March 11, 2016 Homepage Archive

2016 USAs Results Schedule Combined USA / NCAA Schedule TV / Streaming

MB:Official 2016 USATF Indoor Track And Field Champs Live Discussion Thread

LRC W 3,000: Shannon Rowbury Battles Emily Infeld, Shelby Houlihan, Marielle Hall & Abbey D’Agostino Infeld and Houlihan are among the favorites, but neither will be going to Worlds as they don’t have the standard. You heard that right – somehow a 15:00 5k runner who has a World 10k medal doesn’t have the 9:00 standard. Only Rowbury, Hall, D’Agostino and Lauren Paquette have the World Indoor standard of 9:00.

LRCM 3,000: Galen Rupp, Ryan Hill, Evan Jager, Hassan Mead, Eric Jenkins & More Square Off In A LOADED Field This is most definitely the race of the meet. Can Rupp accomplish the unthinkable and make the 3k team less than a month after winning the Olympic Marathon Trials? He’ll have to beat a tremendous field that also includes Garrett Heath and 41-year-old defending World Indoor silver medalist Bernard Lagat.

RRW:For Shannon Rowbury, USA Indoors Is A Chance To Look Past Doping Scandals “God willing, can have another shot at an Olympic medal that I can have the right way.”
USATF Indoor Press Conference Highlights Hear from Shannon Rowbury, Ajee Wilson, Trayvon Bromell and more.
Good News, Rupp Fans:There Will Only Be 1 Heat At USAs
Bad News, Rupp Fans:Salazar Admits It’s Been A Quick Turnaround
*MB:Salazar admits it’s been a quick turnaround for Rupp: “There have been ups and downs.”

Previous LRC Previews:M 800 *W 800 *M 1,500 *W 1,500

The Week That Was

WTW Meet Germany’s Teen Phenom, How Not To Run A Marathon, The End Of The Diamond League In New York, And Praise For Doper Maria Sharapova We introduce you a German teen sensation and try to figure out if she’s most like Cain,Efraimson, Hasay and Ostrander, prove to you that it’s a real bad idea to just go for it in a race, talk about the end of NY Diamond League, and do something we almost never do – praise a doper.

World Indoors Are Next Week

UK Team For World Half Champs Named – Mo Farah Obviously Leads The Way

Double Standard Or Just Business As Usual?

LRCUnbelievable: The 2016 NYRR Millrose Games Wasn't A USATF-Sanctioned Meet

Just over a month ago, USATF told us that Rachel McFarlane couldn't run in the Olympic Marathon Trials as her qualifier didn't come in a USATF-sanctioned event, even if we paid the sanctioning fee ourselves. A month later, someone failed to secure a sanction for the crown jewel of the US Indoor season - the NYRR Millrose Games - but all of the marks will count.

Distance Stuff

Jerry Schumacher Reveals He Had A Slight Hesitation When Shalane Flanagan Wanted To Join His Training Group As At The Time It Was All Male Schumacher: “In the first couple months Shalane contacted us. I was like, ummmm. … But it worked out well.”
Evan Jager Thinks Tactics Will Be Crucial To Give Him A Chance To Medal Against The Kenyans In The Steeple At Rio 2016 Jager will be work on those tactics at USAs this weekend.
The Daily Relay: “Whose Career Would You Rather Have, Meb Or Rupp? Spoiler Alert: They go with Meb.
Mo Farah Officially Announced In UK Squad For World Half Marathon Champs On March 26th Farah will face a stacked field which will include Geoffrey Kamworor and Zersenay Tadese. *Video Interview With Farah
Genzebe Dibaba Will Only Run The 3,000 At World Indoors

More Distance Results From The Weekend

Wilfred Kimitei (60:38) And Valentine Kipketer (69:05) Get Victories At First Lady’s Half Marathon In Kenya Both races were close as they won by two and four seconds respectively.
Kenya’s Cyprian Kotut (61:04) And Ethiopia’s Dibabe Kuma (69:19) Win Paris Half Marathon
Ryunosuke Hayashi Wins Japan National University Men’s Half Marathon Title He ran 63:07 to beat two competitors by only 1 second. The top 7 were separated by only 7 seconds.
98-Year-Old Sets World Indoor 1500 Record With 16:32Orville Rogers now has every indoor record from 800 up in the 95-99 age-group. *Race Video

Financial/Legal News

Oregon Lawmakers Approve Hotel Tax Increase That Could Help Subsidize 2021 Eugene World Champs The tax increase passed with two narrow, last-minute votes could mean a $25 million state subsidy for Eugene 2021.
Nick Symmonds Lawsuit Against USATF/USOC Could Have Implications In Canada Apparently it isn’t just the US where national federations try to use Rule 50 to create a monopoly on advertising at championships.

