Quote Of The Day

“I try to just laugh it (John Capriotti’s behavior) off. But at some point, is it still a laughing matter? Is this the conduct of an executive of one of the most powerful brands in the world?”

– Mark Bossardet, sports marketing chief at Saucony, talking in a nearly 2,500-word Oregonian article on John Capriotti, Nike’s Global Director of Athletics. The article starts with the following sentence: “He is track and field’s biggest dealmaker and ultimate sugar daddy.” The article leaves no stone untouched as it looks as Capriotti’s ties to the Jama Aden and Alberto Salazar doping allegations, bribery allegations at Athletics Kenya, the alleged death threat of Danny Mackey, and the assault of Chris Whetstine and the mysterious decision by police not to charge Capriotti’s right-hand man Llewellyn Starks in the case. A leading prosecutor in the case said, “There’s a long and distinguished list of people who were surprised that charges were not filed.”

MB: Oregonian Examination of John Capriotti: Capriotti: “Nike’s hot-tempered track chief makes waves”

More Trials

LRC Take The Tour: What’s It Like To Make Team USA? The sad truth is not everyone can achieve their Olympic dreams, but at least now you can get a glimpse of what it would be like to make Team USA.

PHOTO: Jenny Simpson at the historic headquarters of the New York Road Runners at 9 East 89th Street in advance of the 2014 Fifth Avenue Mile (photo by Chris Lotsbom for Race Results Weekly)LRC US Olympic Trials Women’s 1500 Preview: Simpson & Rowbury Should (Probably) Make It? Who Will Emerge in the Battle for Third? Brenda Martinez is doubling back from the 800. Morgan Uceny is the defending Trials champ. Cory McGee made the World Indoors team. Which one will step up? And how will 4:07 HS junior Kate Murphy fare against the pros?

Manzano was clutch at the last Olympics.LRC US Olympic Trials Men’s 1,500 Preview: Can Anyone Stop Centro? And Will Anyone Else Get The Standard? Only five guys – Matthew Centrowitz, Kyle Merber, Ben Blankenship, Robby Andrews and Leo Manzano – have the Olympic standard. Unless someone runs faster than 3:36.20 this week, three of those five will be your team to Rio.

Hill earned his first global medal by taking silver in the 3k at World Indoors earlier this monthLRC US Olympic Trials Men’s 5,000 Final Preview: Who Will Close Best In A Wide-Open Race? Ryan Hill is the defending champ but bombed in his only race outdoors. Galen Rupp looked shaky in the prelims. Ben True, Hassan Mead and Eric Jenkins all struggled in the 10k. Bernard Lagat is 41 years old. This race is full of question marks, which makes for a compelling final.

More International News

Saturday

2016 USA Olympic Team Track and Field Trials Eugene, Oregon July 1-10, 2016 Photo: KevinMorris@PhotoRun victah1111@aol.com 631-291-3409 www.photorun.net

Sprints LRC Fire On The Track: Justin Gatlin (9.80), LaShawn Merritt (43.97) And Allyson Felix (49.68) All Crush World Leaders The women’s 100 was also historic as it saw three women break 10.80 for the first time in history. Trayvon Bromell tied his PR in taking second in the 100 (9.84) as Marvin Bracy (9.98) edged out Mike Rodgers (10.00) for the third spot.
*Tim Layden On Sunday’s Action Starring Gatlin And Felix Felix: “It was different from any meet I’ve ever had.”
*Bob Kersee Calls Allyson Felix’s Win Her Greatest Performance
*LaShawn Merritt Says He’ll Do The 200 At Trials And Then Decide IfHe’ll Double In Rio
*4 Years After Crying After Finishing 7th In OTrials, English Gardner Wins Women’s 100m

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Field Events LRC Jeff Henderson Wins Historically Deep Long Jump; Age Defeats Youth In Women’s High Jump And The Ashton Eaton Show Continues The field event action didn’t disappoint on Sunday. We recap the women’s high jump, men’s long jump and decathlon which all concluded today.
*Marquis Dendy Qualifies In Historic Men’s Long Jump

Quick Doping Updates

LRCLRC Running Warehouse Prediction Contest Favorites For Day 1: Boris Berian And Ajee Wilson Are The Favorites In The 800; Allyson Felix Is The Underdog To Courtney Okolo In The 400

We give your predictions for day 1 of the Trials from our prediction contest. Get your picks in by 7:15 pm Eastern.

