Phil Hersh Justifiably Celebrates: Guor Marial Will Be Allowed To Compete In Olympics He'll have to compete under the Olympic flag instead of S. Sudan since S. Sudan doesn't have an Olympic delegation. Big props to 2008 US Trials qualifier Brad Poore, who befriended Marial and took up his cause. Poore himself was a 2:08 800 guy in HS who made the 2008 Olympic Trials Marathon. *AP Article

Olympic News

Some Bad Updates From US Marathon Team

Monaco DL (See Right-Hand Column) *Full Results

General Olympic News *Hilarious "Preview"

Assorted US News

News In The USA

US Olympic News: First 2 Are Recommended Reads

Other US News

Scientist Who Has Studied 100,000 Runners Says Don't Listen To Quacks - Running Is Good For You "It's important to not rush to any conclusions that 10 to 20 miles a week is the optimal dose."

Lots Of Tuesday Action

Lucerne: Yohan Blake Is Pleased With His 9.85! "Definitely I am on the right path for the Olympics. This is where I am supposed to be. I want to remain unbeaten." *Blake Race Video
*Veronica Campbell-Brown Loses 200 To US's ChaRonda Williams
*MB:
US Olympian Kyle Alcorn Struggles In Steeple As The 7th Placer At Jamaican Trials, Jason Young Has The Biggest Surprise Of The Meet In The 200m - 19.86! *Results *IAAF

Lignano: MB:  Gabrielle Anderson Gets The "A"
Her 4:04.84 came a little later than she would have liked, but she now has it for next year. Emily Infeld & Sheila Reid miss at 4:07. Maggie Vessey (2:00.59), Anna Pierce (2:00.66).
*
MB: Don Cabral runs 3:40 for 1500 Olympic tune up David Torrence & Will Leer ran 3:37 in the same race. Tyler Mulder 1:44.75, Michael Rutt 1:45.35, Elijah Greer 1:45.47. More: MB: Lignano 1500 and 800

Ireland:
Ryan Gregson (3:57.98) 1st, Ciarán Ó Lionáird (3:58.84) 5th In Mile, US 5k Olympian Kim Conley Wins 3,000 In 9:01.74 Liam Boylan-Pett (3:58.38) was 2nd and Elliott Heath third (3:58.48), while Ó Lionáird was overtaken by Ireland's newest sub-four man, St Coca's Paul Robinson (3:58.70) before finishing fifth in 3:58.84.
*Ciarán Ó Lionáird Happy Afterwards

Italy: Oscar P Runs 46.56 In Italy But Says He'll Still PR (45.07) In London If he does PR, it shows he's got an unfair advantage as an able-bodied athlete wouldn't drop 1.5 seconds in 2 weeks.

US High School Record/Incredible World Jr. Results (More On Right Column)

LRC Mary Cain Smashes American High School 1,500m Record The 16-year-old sophomore ran 4:11.01 to smash Jordan Hasay's high school record by nearly 3 seconds to finish 6th at the World Junior Championships in Barcelona, Spain.
On The Boards: MARY CAIN 4:10

*Day 6: Conseslus Kipruto Runs 8:06 Steeple!!!! Faith Kipyegon Runs 4:04.96 1,500! Both times were meet records.
*Complete Day 6 Recap: Botswana's Nijel Amos Wins 800 By .77 Over Kenyan Olympian To Prove He's The Real Deal Olympic medal hopefuls, you'd better hope his "injured leg" is bad, as this guy is a medal threat in the Olympics if he shows up.

Half Of Competitors In Olympics And All Medallists Will Be Drug Tested At Olympics Let's hope they test 4th as well, as some medallists will get DQed.
*BALCO Scandal Head Victor Conte Says Anti-Doping System Is Flawed, High-Ranking Officials Have A Vested Interest In NOT Cleaning Up The Olympics

5,639-Word NY Times Front Page Sports Article On The Faith-Coached Ryan Hall Sara Hall: "The Bible is not going to tell you how to be a good runner ... I don't think Ryan is looking at the Bible for a formula, necessarily. There are certain things that God highlights for him that he applies to his training."

