2015 Beijing Worlds Start Friday Night In US So It’s Time For Previews *TV & Streaming *Entries *Prediction Contest

LRC 2015 Worlds Women’s 1,500 Preview – “On paper, this isn’t a race; it’s a coronation.” – Can Americans Jenny Simpson And Shannon Rowbury Somehow Take Down Genzebe Dibaba? What a race. This race has it all. The returning champ. The European champ who has run 3:56.05. Two historically fast Americans. And, oh yeah, the world record holder. We break it down for you in 3,300 words. This preview is so good we feel guilty not charging you for it. *Discuss
*LRC The Lauren Johnson Story: From Over 2:20 For 800 In HS To The U.S. World Championships Team At 1,500

LRC 2015 Worlds Men’s 1,500 Preview – Can Favored Asbel Kiprop Win His 4th Global Gold Against This Historically Loaded Field? Asbel Kiprop looks to join Hicham El Guerrouj and Noureddine Morceli in the history books as a 3-time World Champ but he’s got his hands full as Matthew Centrowitz, Silas Kiplagat, Ayanleh Souleiman and Taoufik Makhloufi all could strike gold or go home without a medal as this field is LOADED. We break it down for you in nearly 4,000 words. *Discuss

Pre-Worlds Distance News

• Recommended Read: Great Profile On The Life And Career Of Nick Willis Starting From His Early Days At Michigan To Now Read how Willis went from a 12-year-old binge drinker to the world beater and family man he is today.
• Akron Junior Clayton Murphy Talks About His Unexpected Trip To Worlds Thanks To Nick Symmonds Coming into the year as a 1:50 guy, he never thought he’d be ending the year with a trip to Beijing.
• Amel Tuka (800), Yomif Kejelcha (5,000) And Selina Buchel (800) Among The “New Kids In The Blocks” At Worlds These three, along with sprinters Andre De Grasse and Elaine Thompson, were unknowns coming into 2015, but could leave Beijing as World medalists.
• Q&A With Hassan Mead Ahead Of His First World Championships Mead calls himself a 10,000 “rookie” and thinks he has a lot more room to improve.

It’s Sunday And The Sunday Times Has Another Front Page IAAF Doping Allegation

Sunday Times: IAAF Blocked Publication Of Paper In Scientific Journal Saying 1/3 Of Competitors At 2011 World Champs Took An Anonymous Survey Where They Said They Doped We’re not sure how it can be scientific when you ask people “have you doped” and tell them it is totally anonymous. At the same time, the IAAF should let the survey come out.

Recommended Read: Best Recap of Situation Appears In The New York Times

IAAF Denies: “The IAAF has never vetoed publication of this article. … The IAAF understands that the article in question was submitted for publication (in a scientific paper) but it was rejected.” The study, which was funded by WADA, was one where competitors in Daegu submitted anonymous surveys about whether they were a doper or not. The IAAF says this isn’t a new allegation as it was aired by ARD in 2013.
*BBC Recap

• UKA Performance Director Neil Black Says Their Investigation Into Alberto Salazar Is Finished, But Won’t Release The Verdict Until After Worlds UKA is deciding whether or not to keep Salazar as a consultant. In the meantime, he will still be there working with Mo Farah in Beijing.
  *MB: Alberto Salazar will travel 2 China 2 Coach Mo
• Elvan Abeylegesse Says She Never Doped And Wants Her “B” Sample Tested
• UK Writer Calls On IAAF To Do More To Restore Public Confidence In The Sport, Including Re-Testing All Frozen Samples He would also see the IAAF work with, rather than against, German journalist Hajo Seppelt. Talking about frozen re-tests, Seppelt said, “Why don’t the IAAF do retesting on every opportunity on every occasion? They say it is not so easy … but it is completely bullshit.”
• WADA President Craig Reedie Denies Claims He Said That WADA Would Go “Soft” On Russia The Daily Mail reported that Reedie told Russia’s Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko he wouldn’t do anything to “disrupt the pair’s friendship.”
• GB Sprinter Richard Kilty Feels Like He Faces An Unfair Advantage In Beijing Racing Against Dopers “It is very, very annoying. One: that you have to go out there and they have an unfair advantage over you. And two: they are taking all the publicity for all the wrong reasons. Of eight potential finalists, if you look on paper, at least five have failed tests.”
• Olympic Champ Discus Robert Harting And Two Other Germans Make Their Blood Results Public
• IAAF Elaborates On Previous Comments About UCI’s Anti-Doping Spending In Cycling “We wish to reiterate that there is strong collaboration between the two organisations …”
• Lamine Diack: “When the day comes where we no longer can believe what we see then sport is dead.”

