LetsRun.com 2014 World Top 10 And US Top 5 Rankings

Over the final five days of the year, we’ll be breaking down the best in the world in the 800, 1,500, steeple, 5,000 and marathon.

LRC Women’s 800: Eunice Sum Is World #1, America’s Ajee Wilson Is World #2 20-year-old American Ajee Wilson ran the fastest time in the world and had a great year but Eunice Sum‘s season was just a little more special. It’s a great event for TEAM USA as three Americans made our global top 10.

Random But Interesting

• Masters Mountain Runner Kristi Anderson “Bewildered” Over 1-Year Doping Ban Anderson isn’t an elite runner and says she didn’t know about needing a TUE to use drugs for medical reasons. She tested positive at Pikes Peak Marathon where she was 7th in 5:41, and the 3rd masters runner. *Discuss
  *More Commentary And Original USADA Statement
• Malaysian Discus Thrower And High Jumper Get In Fist Fight With The HJer Ending Up In The Hospital National discus record holder Irfan Shamshuddin and HJer A. Kavee Alagan got in a fight at their national sports complex.

End-Of-Year Stuff

• Japan Running News Looks Back At Yuki Kawauchi’s 2014, Which Included 13 Marathons, 4 Of Them Under 2:11 He’s got big plans for 2015 as well which will likely include the WR for most sub-2:16 marathons.
• Eurosport Writer Names French Steepler Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad As One Of His Top Sportspersons Of The Year And Defends His Final Straightaway Strip At Euro Champs Other news sources have actually put Mekhissi-Benabbad on their “anti-sports personality of the year” list. We think even if he deserved criticism, he shouldn’t have been DQed.
  *Photo You Might Have Missed: Will Leer Pulls Up Shirt As He Races Behind Mekhissi-Benabbad
• IAAF End Of Year Review For The Throws
• European Athletics Championships Retrospective Day 1 If you haven’t read enough about Jo Pavey this year, here you go.

ASICS LA Gets A Big Name

LRCRyan Hall To Run US Marathon Champs At 2015 ASICS LA Marathon

The Day After Christmas OTB

• What distance are you running on Christmas Day?

• Who's Seeing Unbroken on Christmas?

• My family is a circus, and I hate Christmas.

• Did your significant other hate your dedication to running/training?

• RE: What Does The "H" In Jesus H. Christ Stand For?

• Running Christmas day?

• Should The High Jump Be Changed?

• Best Place in the US to Train if You Don't Have A Car?

• running calculators

• how many pushups?

• Are DI or DIII runners more likely to keep training post-collegiately?

Unbroken Opens Today

• “Unbroken” Stirs Resentment In Japan Let them be pissed: “According to the U.S. Defense Department, nearly 40% of Americans taken prisoner by the Japanese during World War II died in captivity.”
• Eugene Residents Recall Louis Zamperini Visiting Eugene High School in 1958

Three Interesting Distance Reads

• RunnersWorld’s Amby Burfoot: “What’s The Women’s Equivalent Of A Sub-2 Hour Marathon?” Apparently the Journal of Applied Physiology say Paula Radcliffe has already hit it with her 2:15:25 WR. They say her time is worth 1:59:55 for a man.
  *MB: RW: Radcliffe has run the equivalent of sub-2 hr marathon
• Janet Bawcom Blogs About Training In Kenya She says the big difference in Kenya vs. the US: “Hills and Fartleks.” How about 30 x 1 minute hard, 1 minute “easy” where by the end you are alternating 4:30 pace and sub-6:00 pace.
• Interesting Piece In The New Yorker About The Limits Of Endurance The Role The Mind Plays In Fatigue A recent study found that subliminal messages could be used to actually increase endurance in time-to-exhaustion tests. This shows, as many runners have found, that endurance sports are mental as well as physical.

• Dawn-To-Dusk Race Run In Alaska On Winter Solstice Runners ran as far as they could with the only 3 hours, 41 minutes and 30 seconds of daylight they had. Dallas Critchfield covered the most ground with 25.5 miles, while Hillary Zelton was the top woman with 18.6 miles. Temperature during the race was -9 degrees.
• Video: Runner Races DC Metro She exited at one stop and ran to the next, trying to make it in time to board the next train. Watch the video to see if she made it.
• RunningTimes Gallery Celebrates Running In Art
• IAAF End Of Year Reviews: Relays … USA Wins Inaugural World Relay Women’s 4 X 800

• TMZ Sports: Usain Bolt Hit Up Three Parties In One Day This Past Weekend
• Did Police Recover Cathy Freeman’s Missing Bodysuit Which Mysteriously Disappeared During The 2000 Olympics? Aussie sprinter Freeman wore the famous outfit when she lit the flame at the Sydney Olympics, but it was stolen from her dressing room.
• Scary: Earlier This Month A Runner Was Mistaken For A Deer And Shot By A Hunter The man who was shot was listed as stable and transported to the hospital while the hunter was arrested for multiple charges including unlawful possession and careless use.

Doping Updates

• Full Interview (Translated) With Russian Doper / Whistleblower Yulia Stepanova, Who Says Even Though WADA And IAAF Are Supposedly “Investigating,” Neither Has Contacted Her To See All The Extra Evidence She Has She says she told WADA 2 years ago about Russian systematic doping, but they did nothing. She calls them a “toothless tiger” and says Russia should be suspended for 2 years.
• Jamaican Parliament Passes New Law To Give Jamaican Anti-Doping Commission More Power JADCO’s budget has also been increased by 110% so it can conduct in- and out-of-competition testing.

