April 30, 2016 Homepage Archive

Where Your Dreams Become Reality

Archived Homepage For April 30, 2016

Quote Of The Day

High school track these days!!! Sub 4 mile! Congrats @M_Slagowski #NikeTF #twilightrelays pic.twitter.com/g9ZCC5zzdb
— Patrick Werhane (@pwerhane) April 30, 2016

After the phenom soloed a 1:48 a few weeks ago, some of you asked if he could break 4. Answer: Yes.

Saturday Morning Action *Results

LRC Christo Landry (62:52) And Tara Welling (70:25) Win 2016 US Half Marathon ChampionshipsDesi Linden was 2nd in the women’s race.

High School Sub-4

Via @pwerhane

LRC Idaho’s Michael Slagowski Becomes The 9th US High Schooler And 4th In Last Two Years To Go Sub-4 In The Mile He did it at the Nike Jesuit Relays in Portland with his teammate rabbiting for 750.

Interesting Reads

Cathal Dennehy Profiles Patrick Sang – The Man Who Coaches Both Geoffrey Kamworor And Eliud KipchogeOn Kamworor, Sang says, “If all goes well for Kamworor, though, I think he is the athlete to beat at the Olympics.”
NBC San Diego Asks, “Is Joe Kovacs The World’s Most Explosive Athlete?”
NY Times: 1 Minute Of Arduous Exercise Is Comparable In Its Physiological Effects To 45 Minutes Of Gentler Sweating In reality, it’s 10 minutes = 50 minutes, but who is counting?
Media Guide For 2016 Diamond League Season Is Now Out
Like A Crowd? These Are The Largest Road Races In The U.S.

Pre-Meet Drake News

Good Read:Erik Sowinski Says As An Iowa Resident, Winning A Drake Relays Title Would Be “One of the highlights of my career.” Sowinski will have his work cut out for him as he’s up against Boris Berian and Clayton Murphy.
Des Moines Register’s Ultimate Guide To Drake
Shawn Barber And Sandi Morris Win Pole Vault In Downtown Des Moines
Cold And Rainy Conditions Forecasted For Drake Could See Some Elites Pull Out
Heather Kampf Repeats As Grand Blue Mile Women’s Champion; Chad Noelle Wins Men’s Race Kampf won in 4:37.52 in a close race with Canadian Nicole Sifuentes (4:37.95) while Noelle ran 4:12.11 to beat Frezer Legesse (4:12.13) and Riley Masters (4:12.34).
LaShawn Merritt And Kirani James Will Renew 400 Rivalry At Drake Relays

LetsSprint.com

HS Freshman Tyrese Cooper Wins Triple Crown (100, 200, 400) At Florida Regional Meet And Runs 45.94 He ran 10.49 in the 100, 21.28 in the 200 and also anchored the 4 x 400.
Stadium Power Outage Turns Indian Grand Prix Into “A Farce” As Races Had To Be Hand Timed Rather Than Electronically Multiple long-standing Indian national records were “broken” – however, none of the times can count for records or Rio qualifying.
*Two Indian Athletes Could Miss Rio Due To Power Failure In truth, likely neither of these athletes are capable of qualifying for Rio. Miya Kumar Mallick and Srabani Nanda ran 10.09 and 11.23 in the hand-timed 100, but only have PRs of 10.51 and 11.58. The standards for Rio are 10.16 and 11.32.
Allyson Felix Pulls Out Of Doha DL With A “Minor” Ankle Injury
US’s Multi-Time World Relay Medalist David Verburg Gives A Leg-By-Leg Breakdown For Running The 4 X 400 There is way more strategy and differences between each leg than you would think.

Doping Updates

LetsRun Nation, Your Help Is Needed

LRC Olympic High Jumper Jamie Nieto Paralyzed After Attempting Back Flip At Practice – Please Consider Donating Now A terrible tragedy for Nieto, who always finished his competitions by waving to the crowd and performing a back flip or a back handspring.

Payton Jordan Is Sunday *Full Entries

Traditional Super-Deep Fields Set For Payton Jordan Edward Cheserek, Evan Jager, Lopez Lomong, Chris Derrick, Jordan Hasay and Sally Kipyego among those competing.

Olympic News

NBC Sports Writer Ranks The Top 100 Olympic Athletes Of All TimeJesse Owens is his #1 with Usain Bolt #4 behind Michael Phelps and a Soviet gymnast.
Opinion Divided Over New Tokyo 2020 Olympic Logo Some have complained that the monochromatic design needed more color.

