February 16, 2016 Homepage Archive

Post-Olympic Trials News

Good Read:Shalane Flanagan Q&A On Dehydration, Delirium, And Drama At The Olympic Trials Flanagan goes step-by-step through the race from reacting to Kellyn Taylor‘s move to teamwork with Amy Cragg and getting so dehydrated she needed an IV afterwards.
Meet The Last Place Finishers At The Olympic Marathon Trials: 149th Place Joanna Zeiger (3:23) And 105th Place Chris Barnicle (3:45) Zeiger is a 45-year-old who promised herself she’d finish after DNFing in 2012. Barnicle is a once 62-min. half runner who now works as a distributor for medical marijuana dispensaries.
*MB: Chris Barnicle = Greatest performance of the 2016 OTM
Chris Chavez The Sports Illustrated Writer Meets Chris Chavez The 2:17 Marathoner Two identical names in a close-knit running community, they each sometimes find themselves receiving credit for the other’s work. *MB: Chris Chavez (The Runner) vs Chris Chavez (The Reporter)
Luke Puskedra Talks About Being 4th; Says He’ll Try To Make Rio In the 10,000 If he doesn’t make the 10,000 team (and Galen Rupp sticks with the 10K/marathon double) then Puskedra will focus on Chicago again.
Marathoner Brandon Birdsong Proposes To His Girlfriend At Olympic Trials Finish Line
RW Graphical Analysis: How The OT Were Won

New Balance Indoor Grand Prix Full Results Race Videos

LRCMeseret Defar Announces Return In Style, Andrew Wheating Stays Undefeated, Nick Willis Cruises, Boris Berian Goes Fast & Dawit Seyaum Outkicks Brenda M

IAAF Non-Distance Recap:Kurt Roberts Throws World-Leading 21.57m In NBIGP Shot PutJenn Suhr won the PV in 4.82m after failing in an attempt at breaking her own WR.
Natasha Hastings Breaks Allyson Felix’s American 300m Record With 36.25 Seconds
Defar On Comeback Race: “This was the biggest race of my life.”
NBIGP OTB:Official Thread
Wheating Wins Again ~ 2:18 1000m
Boris Berian #6 all indoor 600m

More Weekend Indoor Action

Italy’s Half-Bearded High Jumper Gianmarco Tamberi Sets New National Record With 2.38m Elsewhere, Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim won a low-key HJ in 2.36m.
Dafne Schippers Runs The Fastest 60m Time In The World For Three Years With 7.00 She also tied the Dutch record of Nelli Cooman set 30 years ago in 1986 and moved up to 9th on the all-time lists.
*MB: MB:Dafne Schippers ties 60m Dutch record in Berlin (7.00)
Poland’s Ewa Swoboda Sets World Junior 60m Record With 7.07 The previous mark was 16 years old.
Belgium’s Pieter-Jan Hannes Sets 2,000m WL, But Misses NR With 5:04.33 The NR is 5:00.0 by Emiel Puttemans from 1973.
IAAF Indoor Weekend Round-Up Germany’s Kai Kazmirek Sets World-Leading Heptathlon Mark (6,111 Points) In distance action, Morocco’s 19-year-old Mostafa Smaili and Iceland’s Anita Hinriksdottir got 800m wins in 1:46.50 and 2:01.59.
UK’s Christopher Baker Clears New HJ PR With 2.36m

Olympic Marathon Trials Women *Results And Mile-By-Mile Splits

LRC Amy Cragg Gets Vengeance From 4th Place Finish 4 Years Ago, Desi Linden Runs Smart For 2nd And Shalane Flanagan Hangs On – Full Recap and Analysis link fixed Flanagan and Cragg pulled away early, but it took a toll on Flanagan, who barely kept it together and collapsed at the finish. Kara Goucher was a close 4th in 2:30:24 and Janet Bawcom 5th. Videos and more.