Is Russia Doing Anything To Change? Did Nike Bribe Athletics Kenya Officials?

German Broadcaster ARD Still Going Strong, Will Air New Documentary Tonight Which “Casts Doubt Over Russia’s Willingness To Clean Up Drug Problem” The video reportedly shows a banned coach still working with athletes and a Russian official selling drugs.
NY Times Report On Kenyan Officials Taking $500,000 In Bribes From Nike Nike paid AK a “commitment bonus” as part of their sponsorship deal, but insiders allege Nike meant it as a bribe to the three officials who ended up pocketing it.
*MB: NY Times: Kenyan officials being investigated for taking $500,000 in Nike money
adidas Denies Ending IAAF Sponsorship Deal Over Doping Scandal They say they haven’t terminated their contract and will “watch very closely” what the IAAF does about doping.
Tokyo 2020 Chief Confident Organisers Will Overcome “Hurdles” Amid Corruption ProbeToshiro Muto: “Tokyo 2020 considers that the allegation is beyond our understanding.”

Nick Willis Opens Up On Porn

Nick Willis After Winning 2013 Fifth Avenue Mile Nick Willis Talks About Porn Addiction & Being Porn Free For 2.5 Years and How It’s Helped His Marriage Nick’s post on Facebook is getting a lot of press.
*Editorial: “It takes guts to do what he has done – not just in being public about it, but in facing his own fragility.”
*Discuss

In The USA

Five Masters World Sprint Records Go Down At Day 2 Of USATF Masters Indoor ChampsOrville Rogers became the first M90 athlete in history to run the 1,500m, finishing in 16:32.19.
Indiana Tech Men And Wayland Baptist Women Win NAIA National Titles

$200,106 LRC Running Warehouse Trials Prediction Contest Recap

LRCGirl Power! A 13-Year-Old Wins LRC Running Warehouse Marathon Trials Prediction Contest There’s a new generation in the running ranks. 13-year-old Kate Kowalik won our contest and her 11-year-old sister finished in the top 10. Take that, LRC Nation.

Distance News Of Note

Upcoming Action

March 26th:World Record Holder Zersenay Tadese Joins Field For World Half Marathon Championships With Mo Farah and Geoffrey Kamworor previously announced, this is shaping up to be an amazing race.
April 10th:2:05 Man Levy Omari Matebo Vs. Robert Chemosin (59:19 Half) Will Highlight Vienna City Marathon
May 7th:Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Will Face World 200 Silver Medalist Elaine Thompson At Kingston World Challenge Meet

2016 NCAAs Results Schedule Combined USA / NCAA Schedule Streaming

LetsRun.comEvent Previews: M 800 *W 800 *W Mile *M Mile *W 3K/5K *M 3k/5k *M DMR*W DMR *Men’s Team Analysis*Women’s Team Analysis

MB: Official 2016 NCAA Indoor Track And Field Live Discussion Thread

Press Conference Highlights LRC The Birmingham CrossPlex Facility Is Spectacular, Edward Cheserek Likely Won’t Anchor The DMR And Donavan Brazier Doesn’t Rule Out A Collegiate Record In The 800 There is a buzz in the air in Birmingham as several collegiate marks could fall this weekend.
*MB: Donavan Brazier doesn’t rule out a collegiate record performance at his first NCAA champs!!

Patrick Tiernan withdraws from NCAA 3k
Recommended Read:Newsweek Magazine Profiles Allie Ostrander, Whom They Call “America’s Next Running Phenom” This piece is excellent as you learn all about what makes Ostrander tick.
*MB: Incredible profile in Newsweek on Allie Ostrander
Ole Miss Sophomore Raven Saunders Is Still Just 19 But Heavily Favored For NCAA Title #13 In Shot Put The HS indoor and outdoor national record holder was 2 for 2 last year at NCAAs.
A Look At What The Top Collegiate Programs Are Feeding Their Runners Now That They Can Give Them Unlimited Stuff Univ. of Oregon offers Generation UCan, a Letsrun sponsor, to its athletes.

