September 21, 2018 Homepage Archive

Where Your Dreams Become Reality

Archived Homepage For September 21, 2018

Quote Of The Day

“I have never run a whole marathon but I will do that after the Tokyo Olympics where I want to contest the 5000m and 10,000m, I am going to focus on that. But I do not want to let go of those shorter distances, I would regret that.”

– Sifan Hassan talking about running the 5000/10000 double at Tokyo 2020 and moving up to the marathon after. It wasn’t long ago that she was primarily a miler, but now with a 65:15 half-marathon best, she’s one of the best on the roads too.

More On Kipchoge

JG Opinion The Meaning Of 2:01:39: The Era Of World Record Chase Is Over LRC’s Jon Gault argues the era of the world record chase is over for the immediate future on the men’s side thanks to Kipchoge’s run.
*MB: Gault’s Kipchoge article is great.

Russia’s Back

WADA Votes To Lift Russia’s Three-Year Doping Suspension The decision means RUSADA will now be able to test its own athletes again and issue TUEs. The move has been widely condemned by athletes and anti-doping officials.
*BBC Article Lawyer for Russian whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov calls it “the greatest treachery against clean athletes in Olympic history.”
IAAF Statement On WADA’s Reinstatement Of RUSADA The IAAF says it has “its own set of criteria for the reinstatement of the Russian Athletics Federation,” but they are actually the same as WADAs. The question will be if the IAAF considers the criteria fulfilled when they meet in December.
Good Read: BBC:What Now For Sport After WADA Decision?Dan Roan writes that part of the fallout from this move will be that WADA will no longer trusted after it effectively left Russia “off the hook.”
WADA Tried To Help Russia Lift Their Doping Ban In May Letters between WADA director general Olivier Niggli and Russia Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkoov show Niggli gave tips on how to word their letter to WADA’s compliance review committee to “ensure a positive recommendation.”
The Guardian:“WADA Appears To Have Complied With Russia – Wasn’t It Meant To Be The Other Way Around?”
IAAF Athletes’ Commission Letter To WADA Before They Voted To Reinstate Russia The letter (signed by athletes including Paula Radcliffe, Valerie Adams, Mutaz Essa Barshim and Adam Kszczot) urged WADA not to do it, but obviously they did not listen.
IOC Athletes’ Commission Backs WADA Decision To Reinstate Russia
The Guardian:Anti-Doping Rift Deepens As Agencies Turn On WADA Over Russia “Compromise”
InsideTheGames: iNADO Urges WADA Not To Pander To Russia As Express “Dismay” AT Compromise

NCAA News

NCAA 800 Record Holder Michael Saruni Goes Pro Early The 1:43.25 man is following in the footsteps of Isaiah Harris and Emmanuel Korir and going pro early. Initially it was reported that he signed with Nike, but that was not correct.

The 2018 BMW Berlin Marathon*Berlin Results

LRC Meet “Drinks Guy,” The Fist-Pumping German Who Gave Eliud Kipchoge His Drinks During His World Record Marathon We tracked down “Drinks Guy,” the fist-pumping German who gave Eliud Kipchoge his drinks in Berlin. He’s Claus-Henning Schulke, a 52-year-old amateur triathlete from Berlin.

LRC Final The Greatest Ever – 2:01:39 – Eliud Kipchoge Crushes World Record To Win 2018 Berlin Marathon The greatest marathoner in history has run the greatest marathon in history, 2:01:39, and taken 78 seconds off the WR, marking the biggest improvement in the WR in 51 years, thanks to a 60:33 second half.

Kenya’s Gladys Cherono Wins A Third Berlin Marathon Title She ran 2:18:11 to become the fourth-fastest woman in history and break the 13-year-old course record by a minute. Ethiopia’s Ruti Aga (2:18:34) and Tirunesh Dibaba (2:18:55) were a close 2-3.