Ethiopian 10k Trials

Ayana Zurich 2015LRC Tirunesh Dibaba Loses A 10,000 For The First Time In Her Career – Almaz Ayana Is Now The Woman To Beat In Rio Dibaba had never lost a 10,000 in her life before tonight, having amassed a perfect 11-for-11 record. Ayana had never run a 10,000 before tonight but that inexperience didn’t stop Ayana from ending Dibaba’s win streak in dominant fashion. What does it mean for Molly Huddle?
*MB: Official Ethiopian 10,000 Live Discussion Thread

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LRC Kenenisa Bekele’s 2016 Olympic Dreams Come To An End As The 2012 World Junior Champ Yigrem Wins Ethiopian 10,000 Trials Bekele wasn’t the only prominent DNF. Mo Farah slayer, Ibrahim Jeilan, also was a DNF.

Barcelona Discussion Thread: Genzebe DIbaba Taken Off Track In A Wheelchair After 5K DNF Dibaba went through 3K in 8:41 (14:29 pace) before dropping out. In other action, Ayanleh Souleiman ran 1:45 and the latest Dibaba sister, Anna, ran 4:23.

Week That Was

LRCThe Month That Was: WADA Head Craig Reedie Needs To Resign, Jama Aden Gets Busted, And Donavan Brazier Busts Out

We give our take on some of the top stories of the last month.

A Look Back At 2012

LRC An Oral History Of The 2012 Olympic Trials Women’s 5,000, Part III: The Aftermath The world saw the drama unfold on the track but how has the unforgettable race impacted the protagonists since then?
*LRC Part I: The Road To The Trials
*LRC Part II: The Race

Oceania News

Previous Olympic Trials News

BAA 10k *Results

LRCPure Brilliance - Shalane Flanagan Runs 30:52 To Break American Record And Dominate B.A.A. 10K In Her Final Race Before Rio

Flanagan is on fire, and so is training partner Amy Cragg, who set another PR, and Dathan Ritzenhein returned with a good run.
*RRW: Hometown Hero Shalane Flanagan Wins B.A.A. 10-K; Sets North American Record
*MB: Ritz 3rd in baa 10k in 28:12 … should he have done the Trials?
*MB: Shalane too fit too early?

Jama Aden Doping Updates

The 2016 Olympic Trials  *Live Results *Schedule/Entries *Video Interviews *TV/Streaming Information *RW Prediction Contest

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LRC High School Sprinters Noah Lyles, Michael Norman, Sydney McLaughlin Impress At The Olympic Trials Lyles and Norman won their heats easily and moved up to #2 and #3 on the US high school all-time all-conditions list with 20.03 and 20.04 and 20.06. McLaughlin ran 55.46 for the second fastest time of the day.

More 4th Of July Trials Coverage

Olympic Trials

Jager has won the past four U.S. steeple titles and has broken the American record three timesLooking Ahead To Monday: LRC Men’s Steeple Preview: Can Bowerman Track Club Go 1-2 Or Will Donn Cabral, Stanley Kebenei Or Cory Leslie Crash The Party? With 6 guys with qualifying times under 8:20 and 12 under 8:30, you’d better be on your game if you want to go Rio.

O'Connor (left) battled Quigley at USAs last yearLRC  Women’s Steeple Preview: Emma Coburn Leads The Best U.S. Steeple Field Ever Barring an act of God, Coburn will be on the US team. The question is, who will be joining her on the plane to Rio?

Day 2: LRC The Sprint Stars Speak: Gatlin Says He Bluffed It Vs. Bolt In 2013, Felix Will “Keep Fighting” And “This Is Not It” For Jeremy Wariner Justin Gatlin, Allyson Felix, LaShawn Merritt and Jeremy Wariner speak.

Huddle-wins-10kLRC From Start To Finish: Molly Huddle Wins 2016 US Olympic Trials Women’s 10,000 (updated) Huddle was a much-deserved winner as she led every step. Emily Infeld and Marielle Hall grabbed spots #2 and #3.

