LetsRun.com: The Home of Distance Running and Track and Field

World Champs Start Friday

LRC $200,019 Running Warehouse World Outdoor Track and Field Prediction Contest is OPEN Ready, set, pick. First event closes Friday Sept 27 at 9:35 am eastern. Winners of contest win RW gift certificate and HOKA ONE ONE Rincon shoe.

Event-By-Event Previews Provisional Entry Lists

IAAF Reverses Course – Mark English Will Compete At Worlds And He’s “Thrilled And Relieved” As A Result
*MB: Nick Willis isn’t only one being screwed over by the IAAF and slow runners – Mark English also won’t be going to Worlds
Keisuke Ushiro Of Japan Is Added To Decathlon For Worlds After Controversial Omission
Donovan Bailey Says Usain Bolt’s Absence Is A Huge Void, Also Says He And Bolt Are The Only World Champion And Olympic Champion “Without Taint, The Only Two.
After Being DQed In 2017, Canadian Sprinter Aaron Brown Wants To Make The Most Of His 2019 Opportunity
Ato Boldon Flies Briana Williams To Bahamas To Help Put Her Doping Case In Perspective It’s very easy to feel that life is so unfair. When something like this happens and when you get to see people in the Bahamas who have lost everything it can sort of remind you that life is not fair all the time.”
Jamaican Journalist Predicts Double Gold For Elaine Thompson
Recommended Read Dina Asher-Smith Raves About Her Coach, Who Has Coached Her Since She Was 8 “Sprinting is a mental game. And John is excellent at that. I am fortunate for his experience and emotional intelligence.” *Dina Asher-Smith’s Parents Go To Every Meet She Runs Already this year, they’ve been to Qatar, California, Sweden, Switzerland and Belgium.
Nigerian Pundit Only Thinks Nigeria Will Get 1 Medal In Doha “Tobi“ Amusan in the 100H.
India WOn’t Let Its Best 400 Runner Run 400 At Worlds, Making Him Focus On Mixed 4 X 400 and Open 4 X 400
India’s World Junior 400 Champ Hima Das Is Ruled Out Of Worlds With Back Injury
Runner’s Tribe: What Can We Expect For An October Worlds In Doha?

Distance Stuff

Tendon Injury Forces Vivian Cheruiyot To Withdraw From The Berlin Marathon Cheruiyot is traveling to Germany to seek treatment and hopes to be healed and back running in December.
Good Read: 2:05 Marathon Man Sondre Nordstad Moen Writes About His Love And The Loneliness Of Long-Distance Running Moen also goes into some interesting specifics on his training and progression as a distance runner.
Podcast Interview With Ali Ostrander And Nikki Hiltz This podcast is from earlier in the month before the Fifth Avenue Mile.
*MB: Allie Ostrander is hilarious
Moldova’s Lilia Fisikovici Hoping To Go A Perfect Four-For-Four In The EuroHeroes Challenges Half Marathon Series With A Win At The Mattoni Usti nad Labem Half This Weekend
Preview Of This Weekend’s British Mountain Running Championships

More NCAA XC News

Weekend XC Preview: Top Teams Ready To Rumble In Terre Haute The men’s side has #1 ranked NAU vs. #5 ranked Iowa State and #7 Stanford while the women’s side has the 3-5 ranked teams in Washington, Michigan and Arkansas, plus #8 Stanford. On the East coast, there is also the Coast-to-Coast Battle in Beantown with #3 ranked Washington men vs. Syracuse.
DyeStat Profile On June Eastwood After Her First Women’s NCAA Race Eastwood says “It just felt like any other race.”
*MB: June Eastwood journey documentary teaser
Week 1 Coaches’ Poll Has NAU And BYU Men Ranked 1-2 Washington and Colorado are ranked 3-4. *Men’s Week 1 Regional Rankings
Colorado And New Mexico Women Sit 1-2 On Week 1 NCAA Coaches Poll Washington and Michigan are ranked 3-4. *Women’s Week 1 Regional Rankings
Middle Tennessee’s Kigen Chemadi And Indiana’s Bailey Hertenstein Were NCAA Athletes Of The Week
*Previous Week: Wyoming’s Paul Roberts And Iowa State’s Abby Caldwell NCAA Athletes Of The Week

Best Track And Field Podcast GUARANTEED

LRC Geoffery Kamworor World Record, Japanese Olympic Marathon Trials, Kipchoge Vs. Kamworor Fantasy Race, Training Tip And Term Of Week: Glowing Geoffery Kamworor got his world record and we break it down plus a lot more. Subscribe today on itunes.