LA Times:Amy Cragg And Shalane Flanagan Work Together To Make U.S. Olympic Team
RW: For Kara Goucher, A Comeback Ends In Heartbreaking Fourth
MB: Kara Goucher unloads on Alberto Salazar, Galen Rupp and the NOP – “Justice is coming.”
Denver Post:Kara Goucher Goes Off On Her Former Coach

RAK Half In The Books *Results

Birhanu Legese Wins RAK Half Marathon In 60:40 After A Thrilling 7-Man Battle Over The Final Kilometer The top 4 men all finished within 1 second of each other as Legese beat a field that included Stanley Biwott (2nd), Leonard Komon (10th) and Wilson Kipsang (11th). For the women, Cynthia Limo moved to third on the all-time list with 66:04 as a record 6 women went under 67 minutes with Gladys Cherono 2nd (66:07).

Jumps / Throws

The Week That Was

LRC WTW: Time To Panic For Mary Cain? Doping In The Super Bowl, No Medal No Problem, Kenyan Rap Videos, Clayton Murphy Breaks 4 (By A Lot), Meet Randall Cunningham’s Daughter, And A US Marathoner Saves A Life What a week. So much to break down, including two amazing teen performances and one bad one. All of that and more, including our Performance of the Year by Adriana Nelson.

Is London 2017 In Trouble?

The Telegraph:London 2017 World Championships Thrown Into Turmoil As Managing Director Sally Bolton Quits She quit “following a bloody boardroom battle that had already claimed two other directors.”
Apparently They Quit Before They Were Forced Out After A Failed Power Battle With UKA Chairman Ed Warner They reportedly unsuccessfully attempted to overthrow Warner and assume control.
The Guardian:The Depleted London 2017 Board Warns Of Risk To Delivery Of World Championships Some feel there is conflict of interest since UKA chairman Ed Warner is also chairman of the 2017 board and that has led to some sponsorship issues/delays.

Some Interesting Doping News

MB:Canadian Marathoner Reid Coolsaet Reveals That Kenyans (And Those Training In Kenya) Get Advanced Notice For Out-Of-Competition Drug Tests And Drive To A Separate Site To Take Them Add Athletics Kenya to the list with the NFL and NBA for organizations where drug testing is a joke.
Suzy Favor Hamilton Calls Out Regina Jacobs For Doping In a very random and bizarre blog post, SFH ends with, “Hey Regina, since I aired all my dirty laundry, want to do the same and toss a few US championships my way?”
Better Late Than Never:Spain’s Sports Council Strips Doper Marta Dominguez Of Her Status As A Spanish Athlete
Cheating Is Everywhere: Lifetime Bans For Doped Racing Horses In Ireland We hope this ban extends to their “entourage” (owner, trainer, jockey) as well.

Drew Hunter And Armory Track Invite Photo Gallery

Father Time Stays Undefeated

LRCTeg Retires: We Remember The Six Greatest Moments In His Career & Show Some Awesome Old School Video While Tegenkamp may not have been the best of his generation, he helped usher American distance running into a new stratosphere and he’s the only American in US history ranked in the top 100 of the both the 1,500 and marathon. We rank his six most impressive accomplishments.

Distance News: Great Action Set For Stockholm Galan Tomorrow

IAAF Preview:Genzebe Dibaba Going For World Indoor Mile Record Tomorrow At Stockholm GalanAbeba Aregawi is also in the race; the 26-year-old record is 4:17.14 set by Romania’s Doina Melinte. other action includes Ayanleh Souleiman going for the 1,000m WR, Mohammed Aman vs. Amel Tuka and Adam Kszczot in the 800, and Yenew Alamirew, Yomif Kejelcha, Isiah Koech, Paul Kipsiele Koech in the 3K.
Did You Know?Famous Author Nicholas Sparks Was A Former HS Track Star Sparks, the author of The Notebook and Message in a Bottle, ran 1:52 in high school and split 1:50 in college before an Achilles injury forced him to quit.
Mo Farah Confirms He’ll Compete At Birmingham DL Meet Ahead Of Rio Games His next race is this weekend’s Glasgow Indoor GP 3,000.
Scottish Man Gets Lost In Freezing Temperatures During Genghis Khan Ice Marathon In Mongolia
*LRCWinter Running Archives

