February 18, 2015 | LetsRun.com

Week That Was

LRCMillrose, Everything Averages Out To Average, Sub-4 Mania, Florence Kiplagat Nearly Goes 1:04, Drones, Break-Ups ...

One final look at the 2015 NYRR Millrose Games, the law of averages, sub-four mania in the USA, break-up advice, drones, and Florence Kiplagat coming oh-so-close to a 1:04:X half marathon. We break down the last week in track and field.

More T&F Drama / Gossip

Olympian And Former TJ WR Holder Willie Banks Calls USATF Board Vote “Totally Unforgivable” Banks was a member of the board for 6 years until October. He said, “I have always tried to listen to the constituency before I voted. In this case I believe I would have voted for Bob Hersh.” *MB Thread
Lolo Jones Slams “Fifty Shades Of Grey” “Funny how some people think there’s nothing wrong with 50 shades of Grey. God didn’t create sex for that purpose. Watch another movie.”
Mary Cain Withdraws From The 1,500 At Saturday’s Birmingham Indoor GP For Health Reasons
MB: Nick Symmonds Announces That He’ll Be On Season 7 of American Ninja Warrior It’s an obstacle game show and filming is just two days (March 13 and 14).
*Sporting News: “The Bachelor ship has sailed.” Symmonds says he’s most focused on 2015 Worlds.

Today’s Doping Updates

Talk About Making Something Out Of Nothing: World Champ Christine Ohuruogu Upset With Lamine Diack’s Comments About Sport Being In A Doping “Crisis” We don’t understand her issue. He agreed with the interviewer, who said the sport is facing a crisis. With all the doping cases and corruption allegations, does Ohuruogu actually think he should have said no?
Russian Athletics Federation President Valentin Balakhnichev Steps Down From His Post, But Fires Shots At IAAF First “I want to ask the IAAF to create a fairer balance. When 90 blood tests are taken from Russian sportsmen and just nine are taken in Britain over the same period, this is unfair. The law of averages will work against us. It is unfair to concentrate all your attention on just a few countries.”
Really Russia, Really? Russia Gives Resigned Head Coach Valentin Maslakov Top National Sprint Coach Job
Opinion Piece: “Russian Turmoil Putting Pressure On IAAF” “Russian bullying and posturing seems part of the national psyche – a microcosm of Putin’s behaviour in Ukraine. … This is a country without moral integrity at every level, from the top down.”
Summary Of IAAF Medical And Anti-Doping Media Conference Call Nothing big here, just assurances from the IAAF that they’re investigating Russia, but that everything has to be given due process.

IAAF Inside Athletics Episode 2: Ato Boldon Interviews HJ WR Holder And 1992 Olympic Champ Javier Sotomayor His WR is 27 years old, but could go down soon. *Some Transcription From Q&A

Women’s Pro News

Kenyan 2:34 Marathoner Hyvon Ngetich Crawls To 3rd Place In The Austin Marathon; RD So Inspired He Doubles Her Prize Money (includes video) She was winning by a good margin, but collapsed around 2 blocks from the finish and crawled the rest of the way, refusing a wheelchair that was offered to her. The race was won by Cynthia Jerop in 2:54:22.
Video Interview: Lolo Jones Talks About Recovery From Shoulder Injury And Says She’s Still Looking Towards Rio Olympics Although she joked that testing out the shoulder over hurdles soon “will let me know if I need to retire or not.”
SPIKES Gives A 13-Point Timeline Of Florence Kiplagat’s Career Leading Up To Her 1:05:09 13.1-Mile WR

International Results

Florence Kiplagat Runs 1:05:09 To Break World Half Marathon Record At Mitja Marató de Barcelona That’s 4:58 pace. An amazing run as the course has turns and no other woman has come within 41 seconds on a legit course.
Lavillenie Vaults 6.02 In Berlin As 12,500 Fans Attend An Indoor Track Meet
Ethiopia’s 2014 5,000m World Leader Muktar Edris And Kenya’s Violet Jelagat Win Cinque Mulini XC Race In Italy Jelagat won over Portugal’s Ana Dulce Felix while top steepler Jarius Birech was 3rd in the men’s race.

2015 NYRR Millrose Games Were Saturday Results Post-Race Videos *Race Videos

What a stretch run.