Drake Relays Live ResultsScheduleMeet Home LRC A Fan’s Guide To The 2016 Drake Relays*USATF Preview Of Drake

Saturday: MBNCAA Champ Clayton Murphy Takes Down World Indoor Champ Boris Berian
*MB: Kendra Harrison (12.56) wins loaded women’s hurdles
*MB:Omar McLeod crushes everyone in men’s hurdles (13.08)
*After Finishing 2nd In Two Events, Stephanie Jenks Leaves Drake With Win In Girls 1,500, Giving Her A Record 9 Individual TitlesNo other woman had won more than 8.

Friday: LRC Kirani James Blazes 44.08 World Leader, Jenny Simpson (4:06.44) Outkicks Kate Grace In 1,500 As Mary Cain Is 8th (4:12.62) Was Jenny Simpson hurt over the winter? It sure seems like it, but she got the win nonetheless. Kirani James‘ time, run in 48-degree temps, was the second-fastest ever in the month of April, behind only Michael Johnson‘s 43.75 in 1997.
*Jenny Simpson Is Well Aware That No American Woman Has Ever Medalled At The Olympics In The 1,500
*Good Des Moines Register Article On James And Rest Of Pro ActionAries Merritt didn’t want to kill himself in the cold weather. Bershawn Jackson raced wearing a necklace holding the ashes of his recently-deceased father.
*Aries Merritt Gets Huge Newpsaper Feature, Says He’s 85% Fit – And Fitter Than Last Year
*Video interview With Aries Merritt
*Full Des Moines Register Coverage Of Drake Relays

Earlier Action

McKenzie Yanek Beats Stephanie Jenks In HS 3,000 With Nation’s #2 Time (9:35.98) Jenks had never lost at Drake and is hoping to be the most decorated winner in Drake history. She’s won 8 Drake titles (and 8 state track titles).
*Pre-Race: Is Stephanie Jenks Iowa’s “Best Ever” HS Girls Athlete?
Karson Sommer Wins Boys 3,200 In 9:13.98
Iowa State’s Bethanie Brown Wins Drake 5,000

Stanford Payton Jordan Is Sunday Night

LRC 2016 Payton Jordan Preview: Bernard Lagat’s 10,000 Debut, Evan Jager In The 1,500 & An NCAA Preview in the 5,000 The fields are strong once again for Sunday’s late-night meet. Maggie Vessey (800), Cory McGee (1,500), Shelby Houlihan (1,500), Evan Jager (1,500) Henrik Ingebrigtsen (1,500), Sally Kipyego (5k), Nicole Tully (5k), Garrett Heath (5k), Chris Derrick (5k), Buze Diriba (10k), Molly Seidel (10k) and Sam Chelanga (10k) are among the entrants with the 10k track debut of Bernard Lagat.

Very Cool

LRC The Future Has Arrived – PUMA Unveils BeatBot – A Personal Robotic Pacer Do you hate working out alone? Or seeing races ruined by people going out too fast or slow? Puma has the answer.

Another Exclusive From Kenya – LetsRun.com Goes To Kenya

LRCAsbel Kiprop, Elijah Manang’oi And Vincent Yator Put On A Show At The 2016 Kenyan Police Championships Get the inside scoop on how Kiprop and Manangoi, who went 1-2 at Worlds last year in the 1,500, totally toyed with the fields en route to 1,500 and 800 titles. Yator pulled off a tough double, winning the 5,000 and 10,000 within the span of 90 minutes. You’re lucky we aren’t charging you to read this 5,500-word masterpiece.

Eliud Kipchoge’s Coach, Patrick Sang, Thinks Geoffrey Kamworor Could Break The Marathon WR “He has the potential; he has the mind. It’s just a matter of time.”
Athletics Kenya Announces They’ll Host Olympic Trials In Eldoret For The 1st Time It’s always been held in Nairobi.
Suspended Athletics Kenya CEO Isaac Mwangi Is Fired
Hellen Obiri & Emmanuel Kipsang Easily Win Women’s 5,000 And Men’s 10,000 On Day 1 Of Defence Forces Champs Obiri won by nearly 20 seconds in the women’s 5k (15:21.8) as she comes back after missing all of 2015.
Explosive Sprint Showdowns Loom Friday At KDF Championships
MB: A role model for Galen Rupp: Jemima Sungong will run a 10,000 Friday – just five days after winning London Marathon

Another American Legend Hangs Up The Spikes

LRC Chris Solinsky Retires And We Rank The Five Best Moments Of His Career – Sub-27:00, A Dominant Foot Locker Title And The Epic 2011 USA 5,000 The 2nd-fastest non-African-born man at both 5,000 and 10,000 has called it a career at age 31.