LetsJump.com

BBC Video On Germany’s “Blade Jumper” Who Is Trying To Get The IAAF To Allow Him To Compete In The Rio OlympicsMarkus Rehm has an 8.40m PB which would have won the London Games. He is not allowed to compete against able bodied athletes as the IAAF says his carbon fiber prosthetic gives him an advantage.
IAAF First Impressions Q&A With PV World Champion Shawn Barber Some random questions like his first toy, first downloaded app and first thing he learned to cook ramen noodles.
IAAF Inside Athletics Interview With US’s Four-Time World LJ Champ Dwight Phillips

Doping News

Athletics Kenya CEO Isaac Mwangi Temporarily Steps Down Over Bribery Allegations
Papa Diack Will Be Questioned By Senegal Investigators A warrant for his arrest has been issue by Interpol, but Senegal has refused to extradite him.
Russia Orders Athletes To Sign Anti-Doping Pledge To Compete At Russian Indoor Champs How many athletes will cross their fingers or roll their eyes while signing?
Kenya Anti-Doping Agency To Investigate Claims Against AK CEO Isaac Mwangi
Kenyan Government Says Its Putting Another $4.9 Million Towards Anti-Doping

LRC Yohan Blake Opens His Season With A 48.14-Second 400 In Jamaica (video included) Blake was the last finisher in the race won by Javon Francis in 46.21.

Wejo Is Proud:Weldon Kirui Loses Luggage, Gets New Pair Of Skechers From Race Organizers And Wins LA Marathon In 2:13 Ukraine’s Nataliya Lehonkova won the women’s race in 2:30.

The 2016 US Olympic Marathon Trials #Greatness Full Results And Mile Splits: Men *Women

LRC Full Recap America’s Next Great Marathoner Arrives As Galen Rupp Dominates Olympic Trials In Debut; Meb Keflezighi, Jared Ward Grab Final Two Spots On Team USA (updated) Rupp (2:11:12), Keflezighi (2:12:20) and Ward (2:13:00) is your team to Rio as Luke Puskedra (2:14:12) and Tyler Pennel (2:14:57) just miss out.

MiLive.com: Dathan Ritzenhein “Just In Shock” After Dropping Out Of Olympic Marathon Trials He said the cramping began about the nine-mile mark in his left calf, moved to his right and then his hamstrings.
Recommended Read: SI’s Tim Layden Writes About Trials Better Than Anyone Else “This should be cause for excitement. Barely a decade ago, U.S. distance running was abysmal and now there is a runner in red, white and blue talking bigger than Kenyans and bigger than Ethiopians. … But instead, there is not just a double, but also an ongoing investigation, veiled threats and the familiar and dogged specter of wrongdoing.”
LRC Meb Explains His Unfriendly Words And Gesture With Galen Rupp During The Marathon Trials – “It’s not a track, the road is o pen.” A little love was lost between Meb and Galen during the race. Meb tried to explain what happened.
RRW:Rupp, Cragg Prevail In Hot USA Olympic Trials Marathon
All Post-Race Videos

NCAA Weekend Action Results: BU ValentineHuskyISUSpireAll NCAA Results

Fastrack National InviteResults: Villanova’s Patrick Tiernan Runs An NCAA-Leading 7:48.55Robby Andrews won the 800 in 1:47.50.
*Cornell’s James Gowans Wins Mile Dual With Columbia’s Rob Napolitano As Both Run 3:58
Husky Classic: MB: Grant Fisher Runs 7:50.06 To Win Husky Classic 3K In A Close Finish He beat out Washington’s Izaic Yorks by .14 seconds. Allie Ostrander ran 8:54 to win the women’s race. Boise State’s David Elliott took the mile in 3:57.38 as the top 7 went sub-4 and Natalia Piliusina won the women’s (4:35.31).
*Edward Cheserek Runs World-Leading 13:35
*ResultsChelsea Blaase took the women’s 5K in 15:43.
ISU Classic: Elise Cranny Gets 4:38 Mile Win In Her Return To Racing Was her first race since outdoors last year. Also on Saturday, Akron’s Worlds qualifier Clayton Murphy ran 1:46.13 to beat NCAA champ Edward Kemboi.
Justyn Knight Runs 7:48.71 To Beat Out Sean McGorty By .08
*Results Both 5Ks were very close as Thomas Curtin ran 13:37 to beat out Marc Scott by .24 and Molly Seidel won from Anna Rohrer in 15:47. *Video Recap
Spire: MB:ERIN FINN Solos A 15:38 At SPIRE Invy
*Results

