What a week for track fans, worthy of an epic 3,000+ word WTW breakdown. In it, we tell the Aussies how to pick their team, guess what Sydney M can run for 400 and wonder if the next Ethiopian star has arrived.
Our Weekly Recap
WA Continental Tour Gold - 2022 Gyulai István Memorial Results
Fast wins from Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (10.67, +1.3) and Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (12.27, +2.4) turned heads as did Erriyon Knighton getting his first European win in a 19.88 meet record (+0.8).
US News
- MB: HS stars Leo and Lex Young commit to Stanford They made the announcement on youtube.
*Pre-Decision dicussion: Lex and Leo Young's commitment announcement coming on Sunday This thread has been closed to new posts.
On The Boards
Some Great CG Races
W 1500 - Muir Wins
W800 - Moraa Goes From 1st to Last To 1st
M1500 Video - Hoare gets redemption
Awesome 4 x 400 Finish (Watch last lap although the winner was DQd)
Eilish McColgan Wins 10,000 Gold
The 2022 Commonwealth Games
8 years ago, "she was the young poster girl of the Glasgow Games in 2014, only to be devastatingly tripped coming into the home straight when in contention and to fall away to 11th."
- MB: Abbey Caldwell makes the Aussie selectors look like fools - Bronze in 1500 at CGs!! Aussie selectors, please take a look at the picture above and notice who's on the medal stand - the woman you left off your Worlds team. Well done.
- MB: Wycliffe Kinyamal repeats as 800m CG Champion
- Matthew Hudson-Smith stunned by Zambian’s Muzala Samukonga in 400 final As a result, a grand total of 0 British men won golds on the track at a home CGs.
The 1st-Ever Silesia, Poland DL Was on Saturday
The World Champs came to play as SAFP capped the meet in style with a 10.66 100m win, plus Mondo, dos Santos and Michael Norman got wins. In the distances, Sifan Hassan returned to the winner's circle, Emmanuel Korir dug deep and won the men's 800 while the Americans struggled, and did Diriebe Welteji arrive as a star in the women's 1500 at the age of 20 as she took down Gudaf Tsegay? *WA Full meet recap
- MB: Official Diamond League Silesia Poland Thread
- MB: SAFP 10.66 in the Polish Diamond League
- SC VIP: Super Saturday Instant Reaction Show & Bonus Podcast. Hoare the CG champ, Do we have a new women's 1500 star? Rojo thinks he's may have found the heir apparent to Faith Kipyegon.
Beach To Beacon
Maine native Emily Durgin (2nd, 32:16) nearly made history as she led much of it and non American woman was has ever on Beach to beacon. Biya Simbassa (3rd, 29:01)was the top male American. Anthony Kioko bought his own bib, got picked up at 4:30 am and was the men's runnerup.
*Local tv: Maine native Emily Durgin almost made history as no American woman has ever won Beach to Beacon
Commonwealth Games
- The Guardian: Ollie Hoare Wins Epic Commonwealth Games 1500m Final For Australia Jake Wightman made a bid for victory, but was passed by Timothy Cheruiyot who then just lost out to a late charging Hoare. Hoare won in a Games record of 3:30.12, .09 ahead of Cheruiyot and .41 ahead of Wightman.
- Athletics Weekly: Mary Moraa Wins 800m Gold With Fartlek-Style Tatics 1:57:07 to beat Keely Hodgkinson's 1:57.40 while Laura Muir just edged Natoya Goule for bronze in 1:57.87.
- MB: Jacob Kiplimo Completes The 5k/10k Double Kiplimo ran his last mile in 4:00 to win a three-way sprint for gold in 13:08.08 to beat out Kenyans Nicholas Kimeli (13:08.19) and Jacob Krop (13:08.48).
- Elaine Thompson-Herah Completes CWG Sprint Double With 200m Gold She ran 22.02 to dominate over Favour Ofili (22.51). Trinidad and Tobago's Jereem Richards won the men's race in 19.80 over England's Zharnel Hughes (20.12).