USAs Are This Weekend, But World Indoors Comes To Portland Next

Greg Rutherford Pulls Out Of World Indoors With Chest Infection
British Athletics Defends Decision To Not Send IAAF Invited Athletes To Portland The UKA motto is if you can’t win, don’t bother trying.
IAAF Looks Back At USA’s First Gold Medal At A World Indoor Championships In 1985Diane Dixon won the 400 as a 20-year-old and became known as the “Indoor Queen.”
Defending HJ Bronze Medalist Ruth Beitia Leads Spain’s Team For World Indoors
Multis And Relay Fields Announced For World Indoors

Previous US Indoors News

Marquise Goodwin Talks To USATF About His Olympic LJ Dreams While A Member Of The Buffalo Bills
Plenty Of Seats Remain For USA Indoors Fewer remain for Worlds.
The Daily Relay Reminds Us That This Isn’t The First Time The US Hosted World Indoors (scroll down) In 1987, it was in Indy and it featured a dominant win by Ben Johnsonin the 60m and a horrendous hurdle collision.
Ken Goe Praises Oregon Legislators For Raising State Lodging Tax From 1% To 1.8% To Pay For World Outdoors
Ken Goe Takes A Look At The Comeback Of Emily Infeld, Who Is Ready For 3k At USAs “The 3,000 is a little short for me, but I always want to win.”
Eric Jenkins Says He Made Tactical Mistakes Which Cost Him In Millrose 3k

There Will Be A New Meet In Jamaica

Glen Mills’s Dream Comes True – A New Meet – Racers Grand Prix – Will Be Held June 6th In Jamaica And Usain Bolt Promises To Put On A Show Bolt and his Racers teammates, which include Yohan Blake, Warren Weir and Zharnel Hughes have all confirmed for the meet. *Reuters Article

Carl Lewis Helps You Get Over Hump Day

MB: Two AMAZING articles on Carl Lewis – Carl Lewis thinks Coe should (temporarily) step down and says current state of lj is “pathetic”
Lewis Calls Long Jump “The Worst Event In The World” And Says Greg Rutherford’s Best Performances Are “Pathetic”
Carl Lewis Wants Seb Coe To Temporarily Step Aside And Allow Doping Mess To Be Taken Care Of And Then Come Back “I think Seb Coe is smart enough, he’s a great guy who can do this,” Lewis said Tuesday. “But at the end of the day, when you’re talking about drugs and issues like this, you’re talking about credibility. If he was willing to step aside, and let someone independent come in and really clean this up, he’d be the perfect guy to come back in and run it.”

More Sprint/Jump News

Even More Drug News: Jos Hermens And Alysia Montano Speak

Interesting Read:Jos Hermens Defends His Reputation After Abeba Aregawi Positive: “I have never been involved or assisted any athlete at any time to dope.” Some interesting quotes from Hermens, who calls Aregawi’s husband a “f*cking lunatic” and explains why a lot of Africans don’t care if they get banned for 4 years for doping as long as they win a lot of money first.
Alysia Montano Says Tyson Gay And Justin Gatlin Should Be Banned From Competing At The Olympics“Excuses are like – well, you know what the saying is. … These people just want to play the naive card and we’re too old for that. We’re not in pre-school. Sorry. … I don’t care if that’s a bold statement, it’s true.”
Three-Time Dutch 60m National Champ And Record Holder Brian Mariano Provisionally Suspended After Failing Drug Test

Two More Bite The Dust?

LRCShannon Rowbury Shares Her Thoughts On 2012 Olympic 1,500 Final – “These Cheaters Rob People Like Me And My Competitors Of Medals” 4 of the 6 women who finished ahead of the American record holder at 1,500 at the 2012 Olympics have been linked to doping.