International Olympic Stuff: Vlasic Out, Kemboi Still In

Anti-Drug News

LRC 2012 Ethiopian Olympic Track & Field Team Named: Mr. Silver Sileshi Sihine Stays At Home - Tirunesh Dibaba Only "Reserve" In Women's 5,000
*Crazy: After Diamond League Win, Swedish Govt. Gives 1,500 Ace Abeba Aregawi Citizenship & Files Suit With IAAF Saying She Should Represent Them, Not Ethiopia, In Olympics The article, which is based off an Ethiopian report, says Aregawi's citizenship request had been going nowhere until her sudden fame and that she wants to represent Ethiopia. Given Ethiopia's press manipulation, this should be interesting to see how it develops.
*Update: Swedes Have Totally Different Story: Aregawi Really Wants To Compete For Sweden But Ethiopians Have Taken Her Cell Phone & Threatened Her (Translated from Swedish)

Amateur Hour II

Update: Nike Responds (Like We Thought They Would) "Gaining entry into the Nike box is an informal process and we plan to review our protocol for access for future events." *MB: Mark Block: Nike Responds

LRC Why Was A Man In The Midst Of A 10-Year Doping Ban Enjoying The 2012 US Olympic Track & Field Trials From The Nike Sky Box?
If you thought the days of looking the other way at doping were totally over, then you need to read this. Supposed former agent/coach Mark Block, who is in the midst of a 10-year doping ban, was seen by LetsRun.com njoying the Trials in the sky box of the #1 sponsor of both USATF and the Olympic Trials - Nike. All we can say is shameful. *MB: Discuss

2012 US Olympic Trials *Results *LRC Trials YouTube Channel *Photos: Day 1 (10ks), Day 2 (Eaton), Day 3 (100, 400), Day 4 (800), Day 7 (5,000s), Day 8 (W Steeple), Day 9 (200, 110H) *LRC Day-By-Day Coverage *Sunday Oregonian Photo Gallery

LRC Three Best Punch Their Tickets To London As Leo Gets US Title #1 Leo Manzano, the man who had been top three every year since 2006, finally got the win he deserved but even he didn't expect. Manzano chased down Centro to get his first national title as Wheating pulled away from Robby Andrews to get third. *Men's Race Video

LRC World #1 Uceny, World Champ Simpson And Medallist Rowbury Get It Done The Big 3 came through as US #1 Morgan Uceny got her second straight US title with Rowbury 2nd and Simpson third. LetsRun.com recap hopefully coming later. *Women's Race Video
*After Winning The State XC Title As A Freshman, Morgan Uceny Quit Her Junior Year To Focus On Basketball That's what you do when you live in Indiana in a small town of 10,033 that has a high school basketball gym that seats 4,600

The US Olympic Trials *Results *TV Schedule *LRC Trials YouTube Channel *Photos: Day 1 (10ks), Day 2 (Eaton), Day 3 (100, 400), Day 4 *Check Prediction Contest Scores *LRC Day-By-Day Coverage

LRC The Women's 5,000 Final - The Olympic Trials At Its Absolute Best This race is what the Olympic Trials are all about. The race had the American record holder in the race, it had seven women with the "A" standard in it, and it had a bunch without the "A" who dreamed of the "A" and were wiling to do the work to try to get it. At the finish, there was a surprise winner in Julie Culley and American record holder Molly Huddle finished 2nd to make her first Olympic team. But for eternity, this race will be remembered for one thing - the most thrilling of victories and the most agonizing of defeats - and by victory and defeat we mean the victory of finishing third and defeat of finishing fourth.

USATF Saturday

LRC Ashton Eaton Sets WR & Mesmerizes On And Off The Track The former Oregon star was sensational and got the world record after a big PR in the 1,500 that sent the Hayward faithful into a frenzy. Afterwards, he sent the media into a frenzy with an amazing press conference.
LRC
If You've Got 20 Minutes, Watch This Ashton Eaton Press Conference The world record holder is cerebral and fascinating.

