world this year.
Reece Prescod, Zharnel Hughes And CJ Ujah All Taking Aim At Linford Christie’s 25-Year-Old British National 100m Record This Weekend Christie’s record is 9.87 and Hughes has the best PR at 9.91, though Prescod ran a wind-aided 9.88 this year.
The Telegraph:Dina Asher-Smith Setting World-Beating Times As She Targets British Champs Gold

Sprints / Jumps

Anthony Schwartz Named Gatorade Boys Track And Field Athlete Of The Year Schwartz had the fastest high school 100m time of the year with 10.09. He was surprised with the news by Miami Dolphins 2018 first-round draft pick Minkah Fitzpatrick. *Surprise Video*MileSplit Article
Interesting Listen:Podcast Interview With Two-Time US Triple Jump Champ Omar Craddock Craddock talks mostly about off the track life things like dating world record holder Keni Harrison, struggling with alcoholism in college and behind the scenes stuff from the Diamond league circuit.
USA Today:Phyllis Francis Follows Her Own Path, Doesn’t Worry About Filling Allyson Felix’s Shoes How well do you know the World 400m champion? Get to know her better in this profile piece.

Youth News: The IAAF World Under-20 Championships Begin July 10th In Tampere, Finland

USATF:Talented Team USA Roster Set For 2018 IAAF World Under-20 Championships*IAAF
Kenya Selects Team Of 25 For World U20 Champs One defending champion and three world U18 champions feature on Kenya’s team. This includes 8:58.78 steeplechase woman Celliphine Chespol.
Great Britain Announces Squad Of 40 For IAAF World U20 Champs
GB Names Team For IAAF World Under 20 Champs In Tampere, Finland
Hosts Finland Announces Home Team For World U20 Champs
China Names Team For World U20 Champs
Athletics Kenya President Visits Monaco To Discus Kenyan Bid For 2020 World U20 Championships With The IAAF
USATF Youth Outdoor Championships Day 3 Recap*Day 2 Recap
July 5:Final Entries Available For European U18 Championships
GB Names Euro U18 Champs Team

Random Stuff

RW:30 Celebrities You Didn’t Know Were Runners Actors Ryan Reynolds, Will Ferrell and Chef Gordon Ramsay are some on their list.
Homeless Guy Who Ran London With A Bib Number He Found On The Ground Jailed For 16 Weeks Might be overkill for someone who not long before London “suffered a temporary breakdown in his mental state.”
Warren, Michigan Mayor Says Not To Disturb Him While He’s JoggingJim Fouts: “I’m available 24/7 but NOT when I’m jogging.” He says he goes on two 45 minute runs a day.
*MB:Mayor in Michigan does doubles — doesn’t want to talk to voters on runs
MB:Britain To Force Primary School Children To Run For 1 Mile Every Day To Battle Child Obesity Restaurants will also be forced to display calorie counts and there will be a ban on advertising unhealthy foods on TV before 9PM.
MB:Female jogger accidentally crosses the US/Canadian border – held in custody for 2 weeks! The 19-year-old French tourist had to stay at a detention center while authorities confirmed her identity (she didn’t have ID when she crossed).
Tokyo 2020 To Reveal Names Of Olympic And Paralympic Mascots Next Month
Runner’s World’s List Of The Best Sports Movies of All Time But only a handful are running related.

European News

GB’s 2:09 Marathon Man Dewi Griffiths Looking Forward To Getting Back On The Roads This Fall After His Spring Injury A stress fracture in his hip kept Griffiths out of the Commonwealth Games, but he says he’s taken advantage of the time to strengthen some weaknesses and reflect on how he can get better.
World Indoor LJ Champ Ivana Spanovic Highlights Mediterranean Games With World-Leading 6.99m Morocco’s world silver medalist Soufiane El Bakkali won the steeple easily in 8:20 while Morocco also went 1-2 in the men’s 5,000 (won by Youness Essalhi in 13:56).
Iryna Zhuk Clears Belarusian PV Record With 4.66m At The Meeting Stanislas France’s Olympic bronze medalist Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad was second in the steeple (8:17.86) as Kenya’s Barnabas Kipyego won in 8:17.08.
Sunday:Final Entries Available For European Mountain Running Championships

