What a week. Athing Mu returned to action as did Christain Coleman. And the ex-HOKA athletes that finally got super shoes on their feet ran huge pbs in Houston as well. Would Stephanie Bruce and/or Kellyn Taylor be Olympians if they had the shoes?
The Home of Running
Week That Was
LC Pro Coaches Tour #1
Dathan Ritzenhein is the first of the top pro coaches to sit down and talk about his club heading into the 2022 campaign. We have him look back at 2021 and ahead to 2022 and he's got some coaching wisdom as well.
LRC Live Video Show
We've got a cool American record marathoning special. Keira D'Amato, the new American record holder in the marathon, will be joined by Deena Kastor, who held the record for 15 years.
On The Boards
Sprint Stuff
- Pretty Cool: 2009 100H World Champ Brigitte Foster-Hylton Is Now An Elite Tennis Player She has won a WATA Amateur Championship and an All Jamaica Open title in Jamaica, but now wants to compete internationally. She says the tennis community was "not very encouraging" when she first started (after she retired from track) and some people said to her face she should stick to track.
- Olympic 200m Silver Medalist Christine Mboma Runs And Wins Her First 100m (11.25)
- AW Weekly Extensive Round-Up: Steven Gardiner Sets Bahamian 300m Record With 32.06 At The UAB Blazer Invy Behind him, Matt Hudson-Smith broke the UK 300m record with 32.80.
Assorted Distance News
- Good Read: World Athletics: "What IT Takes To Become A Kenyan Distance Champion" The author visits Eliud Kipchoge's training camp and analyzes the factors that lead to Kenyan distance dominance. Marc Roig, a 2:18 Spanish marathoner who moved to Kenya and works as a coach/physio for the NN Running teamsaid this of life in Kenya: “When I take my kids to school, I feel ashamed saying I am a runner as many of the dads there have 2:05 marathon PBs. There is even a mother at the school who has a PB similar to mine!"
- Athletics Illustrated Q&A With Rory Linkletter Who Broke The Canadian Half-Marathon Record At Houston With 61:08
- MB: Ben Flanagan Signs With On; No Official Word On A Training Group *Instagram post
- Kyoto Wins 2nd-Straight National Women's Ekiden
- One For Our British Visitors: What Are The Fastest And Slowest Parkruns In The UK?
Admin Type News
- Michael Johnson Expresses Disbelief At Scotland's "Disproportionate And Illogical" COVID Restrictions On Sports Current restrictions classify certain running events as "contact sport" so they can't race anything over 200m indoors currently.
- New Study Highlights Economic Benefit Of Sports Bodies Being Based In Switzerland The study says that having sports organizations like the IOC based in Switzerland generated an economic impact of $1.8 billion a year between 2014 and 2019.
- WADA Unveils New Brand And Website As Part Of Strategic Plan
- World Athletics Scoring Tables Updated For 2022
- WADA Takes 11 NADOs Off Compliance Watchlist Including Iran, Netherlands And Spain
- Melbourne Emerges As "Likely" Host For The 2026 Commonwealth Games
Jumps / Throws
- GB's Olympic Pole Vault Bronze Medalist Holly Bradshaw Skipping The Indoor Season Due To "Health, Body And Mental Challenges" She says she's recently suffered from "glandular fever" and some minor injuries so is taking time off to recover.
- European U18 And U20 Heptathlon Champ Maria Vicente Sets 6.70m Long Jump PB The mark was a world lead and moved her to #3 on the Spanish all-time list.\
- RIP: Olympic Discus Silver Medalist Rink Babka, 85 Babka was the former world record holder and part of the US discus medal sweep at the 1960 Rome Olympics.
Upcoming: There Will Be Some Indoor WR Attempts In February
- World Champ Hellen Obiri Leads Field For Northern Ireland XC Race On Saturday
- Laura Muir To Attack World Indoor 1000m Record In Birmingham On February 19 Muir has the European record at 2:31.93 while the WR is held by Maria Mutola at 2:30.94 from 1999.
- Selemon Barega Targeting The World Indoor 3000m Record In Lievin On February 17 Barega is currently #3 on the all-time list with the 7:26.10 he ran here last year. Daniel Komen has the WR at 7:24.90. Barega has also been announced for the Copernicus Cup on February 22 where he'll face #2 all-time Getnet Wale (7:24.98) and Lamecha Girma (7:27.98).