Week That Was

LRC WTW: Here’s Why You Ran Slow In Boston, Allyson Felix Pulling A Michael Johnson Will Be Tough, Courtney Okolo Makes History And So Does Omar McLeod Plus Alberto Salazar doesn’t think Cheserek’s triple was that hard, and a look at the Dibaba sisters doubling.

Upcoming Action: T. Dibaba Comeback And Pre Will Be Awesome

May 22nd:Tirunesh Dibaba Will Make Her Return To Racing At The Great Manchester Run 10K After time away to have a baby, Dibaba will run her first race since winning here 2 years ago. She’ll face two-time World Marathon champ Edna Kiplagat and Euro XC champ Gemma Steel.
May 27: Stacked 800 Set For Pre Classic With World Indoor Champ Boris Berian Taking On Nijel Amos, Mo Aman And Amel Tuka Berian actually only has the 6th-fastest PR in the field as 1:42 Kenyan Ferguson Cheruiyot and Poland’s Adam Kszczot are also in the field.
Saturday: Ryan Bailey And Jenna Prandini Competing At Oregon State High Performance Meet
May 28:Olympic Champ Jessica Ennis-Hill, World Indoor Champ Brianne Theisen-Eaton And Katarina Johnson-Thompson Will All Clash At Gotzis Hypo Multi-Event Meet
Tomorrow: Preview Of Multistars IAAF Combined Events Challenge Meet In Florence European silver medalist Kevin Mayer and defending champ Sofia Yfantidou are the favorites.

UK (aka Jessica Ennis) News

Jessica Ennis Helps Unveil New GB Olympic Uniforms *2nd Article
*New GB Olympic Uniforms Get Backlash From Fans On Twitter, Who Call Them “Horrendous”
Telegraph Projects 9 Track Medals For Team GB In Rio
Jessica Ennis Is Deeply Concerned With The Zika Issue In Rio She said it would be a “late call” as whether her 2-year-old son would come with her.
Ennis Says She’s In An “Amazing Place” Despite Some Injury Issues

Video Interview:Jessica Ennis-Hill Says She’s Feeling Less Pressure Ahead Of Rio

Road News

Recommended Read: After Finishing 11th In Boston (2nd American), Sarah Crouch Blogs About The Battle She Went Through Just To Make It To The Starting Line A procedure called “dry needling” got her healthy enough to run Boston and she promised that if she could get through the race healthy she “wouldn’t take one step for granted.”
Wesley Korir Wants Athletics Kenya To Choose Him For The Olympics Korir thinks the hot weather tactical race in Rio will favor him (he won the super-hot and slow Boston 2012). We think there is about a 0% chance AK chooses him unless he has some major political influence.
Interesting:NY Times: Aging Runners, Want To Know How Slow You’re Going To Get? A Yale economics professor has an online calculator that can predict the rate you will slow down as you age.
May 14:World Medalists Edna Kiplagat, Mary Wacera And Cynthia Limo Lead Women’s Field For The UAE Healthy Kidney 10KLaura Thweatt is the top American while the men are led by NYC Half runner-up Wilson Chebet and NZ’s Zane Robertson.

Post-London Headlines

Eliud Kipchoge Says He Would Prefer To Run The Olympics Over Making A World Record Attempt In Berlin
Good Read: Alyson Dixon Wanted “British Bragging Rights” At The London Marathon She had Olympic selection locked up, but still made sure to beat Sonia Samuels by 8 seconds, saying, “It would have been lovely if we had gone ‘let’s cross the line hand in hand.’ But no, you still want the bragging rights.”
Brothers Derek And Callum Hawkins Will Both Represent GB In Rio Callum was the top Brit so guaranteed selection, but Derek had to wait for the selection committee’s decision.
Jemima Sumgong’s Tumble Inspires SPIKES To Take A Look Back At Some Other Famous Running Falls Evan Jager at the Paris DL meet last year makes their list.
Eight Seconds:Runners World Does Split-By-Split Comparison Between Eliud Kipchoge’s 2:03:05 And Dennis Kimetto’s 2:02:57 Kipchoge was 21 seconds faster through the half, but lost a lot of time with a “slow” 14:54 split from 30 to 35K.
For Some Reason The Kenyan Media Want You To Remember Jemima Sumgong’s Failed Doping Test From 2012 The headline says “Sumgong proved critics wrong,” but all it does is serve as a reminder that Sumgong was initially banned before being cleared on appeal.
South Africa’s Irvette van Zyl’s 2:32:20 In London Earns Her Olympic Selection She she and her husband, 400 hurdler LJ van Zyl, will go to their second Olympics together.
Couple Gets Engaged At London Marathon Finish Line
*Sorry Brits, This Boston Engagement Where The Guy Spewed Vomit Afterwards Was More Interesting

This Weekend’s Other Action *All NCAA Results

Article Claims Nicholas Kiplagat, 2009 World Youth Champ At 800, Ran 1:43.37 World Leader At Kenya Defence Forces Champs The problem is he won a bronze in 2009 and has a PR of 1:44.9, so we are skeptical. 10.72/20.69/45.23 got the wins in the 100, 200 and 400.
Five Nationally-Ranked SEC Schools Are Doing Scored Meet In Louisiana One of them is Arkansas. It’s a shame that the great Arkansas team isn’t at Penn or Drake. Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, LSU, Miami and Texas A&M.