Ross Tucker:Was 2:01:39 Really A Big Breakthrough Or Was It Just The Shoes? Tucker, who predicted after Monza that Kipchoge could run 2:01:40, wonders if the jump from 2:02:57 to 2:01:40 is simply the result of the Nike 4% shoes which (despite the name) the NY Times found is worth 1%.
IAAF:Eliud Kipchoge Breaks Marathon WR With Stunning 2:01:39 In Berlin
MB:Fernando Cabada– 2:15 today in Berlin
MB Pre-Race:Huge NY Times Profile on Eliud Kipchoge: “Eliud Kipchoge Is the Greatest Marathoner, Ever”

Berlin On The Boards

Non-Berlin Weekend Action

IAAF Preview:Strong Fields Targeting World Records At The Copenhagen Half Marathon The men’s race has 14 sub-one hour runners, led by Abraham Cheroben (58:40) and Jorum Okombo (58:48). The women’s field has five women with sub-68 PRs, led by Joan Melly (65:04) and Sifan Hassan, who is will be running her first legitimate half.
Defending Champ Meselech Beyene (2:26:44) And Former Winner Fatuma Sado (2:24:16) Face Off At The Beijing Marathon The race also includes a couple women with sub-2:22 PRs from a few years ago. Tola Dibaba (2:06:17) and Abayneh Ayele (2:06:45) have the fastest PRs in the men’s field.
RRW:Jared Ward To Test Fitness At Mattoni Ústí nad Labem Half Marathon Ward says he’s been fighting injury on and off since 2016, but finally feels like he’s in a good place with his longest training block since the Rio Olympics. *IAAF Preview
2011 Boston Marathon Champ Caroline Kilel Vs. 2016 Paris Marathon Champ Visiline Jepkesho At The Chemususu Dam Half Marathon In Kenya
IAAF Preview:Course Record Assaults On Tap At The Sydney Marathon 2:11:18 and 2:25:51 are the times to beat. USA’s Janet Bawcom (2:29 PR) is among those running.
Defending Champions Victor Kiplangat And Lucy Murigi Lead Fields At The World Mountain Running Championships Former winner Joseph Gray will represent Team USA for the 11th consecutive year at these championships.

Random Stuff

Running App In Lithuania Giving Its Users Cryptocurrency As Reward For Hitting Fitness Goals The app will come to the US later this year.
Oregonian: Phil Knight Once Again Ranked The #1 Most Influential Person In Oregon Sports By The Oregonian Last year Vin Lananna was #18, but dropped off the list this year.
Runner’s World: Marathoner Chases After Car Thieves To Help Police Catch Them
Running NYC For The First Time? Runner’s World Borough-By-Borough New York City Marathon Course Review
Fast Running: 5 Things Every Runner Can Relate To We’re not sure about everything here. Do you really wear your running shorts multiple times without washing them?

Emma Coburn Speaks

LRC Exclusive Emma Coburn Expresses Doubt That Beatrice Chepkoech’s World Record Is Clean World Champion Emma Coburn is suspicious of Beatrice Chepkoech‘s world record run in the steeple. “I don’t think a woman can run 8:45 when for a whole season she runs 9 minutes and then runs 8:45. I don’t think that’s really possible,” said Coburn. *Discuss
*MB: Dear Emma Coburn “NativeSon,” a Kenyan on the message board, responds to Coburn and points out the Coutney Frerichs has improved massively in the last year, lowering her PR from 9:20 to 9:00.

Weekend Road Action 5th Avenue Mile ResultsGreat North Run Results

RRW & LRC Jenny Simpson Gets Her Sixth Straight Fifth Avenue Mile Title, Jake Wightman Gets His First Simpson capped her season with another 5th Avenue win over the in form Colleen Quigley. Wightman held off veteran Nick Willis.
LRCPost-Race Videos With Simpson, Wightman, Quigley, Willis, Eriva Avila, Neil Gourley, Ben True
*Official 5th Avenue Mile Thread

RRW: World Under-20 Champion Rhonex Kipruto Scares The Road 10k World Record With A 26:46 Solo Effort At The Birell Grand Prix Kipruto now sits second on the all-time list, only behind Leonard Patrick Komon‘s 26:44. Caroline Kipkirui ran the #5 all-time best 10k to win the women’s race in 30:19 ahead of Fancy Chemutai (30:22) and Diana Chemtai Kipyokei (30:23). *IAAF Recap
*MB: Rhonex Kipruto runs 26:46 for 10K on the roads in Prague — #2 all-time