BU Valentine: Results Friday winners included GB’s Lynsey Sharp (800 – 2:00.30), Amanda Eccleson (mile – 4:26.88) as the top 4 broke 4:30, Christina Melian (5,000 – 15:48) and Jessica O’Connell running 8:56 to beat Ashley Higginson and Emma Bates. Saturay: Amed Bile (7:51), Joel Hubbard (3:58) and Drew Piazza (2:21.97 – 1,000).
Raven Saunders Breaks Collegiate Indoor Shot Put Record With 19.23m
Event-By-Event Top NCAA Marks From The Weekend

Doping Updates: Kenya On WADA Probation

Kenya Placed On Probation By WADA After Missing Anti-Doping Deadline Kenya had been given until Thursday to provide WADA with details/assurances about formation of it’s own anti-doping agency, but failed to do so.
BBC Video On Kenyan Drug Issue With Athletes Anonymously Admitting To Doping
The Telegraph:“Kenya Faces Threat Of Olympic Ban Over Failure To Deal With Drug Problem”
MB:Kenya to be banned from Rio Olympics
Seb Coe Accuses Nestle Of Hypocrisy After Ending Million Dollar IAAF Sponsorship “Clearly it wasn’t a decision made about reputation because, since 2001, they’ve been the global partner to the Tour de France.”
Seb Coe Says The IAAF Legal Team “Will Be Tough” With Nestle
IAAF Task Force Will Do Third Visit To Moscow Next Week To Check On Russian Anti-Doping Progress

IAAF Doping / Corruption News

Daily Mail Reports That Seb Coe Received Illegal Help From Nick Davies During His Campaign For IAAF President Coe and his team don’t deny that Davies (then IAAF deputy general secretary) sent secret emails under a fake name to giving information to help Coe’s campaign.
Nestle Ends IAAF Sponsorship Over Doping Scandal Nestle ended it’s sponsorship of IAAF global Kids Athletics program one year early.
Seb Coe Said He Was “Angered And Dismayed” By The Announcement “We will not accept it. It’s the kids who will suffer.”
IAAF Publishes List Of Currently Suspended Russian Athletes 4,027 athletes who can’t compete internationally until Russia is reinstated to the IAAF.
WADA Approves Deal For UK Anti-Doping To Take Charge Of Drug Testing In Russia

Distance Odds ‘N’ Ends

Steve Magness Shares Some Training Advice: “A Case For Running By Feel – Ditching Your GPS Because Of Ecological Psychology” Running “by feel” is something LRC’s Rojo (from mentor JK) constantly preached to athletes while coaching at Cornell and is largely what Wejo credits his huge post-collegiate improvements.
Recently Engaged? Want To Watch The Olympic Trials? Run The LA Marathon Apparently in honor of Valentines Day, LA is offering couples running or spectating the chance to get married or renew their vows on the course.
2:22 Marathoning Dad And His 11-Month-Old Daughter Smash Stroller Half Marathon WRCalum Neff ran 71:27, breaking the old mark by more than 2 minutes.
*MB:Calem Neff needs to be mentioned in the next Week the Was
Is This The Future Of Running Shoes? Custom 3D Printed Shoes Designed Individually For Each Person’s Foot

LRC Book Review

LRCBook Review: "JOCK: A Memoir Of The Counterculture" By Robert Coe - An Engaging Journey Of Running And Self-Discovery At Stanford In The '60s And '70s

What was it like to be a Stanford runner from 1968 to 1972, during the height of the counterculture? Coe tells you and and nothing is off limits. Coe's stories range from racing Gerry Lindgren and Steve Prefontaine in the legendary 1969 PAC-8 XC Champs to smoking weed with the Stanford football team and Olympic swimmers at his fraternity house. Though his running career was ultimately not successful, this book certainly is. It's getting great reviews on amazon and we agree, giving it 4.5 out of 5 stars. Purchase here.