- Jake Wightman "Relieved" To Win 1500m Bronze Wightman said, "I gave it a go to win it, but I didn't have it. I'm just relieved to get something for Scotland because one of us deserved to be on the podium and I'm lucky to be the one to be on it."
- BBC: England's Matt Hudson-Smith Denied Gold By Zambia's Muzala Samukonga In Dramatic 400m Finish Hudson-Smith had a decent lead, but tied up at the end losing 44.66 to 44.81.
- Australian Kurtis Marschall Beats English Duo To Pole Vault Gold With 5.70m
- Eilish McColgan To Carry Scotland Flag At Closing Ceremony
Commonwealth Games MB: Discussion
- MB: (Live thread) Mouth-watering CG 1500 final is set - Wightman, Kerr, Cheruiyot, Kipsang, Hoare - Who you got?
- MB: One of the great 1500's won by Aussie Ollie Hoare!
- MB: HOARE DOUBTERS GO HOME DEVESTATED
- MB: Mary Moraa wins WACKIEST 800 we've ever seen. Has anyone else ever gone from 1st to last to 1st in a championship 800 before?
- MB: Moraa beats Hodgkinson in 800m final
- MB: Laura Muir Wearing Prototype Spikes. How is that legal and fair??
- MB: One of the great 1500's won by Aussie Ollie Hoare!
- MB: Fake Josh Kerr goes home DEVASTATED!
- MB: JAKOB KIPLIMO COMPLETES THE DOUBLE Click to watch a thrilling last lap with a 3 way sprint for gold. Kiplimo closed in 4:00.
World Under-20 Championships
- Jamaica Women Storm To World U20 4x100 Record With 42.59 To Beat Out Team USA (43.28) (Friday Night Recap) Ethiopia's Melkeneh Azize won the 3000m in 7:44.06.
- Field Event Recap: Jamaica’s Jaydon Hibbert Wins U20 Triple Jump On His First Jump With A 17.27m Championship Record
- Italian Runner Comes Last In Decathlon 400m After His Penis Falls Out Of His Shorts
- World U20 Friday AM Recap
Previous Commonwealth Games Results
- Kenya's Jackline Chepkoech Wins Commonwealth Steeple In 9:15.68
- Decathlon Comes Down To The Final Event As Grenada's Lindon Victor Holds Off 2-3 Australian Charge Aussie Daniel Golubovic won the 1500m, but needed to beat Victor by ~23-seconds to steal the gold and only managed to beat him by about 21.
- Laura Muir Sets Sights On Elusive Commonwealth Games Medal After Reaching 1500m Final She had to qualify while also saving energy for Saturday's 800m final. Muir said, “I went to the front and slowed down a wee bit and I got away with it for a while but I knew they would come round at some point. I latched on and did as minimum as possible to save the legs for tomorrow.”
- England's Former NFLer Lawrence Okoye Takes Commonwealth Games Discus Silver Australia's Matthew Denny won the gold.
- Birmingham May Bid To Host The Olympics After The Commonwealth Game
Sir Walter Miler
Full results + post-race interviews with the winners.
Brosnan Q&A
Which Newbury Park stud does Brosnan compare to Galen Rupp, who does he think can win an NCAA 1500 title and who will be the best pro?
NCAA Coaching News
Commonwealth Games
- MB: Mouth-watering CG 1500 final is all set as Wightman, Kerr, Cheruiyot, Kipsang, Hoare all advance- Who you got? We can't wait for this one (8:10 am ET Saturday morning, 13:10 local time)
- Jake Wightman fulfils dream as dad announces him as world champion at Commonwealth Games - Mirror Online "That’s definitely the most that it's sunk in - because that’s what I was waiting for. To be announced as that and to be like, yeah, I have actually done that."
- Colin Jackson thinks Eilish McColgan's 10,000m CG will be a career 'turning point'
World U20 Champs
Despite the loss, Tebogo called it the best race of his life. “This is the best race that I have ever run in my life so far. I’m really grateful for the performance and it’s not everybody who can run these fast times, four days in a row.” Full Thursday night recap.
- Faith Cherotich (9:16.14) CRUSHED steeple field to win U20 gold Since they 18-year old has run 9:12 this year, we wonder if she could have medalled senior Worlds.