Classy Move Of Year: Curtis Beach Lets Eaton Cross Line First As He Breaks WR - Eaton Wishes He "Could Be As Graceful" As Beach (link fixed) "I just thought it would be better for Ashton to win as he broke the world record."
*Eaton Uses Hayward Field Magic To Help Set World Record
*Ashton Eaton World Record Photo Essay

Olympic Champ Bryan Clay DQed In Hurdles
*Clay, After Hurdles DQ: "It's The Worst Feeling Ever"

What
About The Sport?
LRC
This Doesn't Have To Be The End For Bryan Clay; He Should Do A Decathlon Next Week

Friday At The Trials - Day 1

LRC Galen Rupp Puts On A Clinic As The Sub-13 Guys Punch Their Tickets To London Galen Rupp won and the three sub-13:00 guys made the team but this race held in a downpour was full of drama. Chris Derrick continued his fine 2012 in fourth. Recap, splits, results, and post-race interviews.
LRC Day 1 Photos Gallery

LRC Men's Post-Race 10,000m Reaction

Thursday Photo Gallery (Click Below. We Don't Have A Great Photo Of The Women's 5k Finish. For A Great Photo Of It, Click Here.)

Sunday Photo Gallery, Saturday (Eaton World Record Here) Friday (10,000m Finals Here)

Tarmoh & Felix Didn't Have To Wait This Long

Antonio Pettigrew Aftermath: Nigeria Wins 4 X 400 Gold From 2000
*Nigerian Gold Comes Too Late For Sunday Bada, Who Died 8 Months Ago

Steve Holman And Carrie Tollefson Chasing The Mayor At Belmar Chase 5k July 28th In New Jersey The mayor's got a chance, as he ran at GTown and gets a head start. 1997 bronze medallist Rich Kenah is the race director.

This Week's Signs Of The Apocalypse I & II

Sprint News

Doping Corner

LRC Guess Who Was In Monaco On Friday? Banned Agent Mark Block The banned agent Mark Block, who just happened to be hanging out at the Nike hospitality suite for the Olympic Trials, just happened today to be in Monaco, site of the Diamond League meet. Evidence also points to him also being at the Penn Relays, Mt. SAC and the Jamaican Invite. Plus he was in Daegu last year. And a trusted source says Block drank a celebratory beer in "Cap's Corner" at the Trials, where he also watched the women's 100 from the Nike box and not just the 200. Hey, Nike - It's pretty easy; why don't you ask John Capriotti, your Global Director of Athletics, if he knew Block was in the VIP area. If so, fine or suspend him for poor judgement. At a minimum, tell him, "Block's presence is unacceptable." And tell your star athletes Jason Richardson and Carmelita Jeter the same thing.

LRC
8:16 Spanish Steeplechaser Dropped From 2012 Olympic Team Amid EPO/HGH Doping Probe A local Spanish paper has released a reported email exchange between 8:16 steepler Angel Mullera and a doctor from last year's World Champs where the two discuss his required doping for the 2012 season. The Spanish federation was aware of the doping exchange months ago but hadn't acted on it until it was leaked to the press.
*MB: Spanish steeplechaser's leaked EPO discussion / doping plan for 2012

More Doping

THIS Is Why There Should Be Lifetime Bans:
*Hungarian Discus Thrower Robert Fazekas Out Of Games After Tests Positive For Steroids He was stripped of the gold medal in Athens 2004 for doping. He's also "coached" by someone who was stripped of a gold medal. How are these people allowed to stay in the sport?
*French Olympic Steeplechaser Nour-Eddine Gezzar Tests Positive For EPO He also served a 2-year ban back in 2006.

Recommended Read From Cycling: Running Needs A Fan To Do This: Fan Writes "An Open Letter To The Peloton" About Importance Of Anti-Doping Whoever writes it, please CC John Capriotti at Nike and the folks at USATF.

The Worlds's Best Are Getting Ready For London

Pre-Monaco:
LRC
A Fan's Guide To Monaco: Steeple Madness, Symmonds & Montano Hope To Get 800 Wins, Evan Jager Goes For The AR?
*Relive Monaco 2011

More:
*US 4 X 1 Running Monaco As Extra Practice Ahead Of Games universalsports.com They need it, as the US has DNFs Or DQs the last three global championships.