LRC Centrowitz Wins Wanamaker Mile In Thrilling Stretch Run Over Willis As Year Of Lagat Continues Matt Centrowitz and Nick Willis delivered the goods on Saturday night with Centro edging Willis to win the Wanamaker mile in 3:51. Wanamaker mile legend Bernard Lagat took 3 seconds off the 40+ world record in 4th.

LRC Bowerman Track Club’s Lopez Lomong And Ryan Hill Go 1-2 As Cam Levins Falters NOP’s Cam Levins had an off day and the rival BTC’s Lopez Lomong and Ryan Hill were glad to pick up the slack, going 1-2 in the men’s 5,000m. German Fernandez DNFed as he was having a terrible day and going to get lapped.

LRC Men’s 3000m: Eric Jenkins Just Misses Galen Rupp’s American Collegiate Record As Oregon Goes 1-2 Eric Jenkins and Will Geoghegan aren’t even Oregon’s best 3,000m runners but they went 1-2 at Millrose and nearly broke Galen Rupp’s American collegiate record.

*Post-Race Interviews Centro, Willis, Rowbury, Lomong, Hasay, many more. The distance stars and Brycen Spratling in NYC.
*RRW Recap

Millrose On The Boards:

LRC Did America Just Get Itself A Gold Medal Contender In The 1,500 At The 2040 Olympics? Moroccan 1,500m star Abdelaati Iguider‘s wife Ibtissam went into labor unexpectedly yesterday in Philadelphia and the family welcomed Mohamed Mourad Iguider to the world.

LRC Latest Millrose And Olympic Trials Vote Tallies Voting fixed so you don’t have to refresh page.

RAK Half Marathon Race/ Post-Race Photos

2015 RAK Half Marathon – World’s Fastest Half *Results

LRCRecap: The Marvelous Mary Keitany And Remember The Drone

Mary Keitany ran the third fastest time ever (66:02) to put away a stiff challenge by Mamitu Daska, who set a new Ethiopian record of 1:06:27. The men's race came down to a 5-way sprint but the big news was the drone that filmed parts of the race with stunning shots.

One Of Africa’s Top Talents Will Train In The USA

World 800 Champion Mohammed Aman Joins Oregon Track Club Aman, who has a 1:42.37 PR and three world titles to his name, said, “I want to run fast. OTC Elite is a good team with a good coach and I want to improve my performance.”
*Discuss

Week That Was

LRCChris Derrick Chases Pat Porter, Chris Lear Liked What He Saw In Boston, Nijel Amos Lacked Confidence?, Robby Andrews Update

Our weekly update of the comings and goings in the running world.

Distance News: Was Sammy Wanjiru Murdered?

Pathologist Claims Sammy Wanjiru’s Death Was Murder And Not An Accident Dr. Moses Njue says that Wanjiru had head injuries which could not have been caused by a fall from his balcony and indicate he was hit on the head with a blunt object. *2nd Article
*MB: Pathologist says Sammy Wanjiru was murdered – Fall from balcony could not have killed him.
*LRC Archive: RIP Sammy Wanjiru: The World’s Greatest Marathoner Has Died

Bruce Jenner In Serious Car Crash, One Person Killed Jenner was at fault as he rear ended a car into oncoming traffic.
*Was Jenner Texting?
*MB: Bruce Jenner kills a woman

A Boring Tuesday Got A Little More Interesting Thanks To Twitter

LRC Andy Vernon Calls Out Mo Farah On Twitter: “I would just rather watch a race than the Mo Show.” Is Farah dodging the competition (again)? Vernon believes so and says the 2-mile field for this Saturday’s Sainsbury’s Indoor Grand Prix in Birmingham (of which he is not a part) isn’t strong enough. Farah responded by saying, “Taylor Swift can probably run faster than you!”
*MB: Mo Farah and Andy Vernon go at it in Twitter
*AW Article

NCAA News

NCAA Changes Format For DI Outdoor Track And Field Championships – Men And Women Will Be On Different Days The goal is better media coverage / fan experience with the release stating: “The meet will be easier for fans to follow, and team scoring can be more easily highlighted when following one specific gender each day.” *MB: NCAA T&F Championships to have men’s and women’s events on alternating days – what ?
Florida Men & Arkansas Women Move to No. 1 In NCAA DI Indoor Track & Field National Rankings