- Meet Natalia Linares - Colombia's best hope for U20 gold - who moved away from home to try to be the best in the LJ Her talent is so big, it jumped out at a PE teacher 8 years ago.
- Hana Moll defeats twin sister and US U20 record holder Amanda Moll to win gold in PV in Colombia Hana cleared 4.35 as Amanda, who has a 4.51 pb, only managed a 4.20 for 5th.
- U20 1500 champ Reynold Cheruiyot dedicated gold to his parents who never got to compete abroad: “This gold is for my old folks,” "My ultimate dream is to become an Olympic champion,” said Cheruiyot who isn't related to Timothy Cheruiyot but is from the same county. Reynold just turned 18 on July 30 and has already run 7:39/3:34 and 13:33.
Previous World U20 Champ News
Roisin Willis joined the sub 2:00 club, broke the U20 Championships record and became the third American to win the U20 800m title since 2012 as American high school record holder Juliette Whittaker got bronze.
- World JR MB Talk Discussion: Roisin MF Willis - 1:59.13 u20 World Champion
- Tina Clayton repeated in wmoen's 100 as Jamaican went 1-2 as Shawnti Jackson was 3rd
- UW frosh Nathan Green just got 5th at World U20s. Why didn't Hobbs Kessler run World Juniors? The race was won by Kenya's Reynold Cheruiyot in 3:35.83.
- JJ Clark and Stanford Have Willis and Whittaker Next Year
Previous Commonwealth Games
Guardian says it was the loudest roar since the 2012 Olympics.
- Discussion: Eilish McColgan drops hammer in CG 10,000
- Ferdinand Omanyala (10.02) and Elaine Thompson-Herah (10.95) win 100s
- Katarina Johnson-Thompson wins 2nd CG title with 6377 It's her first heptathlon gold in 3 years.
- After WC bronze, Matthew Hudson-Smith embraces having a ‘target’ on his back in chase for triple medal haul
- BE INSPIRED: Meet Lina Nielsen - The 8th fastest British hurdler of all-time (54.73) reveals she's been battling multiple sclerosis for over a decade
US Distance News of Note
Talk about the signings on our messageboard.
*MB: Hacker (and more) to NAZ Elite
9 pm ET Friday Night: Yared Nuguse, Lots of Female NC State Alums Headline Sir Walter Miler Plus they are bringing in Larry Rawson and Colleen Quigley to do the live stream, which requires a Runnerspace+ sub.
The Real Winners from Worlds
An Ethiopian-American woman dominated the Coros prediction contest, while a sports professor and two teachers took home the remaining prizes.
Brosnan until Monday was the coach of the greatest boys high school XC team ever. Now he's heading to UCLA. We spoke to him about the switch on our weekly LetsRun.com Track Talk Podcast. Before Brosnan, we spanned the globe talking American Track Leaguek, Commonwealth Games, World U20s and Rojo getting covid. Listen here on your favorite podcast app.
Non-Worlds/Non CG News
The adidas Atlanta Track Club has nabbed the former Illinois star.
- Mo Farah's case got a lot press but their are a lot of modern-day slaves in the UK "In 2021, 10,627 potential victims of modern slavery were referred to the National Referral Mechanism, a 52% increase in referrals as compared to 2018."
- After winning historic silver medal at Worlds, South Korea HJer Woo Sang-hyeok says the pressure is off and he just wants to have fun the rest of the season No Korean had ever won higher than bronze at Worlds and that bronze came in the race walk.
Times Are Tough - Considering Donating Now
"At the age of seven, John was diagnosed with hydrocephalus, a disorder that occurs when cerebrospinal fluid builds up in the deep cavities of the brain. To treat his condition, surgeons implanted a device called a “shunt” to divert the excess fluid away from John’s brain," but the shunt had to be removed and all hell has broken loose but he's still fighting. *Donate here
- After winning women's discus silver, England's Jade Lally says she is 'unsponsored, unfunded and out of options' and sets up GoFundMe so she can't keep competing this year "Despite having five jobs and a family, I have managed to get myself into two Diamond Leagues - the highest level of competition available to an athlete, competitions in America, Denmark, Switzerland, Australia and the UK." *Donate here
Previous World Under-20 Championships
Not only did he dominate, but he did it while looking back taunting his rivals for the last 20 meters. And did you know he's headed to run for Curtis Taylor & Jerry Schumacher at the University of Oregon?
