Tyson Gay On Speed Work

“I haven't really touched it yet. I may have done a couple 60ms in practice, and some starts, that's considered speed-work, but I haven't really turned my body on. I've been doing 400m and longer distances."

- Tyson Gay in his post-race interview after what was undoubtedly the performance of the weekend. A season-opening, wind-legal 19.58 at Reebok that leaves him behind only Michael Johnson and Usain Bolt on the all-time performance list at 200m.

Hengelo Meet Sizzles *LRC Recap *LRC Thread *Hengelo Results There were some unexpected results in Hengelo including Kenenisa Bekele dropping out of the 1500, and some super performances including another impressive win by the man to the left (Abubaker Kaki) and a sub-4:00 run by Gelete Burka. Americans Reese Hoffa and Dwight Phillips had tight contests with international stars Thomasz Majewski and Irving Saladino plus all 3 steeplechase medal winners from Beijing squared off. Find out more in our recap including who became the first man under 13:00 in 2009 (you will be surprised). 
*IAAF Recap
*Churandy Martina Breaks 10,00 For The First Time This is the guy who Shawn Crawford gave his Olympic medal to after he (Martina) was dq'd for running out of his lane to the outside.
*Canada's Lopes-Schliep Third, Bekele Drops Out Their is a brief mention of Bekele appearing injured but we haven't heard anything more on that yet.
*Ohuruogu Gets 200m PR In Good Meet For Female British Runners
*Athletics Weekly Gives British Rundown From Hengelo Their mid-d women, led by 2008 NCAA champion Hannah England were great.
*Reports Trickling In: *Geb Fails To Get 1-Hour Record

Not a good weekend for Ethiopia's Mega-stars: Kenenisa Bekele drops out of a 1500m in Hengelo and world-record holder Tirunesh Dibaba looked flat as Kenya's Linet Masai beat her by 5 seconds in New York. Also Haile Gebrselassie fell short of re-setting his 1-hour world record. But hold on, Ethiopia has much to celebrate including Ali Abdosh, who became the first man to crack 13:00 for 5k this year, Gelete Burka who ran 3:58 for a big 1500m win also in Hengelo and, of course, perhaps the runner of the year so far, Deribe Merga, who won again on the roads in a 10k in India.

Rashid Ramzi's B-sample Results Are Coming Soon - FYI Rumors Are Swirling About Possible Negative

Reebok GP *Results *Quotes *Photos

Usain's Got A Rival: TYSON GAY 19.58!!!
*Post-Race Quotes From Event Winners
*Ethiopian Press: "Out of Shape Dibaba Loses In NYC"
It seemed that since the Olympics everyone in the sport (but us) had forgotten that the fastest man in history (all conditions) at 100 meters is a Mr. Tyson Gay. Gay's 19.58 200m shows that when he's healthy, he can challenge Bolt.
*In other action, the meet was unreal. Leo Manzano won the men's 1,500 in 3:34 as Alan Webb basically embarrassed himself with a 3:42 showing (although he did beat Lukezic, who ran 3:43) that has sparked pleas for him to change coaches or just give up. Webb wasn't the only star to do awful as Asafa Powell was terrible in the men's 100. The men's 5k was absolutely stellar, as three guys ran faster than anyone had previously had on American soil. Bernard Lagat ran 13:03 and lost to Micah Kogo. In the women's 5k, Linet Masai upset double Olympic champ Tirunesh Dibaba. Wurth-Thomas was spectacular in the women's 1,500 (4:03). So much more, including a great men's 400h race. Allyson Felix got a win in the women's 400 as Anna Willard ran 1:59.23 to win the 800 and KD got the win in the men's 800.
*Overall Meet Recap Here
South African Milers Move Up To 3rd And 5th In 1500 All-Time In Reebok

Merga Wins Again! This Time In A 10k In India Ethiopian road warrior Deribe Merga won another long road race on Sunday. Merga, who has won the Houston Marathon, set the world record for 15km at the RAK Half, won Boston, won the Ottawa 10k in 27:24 and now has won another 10k, says he is done racing until the world championships marathon, which should be a stupendous race.
Albany's Freihofer's 5k Run For Women: Benita Johnson's Win Streak Ended By Erkesso *Results *Photos

Runner's Tribe Interviews Felix Sanchez This is one of the better interviews we've seen as the multi-time world champion and 2004 Olympic Champion has some great quotes.

Usain Bolt To Race Shawn Crawford In Toronto What a great pick-up for the Toronto meet. We can't imagine a sweeter way to open your track than to have Usain Bolt run his first open 100m of the year. *Len Johnson Writes About Asafa Powell Running Out Of Chances 46 times under 10.00 is good enough for us. He might not win the championships yet, but if he can get one it will cap a legendary career.