More Distance Stuff

Good Q&A With 2:04:45 Marathoner And Former Boston/Dubai Winner Lelisa Desisa Desisa talks about how becoming wealthy through prize money hasn’t changed him and also reflects on the strange and frustrating actions of the Ethiopian Federation when it comes to choosing their championship teams.
Saturday Was A Historic Day For The Mile As A Record 36 Men Went Sub-4 Minutes On The Same Day Oregon’s John Gregorek, Jr. joined his father in the sub-4 club as they became just the 7th father/son duo to break 4:00.
You Reading This, Europe? Australia Sending Full Teams To World XC Champs We wish every country would do this rather than conceding victory to the Africans.

Doping Updates

Video And Article: Lamine Diack Talks To BBC About Russian Doping Scandal And Allegations Of Corruption In IAAF Diack admitted that the sport is facing a doping “crisis,” but denied that there has been any IAAF cover-up.
IAAF Anti-Doping Senior Manager Thomas Capdevielle Confident Russian Racewalking Coach Viktor Chegin Will Be Sanctioned Chegin has had 20 of his athletes caught doping. Capdevielle also said that the IAAF would decide within 1-2 weeks whether Yulia Zaripova and Tatyana Chernova should lose their 2011 world titles (currently RUSADA let them keep them despite having results annulled from before and after the meet).
World Marathon Majors Will Fund Increased Out-Of-Competition Testing Of World’s Top Marathoners
Canadian Shot Putter Dylan Armstrong Finally Receives Olympic Bronze Medal From 2008 He was elevated to 3rd when Belarus’ Andrei Mikhnevich was retroactively banned through a test of his frozen samples.

Big Lance Armstrong & Tony Bosch News

ARod’s Doc & Biogenesis Founder Tony Bosch Sentenced To Four Years In Prison
Lance Armstrong Ordered To Pay A Record $10 Million In Damages To Insurance Firm He Sued Over Tour de France Bounses Armstrong sued the insurance firm in 2004 after they withheld bonus payments because they suspected him of doping. Now they’ve sued him back.
*MB: Time to Pay Up Lance!!
NY Times: “Lance Armstrong’s Ugly Detour From The Road To Redemption” Two years ago, Armstrong laid out a plan to rebuild his reputation but hasn’t bothered following it.
More Cycling: Kazakhstan Uses Former Cycling Doper Alexander Vinokourov As Bid Ambassador For 2022 Winter Olympic Bid

Millrose Photo Gallery

2015 NYRR Millrose Games Were Saturday Results Post-Race Videos

LRC A Wobbly Shannon Rowbury Hangs On To Win Women’s Wanamaker By Over 3 Seconds Poor pacing ruined the AR attempt and Rowbury wobbled during the final straight but held on for a dominating victory. Treniere Moser came in 2nd, an upbeat Jordan Hasay faded the last lap, and Mary Cain struggled.

LRC Sponsorless Brycen Spratling Runs New 500m World Record Of 1:00.06 The Pittsburgh grad was hoping to be the first man sub-1:00.00.

LRC Erik Sowinski Edges Robby Andrews, Ajee Wilson Repeats, Ashton Eaton Drops 10 Feet, Sally Kipyego And More 2015 Millrose Erik Sowinski edged Robby Andrews, Ajee Wilson repeated, and Sally Kipyego won the 3,000 as Ashton Eaton could have killed himself.

Non-Distance: IAAF: Former World Champ Jesse Williams Wins HJ (2.31) While Aleec Harris Sets WL In The 60H At 7.50 Beating David Oliver And Ashton Eaton Phyllis Francis beat Sanya Richards-Ross in the 400 with 53.14, Jamaica’s Damar Forbes won the LJ (8.03m) over Will Claye (8.02m), Murielle Ahoure set a WL in the 60 with 7.05, Greece’s Ekaterini Stefanidi took the PV.