Bowerman Fan Vote Is Open

Bowerman Fan Vote Is Open Through Thursday Who do you think the best athlete of the year was? You can vote five times a day so make your opinion count.
A Look Back At The History Of The Bowerman Award Fan Vote Only 8 of the 18 Bowerman Award winners won the fan vote before they won the overall award.
Grant Holloway, Michael Norman And Rai Benjamin Are The Men’s Finalists For Bowerman Award
Sydney McLaughlin, Maggie Ewen And Keturah Orji Selected As Women’s Bowerman Award Finalists The winner will be announced in December.
*MB: “I personally don’t believe I should be a finalist for Bowerman”- Sydney McLaughlin

European News

Chris O’Hare Hoping For A Scottish 1-2-3 Repeat In The 1,500 At British Champs This Weekend Last year O’Hare, Josh Kerr and Jake Wightman went 1-3.
Video Interview: Laura Muir Graduates From Veterinary Studies Degree At University Of Glasgow She gets emotional and sheds some tears during this interview with the BBC.
*MB: It’s official: Laura Muir is a vet – Why don’t many other pros do much of anything besides run?

LetsSprint.com

RIP Legendary Polish Sprinter Irena Szewinska Szewinska remains one of the most successful athletes in history with seven Olympic medals to her name from five Olympic appearances. *IAAF Tribute
Get To Know Canada’s Commonwealth Games 200m Silver Medalist Aaron Brown, Who Discovered His Talent In 10th Grade Running 11.5 In Basketball Shorts/Trainers Brown is learning to play the piano and feels that the current generation of sprinters doesn’t have “as big egos” as previous ones.
Belarus’ 2015 World Bronze Medalist Alina Talay Is A Student Of The Sport And Has Coached Herself To A New Level Running 12.41 (3rd Fastest Time In 2018) “Honestly, I have no idea how many hours I spend scrolling through the videos on my phone of exercises, runs, hurdling, everything.”
Commonwealth Games 400H Champ Janieve Russell Reveals She Got Her Start In The 400 Hurdles By Accident She was mistakenly registered for the 400H at a Jamaican meet and qualified for the prestigious Boys and Girls Champs.

Some Great Races To Look Forward To The Next Couple Of Weeks

Sunday:Out Of The Boston Freezer And Into The Australian Frying Pan For Yuki Kawauchi At The Gold Coast Marathon The Boston champ will face defending winner Takuya Noguchi and CR holder and two-time winner Kenneth Mungara. The women’s race is led by AgnesBarsosio (2:20:59) and 2:27 Aussie Jess Trengove. Sara Hall will try to defend her title in the accompanying half marathon while the men’s race has Collis Birmingham.
Fourth Of July: USATF 10k Road Champs Are At Peachtree On 7/4 – Who You Got? Gwen Jorgensen And Lopez Lomong Both Added To The Field
July 5:Lausanne DL Announces Strong Women’s 1,500 Field, Led By 3:57.64 Woman Gudaf Tsegay, Caster Semenya, Shelby Houlihan And Laura Muir
Ethiopia’s World Leader Selemon Barega (13:04) Leads Loaded 5,000 Field In Lausanne Barega is up against world champ Muktar Edris and Paul Chelimo.
A Race You Won’t Want To Miss:Christian Coleman And Noah Lyles 100m Showdown Set For Rabat DL On July 13th USA’s Ronnie Baker is also in the race.
Sunday:Reigning Champion Maude Mathys Aiming To Repeat For Switzerland At Euro Mountain Running Champs

Distance News

IAAF Releases Some Interesting Changes To Competition Rules As Of June 2018 The IAAF are no longer recognizing road world records for the 15k, 20k, 25k or 30k (makes sense since they are rarely run and most of the WRs come from half or full marathon splits) and interesting up until now the road 5k was not an official WR, but it will be moving forward.
*MB:New IAAF rules are out – Will Zoom Vaporfly 4% be banned for violating “spirit of the universality of athletics?”
Japanese 2:27 Marathoner Miharu Shimokado Quits Corporate League To Go Independent “I want to show that you don’t have to throw the woman part away to get stronger, that we are strong because we are women.”
Video: Haron Lagat Calls Out IAAF Officials Over Transfer Of Allegiance Issue The IAAF won’t let him run for the US despite him living here for the last 16 years.
Want To Be A Runner In The Wonder Woman Sequel? Here’s Your Chance Producers are looking for “men and women of all ethnicities to play joggers” in the Arlington, VA area. They are choosing runners today and tomorrow.
Comrades Marathon Winner Ann Ashworth Publicly Snubs “Unsupportive” Athletics South Africa She declined an invite from them to compete in the World 100k Champs this September saying that they don’t do enough to support SA road runners.