Five men were tightly bunched coming off the final turn of semi #2LRC Chaos Continues In Men’s 800 Semis – We’ll Have A 9-Person Final (updated) The men’s 800 continues to be totally unpredictable.
*MB: Shaq Walker appeal
*MB: Clayton “silky smooth” Murphy 

heat1-semiw82016LRC Women’s 800 Semis: The Top 5 Seeds All Advance To Set Up A Much-Anticipated Final (updated) There wasn’t a lot of drama today but there will be in the final.

Trials Start Friday

Kate Grace Wins Payton JordanLRC Forget About The Predictions – Who Are You Rooting For At The Trials? Wejo’s Got Kate Grace And Jordan McNamara One of the best things about the Trials is pulling for that special athlete you have a connection to. Forget about who you think is going to win, who are you rooting for?
Discuss: Who You Got? (Who Are You Rooting For?)

Russian Doping News

Nike Raised The White Flag

Will Berian now sign with NB?LRC David 1, Goliath 0: Nike Has Dropped Its Lawsuit Against Boris Berian Berian is now free to run for whomever he pleases at the 2016 US Olympic Trials.
*Keflezighi Tells Bloomberg Berian’s “First Preference” Is To Now Sign With New Balance

*Out Of The Goodness Of Their Hearts? Nike Says It Dropped Their Lawsuit To “Eliminate The Distraction” For Boris Berian Ahead Of The Trials We’re sure eliminating all the bad publicity was among the considerations as well.
*The Oregonian: “Nike, Facing Skeptical Judge, Drops Endorsement Lawsuit Against Berian” This a day after Nike told the federal court it would suffer “irreparable harm” if Berian went to NB.
*Ken Goe’s Take On The Case Before Nike Dropped The Suit “I don’t understand … why Nike wants to force Berian to stay in the fold if he doesn’t want to be there. Let him go.”

Jama Aden Gets Arrested

farah-adenLRC Jama Aden Doping Raid Update: How Might The Raid Impact Mo Farah, The Dibabas And Nike? Today, we look at some of the connections between Aden and the sport’s biggest names like Genzebe Dibaba, Tirunesh Dibaba, Mo Farah, and Nike and wonder what type of impact, if any, the scandal will have on them. We also reveal for the first time in the English press that Mo Farah trained in Sansabell, Spain in 2014, a fact his agent didn’t even know, but claimed to be more than 100 miles away in France. Why?

LRC Everything You Need To Know About The Jama Aden Doping Raid That Took Place With Three Dibaba Sisters Being Present We give you the scoop on the biggest doping scandal in distance running’s history and the biggest non-country-related (i.e. Russia) doping scandal since BALCO. In the near future, we’ll have much more for you, including “What does this mean for Nike, Mo Farah and Alberto Salazar, who all have ties to Aden?”

2016 US Olympic Track And Field Trials

IMG_3324LRC Absolute Madness In The Women’s 800: Alysia Montaño Falls Down In Tears As Kate Grace Wins A Wild Race A tangle of limbs on the final turn saw Brenda Martinez lose her momentum and Montaño fall to the track. Grace took advantage, riding the rail to victory in 1:59.10 as Ajee Wilson (1:59.51) and Chrishuna Williams (1:59.59) joined her on Team USA. Molly Ludlow missed out by an agonizing .04, taking 4th in her second consecutive Trials.

Full Coverage In Our 2016 Olympic Trials Special Section

Coming Next Year: Sacramento Named Hosts Of 2017 US Track And Field Championships Albuquerque will host 2017 US Indoor Champs.

Non-Trials Action: Peachtree & Jamaican Trials In The Books

Tanzania’s Gabriel Geay Wins AJC Peachtree 10K In 28:49 Abdi Abdirahman (29:24) and Jared Ward (29:29) were 4th and 5th. *Edna Kiplagat Wins Peachtree In 32:24  Neely Spence-Gracey (33:25) was the top American in 4th place. *Results *Press Release

Day 1 At The Olympic Trials

2016 USA Olympic TrialsLRC Galen Rupp Knocks It Out Of The Park To Win Olympic Trials And His 8th Straight USATF 10,000m Title Galen Rupp won his 8th 10,000 title in a row as a slew of carnage was left behind him with athletes dropping out in the heat.