Mo Farah Wins Great North Run For A Record 5th Consecutive Time Farah ran away from Jake Robertson over the last two miles to win in 59:26 (4 seconds short of his PR) to Robertson’s 59:57. Vivian Cheruiyot won the women’s race in 67:43 over Brigid Kosgei (67:52) and WR holder Joyciline Jepkosgei (68.:10). *Discuss

Ethiopia’s Abebe Negewo Breaks Course Record To Win Minsk Half Marathon In 62:39 Kenya’s Sheila Jerotich won the women’s race in 72:05.
Josh Kerr (4:10.5) And Amanda Eccleston (4:47.0) Win Minnesota Mile Kerr beat out Daniel Herrera (4:11.1) while Eccleston outkicked Kellyn Taylor (4:47.4).

NCAA XC Top 10 Countdown

LRC No. 10 Syracuse Men Dominate While Unranked Ole Miss Women Edge Georgia Tech At 2018 Coast-To-Coast Battle In Beantown Campbell’s Amon Kemboi (24:03) held off Syracuse’s Aidan Tooker for the individual win as ‘Cuse put 5 in the top 13. Providence’s Abbey Wheeler (17:10) won the women’s race but the No. 11 Friars wound up 11th as a team.
*Brien Bell talks about being Syracuse’s new head honcho
*Andy Powell talks about having Centro as an assistant
*Abby Wheeler talks after winning women’s race
*Amon Kemboi talks after winning men’s race

LRC 2018 NCAA Men’s XC Preview: #2 BYU & #1 Northern Arizona With two 5th-year seniors and two 7th-year seniors that have all gone sub-13:40, last year’s runner-up BYU is very good, but NAU with three back from last year’s top 8 has a chance to be historically good.
*MB: Will NAU be historically great and three peat? Or might they not even win the 2018 NCAA xc title?

LRC 2018 NCAA Women’s XC Preview: #2 Oregon & #1 New Mexico Can UNM three-peat? Or will Oregon, which lost their coach and their #1 and #2 from last year, get the job done? We know one thing – one of these foreign-dominated teams will win it all.

Previous Men’s Previews:
*#10 Syracuse & #9 Boise State
*#8 Wisconsin & #7 Colorado
*#6 Alabama & #5 Iowa State
*#4 Portland & #3 Stanford

Previous Women’s Previews:
*#10 Arkansas & #9 Villanova
*#8 Wisconsin & #7 Michigan
*#6 NC State & #5 Stanford
*#4 Boise State & #3 Colorado

More Russian Doping News

IAAF And IPC Warn Russia Their Bans Won’t Automatically Be Lifted Following WADA Decision The IAAF wants the Russian government to pay for the investigation expenses (several million dollars) and won’t consider lifting the ban until all the data from the Moscow lab has been evaluated.
WADA Vice President Linda Helleland Says They Have Failed Clean Athletes By Lifting Russian Ban She said that this “casts a dark shadow over the credibility of the anti-doping movement.”
Paula Radcliffe:“It undermines their credibility and the faith clean athletes have in them.”
Michael Phelps Slams WADA Over Russia Ban
Kremlin Call WADA Decision “Positive Step” While Admitting “There Is Still A Rather Long Way To Go”
Reuters:Compilation Of Quotes Condemning WADA Decision To Reinstate RUSADA

International Distance News

Olympic Steeple Champ Conseslus Kipruto Involved In Car Crash In Kenya; Escapes Unhurt A police officer said that he believes Kipruto was speeding and trying to get around a tractor when a car coming the opposite direction forced him to brake and he hit the tractor.
*AP Article Apparently David Rudisha came to the scene of the accident afterwards to help Kipruto.
Track, Road And Dirt:Sifan Hassan Says She’s Targeting The European XC Championships In December After her 65:15 half this weekend, Hassan also says she wants to move up to the marathon, but not until after a 5k/10k double at Tokyo 2020.
Recommended Watch: MB:Recent Video Interview With Zane Robertson Some footage and discussion about Robertson’s training in Ethiopia as well as his and his brother Jake‘s initial move to Kenya when they were just teenagers.
Beatrice Chepkoech’s 8:44.32 Steeplechase World Record Ratified By The IAAF So to were Armand Duplantis‘ 5.92m U20 pole vault record from March (although he later jumped 6.05m at Euros) and the 100k WR by Japan’s Nao Kazami.