Turkey’s 2012 Olympic 1,500 Silver Medalist Gamze Bulut And World Junior Marathon Recorder Holder Tsegaye Mekonnen Reportedly Fail Drug Tests Bulut, who has raced sparingly since 2012, has apparently been caught by a radical biological passport profile. Ethiopia’s Mekonnen is famous for his 2:04:32 debut as a 19-year-old at the 2014 Dubai Marathon.
*MB:2012 London Olympic 1500 silver/gold medalist Gamze Bulut being investigated for ABP abnormalities

LetsJump.com

Good Read:Milesplit Profile On High Schooler Vashti Cunningham, Who At 18 Years Old Is The Favorite For US Indoors This Weekend And To Make The Olympics Cunningham is the daughter of NFL legend Randall Cunningham, who also coaches her. Vashti has cleared 1.95m this season and might go pro as early as this spring.
Video Documentary:“Leap Year: A Look At Collegiate Jumping” The 63-minute video follows the long and triple jumpers at the University of New Mexico through the 2014-2015 season.
IAAF First Impressions Q&A With US Pole Vaulter Demi Payne +1 for the the Sports Gene. Payne’s dad was a 5.86m pole vaulter (former collegiate record holder) and her mom a basketball player for Baylor.
Poland Names Its Team For World Indoors, Led By Defending HJ Champ Kamila Licwinkio Licwinko actually tied for the gold 2 years ago with Russia’s Mariya Kuchina. But she won’t have to compete against Kuchina this time thanks to the Russian ban.
Ashton Eaton Will Focus On The 60m And LJ At US Indoors This Weekend

Latest On The Abeba Aregawi Doping Story

Recommended Read:Swedish Coach Per Synnerman Says Swedish Officials Need To Take Responsibility For The Abeba Aregawi Situation(translated) Synnerman says those in charge fought for her citizenship despite warning signs like her “sham” marriage because they wanted medals. Now they want to wash their hands of it without taking any blame.
Authorities After Former Turkish Man Who Is Suspected As The Person Who Sold Abeba Aregawi Drugs In EthiopiaMetin Sazak is a former Turkish distance runner, now coach and allegedly drug dealer.

Non-Distance Action

Teenage Pole Vaulter Eliza McCartney Sets Oceanian Record With 4.80m At New Zealand Champs It is the best mark ever by a teenager and 11th on the all-time lists. In the shot put, Tom Walsh beat out rival Jacko Gill (21.11m to 20.23m).
Renaud Lavillenie Vaults World-Leading 6.03m At The Jablonec Indoor Gala In Czech Republic
Valerie Adams Wins Her 14th NZ National Shot Put Title World University Games champion Angie Petty took both the 1,500 and 800.
Richard Kilty Bounces Back From False Start At GB Champs To Run The Second-Fastest 60m Of The Year He won the Jablonec Indoor Gala in 6.50 seconds.

Talent Doesn’t Go Away – Even When You Are 76

Ed Burke Sets WR At USATF Masters Champs Burke, who is famous for being the US flagbearer in 1984 at age 44, is still going strong at age 76. *2016 USATF National Masters Indoor Results

Sprint News

Doping Updates: Aregawi Trying To Get Off On A Technicality

Abeba Aregawi And Manager Jos Hermens Trying To Save Her With A Loophole(translated) Her positive test came from January 12th and meldonium (the drug she tested positive for) was only banned on January 1st, so they are saying she could have taken it before it was banned. However, one expert says it wouldn’t stay in the system that long. Also interesting, she apparently had a 3-day warning that the out-of-competition test was coming.
Blame The Foreigners:Swedish Journalists Visit Ethiopia To Investigate: Source Reveals Several Russian And Ukrainian Doctors Have Been Arrested For Drug Distribution(translated) It sounds like the Ethiopian federation is going the Kenyan route and trying to blame foreigners for the current drug issues.
UKA Asking Athletes To Sign A “Drug Vow” Ahead Of World Indoors By signing, they agree that they “will never represent their country again if they take drugs”.
UKA Head Neil Black Says They’re “Really Comfortable” With British Stars Training In Ethiopia In Spite Of Recent Doping Scandals Black said that Mo Farah and the other athletes who trained there for 6 weeks this winter were “fully supervised.”
Kenya’s Proposed New Anti-Doping Law Delayed After It Was Due To Be Presented On Monday The law will criminalize doping and set up funding for the new Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya. WADA has given them an April 5th deadline to get it straightened out.
Rio Organizing Committee President Insists That Drug-Testing Lab Will Be Operational In Time For The Olympics Brazil’s lab lost its accreditation in 2013 after failing to meet standards.