Non-Track News

Nike’s “Dream Crazy” Colin Kaepernick Ad Wins An Emmy The ad was named outstanding commercial at the Creative Arts Emmys.
Random Stat: How Much Do Tennis Players Run Per Match? On the high end, the study found David Ferrer ran around 10k during the 2015 Australian Open, while on the low end, Novak Djokovic ran only around half as much. Another analysis from the 2014 US Open saw that Caroline Wozniacki ran twice as far as Serena Williams (9.7k compared to 4.5k).

World Champs Start A Week From Friday

LRC Team LRC’s Kelsey Bruce Tells Us How She’s Preparing For The World Championships Marathon After running for Team LRC at World XC in March, Kelsey Bruce earned her way onto Team USA for the World Championships in Doha. Read what she’s been up to.

Our Annual Top 10 NCAA XC Countdown

Terre Haute – Men – MB: Hand them their 4th straight title right now? NAU holds out two runners, stlll DESTROYS Stanford in Terre Haute The final score wasn’t close, 31 to 51, but Stanford’s 5-man average was only 10 seconds back.
*Women: #5 Arkansas Edges #8 Stanford 49 To 54 #3 Washington had 66 and #4 Michigan 75.

Boston: MB: They’re back baby. #13 Syracuse DESTROYS #3 Washington and #21 Arkansas in Boston

LRC 2019 NCAA Men’s XC Preview: #5 Washington Through #1 Northern Arizona Who is going to win NCAAs? One of these five teams.
*MB: And your 2019 NCAA men’s xc team champion will be …

LRC 2019 NCAA Women’s XC Preview: #5 NC State Through #1 New Mexico #2 Colorado certainly has a chance to repeat but it’s an odd year and that means UNM is the team to beat.

Previous: LRC 2019 NCAA Men’s XC Season Preview: Men’s Teams #10 Oklahoma State Through #6 Notre Dame We begin our 2019 NCAA XC countdown by unveiling the back half of the LRC top 10, which includes some big names – #10 Okla. State, #9 Portland, #8 Colorado, #7 Oregon, #6 Notre Dame.

LRC 2019 NCAA Women’s XC Preview: #10 Michigan State Through #6 Washington In between those two we have #9 Oregon, #8 Michigan and #7 Stanford.
*MB: My gooodness. When did the NCAA start letting teams take pre-season altitude trips?

NAU frosh Drew Bosley, who was twice top 10 at Footlocker, admits he never ever ran 7 days a week in HS

Extend The Ban Now

Unbelievable: Source Tells AP Russia May Have Altered Doping Data Before They Turned It Over A decade-long suspension would be just fine by us.