Mid-Week Action:
*Wednesday In Finland: Niclas Sandells Wins 1,500 (3:38.44) Over US's Garreth Heath, Craig Miller And John Bolas Kenya's Josephat Menjo won the 3k (7:44.07) over Ben St. Lawrence 20 seconds back.
*Impressive Throwing In Minsk As Aksana Miankova (Hammer) And Nadzeya Ostapchuk (Shot) Set NRs And World Leads

LRC  Help Pick Ryan Hall's Shoes For The Olympics Asics made 3 pairs of specially-designed shoes for Hall and he wants your input as to what he should wear.

Olympic News From Around The World

More International Olympic News

4 Recommended Reads

Ryan Hall Talks To LetsRun.com

LRC Ryan Hall Hoping To Have "Best Stuff Ever" At 2012 London Olympic Marathon On Friday, LetsRun.com spent over 30 minutes talking with Ryan Hall. An optimistic Hall talked about his training has turned around, his goal for London, how he still thinks he's learning a ton, how he thinks his best marathon is ahead of him, and a whole lot more. We got Hall to give us the specifics of his training which has recently been changed to emphasize speed more often. Is he back at altitude? Hint: He gave the interview from the birthplace of LetsRun.com. How much mileage does he do? 20 x 1k? 10 miles of in and out 400s? *Discuss

Interesting Reads To Entertain You On A Monday

Saudia Arabia Sends Women To Olympics

LRC Meet Sarah Attar - Saudi Arabia's First Female Track & Field Athlete The woman who will make history in traditional Islamic attire at the Olympics is a Pepperdine sophomore who runs in shorts during the collegiate season. She's never run an 800 in college, but that's what she'll run in London.
*NY Times: Attar's Family Asked School Website To Take Down Photos Of Her Competing In Singlet And Shorts
*Philip Hersh Says Recent Gender News Isn't Quite As Good As It Seems Still needs to generate change at home.

LRC What Does The Paris 5,000 Mean For Galen Rupp's Medal Chances? Before Friday, only 10 men in history had broken 12:50 for 5,000. Now after on amazing race, 16 guys have done it. Surely this is the end of Galen Rupp's medal chances, right? Wrong. We argue that once one gets over the initial shock of the "6 Guys Under 12:50 In Paris" headline, then one realizes there were plenty of encouraging results in Paris for Rupp. *Discuss

Samsung DL Paris *Results *MB Discussion *LRC Winners Photo Gallery

LRC Paris Recap: A Sensational Men's 5,000, A Troubling Women's 1,500, And David Rudisha's 1:41 Highlight Fans of Galen Rupp, Bernard Lagat, Kenenisa Bekele, Jenny Simpson and Morgan Uceny probably had a hard time watching this meet as the results of the men's 5,000 and women's 1,500 were stunning to stay the least. Plus Tyson Gay vs. Justin Gatlin. Read all about it. *Discuss
*Results (video highlights for US visitiors in player on right)
*LRC Winners Photo Gallery

Down Goes Bolt #2: Blake 19.80 Over Bolt 19.83 Bolt had the lead in this one and ran horribly the last 100. Video here.
*Bolt: "It is not like I was blown away. I know what I need to do to get it right."

Three Distance Finals Take Place Thursday *Oregonian Day 7 Photos

M 5,000: LRC Lucky 13 - Galen Rupp Snaps Winless Streak In Style - 52.54 Last Lap Beats Bernard Lagat & Steve Prefontaine's Meet Record Galen Rupp entered the Olympic Trials 0 for 12 against Bernard Lagat during his lifetime but he left 1 for 13 and boy was it impressive. Not only did he win, but Rupp let it came down to the last 400 and then outkicked the 2nd-fastest man ever at 1,500. His last 400 was faster than what won Mo Farah World Championships gold last year.