Dreams Do Become Reality

LRC Meet The Most Interesting Man In NCAA Running: He’s 5’9″, Can Dunk A Basketball And In One Year Has Gone From 4:17 To The #3 Time In NCAA History: Meet Oklahoma State’s Josh ThompsonJosh Thompson of Oklahoma State has a unique and cool story.

Our Prediction Contests Go Indoors For The First Time Ever

LRC$20,016 USA/NCAA Running Warehouse Distance Prediction Contest What’s the track fan supposed to do this weekend with both USA Indoors and NCAA Indoors? Play in the LetsRun.com Running Warehouse Indoor Prediction Contest that has the USA Indoor distance events + some of the top NCAA events. In a LRC first, we have excluded the USA men’s 800m from the contest.

See Who The LetsRun.com Nation Is FavoringMB: It’s Official: Ryan Hill The Huge Favorite In Tonight’s 3,000m: LRC Running Warehouse Predictions Galen Rupp is the #2 choice, but Matthew Centrowitz is the biggest favorite of the weekend.

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Random Stuff On The Boards

Top US Stars In The News

Luke Puskedra And Wife Thank The Running Community For Donating $73,000 To Their Daughter’s Cancer Battle Thanks really should go to the baby’s grandmother, who insisted they get an ultrasound.
Aries Merritt At Full Speed After Kidney Transplant “Now I have a real body again and it is because of (my sister). If I win gold I will tell her ‘We did it.'”
2008 Olympic 110H Silver Medalist David Payne Is On Comeback Trail After Missing All Of 2014 And 2015 After Shattering His Femur Payne won’t be at US or World Indoors, however.
Ashton Eaton Talks About Receiving A Call From Caitlyn Jenner After Winning Gold In Beijing Jenner is long-time friends with Eaton’s coach Harry Marra.

Doping News

Inventor Of Meldonium Says Ban Of His Drug Will Result In Deaths “We will see many deaths on the field … This drug was on the market for 32 years – as a self-protective agent – and now suddenly it becomes forbidden …”
WADA President Craig Reedie Confident Kenya Will Be At Rio Games
Former WADA President Dick Pound Says Russia Is Running Out Of Time For Rio

News On The Corruption Front

Educate Yourself Watch The English Version Of The Latest ARD Doping Documentary – “Russia’s Red Herrings”

Abebe Aregawi B Sample Is Positive We’re pleased to see that Aregawi has admitted to taking the drug and supposed a doctor is in jail.
Alan Abrahamson Rips Media For Acting Like The Olympics Are Going To Be A Disaster 5 Months Before Every Single Olympics We agree.
Kenyan Authorities Are Demanding Answers From Nike Over Alleged Athletics Kenya Corruption “Why was such a huge sum of money paid as commitment?” said one of the detectives. “It’s only Nike who can tell us.”
UK Athletics Head Says Lord Sebastian Coe Will “Face Ridicule If He Lifts Russia Ban” Before Olympics After Latest ARD Report We still don’t think it will happen (even if it probably should). Money talks. Can someone imagine the financial hit to NBC if it was the USA that was banned?
Four More Russian Athletes Test Positive For Meldonium

Russian-Related Doping Headlines

Maria Sharapova Tests Positive For Meldonium, The Same Drug Which Caught Abeba Aregawi She admitted to taking the drug since 2006, saying she didn’t know it was banned and had it prescribed by a doctor. The fallout has been quick as Nike already “suspended its relationship” with her, but her lawyer is hoping that she won’t get any sanction.
*MB:Sharapova busted for meldonium
*MB:What do we know about meldonium (drug Aregawi was busted for)?
UKA Chairman Ed Warner Says Seb Coe Will “Face Ridicule” If He Lifts Russian Ban Before Rio He wants the IAAF to rule Russia out of the Games this week and “end the uncertainty.”
WADA “Dismayed” By Latest Doping Allegations Against Russia In New ARD Report WADA president Craig Reedie: “At a time when trust in sport is wafer-thin these troubling assertions will do little to reinforce confidence in the Russian anti-doping system.”
Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko Says Russia Is “Doing Everything Possible” And Will Investigate Latest Report Elsewhere, he’s quoted dismissing the ARD report as a political attack.
IAAF Task Force Investigating Latest Allegations
*IAAF Task Force Will Address IAAF Council On Friday