More Track Action All NCAA Results Live Results:
Dempsey Iowa St. BU Valentine’s UK Championships

MB Talk:

BU: 12 guys – including 4 Georgetown Hoyas in the same heat – go sub-4 at BU!!
John MF Trautmann!! 4:12.33 at age 46!! Sick.
Florida State’s Colleen Quigley runs 4:29.67 in mile at BU!! Moves to #5 in NCAA history.
Villanova men 9:27.04!
Iowa State: Wisco True Frosh Morgan McDonald Runs 7:55 In Iowa
Thomas Curtin Va. Tech Runs 13:38.56 WOW!!!!! Curtin is #2 in the NCAA in both the 3k and 5k.
UW: Soratos (Montana State University) Runs 3:55.xx!
Who Says Colorado Guys Can’t Run Track? Pierce Murphy Takes Down Anthony Rotich And Lutz – Wins Husky 5k In 13:39.29! On the negative side of things, Ben Saarel only managed 13:58.
What’s up with Saarel?
Over/under on Symmonds’ 3k?

Mid-D News

Bizarre: Young GB Runner Abdi Abdi Given 4 Years In Prison For Committing A Series Of Robberies With A BB Gun The 19-year-old with a 3:52 1,500 PR stole $4,600 worth of mobile phones and BMX bikes from kids at a local skate park.
MB: Over/under on Nick Symmonds’ 3k? Symmonds opens his season this weekend with a 3K at Washington.
GB’s Laura Muir Says Training Is Going Really Well As She Comes Off A Very Disappointing 2014 She ran an 8:49 3,000 PR in January.
After Opening Season With Two Back-To-Back Sub-2:00 800s, Jenny Meadows Is The Favorite Going Into This Weekend’s UK Champs
Jenny Simpson Is USATF Athlete Of The Week For Her 9:18 2-Mile AR Last Weekend

Past Distance Greats In The News

Family Of Ethiopian Legend And Barefoot Marathoner Abebe Bikila Sues Vibram Over Use Of Name Vibram named some models of its shoes after him and even trademarked the name “Bikila” in 2010. The family is seeking at least $15 million in damages.
Good Read: Extensive Interview With US Miler, Jim Beatty, The First Person To Run A Sub-4:00 Mile Indoors Beatty ran 3:58.9 on February 10, 1962, a little less than 8 years after Roger Bannister ran the first sub-4:00 mile outdoors.
A Look Back At GB’s Joyce Smith, Who Won The First London Marathon In 1981 At The Age Of 43 She won it in 2:29:57 and later placed 11th in the 1984 Olympic marathon.
Luncheon In San Diego Celebrates The “Golden Age Of Track And Field” Many past Olympians/elites including Billy Mills were there.

2014 Is Officially Over

LRCLRC Nation Has Spoken - The 2014 LRC Awards: The Athlete Of The Year, Race Of The Year Is ...

The LRC Nation has spoken. Close the door on 2014 by seeing your choices for Best Male Distance Runner, Race of the Year, Moment of the Year and more.

USA Cross-Country Photo Gallery

2015 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix In Boston *Results

LRC Bernard Lagat Still Has It, Nick Willis Breaks The Kiwi Mile Record, And Matt Centrowitz Just Misses The American 1,000m Record Tremendous mid-d action led by the 40-year-old Lagat showing he still can kick (in a losing effort).

LRC Brenda Martinez Edges Nicole Tully In World Record DMR, An American Record For Jenny Simpson And Treniere Moser Impresses Again Brenda Martinez put back a superb challenge from Nicole Tully, Jenny Simpson got a much deserved American record, Treniere Moser, Mary Cain, Emma Coburn and more.

LRC Remembering LRCer Van Townsend The running world lost one of its bright lights this week with the death of Van Townsend.
*MB: RIP Van Townsend: Share Your Respects Here

