Surprising US Performers - World Record & World Medal
- Recommended Read: Ashton Eaton On Breaking The World Record Eaton says breaking the world record so unexpectedly could put too much pressure on his career. His coach Dan Steele says "no ego" is a key to Eaton's success.
- Brief Chat With US World Indoor Medalist Alysia Johnson Nobody expected Alysia Johnson to lead the world final, break 2:00 for the first time, and score a bronze medal for the US in Doha.
LRC Profile
LRC Moses Kipsiro And The Legacy Of John Akii-Bua Kipsiro is Uganda's top runner and was the runner-up at last year's World XC Champs. Thanks to PJ Browne, we go behind the scenes to try to put a story and a face to Kipsiro so he is not just another nameless "African runner."
UK Athletics And Dan Pfaff Lay Down Exact Replica Of 2012 Olympic Track For Technical Event Athletes To Train On Coaching genius Dan Pfaff was hired away from the US by Charles van Commenee.
Good News: Austrian Track Official Wants To Reopen Doping Investigation Into 2000 Sydney 800m Olympic Medalist Stephanie Graf The Secretary General of Austrian Athletics wants WADA to dig deeper and see if Graf, who admitted to having blood withdrawn in a lab, was getting it re-injected during her career. These investigations should be fascinating.
Upcoming Races
World Women Tune Up For London - Update
Will Chicago '09 champion and former track star Liliya Shobukhova again triumph over distinguished marathoners Irina Mikitenko and Deena Kastor? Will a new African star finally emerge?
*Elite Entrants For Virgin London Marathon
Haile G To Run In First Madrid 10k In April
Britain's TV Giants Bid To Show Bolt Diamond League Races Bolt does for track what Tiger Woods does (and will continue to do?) for golf television ratings.
*Tiger's Masters Return Will Shatter Ratings Records Business Week
Thursday Track News
- Liu Xiang Hoping For A Medal In 2012 But Says "It would be great just to get to the final."
- LJ van Zyl's 49.45 Hurdle Run Highlights South African Wednesday Meet
- Wednesday's Top Meet : Elementary School Meet Streamed Live On The Net
- Allyson Felix Blogs About Setting American 4 x 400 Record At World Indoors
- Prague Half Marathon Preview
Ridiculous: Australian Hurdler Not Allowed To Qualify For Commonwealth Games Because She Didn't Check In On Time
Maybe Communism Isn't So Bad After All
Chinese Official Wants To Jail Coaches That Dope Athletes
Help Elect Angela Bizzarri As Sullivan Award Winner - Vote Here Sanya Richards and amputee ultramarathoner Amy Palmiero-Winters are also up for the award for the top "amateur" athlete in America. Considering Richards makes hundreds of thousands a year, she shouldn't get it.
LRC The Week That Was We take a brief break from celebrating Cornell's ride to the Sweet 16 to give you an abbreviated "Spring Break Version" of our weekly recap. Along the way, we talk about Zersenay Tadese's world record, Mo Trafeh's sudden surge, Deena Kastor's fade, and wonder whether Jeff Risely owns Nick Willis. We cover all of last week except we purposely ignore the LA Marathon.
Interesting/Random News Relating To Female Stars
- Maria Mutola Is Enjoying Retirement As Dominant Striker In Top Women's South African Soccer League Mutola: "We've played five or six games, and I've scored eight or nine goals. I scored four in the one game."
- Kim Smith Dominates Half Marathon In Massachusetts As She Gets Ready For Virgin London We wonder why she didn't run the NYC half.
- Good For Her: Kelly Holmes Rips Big Names That Are Planning On Skipping Commonwealths
- 2007 WChamps Bronze Medallist At 800, Mayte Martinez, Is Looking Forward To This Summer's Europeans In Barcelona She says she's in the best shape since 2007.
Vin Lananna On Oregon AD Position Lananna says he hasn't talked to anyone about it. Lananna's quote: "... I think the athletic department is a wonderful and special place. We'll see how it plays out."
Recommended Read: Irish Times Article On Colm O'Connell And Kenyan Success It's simply amazing to read about what Irish-born Brother Colm O'Connell has done with Kenyan runners.
Marathon Winner Disqualified Over Technicality - What Do You Think? He signed up for the half marathon but made a wrong turn and ended up on the marathon course.