Recommended Read: Reuters Profile Of Zersenay Tadese - The Man Who Is Bigger In Eritrea Than David Beckham Is In Britian The guy has had a remarkable journey. He started as a cyclist and now is known as the former world XC champ but in his first international XC race, he didn't even know to start when the gun went off.

LRC Week That Was This week we give praise to Scott MacPherson, tell you why it may be okay to dislike the French after all, give you free coaching advice, and marvel at how a running book is actually on the New York Times Best Seller list. Speaking of NY, we also start to get ready for Reebok Grand Prix. Plus we announce the arrival of Deriba Merga as a true great, and mourn Pamela Jelimo's first-ever loss at 800.

After linking to several articles quoting Samuel Wanjiru saying he won't run the world championships but instead is focusing on Haile G's world record in Berlin on September 20, we at LetsRun.com have been alerted to a quote from Wanjiru's agent Federico Rosa who is quoted in various foreign language articles saying, "It is true that he will not run the marathon at the World Cup, but I can not confirm yet that it will be in the Berlin Marathon." Rosa goes on to say that Wanjiru is considering mainly Chicago (super fast) or New York as alternatives to facing Haile in Berlin. To the left is a picture of NYC Marathon and NYRR head Mary Wittenberg courting meeting with Wanjiru after his London win earlier this year.

Deena Kastor Worried About Foot Pain Again We hope the pain she's feeling after Bay to Breakers is just a minor thing. Looks like her plans to run the NYCmini are on hold. Earlier: Kastor and Ndereba to run in NYC

Interviews And Opinion

*Coach Dieter Hogan Interviewed  An experienced coach of many elite athletes, Hogan comments on what the differences are between African and European runners.
*Pat Butcher On Bolt Making History - And His Future Plans For The 400m 
*Joe Battaglia Rates The Performances At Reebok Quick summary in case you don't have time to click the link: Tyson Gay ran well, Alan Webb did not.
*Podcast With Dyestat Legend Steve Magness

*Rock 'N' Roll San Diego Recap Dan Browne struggles big-time and drops out somewhere after a 1:07 half. Also finding it a tough go was charity fund-raiser Tom Bedford, who was on pace through halfway (thanks to the much-publicized help of Ryan Hall and Josh Cox) yet fell off to run 2:47. *Results here. *Photos of Ryan Hall, Tom Bedford, Dan Browne and Josh Cox

NCAA Regionals: The NCAA regional meets were awesome this weekend yet again (and perhaps for the last time in a while as big-time coaches want to do away with the competition). Highlights include #42 in a row for the Baylor 4 x 4, Galen Rupp and Centro Jr. battling in the 1,500 (watch highlights of the 1,500 here), Miami's Murielle Ahoure breaking records in the sprints (and the same for Texas' Alexandria Anderson), 3 guys under 10.10 in the 100, Jenny Barringer running CR and WL 9:26, PSU's Fawn Dorr and Gayle Hunter anchoring the 4 x 400 like bats out of hell (52 splits for each) and LRC's Rojo getting 2 Cornellians to the NCAAs (Jim Wyner in the 1,500 and Adrien Dannemiller in the steeple).
The Link Of The Day - A Must Click:
All NCAA Regional Results - Event By Event On Same Page
Regional Meet Highlights: 2 Must Reads! *1. Oregon News Heading Into NCAAs: Wheating Wins From Front, Rupp (3:39 1,500) Looks Probable To Run 1500, 5k, 10k *Will Galen Rupp Triple? "Maybe." *Rupp's Post-Race Interview *Wheating's Win Video
*2. Baylor Bears Win 42nd Straight Collegiate 4 x 4, Running 3:02 With 44.5 Anchor To Win By 0.03
Day 1: Big Shocker - Winner Of Last Two NCAA Titles At 800, Jacob Hernandez, Is A No Show
*
Oregon, Behind Rupp's Victory In 5k, Has Good Day

*Defar Debuts In 10,000m In Just Over 31 Minutes She's pissed it was so slow.
*Mega Talent Mark Lewis-Francis Returns With 10.06!
*Police Officer Wins Scottish Marathon In 2:18 This is old school.

Weekend Action:

Friday Action: World Marathon Champ Luke Kibet Wins Sprint Finish At Kenya Prisons 10k Championship

This Weekend:

Upcoming:


National Running Day is Wednesday

Tell Us What You're Doing on National Running Day. If you're in the DFW area, join Wejo at 6:30pm at Fort Worth Running Company on Camp Bowie. If you're in Boston, you can run with Bill Rodgers.


NCAA Regionals

Amazing Page: All Regional Results On One Page