M Steeple:
LRC Evan Jager Wins With Ease As Three First-Time Olympians Punch Their Tickets To London Jager, Cabral, Alcorn. And a very happy 4th placer - former 4:22 HSer Donald Cowart.
*
LRC Steeplechase Interviews
*
Oregonian Recap Of Jager's Tongue-Wagging, Fist-Pumping Win

More Olympic Trials Monday Distance

LRC Montano Hangs On, Gall Comes On, Schmidt Sneaks In, And Beckwith Has A 4-Year Wait Alysia Montano won as expected, but this one was close. 5 women were in contention for 3 Olympic spots and Molly Beckwith was the unlucky 4th place loser in a dramatic final 20 meters. *Race Video

800m Final Photos (Click Below For Gallery)

Eugene Saturday *LRC Trials YouTube Channel

LRC The Inside Story Of How Jeneba Tarmoh First Saw The 100m Finish Photo On The LetsRun.com Laptop Roughly 3 Hours After The Race Carmelita Jeter won the 100m, but the story was the battle for the third spot between training partners Jeneba Tarmoh and Allyson Felix. At first, Tarmoh was announced in third by .001 but then after the stands had emptied, a dead heat was announced. We thought we were the only ones not knowing what was going on, until next thing we knew Tarmoh was looking at the finish photo on Wejo's laptop (pic on right).

LRC
An Exclusive Interview With The Man Responsible For Reading The Allyson Felix 100m Finish Picture LetsRun.com exclusively caught up Roger Jennings, the man whose job it is to determine who finished third and who got fourth, and the timing whiz explained how it was determined there was a dead heat. Plus we do a little bit of research and determine that even though USATF has said there is no protocol for breaking a tie, that the USATF rule book does in fact envision such a scenario and has a solution - an old-fashioned drawing of lots!!!

LRC Lolo Jones' Third Place Steals The Show In The Olympic Trials Hurdles Final Lolo turned around her season in 24 hours after a "reality meltdown" following round one. She said, "I woke up today and did not think I would make the team. I was fighting a constant head battle to get through this. I had my sports psychologist on speed dial 1, my pastor on speed dial 2, and my mom on speed dial 3 ..."

Day 2 Photo Gallery (Eaton World Record)

Day 1 Trials Photo Gallery

2012 Monaco DL *Full Results

Updated
LRC:
Evan Jager Breaks The American Steeplechase Record Evan Jager got the AR in just the 5th steeple of his life. Medalling at London isn't out of the question. Only a steeple recap above, but in other action, Asbel Kiprop made running 3:28.88 look easy as Nick Willis ran a 3:30.35 PR. And in the 800m Duane Solomon is now the fastest active American as he blitzed a 1:43.44 ahead of Nick Symmonds.

*Evan Jager Race Highlight Video
LRC Asbel Kiprop Reasserts Himself As The Olympic Favorite By Running A Sensational 3:28.88 The defending Olympic champ made a statement by running a 53.43 last lap with a 26-flat last 200 to mark himself as the London favorite. At the same time, Nick Willis marked himself as a medal contender with a stellar 3:30. Robby Andrews was a DNF and Centro and Manzano were DNSs. *Race Video
*
Kiprop On His 3:28: "It was a very good race and I felt very, very good. Yes, it gives me confidence."
*
Kenyan Columnist: Thank God Kiprop Didn't Follow Through On His Pledge To Switch To 5,000 Last year, Kiprop famously said, "I will switch to 5,000m if I do not run under 3:30," but thankfully he didn't follow through on that, as while he didn't break 3:30, he did win Worlds.
More Monaco
LRC
Duane Solomon Is Now The 5th-Fastest American Ever At 1:43.44
Americans, it's official - you can dream of your first 800 men's medal since 1992 after Duane Solomon and Nick Symmonds both ran in the 1:43s, but on this night, the hype justifiably belongs to Solomon, who had a massive PR. *MB: DUANE!!!
LRC The Rest Of The Meet: Alysia Montano, Jenny Simpson And Caster Semenya Disappoint In the women's 800, Semenya was awful throughout and Montano didn't look like a medal contender. In the 3k, Simpson was unable to break 70 on her final lap.

Video Highlights Of Evan Jager's American Record (Larger Here)

Asbel Kiprop Makes 3:28 Look Easy, Nick Willis Runs 3:30

From Michigan Roads To Colorado Mountains

LRC Two-Time Olympic Trials Qualifier Sage Canaday Wins The US Mountain Running Championships On His First Time Out We catch up with former Hansons-Brooks marathoner, Sage Canaday, and talk to him about his switch in race focus, decision to leave Hansons-Brooks, and surviving as an unsponsored runner. Runners like Sage embody what could be called the "American running dream," as they put off pursuing what society says is practical or normal, making huge sacrifices to pursue their dreams.