LRC Can't Miss: Training Talk #6 With Craig Virgin Two-time World Cross-Country champion and two-time American record holder Craig Virgin joined us for Training Talk #6 and talked about a wide range of subjects, including his high school and college training, his time with Nike and Athletics West, racing 3 times in 4 days during a "front-loaded" career, and Jimmy Carter and the 1980 US Olympic Boycott that cost Virgin his best shot at an Olympic medal. Virgin is a true ambassador of US distance running and one of the greatest-ever US distance runners - whether you're looking for training advice, inspiration or entertainment, his stories and opinions are a must-hear.
The Greatest Race On The Planet - World XC - Is This Weekend *Meet Website *Men's Preview *Women's Preview *Entry Lists
- Downpour And Sudden Warm Weather Make Mudfest Possible In Poland This is why it's the greatest race on the planet.
- Polish-Born Magdalena Lewy Boulet And Worlds Veteran Ryan Vail Named US Senior Captains NCAA team XC champion Ryan Vail just ran out of college eligibility but this is his 3rd World XC Team.
- BBC Can't Get TV Rights For World XC They're trying to promote the sport in the UK leading up to 2012 Olympics but this is a step in the wrong direction.
- Kenya After The One Title It Can't Win Any More: Senior Men's Indvidual Title When the Kenyans talk about lack of success in XC, they generally mean one thing: not winning the senior men's individual title.
- Flashback: Rojo At Worlds XCs In Amman: He talks about wishing he were Canadian, getting pulled over by the cops, driving backwards on a highway, picking up a hitchhiker and trying to talk US star Bobby Curtis out of taking a cab to Iraq. More 2009 World XC Coverage here.
Previous World XC News:
- IAAF Men's Preview: Wide Open Affair Last year's champ Gebre Gebremariam is back, but he'll face a slew of challengers, including Kenya's new phenom Paul Tanui (click here to see Tanui dominate the Kenyan nationals by 30 seconds), Uganda's great hope and last year's silver medallist Moses Kipsirio and others (Leonard Komen and Joseph Ebuya). Plus a Spanish dude even thinks he can win.
- IAAF Women's Preview: Can 3-Time Champ Tirunesh Dibaba Hold Off Kenya's Rising Star Linet Masai Masai came up just short last year but will be hard to beat this year. In the junior race, Dibaba's little sis will go for her third title.
- Former Illegal Immigrant Alemayehu Bezabeh Wants To Bring World XC Gold To Spain
- Lengthy Kenyan Team Profile - Team Dreams Of Senior Men's Individual Gold Wants To Defeat Dibaba Sisters In Women's Races
- Confident Kenyan Team Departs For Poland
Unrelated But Important/Interesting News
- Nick Willis Hurt Again And Pulls Out Of New Zealand Champs
- A Year After Running 2:04:27, James Kwambai Returning To Rotterdam Hoping To Win This Time
- Recommended Read: Geb's Impact Extends Beyond Running Unfortunately, he may not be having much of a running impact any more, as his performances have been subpar of late.
Random News From Australia
*Australia Picks Team For July's World Juniors
*With World Title In Hand, Steve Hooker Eyeing Famous 120-Meter Race In Australia As Next Goal
A Brief Chat With Mo Trafeh - The American Runner Everyone Is Wondering About Trafeh, the US's newest sub-61 minute half marathoner, talks about turning down coaching from Hicham El Guerrouj's coach, why he trains alone, and what he plans to do after his recent road breakthroughs.
Bitter Welsh Marathoning Prospect Quits The Sport Teenager cites criticism of his 180 mile/week training as a reason he is switching to soccer.
British Bosses - A Funny Bunch
- Dame Kelly Holmes Rails Against Athletes Skipping Commonwealths In October In Delhi
- UK Athletics Expects 99 Medals From Paralympians It's like the runner who stops at 99 miles in a week.
- Seb Coe Named 3rd Most Powerful Man In Sport By London's Times
Caster Semenya - Her Future Still Undecided Interesting quote from her father.
Nigerian-Born Portuguese Francis Obikwelu Returning To Sport
The Rage - Barefoot Running Discussion
The Science Of Sport - Q&A On Barefoot Running Part 1 *Part 2 *Part 3 *Part 4 Almost every day, we answer questions from friends and acquaintances about the barefoot running push. Our friends at Science of Sport are hosting a lengthy discussion of the topic.