IAAF To Use Paper-Based Voting To Elect New IAAF President On Wednesday This is due to many previous problems with the electronic voting system.

Sponsorship News

• MB: Tara Welling (formerly Erdman) signs with Sketchers!
• Jamaica’s World Junior 400H Champ Jaheel Hyde Signs Pro Contract With PUMA

2015 Worlds Start Next Saturday – Non-Distance News *Entries Released

• Britain’s Heptathlon Rivals Jessica Ennis-Hill And Katarina Johnson-Thompson Finally Get To See Who’s Best In Beijing In First Clash Since 2012
  *Katarina Johnson-Thompson Confident She Will Challenge For World Gold
  *Jessica Ennis-Hill Views Beijing As Vital Stepping Stone On Road To Rio
• Could We See The Unveiling Of The Next Usain Bolt In Beijing?  Names To Watch Article mentions Trayvon Bromell, Jenna Prandini and Zharnel Hughes.
• Q & A With Canadian Jav Record Holder Liz Gleadle, Who Is Dreaming Of Gold In Beijing
• A Trimmer & Faster Jacko Gil Will Be Competing In China At Age 20 He’s made a lot of changes after failing to make the CG final 8 last year.
• Jamaican 400 Hurdler Roxroy Cato Is Excited For Worlds And Has Been Training Great With Bershawn Jackson And Johnny Dutch
• Edino Steele Has Gone Off The Radar Due To Personal Problems, Won’t Be Competing At Worlds “I’m just going thru a ruff time in my life and I need a little space and time for my thoughts to gather. … Times like these [I] wanna be around my family to help me through this ruff time,” wrote Steele, who hasn’t even contacted his coach Glen Mills.
• Media Guide That Breaks Down Everything In Great Detail For Team Australia
• IAAF And adidas Will Have Fans Vote For Athlete Of The Day And Meet At 2015 Worlds
• The Guardian’s Ten Events Not To Miss At The World Athletics Championships In Beijing
• Nigeria’s 100m Champ Egwero Ogho-Ogene Is Left Off Worlds Team As Nigeria Is Running Low On Money He’s got a 10.15 SB (10.10w).

Zane Branson Is Laid To Rest In Kenya

• Stars Show Up As Zane Branson Is Laid To Rest In Kenya Wesley Korir, Edna Kiplagat, Mary Keitany, Florence Kiplagat, Patrick Makau, Emily Chebet, Wilson Chebet and Joyce Chepkirui were all there to pay their last respects to their manager.
• The Nation: Branson’s Family Donates Heart Equipment That Might Have Saved His Life To Kenyan Hospital

Make Sure Your Parents Walk

A Brisk Walk May Be All It Takes To Improve Our Ability To Think As We Age Old people who walked for 225 minutes a week were only a little smarter than those who did it for 75.

Worlds Didn’t Use To Almost Always Be Held In Asia (3 Out Of Last 5)

Journalist Takes A Trip Down Memory Lane And Recaps The 1st World Champs Held In Asia – Tokyo 1991 The track exceeded IAAF standards for hardness and was therefore great for sprinters.

Welcome To America (Officially)

LRCFour-Time NCAA Champion Sam Chelanga Became A U.S. Citizen On Friday

IAAF News

• IAAF Defends Its Anti-Doping Efforts And Says It’s $3 Million Per Year – “This is, without doubt, the highest proportion of annual budget of any equivalent sporting federation or organisation.”
• Seb Coe Gets Backing From 13 Caribbean Nations
• Coe Stretches Lead Over Bubka In Race To Become IAAF President