- World Indoor Champ Andrew Pozzi Up Against World Medalist Pascal Martinot-Lagarde In The 60H At The Karlsruhe Indoor Meet On January 28
- Athletics Weekly Preview Of Saturday's Manchester World Indoor Tour Meet Former European 5000m champ Meraf Bahta is in the 3000m. Ireland's Mark English is in the 800m.
- A Look Ahead At The World Athletics Continental Tour Which Starts This Weekend
The Winter Olympics Start In About 2-Weeks
- Athletes Warned About Bringing Personal Phones/Laptops To Beijing 2022 This is due to cyber surveillance concerns in China.
- Due To COVID Concerns, Beijing Olympic Organizers Will Offer Tickets Only To "Selected" Spectators Tickets won't be sold to the general public.
- Olympic Athletes Urged By Human Rights Activists Not To Criticize China They fear they could be persecuted under Chinese law.
- Bipartisan Legislation In The Works That Could Strip The IOC Of Its Federal Tax-Exempt Status Due To Their Refusal To Challenge China On Its Human Rights Abuses However since the IOC is based in Switzerland, it's likely they could find loopholes to continue to avoid paying US taxes.
- First Omicron COVID Case Reported In Beijing
- Beijing To Require COVID Tests Within 72 Hours Of Arrival For All Travelers Until At Least March
- Denmark Joins Diplomatic Boycott Of Beijing 2022 Sweden isn't sending government officials either, but say it's due to COVID, not to make a political statement.
- Czech President Milos Zeman Denounces Beijing 2022 Diplomatic Boycott "We experienced it a long time ago in both Moscow [1980] and Los Angeles [1984]. Now there is a subtler form of this abuse, when the boycott is announced only for politicians and not for athletes. Honestly, if some political buffaloes aren't at the Olympics, nothing terrible will happen."
- UN Secretary General Urged By Human Rights Groups To Decline Invite To Attend Beijing 2022
- IOC Claims Almost All Athletes At Beijing Olympic Village Will Have COVID Vaccine Not surprising considering the alternative was to enter a three-week quarantine before the Games.
Medical Experts Speak Out On Transgender Athletes In Women's Sports
- Group Of Top Medical Experts Warn IOC That Trans Athlete Guidelines Are Unfair On Female Athletes And Undermine Integrity Of Sport They argue that the new guidelines on gender identity and sex variations are not "scientific or medically based" and that the IOC wrongly overlooked medical and scientific expertise and focused on input from the human-rights lobby. One of the experts said, "If you create a definition of gender that is based on social rather than biological differences then you effectively destroy the female category."
- Medical Experts' Transgender Claims Backed By Head Of World Athletics' Medical Department
Road News
- Stephanie Bruce Wins Rock 'N' Roll Arizona Half-Marathon In 70:33
- NAZ Elite's Matthew Baxter Runs New Zealand Road 5k Record With 13:55 Win At The Rock 'N' Roll Arizona 5k
- Athletics Weekly: Charlotte Purdue Faces Marathon Test On Roads Of Boston Purdue ran a 2:34:26 PB on London last year.
- Feb. 6 Marugame Half Marathon Canceled In Japan Due To COVID
- RW Shares Some Time Stats From Houston
- JRN Analysis Of Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon Elite Field (February 6)
NCAA News
- Group Submits Proposal To NCAA To Equalize Men's And Women's Distances They say having women run shorter distances is "gender bias" and want both to run 8k. (Right now women run 6k and men 10k at DI championship races.)
- USTFCCCA NCAA Weekend Recap Florida had a few standout performances including Jacory Patterson lowering his own collegiate 300m record from 32.28 to 31.99, Grace Stark ran 7.86 in the 60H to tie for 3rd on the all-time collegiate list and Talitha Diggs ran 36.37 to move to #4 on the college 300m list.
- Event-By-Event Top-10 NCAA Marks From Last Week
Chevron Houston Marathon Madness
Yes, the 37-year-old who took a decade away from the sport is the one who got the record that Shalane Flanagan, Jordan Hasay, Des Linden, and Sara Hall all could not get. James Ngandu won the men's race in 2:11:03 as Frank Lara was the top American in 6th place (2:11:32 debut).