Fears Over Zika Virus Continue To Grow

We Doubt It Would Come To This:Kip Keino Says Kenya Could Not Send Athletes To Rio Due To Zika Virus Keino: “Obviously, we are not going to risk taking Kenyans there if this Zika virus reaches epidemic levels.”
*MB:Kenya open to possibility of not sending athletes to Rio over Zika
USOC Denies Telling Athletes To Consider Skipping Rio 2016 Over Zika Virus Apparently the USOC said athletes shouldn’t go “if they don’t feel comfortable going.”

Drew Hunter’s Training Exposed

LRC Meet The Elementary School PE Teacher Who Is The Mastermind Behind America’s Greatest Prep Distance Runner Tom Schwartz (aka “Tinman” on the message boards) has a training philosophy that is LetsRun.com approved. Will it help Hunter break 4 on Saturday? *Schedule / Results / Streaming
*MB:Get the inside scoop on Drew Hunter’s training – LetsRun’s feature on Tom “Tinman” Schwartz

Sprint Q&A: Jeremy Wariner

LRCWhat’s Jeremy Wariner Doing Working At Jimmy John’s? 7 Questions With The Olympic Legend Wariner posted online that he was now a general manager at a Jimmy John’s sandwich restaurant. We wondered if it could be that one of the greatest 400m sprinters of all time was retiring, so we reached out to see what was up.
*MB: Is Jeremy Wariner’s investment in Jimmy John’s smart?

Updated NCAA Rankings

Arkansas Men Move From 8th To First To Take Over Updated DI Rankings Tennessee moved from 7th to 2nd and #1 Florida to 10th. This is the first week where 2015 marks don’t count.
Florida Women Move From 4th To The New #1-Ranked NCAA Team Oregon moved from 3rd to 2nd and top-ranked Arkansas is now 4th.

Doping Updates: Russia, Kenya, NOP And The MLB

The Guardian’s Sean Ingle:“Isn’t It Time For An Independent Commission Into Kenyan Athletics’ Drug Problem?” The time was probably quite a while ago.
Mets Pitcher Jenrry Mejia Gets Lifetime Ban For Testing Positive For The 3rd Time In 2 Years (He Wasn’t Even Done With His Previous Ban Yet) He is the first player in MLB history to get a lifetime ban for steroid use.
Nothing Like Investigating Yourself:Russian Report Finds “Not A Single Piece Of Evidence” Government Was Involved In State-Supported Doping Well then by all means un-ban them immediately! Issue a full apology. This has all been a terrible mistake!
Former Russian Anti-Doping Chief Nikita Kamayev Dies Suddenly Of A Heart Attack The 52-year-old resigned 2 months ago in wake of the Russian doping scandal. His death comes just 2 weeks after that of RUSADA founding chairman, Vyacheslav Sinev. *BBC
Seb Coe Meets With New Russian Athletics Federation Head Dmitry Shlyakhtin To Discuss Doping Ban
Oregonian’s Ken Goe Is Critical Of Kara Goucher’s “Justice Is Coming” Interview Goe: “The marathon trials stories should have been about the performances.”
*MB: Kara Goucher unloads on Alberto Salazar, Galen Rupp and the NOP – “Justice is coming.”

International Distance Results

Geoffrey Kamworor Wins In Battle With Bedan Karoki At Kenyan XC ChampionshipsAlice Aprot (sister of 2010 World XC champ Joseph Ebuya) won the women’s race as favorite Faith Kipyegon finished way back, running through illness.
IAAF Indoor Weekend Round-Up:Poland’s Adam Kszczot Wins 800 In 1:46.18 Over Timothy Kitum (1:46.72) And Mohammed Aman (1:47.24) Women’s 1,500 and 800 world leads went to Renata Plis (4:07.38) and Joanna Jozwik (2:00.12). Elsewhere, Asafa Powell set a 60m PR and world lead with 6.49 in Houston.
Florence Kiplagat Gets Third Consecutive Barcelona Half Marathon Win Her time of 69:19 was well off the 65:09 WR she set here last year. Vincent Kipruto won the men’s race in 62:54.
Seán Hehir And Shona Heaslip Dominate Ireland Inter-Count XC Champs