Strange / Random News

• That’s One Way To Fill An Empty Stadium: In Qatar, Migrant Workers Are Paid To Be “Sports Fans” Article says these workers fight to squeeze onto buses to get the chance to sit through an event they don’t care about to earn 5 bucks.
• New Event Company Hosting 0.0 Mile “Instant Gratification Run” In Philly Basically a post-race party without the race.
  *MB: Are Color Runs Just Too Competitive for You? Don’t Worry, An Alternative Exists…
• Alysia Montano Racing USAs Pregnant Featured In Boston Globe’s “Nine Women’s Sports Stories That Deserved More Attention” In 2014 They link to LRC’s post-race interview with her.

The Next Dibaba? The Next Huddle?

• Profile On Ethiopia’s Former Steeple WJR Holder Turned 5,000 Runner Almaz Ayana, Who Is Being Called The “Successor To Tirunesh Dibaba And Meseret Defar” Ayana actually beat Genzebe Dibaba to win African Champs and also won the IAAF Continental Cup. She has a 14:25.84 5,000 best and talks about going for Tirunesh’s 14:11.15 WR.
• USATF Ratifies Alexa Efraimson’s US Junior Road 5K Record From The Silicon Turkey Trot She ran 16:08 to break Molly Huddle‘s previous mark, despite collapsing near the finish and getting back up and finishing.

Another Day, 2 More Drug Positives

• Rita Jeptoo’s B Sample Confirms Positive Doping Test Jeptoo was the best marathoner in the world the last two years, winning 4 straight WMM and the $500,000 WMM title. No more. Now she’s a drug cheat.
• US High Jump Champ Inika McPherson Gets 21 Months For Testing Positive For Cocaine Metabolite She loses her 2014 USA Championship and the only 2.00m jump of her career. She’s the jumper known for the tattoos and colorful hair. She wasn’t even trying to cheat and got a longer suspension than Tyson Gay, who was trying to cheat.

US News

• Spikes’ 20 Most Incredible Pics For Track And Field From 2014 Chanelle Price was stunned when she won gold and a very pregnant Alysia Montano made the list.

HS News

Preview Of Sunday’s National High School Ekiden Championships In Japan The top boys HS team in Japan has a 7-man avg. of 14:08. The top girls team has a 9:13 5-girl avg. for 3k.
*Meet On Live On NHK At 8:05pm ET Saturday Night (10:05am Sun. Japan)
*MB: Truly incredible: Top Japanese HS team has 7 man avg 5k pb of 14:08

Meet Jr. European XC Champ Yemanebernane Crippa Of Italy – The Orphan Born To Run One of 9 orphans adopted from Ethiopia by an Italian couple, his idol is Mo Farah. “The sprint of Mo is magic. It is also about his personality.” He got help in winning gold as Russia’s Aleksandr Novikov sprinted a lap early.

The Latest Doping News

• Rita Jeptoo’s B Sample Comes Back Positive, Doping Hearing Set For January
• US HJ Champ Inika McPherson Banned For 21 Months For Cocaine Recreational cocaine use shouldn’t result in a 2-year ban.
  *MB: USADA suspends McPherson for 21 months for testing positive for cocaine metabolite
• Sonia O’Sullivan Gives Rob Heffernan His 2010 European Bronze Medal Due To Russia’s Stanislav Emelyanov’s Ban
• 70-Minute Half Marathoner Joyce Jemutai Kiplimo Says She Made 12 Trips To Athletics Kenya, Never Got A Hear, But Was Banned For Doping Anyway She says she’s got medical documents to explain her positive test but was treated with contempt.

Previous Doping News

LRC 6 Thoughts: Mo Trafeh, Liar And Drug Cheat, Gets 4-Year Ban: Who Else Was Doping In Flagstaff? The 8-time USA road champion officially got a 4-year ban from the sport and the arbiter’s report showed he lied to LetsRun.com. We’ve read over the report and have our key thoughts.
On The Boards: Mo Trafeh’s Suspension and Who Else Was Doping in Flagstaff

*Moses Kiptanui Feels Vindicated By Rash Of Doping Positives In Kenya “When I raised the red flag a few years ago, officials condemned me.”
*Boit, Keflezighi, Landry Named USATF Champions After Mo Trafeh Is Banned

LRC USA Olympic Coach Jon Drummond Gets Banned: 4 Big Thoughts, Including Was Tyson Gay On HGH Prior To The Summer Of 2012? We carefully read the 24-page decision in the Jon Drummond case and conclude this story is far from over as the report includes a bombshell on page 5 – Tyson Gay had a bottle labeled HGH which someone had given him before even met Dr. Gibson or moved to Dallas to work with Drummond in May in 2012. Then why did Gay’s suspension only begin in July?
*MB: A bombshell in the Jon Drummond decision? Report says Tyson Gay had a bottle labelled HGH in May of 2012

Bring Back The Mile’s Top 10 Mile Moments From 2014 From Mary Cain just missing the World Jr. record by .01 to Ayanleh Souleiman running a US All-Comers record of 3:47.32.

News From Africa

• World Steeple Champ Milcah Chemos Had Back Surgery In October In India, Still Hoping To Defend Title In 2015 “I suffered Spondylolisthesis, that is the forward displacement by vertebra, and doctors said it was exerting pressure on my spinal cord hence affecting my nerves.” *MB: An opening for Coburn? Milcah Chemos had back surgery in October
• World Jr. 10k Champ Joshua Cheptegei Laps Field In 10k In Uganda

News From The UK

• Feminist Slams BBC For Celebrating Jo Pavey For Being A Mom Instead Of Being A 40-Year-Old Star Runner Pavey was third in BBC Sports Personality of Year award battle.
• Adam Gemili Taking Things More Seriously After A Friend Of His Is Killed In An Accident