- MB: Keira D'amato 2:19:12 American Record!!!!!
- MB: Tell me how I'm wrong: Keira D'Amato's record is the coolest story in the sport this century
- MB: Your move, Molly Seidel
- MB: 61 year old Timothy Degrado, Arvada (Colorado), runs 2:47:59 in Houston
- World Athletics Recap: Keira D'Amato And Vicoty Chepngeno Impress As Records Fall In Houston
Houston Half
Vicoty Chepngeno dominated in 65:03, with Fiona O'Keeffe (4th) 67:42 and Emily Durgin (6th) 67:54. Milkesa Tolosa won the men's race in 60:24 as Kirubel Erassa was the top American in 4th (60:44).
US / NCAA Indoor Action Heats Up Quickly
- World Athletics: 100H WR Holder Keni Harrison Gets Her 2022 Campaign Off To A Strong Start With 7.81 Clemnson Invy 60H Win At the Ted Nelson Invy in Texas, World 5000m bronze medallist Konstanze Klosterhalfen opened her season with a 800/3000 double win. She ran 2:07.47 in the 800m and then came back 40 minutes later and won the 3000m in 8:39.36 over Jess Hull who broke the Australian indoor record with 8:39.79.
- MB: Athing Mu opens season with a 4:37 mile!
- MB: UW's Kieran Lumb runs NCAA leading 3:55.53 at UW as 2 Princeton Tigers run 3:57
- MB: Texas Tech's Terrence Jones (Bahamas) equals NCAA record in men's 60 with 6.45! Teammate Usoro Ruth is 1st to break 48 ft in TJ!
- Ben Blankenship Rips Meet Record 7:45.92 In Washington Indoor Preview 3000m He won in a close race with Sam Prakel who ran 7:46.06 for 2nd. GB Olympian Amy-Eloise Markovc won the women's mile in 4:30.78 while Derek Holdsworth won the 800m in 1:48.85 and Oiselle's Rebecca Mehra won the women's 3000m in 9:0.64.
- MB: Texas A&M's Brandon Miller runs 1:47.48 for 800.
- MB: Tinman sub elite to ELiTE! Joey Berriatua runs a 7:47 3k!!!
- KC Lightfoot (5.91m) And Katie Nageotte (4.60m) Produce World-Leading Clearances At UCS Spirit National Pole Vault Summit Lightfoot, the collegiate indoor record holder, beat out Olympic silver medalist Chris Nilsen who cleared 5.81m.
- MB: Matthew Boling opens season with 8.25m (27.75 ft) Georgia school record LJ
High School Indoor Action
- Rheinhardt Harrison Runs #2 All-Time 1000m With 2:22.77 At The VA Showcase Only Robby Andrews' 2:22.28 is faster.
- Will Sumner Breaks 10-Year-Old High School 500m National Record With 1:01.25
- VA Showcase Day 2 Recap: Olympic Trials Qualifier Roisin Willis Runs #4 All-Time HS 500m With 1:10.90 Justin Braun won a competitive 60m in 6.75 to tie his own #2 on the all-time list (2nd and 3rd place were both 6.77).
- Eastbay XC Champs 6th Placer Tyrone Gorze Breaks Galen Rupp's Oregon State Indoor 3000m Record With 8:11.38 At The Washington Indoor Preview Rupp ran 8:12.30 in 2003.
- Hana Moll Clears 4.47m (14-2) And Her Twin Sister Amanda Moll Clears 4.32m (14-2) At The UCS Spirit PV Summit They became the first high school girls to both clear at least 14-2 in the same meet. Maddox Hamm won the boys competition with 5.23m.
- MileSplit VA Showcase Day 1 Recap: Roisin Willis Wins 1000m In 2:43.34
- Shawnti Jackson Runs #2 All-Time 300m At The VA Showcase With 36.95 She now sits only behind Sydney McLaughlin's 36.82 from 2017.
MB: Rheinhardt Harrison 8:47.43/2 Mile Winner @ Virginia BeachIncorrect result. Harrison ran and won the 1000m. Gary Martin won the 2mile in 9:04.65.
Sunday Road Previews
- RRW: Frank Lara Goes Home For Marathon Debut In Houston “I mean when I watched the Houston Marathon when the Olympic Trials were here when I was in high school… it was kind of always a dream to run a marathon here."