Trials Talk

Sprint Stuff: Adidas Putting Its $ In NFL Rather Than IAAF

Adidas Offers $1 Million To Any NFL Draft Prospect Who Breaks The 40-Yard Dash Record At The 2016 NFL Combine Catch is you have to do it in adidas cleats. The current record is held by Arizona Cardinals RB Chris Johnson, who ran 4.24-seconds in 2008.
Video:New Commercial Has Usain Bolt Coaching Boy Sprinter
USATF Q&A With Aries Merritt Merritt walks us through the highs and lows from 2012 Olympic champ/WR setter, to his kidney disease and surgery to his comeback now.
Texas 400 Runner Courtney Okolo And NC State LJer Jonathan Addison Are NCAA Athletes Of The Week Okolo ran a 51.16 world leader while Addison jumped 8.17m to tie the US lead.
IAAF First Impressions Q&A With GB’s European 100H Champ Tiffany Porter Her first races were beating the boys on the streets of her apartment complex as a 6-year-old.

More Scandals In Kenya?

Two Kenyan Sprinters Caught Doping At 2015 Worlds Accuse AK Official Of BriberyJoy Sakari and Francisca Koki Manunga say say chief executive Isaac Mwangi asked them each for a $24,000 bribe to reduce their 4-year bans.
*IAAF Ethics Commission Is Investigating
Three Arrested In Kenya For Falsely Posing As WADA Officials These con men told athletes they needed to pay them $5,000 in exchange for not testing positive.
Kenyan Officials Say They Are Not Boycotting Rio Games Over Zika Virus They say Kip Keino‘s quotes may have been taken out of context.

European News – RIP To A London Marathon Legend

RIP London Marathon Co-Founder John Disley, 87 Disley designed the London Marathon course and as an athlete won steeple bronze at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. *BBC Tribute
Paris 2024 Unveil Eiffel Tower Inspired Olympic Logo
Jessica Ennis’ Coach Wants GB’s 2016 Training Camp Moved Out Of Brazil Due To Zika Fears

Drew Hunter Does It ResultsLRC Photo Gallery*Race Video

LRC3:58.25! Drew Hunter Becomes Second Sub-4:00 High Schooler In The Mile Indoors Thanks To 57-Second Final 400

Move over, Alan Webb. Drew Hunter is the fastest indoor high school miler in the US ever. In other action, Marielle Hall blasted the final lap to win the 3k over Sheila Reid in 8:54 as Jordan Hasay and Nicole Tully in 6th and 7th didn’t break 9:00, Ajee Wilson won the 800 in a close 2:02.15 over Laura Roesler and Lynsey Sharp, and Robby Andrewswon the 800 in 1:48.43. Gabriela Stafford won the women’s mile in 4:29.07, beating out NJ-NY’s Erin Donohue (4:29.67).

Alan Webb Gives His Thoughts On Drew Hunter’s Quest In Washington Post Good read.
Did You Know Drew Hunter Wasn’t The Fastest Teenager In The Race? 19-year-old Aussie Morgan McDonald was 4th in 3:57.83
Jamaican 4 X 200 Sets A NR Jamaica also had a distance win from Kemoy Campbell in the 3,000 (7:55).
The Drew Hunter Cam:Separate Race Video Focusing On Drew Hunter’s 3:58
LRCMeet The Elementary School PE Teacher Who Is The Mastermind Behind America’s Greatest Prep Distance Runner
MB: Andrew MF Hunter!!!! 3:58.25!!
MB:How many other people think Hunter should consider going pro in June and stick with Tinman?
MB:Does Hunter deserve to be in the A-heat Wanamaker after today’s performance?

2016 World Indoors Are Next Month

LRCWorld Indoors Is Less Than Seven Weeks Away; Which Americans Have The Standard? A number of Americans have the standard in the 1,500 and 3,000, but only two men (Boris Berian and Donavan Brazier) and three women (Ajee Wilson, Treniere Moser and Charlene Lipsey) have it in the 800.