Previous Commonwealth Games News
He ran 27:09.19 to beat out the three Kenyans who took 2nd through 4th. Daniel Ebenyo was second in 27:11.26.
More Commonwealth Games News
- Jake Wightman Says Seb Coe's Comments About Attempting The Hat-Trick (Worlds, CWG, Euros) Inspired Him To Run The Commonwealth Games 1500m "I was thinking: ‘Do I do the 800m [at the CWG]?’ But part of me realized pretty quickly I would hate not to be on the start line on the 1500m and challenge for the win. This is a pretty unique circumstance to come away from the worlds and Commies win in the same year."
- Lack Of Star Power Notable At Commonwealths Apparently Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is in Birmingham and was even spotted warming up, but isn't competing.
- Ferdinand Omanyala Says South Africa's Akani Simbine Is "Like A Brother" To Him He also says Yohan Blake was his "biggest hero" for a long time.
- Birmingham 2022 Chief Exec Ian Reid Says Stars Will Regret Skipping Commonwealth Games “We can’t make people come here but, if Shelly-Ann was here earlier and saw the atmosphere and the full stadium, she probably regrets it. To have 30,000 people in Alexander Stadium for every session of athletics, the atmosphere it’s created, I can’t think of anywhere for these athletes to be."
- Josh Kerr On His Post Worlds Reaction To Jake Wightman: "I wanted to make sure that Wightman felt that moment, held onto it and remembered it for the rest of his life. I owe him that from last year.”
- GB's Holly Bradshaw Pulls Out Of Commonwealth Games Pole Vault Due To Hamstring Injury She suffered a partial hamstring tear when she snapped her pole before Worlds and will likely miss the rest of the season.
- Guernsey's Alastair Chalmers Makes 400H Final Despite Having Covid A Week Ago Chalmers is a three-time British 400H champ.
Big Coaching News
Brosnan coached the best boys' XC team ever and his runners rewrote the high school record books.
- RRW: Sean Brosnan, Shalane Flanagan Headed for NCAA Coaching Jobs Still no word on what's happening with UO distance coach Ben Thomas.
- Curtis Taylor Will Continue To Coach The Sprinters, Hurdlers And Relay Teams Under Jerry Schumacher At Oregon Taylor was an associate head coach for nine seasons under Robert Johnson.
- MB: According to Sean Brosnan, Lex and Leo Young are in 13:20 5k shape.
- MB: Shalane Flanagan confirmed as Oregon assistant coach
Hmmmm.... The US Sprinters All Suddenly Got Way Better At Reacting to The Gun At Worlds?
Are you still no convinced there was something massively different with the reaction times at Worlds? This should be the nail in the coffin.
*MB: Official Devon Allen False Start / 2022 Worlds Reaction Time Discussion Thread
- Devon Allen Says He'll Race Teammates, Many Of Whom Think They're Faster Allen said, "We’ll probably get [a race in] here sometime during camp. I just don’t want to do it too early, mess around and get hurt, and then I won’t be able to practice. ...I gotta make sure I take care of myself..."
- NBCSports Philly: After just 3 days of practice, Devon Allen has learned the NFL is a whole other ball game “The (NFL) game is so different. I’m starting to realize that now after practice three.... Hopefully I can figure it out."
- Philadelphiaeagles.com: "The transition, I would say, is going well."
World U20 Champs Day 1
- Ethiopia's Addisu Yihune (14:03.05) Wins Tight Battle In Men's 5000m On Day 1 Of World U20 Champs He ran 14:03.05 to win over Eritreans Merhawi Mebrahtu (14:03.33) and Habtom Samuel (14:03.67). Kenya's Betty Chelangat won the women's 3000m in 9:01.03.