Previous Pre-Doha News

Good Read: Mark English Calls For Transparency After Omission From Worlds “We don’t know anything and that’s the problem with this whole system. It’s not clear enough … The IAAF had all the information of those unqualified athletes since August 26 and they didn’t decide to share it with anyone …”
Double Amputee Sprinter Blake Leeper Won’t Be Allowed To Compete At Worlds Leeper qualified for the US 4 x 400 squad (he was 5th in the 400m at USAs), but the IAAF says he has to prove his blades don’t give him an advantage.
Seb Coe Won’t “Gag The Voices” Of Athletes Who Want To Protest In Doha About Homosexuality Being Illegal Coe says he hopes having Worlds there could “flick the dial both socially, culturally and politically in a very positive way.” Gay racewalker Tom Bosworth said “I’m not going to start running down the road with rainbow flags and demanding equality but it is certainly a stage where we can be ourselves. … hopefully countries might learn by hosting competitions like this and develop from it.”
Bahamas Ministry Responds To Criticism Regarding Its Low Contribution To Team Bahamas There was uncertainty if the Bahamas would have enough funding to go to Doha Worlds, but it looks like they will be there.
Mondo Duplantis Is The Youngest Pole Vaulter To Ever Go Over 6 Meters, But Says He’s Still A Student Of The Sport “You can learn from everybody … there is always room to get better.”
IAAF Profile On US Shot Put Champion Chase Ealey Ahead Of Her First World Championships Some interesting insights like how she was sprinted in high school and almost did the multis in college and how her coach, two-time world indoor champ Ryan Whiting, helped “change the course of her career.”
Q&A With Sam Kendricks Ahead Of Worlds Kendricks talks about winning worlds in 2017 and preparing to defend his title in Doha.
Brief Q&A With Defending 400H World Champ Karsten Warholm Ahead Of Doha
USTFCCCA: 25 Athletes With Ties To The Bowerman Award Are Competing In Doha This includes nine past winners and five current finalists.
1928 Athletes From 209 Countries Will Compete In Doha

Olympic/IAAF News

Seb Coe Praises Tokyo 2020 Marathon Route After Test Event Coe said they want courses that “show off the best of cities and are challenging for athletes and fan-friendly.”
Snow Machines Given First Outing At Tokyo 2020 Canoe Sprint Test Event Snow making machines threw snow on volunteer spectators to try and keep them cool. Reports suggested the first trial wasn’t a complete success as the ice was coarse and the snowfall made conditions slippery.
Dates Confirmed For 2020 IAAF World Indoor Tour And 2019-2020 IAAF XC Permit Meets
Olympic Channel Promise Best-Ever Digital Experience At Tokyo 2020

(Mostly Russian) Doping News

Don’t Expect The Russian Track Federation To Be Reinstated Too Soon According To Seb Coe Coe explains that the analysis of the Moscow lab data still needs to be completed. “It has been a long process. … the biggest piece of that is the work the AIU is doing around the data. My techy colleagues tell me it is the equivalent of trying to wade your way through 51,000 CDs. It’s a massive amount of work.”
RUSADA Head Yuri Ganus Attacks Russia’s Athletic Federation And Calls For Directors To Resign Over The Current Ban He also claims that the “backlog [of investigations] is crazy” and that “there is proof of intervention from a higher body.”
Eleven Athletes (Ten Male, One Female) Were Identified By WADA IN The Operation Puerto Doping Scandal However, because of the 10-year statute of limitations having passed (thanks to the Spanish courts), the names can’t be made public.
Track And Field Athletes Are The Most Drug Tested Russians 766 track athletes were tested between January and August, while weightlifting is a distant second with 225 athletes tested.
WADA Claims 2018 Was A “Breakthrough Year” In The Russia Anti-Doping Crisis They say reinstating RUSADA even though they hadn’t met all the reinstatement criteria let them move forward with things like gaining access to the Moscow lab.
Alysia Montano Will Receive Bronze Medals She Was Cheated Out Of At 2011 And 2013 World Champs After the official disqualification of Russia’s Mariya Savinova, Montano was invited to accept her medals in a ceremony at worlds in Doha.
*Montano On Instagram: “These athletes who were doping stole precious moments and money from clean athletes including me, who never got the outdoor podium moment that I earned.”
*Brenda Martinez Will Also Receive An Upgraded Medal In Doha Martinez moves from 2013 Worlds bronze to silver.

Week That Was

LRC Weekly Recap: Geoffrey Kamworor Gets His World Record (And Emotional), Woody Kincaid, USA Vs. Kenya Vs. Ethiopia Kamworor ran fast, Jordan Hasay didn’t. Shannon Osika and Elise Cranny keep improving and, yes, Woody MF Kincaid.