The Russian Doping Trilogy

Third ARD Report Says Russia’s Efforts To Clean Up Doping Have Been “Mere Lip Service” As Culture Of Doping Continues Undercover journalists found a banned coach still working with athletes and a Russian official selling drugs. It also shared documents claiming that a newly elected leader of RUSADA previously gave athletes advanced warnings about drug tests.
IAAF Statement “Thanking” ARD And Hajo Seppelt And Saying It Will Look Into The Latest Accusations The IAAF/Seb Coe have come a long way from accusing ARD of “declaring war” on the sport.
AP Article With Some More Specifics
Russian Whistleblower Yuliya Stepanova Wants To Compete At The Olympics Under The Olympic Flag Stepanova and her husband fled Russia and have applied for political asylum in Canada. The IAAF will consider her request at a meeting this week.
The Guardian’s Sean Ingle Argues For Keeping Russia Banned From The Rio Games He also thinks the situations in Kenya and Ethiopia should be “more in the firing line.”
Banned Russian Coach Vladimir Kazarin Denies The Accusations And Accuses USA Of Using Political Influence Against Russia “The USA controls politics and sport. … If we are banned, then all these medals will go to the USA and Great Britain.”

Distance: David Rudisha Opens His Season

David Rudisha Wins Season Opener In 1:44.78 20-year-old Aussie Luke Matthews had a massive PR to finish 2nd in 1:45.16. Two OQs in the women’s steeple plus a Ryan Gregson win in the 1,500. *Results*Race Videos
*IAAF Melbourne Recap After winning NZ champs on Friday, Tom Walsh flew to Australia on Saturday to win the SP here in 20.87m.
Lucas Rotich Wins Lake Biwa Marathon With 2:09:11 In Warm Conditions In the final men’s Olympic selection race, three Japanese men went sub-2:10, led by Hisanori Kitajima (2nd – 2:09:16). Yuki Kawauchi finished back in 7th (2:11:53).
*IAAF Recap Kitajima: “I like warmer weather so today’s weather did not bother me. Please note that I am sending this message to the selector.”
Donnie Cowart And Grace Morgan Win Pan AM XC ChampionshipsMax King was 3rd. *Full Results

Big Doping News

Swedish Paper Says Jos Hermens’ Group May Have Made Up Stuff About Ukrainian Doctor Being Found In Ethiopia – In Reality, Paper Says Hermens Was Employing A Doctor Who Thinks EPO Should Be Legal
Fascinating Read:What Is Meldonium/Mildronate – The Drug Aregawi Was Busted For? The Latvian-manufactured heart drug that was only banned starting January 1 has already resulted in two huge positives. A LetsRun.com reader explains what the drug – which isn’t approved in the US – is and does.
3 More Ethiopians Bite The Dust And Are Suspended – 1 Appears To Be 2:09 Marathoner Sintayehu Mergia In December, he went from 2:12 to 2:09 in the marathon at age 30.

Worlds News

IAAF’s World Indoor Stats Book / Media Guide Is Now Out Read it for free.
Ukrainian Team Named For World Indoors 2012 silver medalist Nataliya Lupu could be a factor in the 800.
Forget About The Olympics – It’s Only 500 Days Until The 2017 Worlds In London

Ultra Running News

Worth A Watch: Trailer For New Film On 89-Year-Old Ultra Runner Bob Hayes“I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to do it, but I just keep going because if I stop, that’ll be the end and they’ll haul me off through the pearly gates.”
UK Ultra Runner Robbie Britton Writes About Running And Winning The 230K Beyond The Ultimate Ice Ultra In Arctic Sweden “If you sweat it freezes to you. A fine balance has to be found by creating enough heat to stay warm but not too warm. Basically it is a Arctic strip tease…”
*LRCWinter Running Archives
Satirical Racing Video Goes Viral, Nearly Costs Arizona 50-Miler Its PermitJesse Weber‘s video of him racing in jean shorts and drinking beer got attention from Maxim, Fox Sports and Yahoo, but ended up offending the Navajo community whose land he ran through.