WADA Not All On The Same Page Concerning Russia

BBC: WADA Vice President Linda Helleland Says She Is Opposed To Lifting Russian Doping Ban “I will vote for, and support the original roadmap. This is because I believe you should never make any compromises that undermine your credibility.”
The Guardian:Anti-Doping Rift Deepens As Agencies Turn On WADA Over Russia “Compromise” 13 agencies have spoken out against the WADA decision with UKAD chief Nicole Sapstead, saying, “It is pretty much sticking two fingers up at the athletes and the organisations that work tirelessly on their behalf.”
Full Statement From WADA Vice President Linda Helleland Meanwhile WADA president Craig Reedie has defended their deal with Russia: “Is doing nothing a realistic option? We couldn’t just sit back and do nothing – this moves things forward.”
The Telegraph:Key WADA Committee Member Resigns In Frustration Over Plans To Drop Russia Sanctions Many officials aren’t happy with WADA’s plan to “compromise” with Russia.

Copenhagen Half & More Non-Berlin *Copenhagen Results

LRC Kevin Mayer (9126 Points) Breaks Ashton Eaton’s World Record In The Decathlon At Décastar Meet In France Mayer scored exactly 4563 points on each day and set PRs in the 100 (10.55), LJ (7.80), and jav (71.90) to eclipse Eaton’s 9045 from the 2015 World Champs.
*IAAF:Kevin Mayer Breaks Decathlon Record With 9126 Points At Decastar Meeting In Talence, France World silver medalist Carolin Schäfer won the women’s heptathlon with 6457 points.
*Discuss: Might the men’s marathon and decathlon records fall on the day? How scared should Ashton Eaton be that his WR falls today?

LRCWhat Range: Sifan Hassan Runs 1:05:15 European Record At Copenhagen Half, Kejelcha’s Debut A Success With 59:17The NOP tracksters brought it in the half marathon. Daniel Kipchumba won on the men’s side in 59:06.
*IAAF:Sifan Hassan Smashes European Record At Copenhagen Half
*Discuss: Copenhagen Half Live Thread

Des Linden (71:50) And Ethiopia’s Shura Kitata (59:18) Win Rock ‘N’ Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon Linden beat out Kellyn Taylor (72:07) while Parker Stinson (63:01) and Cam Levins (63:10) were 2-3 behind Kitata. *Discuss
Kenyans Stephen Kiprop (59:41) And Diana Chemtai Kipyokei (67:17) Get The Wins At The Usti Nad Labem Half Marathon In The Czech Republic Kiprop beat out Barselius Kipyego (60:25) while Kipyokei finished 15 seconds ahead of Nancy Jepkosgei Kiprop. Jared Ward dropped out after sustaining a hamstring injury at mile 2; Sara Hall was 9th in 1:12:36.
Valary Jemeli Aiyabei Runs 2:21:38 To Become The First Kenyan Woman To Win The Beijing Marathon Post-race she gave a special thanks to her husband as he served as her pacemaker. Ethiopia’s 2:07 man Dejene Debela won the men’s race in 2:12:08.
Uganda’s Robert Chemonges And Kenya’s Lucy Murigi Win World Mountain Running Championships In Andorra Murigi defended her title from last year while Chemonges lead a 1-3 Ugandan sweep with his compatriot finishing only a second behind him.
Elijah Kemboi (2:13:37) And Mercy Kibarus (2:31:24) Deliver As The Favorites To Win The Sydney Marathon

Pre-Decathlon WR News

France’s World Champ Kevin Mayer Is Gunning For Ashton Eaton’s Decathlon World Record Today At The Decastar Meet In Talence, France After day 1, he’s only 140 points behind Eaton’s record and he typically has a stronger day 2 than Eaton.
IAAF Day 1 Recap:Kevin Mayer And Carolin Schafer In The Lead *IAAF Preview
MB: Might the men’s marathon and decathlon records fall on the day? How scared should Ashton Eaton be that his WR falls today?