The Best Of

LRC The Best Interviews From 2018 USAs: Centro On How Being Fitter Allows Him To Race Smarter, Coburn On Jebet’s Positive, & The People’s Hero, Jordan Mann We know only a few of the biggest die-hards had time to watch all 79 interviews we conducted in the mixed zone at USAs (you can check out all the videos here). That’s okay. Below, we’ve selected our 10 favorite interviews from 2018 USAs. If you want to be educated, entertained, or both, check this out. From Noah Lyles to Matthew Centrowitz and Emma Coburn, we’ve got you covered.

USA News: The Boston Champ Is Coming To NYC

Des Linden To Run 2018 TCS NYC Marathon Will she face defending champ Shalane Flanagan?

MB:Bowerman Track Club’s Dan Huling Retires Huling has been one of the US’s top steeplers for years with a best major championship finish of 5th at the 2015 World Champs.
Michelob Ultra Offers Runners A Chance To Be Coached For The NYC Marathon By Shalane Flanagan They’ll get coaching tips from Flanagan and get to meet her for celebratory drinks after NYC.
Q&A With Kellyn Taylor On Her 2:24:28 Performances At Grandma’s Marathon Taylor says that normally she doesn’t take splits during a marathon, but for this one she did. “A big mental switch that I had going into this race was to treat it more like a workout than a race.”
Ken Goe Takes Dig At Des Moines:“Championship Meets In Eugene Rarely Are Interrupted By Lightning”
Former Loyola Marymount University Star Danielle Shanahan Joins Hoka One One NAZ Elite

The Future Of Women’s Sport Is On The Line

Seb Coe Defends IAAF New Hyperandrogenism Rules In Meeting With Athletics South Africa “We need to create competition categories within our sport that ensures that success is determined by talent, dedication and hard work, rather than by other factors that are not considered fair or meaningful, such as the enormous physical advantages that an adult has over a child, or a male athlete has over a female athlete.” *IAAF Release
BBC:IAAF Will Respect CAS Decision On Testosterone Rules After their meeting, the IAAF and Athletics South Africa both decided that the decision would be left up to CAS.

Sprint Stuff

World 100m Champ Tori Bowie Featured In ESPN Body Issue “If I could pick one body part, I’d probably pick my thighs, my quads. I feel they’re the strongest part of my body.”
*Full 2018 ESPN Body Issue
IAAF Inside Athletics:Ato Boldon Video Interview With Sydney McLaughlin This was apparently filmed a while ago as she talked about not going pro and said, “You’re basically running for a paycheck and I don’t think I’m ready to do that yet. To run for food on the table. I’d like to progress in the sport first before I make that decision.”
Usain Bolt Admits It Was “Kind Of Sad” To Lose His Perfect Record Of Olympic Golds It’s probably easier to live with when you have nine of them, though.
World 400H CHamp Kori Carter Looks Back At When She Shockingly Qualified For The 2008 World Junior Championships “Making my first national team was a huge moment. It convinced me that I could be somebody in track and field.”
European 400H Champ Slott Petersen Wins In 55.48 At Copenhagen Games She was supposed to have a duel with two-time world champ Zuzana Hejnova, but Hejnova had to scratch with a knee injury.

Upcoming Diamond League Action: Paris Is Saturday

The Top Three Moments From The History of The Paris Diamond League Evan Jager’s “should have been” sub-8:00 steeplechase from 2015 makes the list.
Loaded Field Events Announced For Paris Diamond League The pole vault has Renaud Lavillenie, Mondo Duplantis and Sam Kendricks while World champ Mariya Lasitskene leads the women’s HJ against World heptathlon camp Nafissatou Thiam (has gone 2.01m this year) and Caterine Ibarguen in the TJ.
*Paris Diamond League Provisional Entry Lists
July 13:A Slew Of High Profile Head-To-Heads Announced For Rabat Diamond League Includes world champ Conseslus Kipruto vs. Worlds silver medalist Soufiane El Bakkali in the steeple, Renaud Lavillenie vs. Sam Kendricks in the PV and Shaunae Miller-Uibo vs. Worlds silver medalist Marie-Josee Ta Lou in the 200. Also Caster Semenya in the 1,000 and Abdelaati Iguider in the 3,000.
IAAF Diamond League Mid-Season Review A look at some highlights and stats from the first 6 DL meets.