April 23, 2016 Homepage Archive

London Marathon Is Sunday @ 5AM ET

LRC Men’s Preview: Can Eliud Kipchoge Win An Unprecedented 4th Straight Major? Stanley Biwott, Wilson Kipsang, Dennis Kimetto, Kenenisa Bekele & More Hope Not London is loaded once again as World #1 Kipchoge goes up against a stacked field that includes the past two world record holders (Kimetto and Kipsang), world champ Ghirmay Ghebreslassie, NYC champ Biwott and the great Kenenisa Bekele. It also has huge Olympic qualifying implications for Kenya + Great Britain. Set your alarms. This one is worth getting up for (5:00 a.m. ET start on Sunday).

LRCWomen’s Preview: #1 Vs. #2: The Showdown Between The World’s Top Two Marathoners (Mare Dibaba And Mary Keitany) Headlines Totally Loaded Field Dibaba and Keitany were 1-2 in LRC’s 2015 World Rankings and they’ll be joined by three others in the top seven, including defending champ Tigist Tufa, 2010 champ Aselefech Mergia and Chicago champ/HM WR holder Florence Kiplagat. Sara Hall will also compete in a race that holds major Olympic implications for Kenya, Ethiopia and GB.

Good News

LRCTsepo Mathibelle, Wejo's Athlete Of The Year In 2015, Gets Back-Page Profile In Wall Street Journal And Short Documentary Film On His Olympic Dream

He’s now sponsored by Samsung.

Oregon-Based Distance News

Mo Farah And Galen Rupp Will Race At Pre Classic; Which Events Is TBDAlberto Salazar says he’s torn because he doesn’t think Rupp should run a 10K so close to the OT, but he doesn’t know if he’d be competitive in the 5K. Sounding likely Rupp will run the marathon in Rio.
Interesting Read:Ken Goe And Others Ask If The Collegiate Season Is Too Long For Distance Runners Goe has quotes from multiple athletes and coaches and most agree that peaking three times a year is too much. That said, we agree with Alberto Salazar, who argued Edward Cheserek isn’t overworked as most of his races are very easy wins. And remind you that Andrew Wheating’s best season by far was when he was under the structure of the collegiate system.

LRC Goes To Kenya

LRCThe Brilliance Of Asbel Kiprop & Jairus Birech's Crazy Quadruple: Scenes From The Spring's Final Athletics Kenya Meet In Eldoret

LRC's latest dispatch from Kenya includes a recap from the "City of Champions," where Andy Arnold tells you who's looking good (Ezekiel Kemboi, Elijah Manangoi, Timothy Cheruiyot), why Kiprop can go sub-3:26 this year and why he's become a Birech fan. Plus did he spot Kenyan's newest teen sensation? Updated with altitude conversions.

Boston Marathon Photo Gallery

This Weekend’s Other Action *All NCAA Results

Sprints

History: Courtney Okolo Becomes 1st Collegian To Break 50 In 400 – 49.73!!
History: Omar McLeod Is 1st Man To Go Sub-13 In Hurdles And Sub-10 In 100m
Trayvon Bromell Runs 10.04 Into A Headwind In Season Opener – Says It’s The Easiest 10.0 He’s Ever Run
Hand Her The Gold Now? Dafne Schippers Opens Season With 22.25 In Gainseville Last year, she opened out at 22.63.

Distance:

HS Star Drew Hunter Beaten At Princeton In Outdoor Opener By Former 4:01 HSer Garrett O’Toole And Sam Penzenstadler Hunter ran 3:42.42.

Turkey’s Ali Kaya (60:16) Defeats World Record Holders Leonard Komon And Zersenay Tadese To Win Vodafone Istanbul Half Marathon; Violah Chepchumba (68:17) Wins Women’s Race Tadese was 2nd and Komon 4th in the men’s race.
Kenyan Police Champs: Asbel Kiprop Puts On A Show In 1,500; Rival Elijah Manangoi Wins 800 Kiprop went from first to last and back to first. As he was celebrating his apparent win with a salute to the crowd, the showman was passed and had to lunge for victory. *Video
*Kiprop Wants Jail Terms For Dopers “I said two years ago in Doha that dopers should be jailed.”
1st Day: Kenyan Police Champs Have Started – Asbel Kiprop Rolls In 1,500 Semis, Hyvin Kiyeng Wins Steeple In 9:36
Non-Action: Jama Aden Says Genzebe Dibaba Has A Toe Injury – She’ll Be Out At Most Two Weeks

Friday’s News Of Note

The DL Starts Soon

Week That Was

LRC LaShawn Merritt And Kirani James On Track To Collide In Rio, Is Yohan Blake Back? Donovan Brazier Stumbles, A Marathon Legend Retires And Women’s Sport May Be Changing For The Worse Get up to speed as we span the track and field globe.

Non-London Road News

May 29: Good Read:Former 1,500 Runner Elkana Yego Could Surprise The Favorites At The Ottawa Marathon The 22-year-old caught the attention of former Boston champ Wesley Korir when he won a local 3K running barefoot.
We Hope Your PR Didn’t Come From Manchester:Times From The Last Three Years Of The Greater Manchester Marathon Have Been Invalidated As The Course Was 380m Short For someone running 3-hour pace, that’d be 1 minute and 37 seconds added to their time.