Find A Better Pair Of Running Shoes

LRC Want A Running Shoe That Lasts? The 10 Most Durable Running Shoes As Rated By You The most durable running shoes as rated by you.

And So It Begins

Stockholm Loses Its Diamond League Status The IAAF is cutting down the series to 13 meets and Stockholm was one to get cut. Meet director Jan Kowalski put a positive spin on it, though, saying, “We now have the possibility to arrange exactly the competition we want, without being steered by directives from the Diamond League …”

Sprints And Jumps

Podcast Interview With Allyson Felix On Maternity Rights And Clean Sport Felix comments on the Christian Coleman case and how she’s only missed one test in her career (taking an exam at USC).
Noah Lyles Features In Coca-Cola’s Tokyo 2020 “6-Pack”
Recommended Read: DyeStat Profile On Pole Vaulter Daylis Caballero Vega, Who Talks About Her Journey From Cuban Defector To US Citizen Caballero Vega was part of the Cuban 2012 Olympic team, but defected at the 2013 Drake Relays. She competed for Team USA for the first time earlier this month at The Match.
Turkey’s Ramil Guliyev Tunes Up For Doha With 20.08 Victory In The 200m At The Gloria Cup In Turkey

Seb Coe Defends The IAAF’s Position On Semenya And Other XY Athletes

Seb Coe Defends The IAAF’s Stance On Caster Semenya, Saying They Have A “Responsibility To Protect” Female Athletes “It may be in 30 years, 40 years time society takes a different view and we have other classifications, I don’t know. But at this point my responsibility was to protect two classifications and that’s what we feel we’ve done.” *2nd Article
Seb Coe On Semenya: “I hope that she does come back onto the track and I do hope that the athletes with that condition to take the medical direction that allows them to do that.”

Some Big Names Won’t Be In Doha

MB: Genzebe Dibaba Will Miss Worlds Due To Plantar Fascia Issues A statement from her managing company said she had plantar fascitis and a partial rupture which occurred during the Zurich DL meet.
MB: Nick Willis Misses World Championships By One Spot Due To Four “Gift Athletes” Willis didn’t have the standard, but expected to get in based on his position on the descending order list. However, four “universality athletes” (wild card athletes who get in because their country doesn’t have an athlete qualified in any event) ended up getting in ahead of him in the 1,500.
Kenyan Trials Winner Jackline Wambui (1:58.79) Withdraws From Kenya’s World Team At The Last Minute Article also mentions that it is unclear what will happen with the men’s 5,000m squad as AK is waiting for a response from the AIU on two athletes who weren’t drug tested enough.
*Update: Jackline Wambui Out Of Worlds After Refusing To Take Testosterone Level Test The same goes for Linda Kageha, who was on Kenya’s mixed 4 x 400 team.
MB: Nick Willis isn’t only one being screwed over by the IAAF and slow runners – Mark English also won’t be going to Worlds

More Pre-Worlds News

Potential Big Payday Awaits Athletes In Doha Over $7.5 million in prize money will be available with the winner of each event getting $60,000 (plus an extra $100,000 for a world record).
Weakened South African Team Named For World Champs The team is lead by defending LJ world champ Luvo Manyonga, but will be missing some of their big stars like Wayde van Niekerk (injury), Caster Semenya (testosterone rules) and 100m NR holder Carina Horn (doping).
Richard Kilty Voted GB Team Captain For Doha
29 Russians Will Compete In Doha As Neutral Athletes Defending champ Mariya Lasitskene is the favorite in the HJ and there are other medal contenders including 2015 world 110H champ Sergei Shubenkov.
Allyson Felix Named Part Of US 4 X 400 Relay Pool Felix won’t compete in an individual race as she was only 6th in the 400m at USAs.

1 Rumor Turns Out To Be True

LRC Dathan Ritzenhein Withdraws From 2019 Chicago Marathon Chronic foot issues led to flare-ups in other areas, which caused the 36-year-old to withdraw ahead of the race on October 13. He still plans on racing the Olympic Trials in February.