Upcoming DL Action – Rome Is Thursday (2pm ET) *Rome Schedule/Entries *Rome TV Streaming/Info

LRC A Fan’s Guide To Rome Golden Gala: Top Stars To Clash In 800s (Amos Vs. Aman; Sum Vs. Martinez) And 1,500 (Souleiman Vs. Kiprop); How Low Can Molly Huddle Go In 5,000? (link fixed) The turnaround from Eugene is short and there will be men’s 800 and 1,500 rematches but also a women’s 5,000 with Genzebe Dibaba and an in-form Molly Huddle, a women’s 800 with Sum and Martinez, plus a men’s steeple.

Unbelievable: Athletics Kenya Bans Kenyan Stars From Rome DL For Drop In Form – Will They Obey? Truly unbelievable. The head of Athletics Kenya apparently doesn’t care about signed contracts or the fact that many of the Kenyan stars like Silas Kiplagat and Eunice Sum just set PRs in Eugene. He wants them back for the Trials being held for the African champs and Commonwealth Games.
*MB: Here we go again, Kiprop banned from Diamond league 
*Kiprop To Run In Rome Despite AK Threat “I’m in Rome now and preparing to run on Thursday and I will be back for the final day (Saturday) and will compete if I’m invited,” said Kiprop about the AK ban.
*Rudisha Isn’t At Trials Either – He’s Staying In US Getting Ready For adidas GP

IAAF Preview Of Rome: Unreal HJ With Bondarenko, Ukhov, Barshim And Drouin In addition, the meet also features a great women’s 100H with Bianna Rollins and Sally Pearson clashing with each other and world indoor champ Nia Ali,and a slew of other great events.
Good Read: Meet World Indoor 60H Champ Nia Ali – For Now, The “Greatest Pure Athlete” That USC Coach Has Ever Seen Will Stick To Hurdles, Hepthalon Return Will Come After 2016 Games Coached by fellow hurdler Ryan Wilson, Ali is fully back into track after her father’s murder-suicide in 2009.

Pre Day 2 Photo Gallery Is Here *Prefontaine Day 1 Gallery (Galen Rupp American Record Here)

Future DL Action

• Oslo Is Next Wed. (June 11): Ashton Eaton To Make European IAAF Diamond League Debut In 400H
  *Allyson Felix To Run ExxonMobil Bislett Games For 1st Time Next Wed.
• Lausanne Is July 3rd: Simon Hart: Tyson Gay To Return To Action And Face Justin Gatlin In Lausanne As “Fans Fume” We like the creativity of the meet organizers. We imagine the asking price for Gay is way less than Bolt/Blake. Lausanne is the meet that three years ago actually lost a “restraint of trade” court case for trying to prevent doper Hind Dehiba from competing. *MB: Gay vs. Gatlin, Lausanne, July 3. Just say No.
  *More Lausanne: Kirani James Vs. LaShawn Merritt At 400, Yohan Blake In 200, Eunice Sum, Great Men’s Steeple To Highlight

Trey Hardee (8518) And Katarina Johnson-Thompson (6682) Win At Gotzis Multi Meet Brianne Theisen-Eaton set a new Canadian record but finished second.
*British Press Goes Ga Ga: Katarina Johnson-Thompson Is Now A Threat To Jessica Ennis Hill?

Good Read: Meet The NY/NJ Track Club’s Ex-Football Player But Soon-To-Be Sub-4 Miler, Ford Palmer Palmer started his collegiate career at Monmouth as a 185-lb. football player. 30 pounds lighter, he’s now a 3:38 1,500 runner who three times in three months has run between 4:00 and 4:01.

Road Miles

• Bring Back The Mile: California’s Gabriel Hilbert (3:55) And Marina Vorderbruegge (4:36) Win 2014 Platinum Performance State Street Mile In Santa Barbara In the unofficial tail-wagging Dog Mile world championship, Geoffrey Gray and dog Hank Mardukes and Brian Duff and dog Kadym finished in a dead heat to share the win (4:32) as Kasey Urman and her dog returned to claim another women’s title in 5:29.
• Jeff Riseley And Melissa Duncan Win 2014 Leonora Golden Gift Miles Those of you who think gambling and T&F should go together should love this event in a remote part of Australia where people bet up to $2,000 on a pigeon race. *Results

Former Nike Strength And Conditioning Coach Vern Gambetta Speaks About Drugs In The Sport “Very honestly, everybody in the sport knows the drug coaches. And it’s not those supported by just one shoe company. Everybody knows it, but nobody will speak out because of fear of libel. It’s going to take some balls, that’s for sure. And the federation [USATF] is complicit. …”
*MB: former NOP strength coach speaks on drugs!

2 Recommended Reads And Other Top Distance News

• Recommended Read: “They Might Be Ryans”: Article On Group Of Sub-Elites Living, Training And Trying To Make It At Altitude In Flagstaff, AZ The group (which includes LRC’s 1.1) moved to the town that pros like Nick Arciniaga and Ryan Hall call home to chase their running dreams.
• RR#2: Runners World Profile On Matt Elliott: “America’s Fastest Kindergarten Teacher” Elliott has came a long way from a guy who ran 4:42 in the mile in HS as he finished 4th at US Champs last year.
• Former Prep Star And NCAA Champ Melody Fairchild Racing Freihofer’s 5K Saturday; Now Excelling As A Masters Runner After “Disappearing” From The Sport For A While She says, “Having been a high school prodigy who people said would someday burn out and they’d never see me again, being a master has special significance because I feel very proud to be still running.”
• WSJ: “Breaking the Five-Minute ‘Beer Mile’ Brews Controversy” As Critics Say James Nielsen Didn’t Do Can-Over-The-Head Maneuver On First Beer The video has gone viral with more than a million views on YouTube and Nielsen says he’s actually been approached with endorsement offers from apparel and beer companies.
• Nick Symmonds Blogs About His Knee Injury Symmonds attributes the injury to racing the tight turns indoors and while he’s still hurt, expects to be back in shape “within a month or two.”