Doping News

GB’s Kelly Sotherton Says “The Cloud Has Lifted” After Finally Receiving Her 2008 Olympic Bronze Ten Years Later She says she always knew the medal was hers as she saw Ukraine’s Lyudmila Blonska get passed something by her husband during the competition and found two empty vials by her bag.
British Athletes/Olympians Send Letter To WADA Warning It Will Be A “Catastrophe For Clean Sport” If Russia Is Reinstated When They Meet Next Week Russia still hasn’t met some of the reinstatement criteria set forth by WADA (including access to the Moscow lab). *BBC Article
BBC:WADA Compliance Review Committee Recommends RUSADA Remain Suspended WADA will vote whether to reinstate RUSADA on September 20th.
RUSADA Director Yuri Ganus “Not Optimistic” That They’ll Be Reinstated By WADA Next Week
IPC Calls For Increased Efforts To Resolve WADA And RUSADA Stalemate In addition to WADA’s criteria, the Russian Paralympic Committee also has to pay the IPC “reimbursements costs related to the suspension and reinstatement process.”

Negative News

MB:Legendary track coach Roy Chernock has died at age 90. HOFer was Vin Lananna’s college coach
Japan’s Nittai University Head Coach Masaaki Watanabe Fired Over Abuse Scandal He was accused of multiple acts of violence including kicking athletes’ legs and grabbing them by the chest as well as over-the-top verbal abuse.
Very Sad: Two Teens Arrested In Murder Of Incoming Penn State Track Athlete Kristian Marche was shot at his home last month after stopping an attempted break-in by the teens.
The Guardian Tribute To The Late Diane Leather, The First Woman To Run A Sub-5 Minute Mile Leather actually ran sub-5 just 23 days after Roger Bannister ran his first sub-4.

The Copenhagen Half Is Sunday

Sifan Hassan Is A Bit Nervous About Racing On The Roads For The First Time In 5 Years At The Copenhagen Half It’s not her first half, but her only other one was in 2011 when she was 18 and only ran 1:17:10.
MB:Galen Rupp OUT of this weekend’s Copenhagen half marathon Rupp withdrew due to some soreness in his Achilles.

MB:Hasay won’t go run Copenhagen half because Rupp isn’t???
MB Prediction:When will Jordan Hasay announce that she is not running the Chicago Marathon?
Preview: Seventeen Sub-60 Minute Men Will Line Up At The Copenhagen Half Marathon 58:40 man Abraham Cheroben leads the field and faces Berlin Half champ Erick Kiptanui (58:42), who says he’s gunning for the world record. World indoor 3,000 champ Yomif Kejelcha will make his half debut. Meanwhile, the women’s race has seven sub-68 runners, led by 65:04 woman Joan Melly and world champ Netsanet Gudeta, who will also be making a bid at the WR.

2018 Pro Runners’ Salary Survey

LRC Pro Runners’ Salaries: How Much Do Pro Runners Make? We Unveil One Of The Sport’s Biggest Secrets We asked some of the top agents in the world to tell us how much the stars of the sport make in endorsement contracts and appearance fees. The results are in.
Discuss: The wait is over: 2018 Pro Runners’ Salary Data Revealed: How Much Do the Pros Make?

Miscellaneous

The Telegraph’s End-Of-Season Review – Eight Talking Points From 2018 An interesting point they brought up is that we could have seen Caster Semenya‘s last race over the 400 to mile distances depending on how her CAS appeal goes.
IAAF Installs First Stadium Air Quality Monitor In Monaco Seb Coe: “Air pollution is a silent killer which is affecting the health of athletes, local communities and our environment …”
North And South Korea Agree To Launch A Joint Bid For The 2032 Olympics The two countries are still technically at war.
Dates Confirmed For 2018-2019 IAAF XC Permit Meetings The nine-race series begins on November 11th in Spain and ends on February 3rd with the Almond Blossom XC race in Portugal.
IAAF:More Than 170 Nations Set To Compete At The Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games Next Month
London Marathon Raises A Record $84.5 Million For Charity It broke the previous world record of $81.7 million from 2017.
Athletics Weekly:UK Athletics Chief Niels De Vos Steeping Down After 11 Years On The Job De Vos is leaving to set up his own business. *BBC Article
Another Italian Bid Bites The Dust:Officials Declare Three-Way Italian Bid For 2026 Winter Olympics “Dead”

Week That Was

LRC Eliud Kipchoge’s World Record By The Numbers, The Greatness Of Gladys Cherono, Sifan Hassan’s 1,500m Days May Be Over Kipchoge’s run wasn’t the only great road action this weekend.