Mid-Week Action

Tuesday: Three World Leads Go Down At Pedro’s Cup Meet In Poland: Orlando Ortega In The 60H (7.45) Ryan Whiting In The SP (21.80m) And Kim Collins In The 60 (6.47)
Wednesday: Asafa Powell, Carmelita Jeter And Mutaz Essa Barshim Going For The HJ WR At Athlone GP In Ireland Eric Sowinski in the 800, Ben Blankenship and Ciaran O’Lionaird in the mile.
Thursday: Genzebe Dibaba Will Go For 5,000 WR At Stockholm XL Galan Meseret Defar has the record at 14:24.37. Other stacked distance fields include German 3:35 man Homiyu Tesfaye vs. Kenyans Silas Kiplagat, Vincent Kibet, Collins Cheboi and Bethwel Birgen in the 1,500, Poles Adam Kszczot and Marcin Lewandowski vs. Olympic bronze medalist Timothy Kitum and South Africa’s Andre Olivier in the 800 and a solid women’s 1,500 including Siffan Hassan, Meraf Bahta (4:01) Laura Muir (4:00).
Saturday: AW Preview Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix: Deep Fields In The Sprints/Jumps
*All Entries Erik Sowinski, Timothy Kitum in 800, Matt Centrowitz, Bethwell Birgen, Nixon Chepseba, Lee Emanuel, Chris O’Hare, Ben Blankenship in 1,500. Jenny Meadows and Charlene Lipsey in 800. Mo Farah vs. Bernard Lagat in 2-mile.

IAAF Politics

Seb Coe Pledges To Limit Length Of Term For IAAF President To 12 Years If He Is Elected Lamine Diack has served for 16 years and in general, IAAF presidents serve long terms as there have only been 6 in the 103-year history of the IAAF.
Dahlan Al Hamad Wants Asia Center Stage As He Seeks Re-Election As IAAF Vice President

Random But Interesting

NY Times: “Forget Barefoot; New Trendsetter, If Not Pacesetter, Is Cushioning” Articles on Hoka One One running shoes and the new “maximalist” shoe fad. Includes quotes from Leo Manzano and Lauren Fleshman.
A Race After Employee 1.1’s Heart: Local Runners In Portland Frustrated With Mis-Measured And Mis-Managed Road Races Create Track Half Marathon The race, named for its founder, is called the “Bill Aronson Track Half To Insure Mileage Exactness” and was won by Mike Davies in 1:16:36. *Results *Race Website
High School Student Makes Dress Out Of Race Medals

British Indoor Champs *Results

Day 2: Motivated By A “Cleaner Sport,” Jenny Meadows Wins 800 In 2:01.43 Ireland’s Sara Treacy won a close race in the 3,000 over Emelia Gorecka and Jessica Judd with Hannah England 6th. Laura Muir won the 1,500.
Nigel Levine Wins His 5th Straight GB Indoor 400 Title
AW Recap: On Comeback From Surgery, Abigail Irozuru Wins LJ In 6.73m, Putting Her 3rd On UK All-Time List
IAAF Full Meet Recap
Day 1 Recap: Lee Emanuel Wins Men’s 3k
Katarina Johnson-Thompson Beats Morgan Lake, Sets New British Record Of 1.97m
More European Stuff: AW Weekly Round-Up: Germany’s Homiyu Tesfaye Runs NR And WL 1,500 With 3:35.71 Also WLs from Belarus’ Alina Talay in the 60H (7.88) and on the US collegiate scene Marquis Dendy in the TJ (17.23m), Kyra Jefferson in the 200 (22.81).

Are You Getting Excited For 2015 World XC? We Are

Kenyan Champs: Bedan Karoki And Faith Kipyegon Repeat As Champs, Geoffrey Kipsang And Agnes Tirop Are 2nd The big news on the men’s side was reigning World XC champ Japhet Korir failed to qualify. Faith Kipyegon, who has won the last 2 World Jr. XC titles and has a 3:56 1,500 PR, will go for title #3 in China.
*Full List Of 26 Kenyans Who Could Race In Worlds

Ugandan Champs: World Junior Mountain-Running Champion Phillip Kipyeko Beats Moses Kipsiro

The Last Star Standing? After 18-Month Maternity Break, Yelena Isinbayeva Begins Preparations For 2016 Olympics Meanwhile, the rest of Russia has seemingly been banned for doping.