- Stephanie Bruce Will Begin The Final Year Of Her Career At The Arizona Rock 'N' Roll Half-Marathon On Sunday After being recently diagnosed with a heart condition, 38-year-old Bruce has decided to make this the last year of her career with “a mixture of bucket list and favorite list” races.
Other News Of Note
- Kory Tarpenning, A Former Olympic Pole Vaulter From Portland, Gets 3-Month Federal Prison Sentence For Fraud Tarpenning plead guilty for failing to report about $1.9 million in income and wages over five years while living in Monaco.
- MB: Isaiah Harris to Brooks Beasts
- WADA Tells Athletes To Be Extremely Cautious When Eating Chinese Meat At Beijing 2022 They are warning athletes about the potential to have contaminated meet as meat in China is known to have low levels of the steroid clenbuterol.
Upcoming Indoor Action
- Noah Lyles, Ronnie Baker And Erriyon Knighton To Clash Over 60m At New Balance Indoor GP On Staten Island February 6 Also announced for the meet is Elle Purrier vs Emma Coburn, Gabriela Debues-Stafford and Amy-Eloise Markovc in the 3000m.
- #2 All-Time Indoor 800m Runner Elliot Giles Will Face Swedish Record Holder Andreas Kramer In Karlsruhe On January 28
- World Indoor Record Holder Grant Holloway Vs World Indoor Champ Andrew Pozzi In The 60H At The Muller Indoor GP On February 19
- USTFCCCA: Will The 2022 Indoor Season Alter Collegiate History Even More? There's been one indoor collegiate record so far this season (Abby Steiner over 300m); how many more might fall?
Re-Ranking Seidel
Upon Further Review, Molly Seidel should be the 10th ranked marathoner in the world
We originally had Seidlel outside our world top 10 but upon analyzing it during Wednesday's podcast, we bump her up to #10.
Friday 15
Links We Found Interesting
- Craig Engels contemplated quitting the sport, but he's now reinvigorated and just signed a reported 9-year deal with Nike And he's got a plan for life after running as the theatre major just completed his MBA.
*MB: After Trials devastation, Craig Engels thought about quitting....... Reinvigorated, he just signed a long-term contract with ... - Over 100,000 tickets already sold for World Athletics Championships Oregon22 in Eugene We're not sure why that is viewed as a big number for a Worlds. In comparison, 705,000 tickets were sold overall for the 2017 World Championships in London.
- American-born and raised World U20 200m champion Udodi Onwuzurike of Nigeria will make his collegiate debut this weekend for Stanford His sensational breakout 2021 campaign means his 100 and 200 HS pbs are better than the Stanford school records.
*Milesplit: Behind Udodi Onwuzurike's Road To Success At World U20s
Major Doping Story
The FBI appears to have gained access to Blessing Okagbare's WhatsApp messages and we have now have an inside look at doping in the elite sprint world as a result of the Rodchenkov Act, which makes it a crime to affect the outcome of major international sporting events via the use of performance-enhancing drugs. There are some starting revelations, leaving us to what to know who is 'Athlete 2' who was struggling with a hamstring injury this summer?
Podcast
She joined the LRC crew for a special LetsRun.com Track Talk podcast in conjunction with the release of the men's Boston field and gave a behind the scenes look at how pro fields are assembled.
Boston Men's Field
Bekele vs Kamworor vs Lawrence Cherono and the defending champ and NY champ. 4 of the top 10 in the world plus Jake Riley, Scott Fauble, Collin Bennie, Elkanah Kibet and more. Updated with analysis.
MB: It's on! Bekele vs Kamworor in Boston
2021 Awards / Rankings
With the full year in the books, it's time to finally turn the page on 2021 and hand out some awards. Sifan Hassan, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Courtney Freirichs, Erriyon Knighton, Shelby Houlihan, Sha'Carri Richardson, Francine Niyonsaba, Elly and Laurie Henes and others all get some hardware.
45.94 is no longer a pretty good 400 time. It's the 400h WR.
Did you know that Athing Mu accomplished something this year that David Rudisha never did? Do you know the one event in our rankings where the Olympic champ wasn't also our world #1?
No American men cracked the top 3 in any event.
Best of Jon Gault
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