Berlin Marathon Photo Gallery (Click For Many More Photos) Full Berlin Coverage Here

Seriously Now? What? WADA Recommends RUSADA Be Reinstated

WADA Recommends Reinstatement Of Russian Anti-Doping Agency WADA’s independent compliance review committee has recommended WADA should reinstate RUSADA when they meet on September 20. This despite Russia not having met the reinstatement criteria by allowing access to the Moscow lab.
Russia’s Life Reads Like A Spy Movie:Swiss Prosecutors Investigating Two Russian Agents Over Cyber Attack On WADA The same two Russians were detained earlier this year for another planned attack on a lab in the Netherlands. The lab was investigating the poisoning of a Russian double agent, Sergei Skripal.
BBC:WADA Suggested Compromise To Bring End To RUSADA Ban BBC obtained copies of the letters between WADA and the Russian sports minister. Also includes statement from WADA head Craig Reedie responding to the criticism.
InsideTheGames:RUSADA Set To Be Reinstated At WADA Executive Committee Meeting Apparently WADA softened the reinstatement criteria to end the stalemate with Russia. Russia has promised to eventually let inspectors into the Moscow lab and they didn’t publicly accept the McLaren Report, but wrote a letter that “sufficiently acknowledged issues.” *Reuters Article

Pre-Race Berlin News

LRC There’s A Remote Chance All 4 Marathon And Half Marathon World Records Could Fall On Sunday We’ve got a podcast previewing Berlin and Copenhagen and have a chart looking more at the Copenhagen fields and the random Kenyan talent emerging in the half marathon.

LRC LetsRun.com Track Talk: Berlin Marathon And Copenhagen Half Marathon Preview Podcast

LRC Tirunesh Dibaba Plans To Chase World Record At 2018 BMW Berlin Marathon And the plan is to do it the optimal way – with a negative split.

LRC Women’s Preview: Tirunesh Dibaba Plots Return To Winning Ways Against 3 More Sub-2:20 Women After a DNF in London, Dibaba is looking to return to the winner’s circle in Berlin, not Chicago where she won last fall.

LRC Eliud Kipchoge Is Chasing The World Record In Berlin (Again). Whether He Gets It Or Not Is Out Of His Control The last 6 men’s WRs have all been set in Berlin. Can the greatest marathoner ever make it #7?
*MB: Will Eliud Kipchoge get the World Record at this weekend’s 2018 BMW Berlin Marathon?

Wilson Kipsang Says He Wants To Run Near His PR And Go Through Halfway In 61:30 In Berlin Another name of note in the field is half marathon WR holder Zersenay Tadese, who will be taking yet another crack at the full marathon and try to improve his 2:10:41 PR.
ESPN: Record Chasing Tirunesh Dibaba And Gladys Cherono Headline Berlin Women’s Race Dibaba: “I improved my training in preparation for Berlin and did more volume. I am very well prepared and want to beat my best time on Sunday.”
Eliud Kipchoge Emphasizes He’s Going For His PR (Not Necessarily The WR) In Berlin “I am not thinking about the world record. My eyes are on a personal best.” On the surface, it sounds a bit silly considering there are only 8 seconds between Kipchoge’s best and the WR.
*MB: Kipchoge says he goes for a PB. Why doesn’t he say WR?

African Marathoner News

Former Marathon World Record Holder Patrick Makau Retires From The Sport The 2:03:38 man says he’s hanging them up after dealing with a persistent patellar tendon injury. He says he plans on staying involved in the sport as a coach.
Former Olympic And World Champion Stephen Kiprotich Still Hoping To Lower His PR Before He Retires And Wants To Run 2:05 At The Toronto Waterfront Marathon Next Month “I have the two medals but also I want to run a faster time than 2:05. Most of the people they look at my times and they ask me how did you win these two medals in poor times? So it is my hope to run a good time before I retire.”
World Record Holder Dennis Kimetto Competing In The Shanghai Marathon In November Kimetto has been DNFs in all his recent marathons and hasn’t finished one since London 2016. But he once again claims he is over his injury issues and thinks he can run 2:06 in Shanghai. We’ll believe it when we see it.