The London Marathon Is Sunday

RRW Q&A:Sara Hall Is Lone American In London Marathon Elite Field Hall says the Trials was the first race she ever dropped out of. In London, she has no time expectations, but wants to run “with reckless abandon, without anything really on the line.”
Kenenisa Bekele Admits He’s Not 100% Fit For London But rather than talk retirement, he says he still wants to eventually break the WR.
Good Read:Despite Money And Fame, Eliud Kipchoge Chooses To Live A Simple Spartan Lifestyle In A Training Camp Where He Has To Do His Share Of The Chores At his camp Kipchoge shares a tiny room, has to chop vegetables, trim the garden and even clean the toilets.
Dennis Kimetto Says His Training Has Gone Well And He Has “No Injuries” Comparing to when he ran his 2:02:57 WR he claims his fitness “is the same.”
Eritrea’s Ghirmay Ghebreslassie:From Pacemaker To World Champ The first time Ghebreslassie met the elites in London was when he paced the Chicago 2014. Now he’s back as their equal.
London Organizers Hope That Mo Farah Will Come Back In 2018Wilson Kipsang: “He’s a great athlete but even he needs time to focus on the marathon.”
GB’s Charlotte Purdue Making Her Marathon Debut In London Hoping To Gain Olympic Selection
Video Interview:Wilson Kipsang Thinks He Can Win And Break His 2:04:29 Course Record
Former 800/1,500 Olympic Champ Kelly Holmes Has Struggled With Injury Issues During Marathon Training However, she says no matter what she’ll finish on Sunday and “be sprinting like Usain Bolt” at the finish.
Video:Astronaut Prepares To Run London Marathon In Space

Genzebe Dibaba Scratches From Her 10,000 Debut

Jama Aden Says Genzebe Dibaba Has A Toe Injury – She’ll Be Out At Most Two Weeks
Update:Genzebe Dibaba Scratches Due To Injury
Previous: Genzebe Dibaba Contemplating 5K/10K Double In Rio Dibaba says she is set on doing the 5K and the schedule for a 5K/10K double is better than the 5K/1,500 (1,500 final and 5K heat on same day).

More London

Former Olympic Bronze Medalist Ian Stewart Thinks Mo Farah Should Stay Away From The Marathon He also talked about GB’s qualification system and wishes they would be like the US Trials where it’s “first three past the post.”
NYC Runner-Up Aselefech Mergia Encouraged By Atsede Baysa’s Win In Boston As They Are Training Partners
36-Year-Old GB Marathoner Lee Merrien Hoping To Gain Olympic Selection In London
GB’s Jonny Hay Using “Old School” Training To Prepare For His Marathon Debut Hay will be among those fighting for a spot on the UK team for Rio.
42-Year-Old Legally Blind Runner Hoping London Leads To A Spot On US Paralympic Team Donald Balcom runs 90 miles a week on the treadmill while working as a mechanical engineer for the Navy. He’s coached by GB Olympian Andrew Lemoncello.
Sensationalist UK Headlines?London Marathon Could Face Snow For First Time In 35-Year History Of The Race The article talks about the “icy” gusts and snow, but weather.com is predicting a high of 52, low of 40 and only 10% chance of precipitation.
*MB: Forget fast times in London, bad weather, it may even snow!
BBC And London Marathon Extend Broadcast Deal Through 2021

Latest Doping News

IAAF Will Make Final Decision On Russia’s Olympic Fate On June 17th The IAAF will hear reports from its task force and make a decision.
Kenyan Athletes Can Breathe Easy: Kenyan President Officially Signs Anti-Doping Bill Into Law President Uhuru Kenyatta: “Let me be clear that this law is the continuation, not the end, of our efforts to stand against cheating and corruption …”
Six More Russian Track Athletes Banned For Doping They include mid-d runner Olesya Syreva, who gets an 8-year ban for her 2nd doping offense.
Russian Olympic Speed Skate Champ Among Those To Have Ban Lifted After Testing Positive For Meldonium
WADA Suspends Accreditation Of Beijing Laboratory For 4 Months For Failing To Meet Standards

New Forensic Evidence Claims Oscar Pistorius Attacked Reeva Steenkamp With An Air Rifle And Cricket Bat Before Shooting Her That’s some pretty heavy evidence to come out after the trial (and 3 years after a murder).

Sprint Stuff

TMZ:Rihanna Snubbed Date Request From Usain Bolt Bolt joked that Leonardo DiCaprio (whom Rhianna is rumored to be dating) was “no competition” saying, “I’m tall, I’m handsome I’m dark, I’m the greatest.”
Usain Bolt Says There Is A Chance He Could Not Retire After 2017, Although It Sounds Like He Really Wants To “Coach says I shouldn’t say I want to retire just yet, I should focus on the year and see how I feel after (2017) … But he says to give it a chance, because I think my coach is pushing for me to go a few more years. We’ll see what happens.”