Olympic News: LA 2024

• USOC Confirm Los Angeles As Choice To Bid For 2024 Olympics
• IAAF: Sergey Bubka Gets Support From Four Countries As Coe Picks Up His First African Country Paraguay, Peru, Singapore and Thailand will vote for Bubka and Ghana for Coe.
• US Predicted To Finish Top Of The Medal Table In Rio 2016 With 99 Medals (46 Gold) China and Russia are predicted 2nd and 3rd.
• IOC Official Says She Will Jump In The Water At Rio 2016 To Prove It’s Safe And Not Polluted
• Rio 2016 Calls On Taxi Drivers To Sign Up For Online English Language Courses
• British Charity Blasts UK Government For Failing To Repay Money They Claim Is Owed To Charities And Communities Used To Fund London 2012

Doping News: Silver For Kara And Shalane?

• Kara Goucher And Shalane Flanagan Could Be Upgraded To World And Olympic Silver After IAAF Re-Tests The Daily Mail is reporting that Turkey’s Olympic/World silver medalist Elvan Abeylegesse is among the 28 athletes caught in IAAF re-tests from 2005 and 2007 Worlds. Abeylegesse would lose three silver medals and UK’s Jo Pavey would also be upgraded to a Worlds bronze.
  *MB: Kara Goucher to be upgraded to 2007 WC silver
  *MB: “Elvan Abeylegesse excluded from WCH squad due to last minute injury.” What a coincidence!
• Recommended Read: Open Letter From Doping Expert Michael Ashenden To Seb Coe Ashenden: “Does the IAAF pursue its anti-doping mandate with the same single-minded, all-consuming dedication that athletes adopt in their pursuit of winning? Based on what I saw in the leaked database, my view is No.”
  *Article With Synopsis Of The Letter *2nd Article
• Apparently Kip Keino Doesn’t Understand How Re-Testing Of Frozen Samples Works Keino: “Why should WADA and IAAF sanction athletes for doping issues taken in 2005 and 2007 now? Surely, can’t a way be found where decisions are taken immediately after tests are done as was the case with (Canadian) Ben Johnson in 1988?”
• Tour De France Winner Chris Froome Backs Mo Farah’s Release Of Blood Data He compares it to the release of “power data” in cycling.
  *MB: Chris Froome on PEDs in athletics
• Good Video Interview: Froome Urges Track To Follow Cycling’s Lead And Invest More Money In Anti-Doping UCI spends way more as a percentage than the IAAF.
• Ireland Independent: “Sebastian Coe’s pathetic statement on IAAF revelations is worrying.”
• Seb Coe Doesn’t Want Athletes To Be Pressured To Release Their Blood Data
• WADA President Craig Reedie Is Against Banning Entire Nations For Doping

More Big Thursday Headlines

• Did USATF Drop The Ball Again? Why Isn’t Discus Thrower Andrew Evans Going To Worlds? Evans finished 3rd at USAs and according to the USATF and IAAF qualification procedures, it appears he should be going to Worlds. However, 4th placer Rodney Brown was named to the team.
• Oscar Pistorius Likely To Be Released From Jail Next Week After Serving 10 Months Of His Five-Year Sentence He will live under house arrest and still faces an appeal by prosecutors as they fight to have his verdict be upgraded to murder, which would mean 15 years jail time instead of 5.

The Integrity Of The Sport Is At Stake – Mike Rossi Is A Marathon Cheat And Should Have Been DQed From The 2014 Lehigh Valley Marathon

LRC Investigates Lehigh Valley Got It Wrong: The Evidence Is Conclusive: Mike Rossi – The Viral Boston Marathon Dad – Is A Marathon Cheat And Should Never Have Been On The Starting Line In Boston In April, Mike Rossi gained international fame for his snarky response to a letter from his kids’ principal scolding him for taking them out of school for several days to watch Boston. A LetsRun.com investigation has revealed that Rossi’s principal was correct, the kids should never have been in Boston as the evidence is conclusive – their father didn’t legitimately qualify for the 2015 Boston Marathon. How confident are we that Rossi cut the course when he “ran” his 3:11:45 BQ qualifier at Lehigh Valley? Extremely. We’ll pay Mike Rossi $10,000 if he qualifies again in the next 12 months – and the qualifying time is 13+ minutes slower – 3:25.
*MB: Did Mike Rossi (viral marathon dad) cheat his way into Boston?