Season-Opening News For Track’s Biggest Stars – Rudisha, Farah And Bolt

Rudisha: David Rudisha To Open 2015 In Australia On March 14 And 21
*Alex Rowe Hopes Facing Rudisha At Home Will Lead Him To New NR Of Sub-1:44.40
Farah: Mo Farah To Make 2015 Outdoor Debut Vs. 5 Sub-1:00 Guys At EDP Lisbon Half On March 22
*Mo Farah Might Run 2016 World Half Champs In March Of 2016 In Cardiff
Bolt: Usain Bolt Won’t Open 2015 Season With 400 In Jamaica Today Many thought Bolt would run. Despite the DNS, Ricky Simms told LRC on Saturday in NYC that Bolt is in good shape.
*Usain Bolt: “I will break a world record again.”
*Bolt Will Race 100 In Paris DL In July

For Your Weekend Pleasure

Recommended Read: An Incredible Rebuttal: Bob Hersh Responds To USATF Board’s Memo That He Claims “Contains Many Incorrect And/Or Misleading Statements”
Oscar Pistorius Rival Wants Him To Return To Competition Once He’s Out Of Jail
After Shedding 60 Pounds, 1992 Olympian John Trautmann Is Shooting For 45-49 WR In Mile This Weekend – 4:16.83 Trautmann had trouble running ~~60-second~~ 90-second quarters when he first started training.
Nick Arciniaga The Favorite At Ome 30k In Japan This Weekend – Japanese Weekend Preview

Kenyan XC Champs Are Saturday Unless Runners Strike

Killer Fields Set For Saturday’s Kenyan National Cross-Country Championships Men’s field includes World XC champion Japhet Korir, WJ XC champ Geoffrey Kipsang, doper Matthew Kisorio, Augustine Choge. Women’s field has 2-time world champ Emily Chebet, WJ champ Faith Kipyegon, world medalists Vivian Cheruiyot, Mercy Cherono and Gladys Cherono.
AK Head Isaiah Kiplagat Says Meet Still On Despite PAAK Boycott Threats
This Might Hurt His Chances: World Champ Japhet Korir Made His Marathon Debut Last Sunday With A 2:19:46 For 4th Place At The Tapei Marathon
DailyNation: “Cocky Karoki Looks Beyond National Trials” Two-time Kenyan XC champ Bedan Karoki looking for a third title as well as a world medal.

Nevada Looking Into Lifting Ban On Olympic Betting The LRC staff might have to take a trip to Vegas in 2016.

Sprint / Hurdle Stuff

Usain Bolt Ready To Return To His Winning Ways In 2015 Bolt, who said he felt like he’d “retired, the way people were talking about Justin Gatlin” last year, will open his season on Saturday with a 400 in Jamaica … although he says, “I’m trying to get out of it.”
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Wants To Break Her 10.70 PR In 2015
Good Read: USA Hurdles Great Terrence Trammell Says Goodbye To Track And Field The two-time Olympic silver medalist is officially retiring from the sport at 36 years old.
Good Q&A With US 100H Champ Dawn Harper-Nelson
Bolt Will Return In The 100m To The Paris DL Meet In July

9-Year-Old Zach Blum Going For Age World Record For Track 5,000 This Spring In the fall, he ran 18:30 to set the road 5K record (track record is 18:41). Talking about his race back in November, Blum said, “I was pretty sad because [my dad can] usually can keep up with me. But that day, he fell back because I was probably going 5:59 mile pace.”

New Balance Indoor Grand Prix Photo Gallery

Marijuana – The Next Performance Enhancer?

Wall Street Journal Asks, “Do lots of ultramarathoners smoke weed? Marijuana Has Enormous Benefits – But Is It Ethical?”
*MB: WSJ-Ultra runners smoke hella weed
*MB: Is that a picture of Galen Rupp smoking weed on back cover of WSJ?

2015 USA XC Champs In Boulder Results/ Streaming Official Live Discussion Thread!

Christ Derrick Wins His 3rd USATF XC Title in a Row

Nothing But Net: Chris Derrick For Three! Chris Derrick 3-peated as USA Champion in dominating fashion as Bobby Curtis was 2nd and Dathan Ritzenhein 3rd. Ben True, the guy who tried to stay with Derrick the longest, faded to 11th.

LRC Laura Thweatt Dominates At 2015 USA Cross-Country Championships updated The CU alum won her first major US title in convincing fashion before the home crowd. Mattie Suver 2nd, 40-year-old Jen Rhines 3rd.

RRW: Derrick, Thweatt Dominate USA XC Utah high schooler Conner Mantz and University of Colorado’s Kaitlyn Benner won the junior races.