Less Than 100 Days To Rio

U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama Launched A “100 Days From The Rio Olympics” Street Party In NYC
Alan Abrahamson Is Upset That The IOC’s Road To Rio Countdown Was In NYC, Not LA
South Korea Unveils “Zika-Proof” Olympic Uniforms Most of the stuff covers your entire body and has insect repellent on it.
Mark English Isn’t Panicking That He’s Currently In A Boot Waiting For Broken Bone To Heal Missing World Indoors where Sowinski won bronze was a little frustrating as English beat him twice before getting hurt.
Allyson Felix Says She Has A “Minor” Ankle Injury – Pulls Out Of 100 At May 6 Doha Meet
Dutee Chand Breaks Indian National Record Of 11.33 Thankfully, Chand, who no longer has to take hormone treatments, came up .01 short of the Olympic standard.
Kaliese Spencer Pumped After Signing Sponsorship Deal With PUMA
Mondo Says Rio 2016 Olympic Stadium Now “Fully Installed”

Doping News

Good News:WADA Positives Down 13% In 2014 Even Though They Did 1,000 More Tests There were 1,462 anti-doping rule violations taken from 217,762 samples.
Surprise, Surprise (Not): Russia Led All Countries In Doping In 2014 The US isn’t even in the top 10. Russia (148), Italy (123), India (96), Belgium (91), France (91), Turkey (73), Australia (49), China (49), Brazil (46) and South Korea (43) are your leading dopers.

Pre-Meet Penn News

Drew Hunter Will Anchor His High School’s DMR And Try To Join His Mom As A Penn Wheel Winner Hunter: “A race like Penn, the goal is always to win. I’d like to make Penn as memorable a last race as possible. Will I go out in 1:55 and die? That might be what I have to do.”
Team USA Rosters For USA Vs. The World Announced
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce And Elaine Thompson Lead Jamaica’s Team
Could The Penn Relays Boys’ 4 X 100 Record Go Down For The Third Straight Year? Teams from Jamaica have broken it the last 2 years, with Calabar setting the mark at 39.63 last year.
USATF: “At Long Last, Relay Season Is Back” An interesting look at the history of the Penn Relays.
College Distance Preview
College Sprints Preview

US Jumping News

Good Read:Teleconference Highlights – Catching Up With Christian Taylor Taylor is in a training group that includes 200m world champ Dafne Schippers and he admits to making sure he runs faster than she does out of pride.
Jenn Suhr Struggling With Achilles Injury; Has Pulled Out Of 4 Consecutive Meets

100 Days Until Rio

South Korea Reveals “Anti-Zika” Clothing For Rio Long sleeves, pants, hats and dyed with mosquito-repellent chemicals (maybe they’ll get cancer, but not Zika).
Ralph Lauren Unveils U.S. Uniforms For Rio Closing Ceremony
More Sensationalist Olympic Headlines: NY Times: “With Brazil In Turmoil, Rio Counts Down To Olympics” The opening paragraph makes it sound like Rio will be a disaster.
Rio Gets Olympic Flame 100 Days Before Games

Sprint Stuff: Two Greats Are Retiring

Sanya Richards-Ross Announces She Will Retire After Rio If Richards-Ross wins in Rio, she’ll become only the second woman ever to win back-to-back Olympic 400 golds.
The Dominican Republic’s Two-Time Olympic 400H Champ Felix Sanchez Retires Between 2001 and 2004, Sanchez won a ridiculous 43 400H races in a row, including an Olympic gold and two World titles. Then in 2012 as a 35-year-old only ranked 7th in the world, he got a surprise victory at the London Games.
May 20:Usain Bolt Will Line Up Against Ashton Eaton Over 100m At Ostrava Golden Spike Meet Eaton: “I hope people realise Usain Bolt will destroy me in the race.”
Jam Company Smuckers Sponsors Allyson Felix Maybe if USATF settles Nick Symmonds‘ lawsuit Felix can even wear the Smuckers logo on her uniform.