*MB: Nelson Mandela 8th in World Juniors 5000 - Botswana's Letsile Tebogo Highlights First Morning Of World U20 Champs With 100m Championship Record Of 10.00 US's Juliette Whittaker and Roisin Willis both made it through the first round of the 800m.
- US Team Breaks Meet Record In Mixed 4x400 Prelims On First Day Of World U20 Champs It's only the second time the event has been held at World U20 Champs.
- MileSplit World Under-20 Champs Day 1 Recap How did the Americans do?
- Team USATF Set For World Under-20 Champs In Cali, Colombia Starting Monday It will be the first time since 2018 that the US is sending a team to World U20 Champs.
- Previews: Distance *Sprints *Jumps *Throws *Hurdles/Steeple *Relays *Multi-Events
- Nation: Team Kenya Lands In Cali, Ready To Conquer The World Again
- World Athletics: Stars Of The Future Ready To Shine In Cali At The World U20 Championships
- World Athletics Under-20 Champs Stats Handbook
Commonwealth Games
We give you the highlights and streaming info for the 2022 Commonwealth Games. The track action starts Tuesday.
- GB's Katarina Johnson-Thompson Leads CWG Heptathlon After Day One; Keely Hodgkinson Wins Her 800m Heat In 2:00.18 Laura Muir is doing the 800/1500 double and made it through her 800m heat, but GB's Jemma Reekie failed to advance. Elaine Thompson-Herah had the joint-fastest time in the 100m heats with 10.99 (SAFP and Shericka Jackson aren't competing).
- Kenya's World 800m Bronze Medalist Mary Moraa Through To Commonwealth Games Final After Winning Her Heat In 1:59.22
- Kenya's Ferdinand Omanyala Wins His 100m Heat In 10.07 To Sail Through To The Semis At The Commonwealth Games
European News
- Norway Announces European Champs Team - Jakob Ingebrigtsen And Karsten Warholm Will Defend Their Titles
- Adam Gemili Splits From Coach Rana Reider Gemili lost his UK funding because he initially refused to leave Reider's group and he suggested that “relentless bad press” contributed to his poor race at Worlds where he failed to make it out of the 200m heats.
- GB Names Largest Team Ever For European Championships 115 athletes will compete which breaks the previous record of 97 from 2018.
Worlds Post Mortem
From Max Siegel scheduling a press conference in the middle of the meet while it was going on to Galen Rupp only finishing 19th in the marathon, Rojo reveals what stunned him at Worlds.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen listens to the Letsrun podcast. Why don't you?
Ross Tucker Speaks
We paid one of the top sports scientists in the world to analyze the Shelby Houlihan doping case and CAS ruling. He has 2 pieces for us, the piece above is an opinion piece where he answers our questions. In a 2nd more technical piece, Ross goes through the CAS decision step by step and outlines in clear terms exactly what Houlihan argued and why he thinks CAS ultimately (correctly) ruled against her.
Are The Marathon Trials In Trouble?
As USATF searches for a bidder for the 2024 Trials, those in charge of recent Olympic Marathon Trials in Houston and Atlanta believe the Trials' financial model is unsustainable. Will anything change?
The new and improved LetsRun.com forum is here. Read about the new features. Or just check them out yourself.
Coogan's New Balance Boston team had 3 Olympians in 2021 and 2022 could be the biggest year yet for the program with 2 new additions and the TRACK at New Balance coming on March 1st.
Danny Mackey has taken the Brooks Beasts from an unproven club to the Olympic podium in its first decade.
Dathan Ritzenhein is the first of the top pro coaches to sit down and talk about his club heading into the 2022 campaign.
American Marathon Record
Keira D'Amato, the new American record holder in the marathon, was joined by Deena Kastor, who held the record for 15 years.
This morning Keira D'Amato, the 37-year old mother of two who spent 7 years away from the sport, became an American distance running legend.
After walking and stuffing her face with gummy bears of the final miles, D'Amato had to sprint to outkick the 3:50 pace group in her debut at the 2013 Missoula Marathon.
2021 Awards / Rankings
Best of Jon Gault
Take Your Love of LetsRun to the Next Level
LetsRun Classics