Australian Hurdler's Provocative Pre-Race Dance Generates Thousands Of YouTube Hits
*MB: Michelle Jenneke Warm Up Routine. Oh, My...

The Olympics Are Coming

Is Usain Bolt High Maintenance?

Usain Bolt The Video Game Is Out

LRC Usain Bolt The Video Game For Iphone/Ipod - Q & A With Friend Of LRC Matt Taylor Bolt!, the Usain Bolt Iphone/Ipod free video game was released yesterday. We talk to LRC guest columnist Matt Taylor, who was instrumental in the game coming to fruition.
*Can Usain Bolt Create An Olympic-Sized Brand?
*Puma Pinning Hopes On Usain Bolt

More Distance News:
Ciarán Ó Lionáird Returns Home Looking For Spark After Missing Lots Of Time With Achilles Injury - Will Race 14 Sub-4 Guys O Lionaird, who recently took time from his rehab to call LetsRun "gutter press," is racing for the 1st time since World Indoors.

The 12 Best Moments From The World Junior Champs
Mary Cain and Ajee Wilson aren't on it.

London Diamond League Was Friday/Saturday *Day 2 Results *Day 1 Results *Event-By-Event Results

LRC Day 2: Nick Willis Goes For It, The American Mid-D Men Struggle & Molly Beckwith Pulls Upset On Day Full Of Upsets Day 2 was full of a lot of upsets, particularly on the women's side, as Carmelita Jeter, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Sally Pearson, Janeth Jepskosgei, Amantle Montsho and others were upset. The highlight from a LetsRun.com standpoint was wacky men's mile, where Nick Willis had a 3.5-second lead at the bell. It wasn't a good day for Bernard Lagat, an awful day for Leo Manzano, and a day to be remembered for Molly Beckwith, who suffered heartbreak at the US Trials. But the American who had the best day may have been Nick Symmonds - and he didn't even run.

LRC
Day 1:
Mo Farah, Vivian Cheruiyot Win With Ease As Maryam Jamal Shocks Women's 1,500 Field Mo Farah beat a week field that included training partner Dathan Ritzenhein, the American 1,500m women did not impress, Vivian Cheruiyot kept it going, and Aries Merritt stepped up again, as Tyson Gay came from behind to win.

More: Track & Field Athletes' Association Statement On Nick Symmonds & Lolo Jones Being Barred From Meet *MB Thread

World Junior Champs (See Saturday's Homepage For Days 1-4) *Schedule/Results *Nice On-Site Coverage By NSSF *Live Video Stream *Meet Central With Interviews, Photos, Event-By-Event Recaps

LetsSprint.com

6 Guys Break 12:50

Paris DL Photo Gallery (Click Here Or Below)

Blake Beats Bolt X 2 In 200

Emma Coburn Gets Emotional With Teammate Shalaya Kipp After Making Olympics

The Race Of The Trials: Julia Lucas' Agony Of Defeat (Race Video Here, More 5k W Interviews Here, Men 5k Here, Men Steeple Here)

Alan Webb's 2012 Olympic Dream Is Over (More On This Here (Link Fixed)). More Trials Videos Here

Tyler Mulder Showing The Emotion Of The Trials

BAA 10k 2012 BAA 10k Results

Geoffrey Mutai Runs 27:29 In Boston, Kim Smith Wins
We think Sam Chelanga still has a good chance to win $100,000 despite being crushed by nearly a minute.

Kenyan Trials *Mid-D/Distance Results

LRC Exclusive: Timer Explains The Allyson Felix Tie

Matt Taylor Speaks #2

LRC Redefine Running: Who's In Charge Of "The Sport" (link fixed) Last week Matt Taylor, the guy behind ChasingTradition, ChasingKimbia, ChasingGlory, and an upcoming Usain Bolt video game, told you running was dying. This week he tells you it's thriving. He explains the inconsistency. While the activity of running is thriving, the sport is dead with the mainstream sports fan. In the internet era, diehards get their fix, while Joe Sports-Fan has no idea who Matt Centrowitz is. How do we fix this?