LRC Six Minutes And Six Points With Alberto Salazar, Including “… the hotter it is the better.” Salazar was on hand to offer some interesting insight into Galen Rupp‘s latest US 10,000m title. Was Salazar nervous for Rupp? What double is he leaning towards for Rio? And when might Rupp retire? Find out here.

2016 USA Olympic TrialsLRC 2016 Olympic Trials Begin With Chaos – Donavan Brazier And Duane Solomon Bomb Out In 1st Round Of Men’s 800 Unbelievable.
*DONOVAN BRAZIER IS DONE
*Duane Solomon….DUMB!!!
*Murphy >>> Brazier

LRC Women’s 800 Prelims: Favorites Advance As Laura Roesler Goes Home

Sanya Richards Ross Says GoodbyeLRC An Emotional Sanya Richards-Ross Bids Farewell To The Sport Of Track And Field At Historic Hayward Field The 2012 Olympic champ was unable to hold back tears after her great career came to a premature end.

*MB: Rupp Haters – How do you look at yourself in the mirror in the morning?
*MB: Who else has won the OT at marathon and track in one year?
*MB: Lagat would have made the team…
*MB: Army Runners Dominate 10k
*MB: German Fernandez DNF
*MB: The USOC should revoke NBC Sport’s media credentials
*MB: Ben True did exactly what I said he’d do
*MB: Galen Rupp is a beast that eats nails for breakfast….

*LRC Post-Race Video Interviews link fixed

Sprint/Field Action: 

Talk About The Action Live: MB: Official 2016 Olympic Trials Day 1 Live Discussion Thread

Kenyan Trials – Get The Inside Scoop From Our Man On The Ground In Eldoret *Results

LRC 5 Takeaways From The 2016 Kenyan Trials Andy Arnold tells you he knows who is going to win Olympic gold in the men’s steeple, talks about David Rudisha‘s 3rd-place showing in the 800, and the shocking DNFs in the 10k by Karoki and Kamworor. Plus Margaret Wambui does her best impersonation of Caster Semenya.
*MB: Geoffrey Kamworor a DNF? 
*MB: David Rudisha 1.43.34 WL in the semi finals!

Recommended Read: Sports Illustrated Cover Story By Tim Layden: “An American Hero” 40 Years After Gold, Caitlyn Jenner Comfortable In Her Own Skin” A great read with insights and stories from the 1976 Jenner who won decathlon gold as a man and the 2016 Jenner who promotes gender rights as a transgender woman.
*MB: Apparently Bruce Jenner admitted to using PEDs in an 1988 interview

FloTrack Has Their Media Credentials For The Olympic Trials And Rio Revoked By The IOC Apparently they violated use rights by streaming parts of the marathon and wrestling Olympic Trials.
*MB: Flotrack denied credentials to the Olympic Trials

It’s Time To Put Your Game Faces On

LRC$200,016 LRC Running Warehouse Trials Prediction Contest Is Here!

The Olympic Trials are here. It's time to get down to business.

Montano-Martinez-WilsonFHH1d-USout15LRC US Olympic Trials Women’s 800: Prepare For Chaos In The Most Wide-Open Distance Event Of The Trials Ajee Wilson, Alysia Montano and Brenda Martinez have all starred on the international stage before. Will they make it to Rio? Not necessarily, as 12 Americans this year have run between 1:59.72 and 2:00.82.

Is there any way a 1:43 doesn't make the team? Well, it happened to Berian last year.LRC US Olympic Trials Men’s 800: Old (Nick Symmonds/Duane Solomon) Vs. New (Boris Berian, Clayton Murphy, Donavan Brazier) Over Two Laps The 800 is full of lots of studly young talent in Boris Berian, Donavan Brazier and Clayton Murphy – average age 21. Will they arrive as Olympians or can the old studs like Duane Solomon and Nick Symmonds make one last stand?

Previous: LRC US Olympic Trials Men’s 10,000 Preview *LRC US Olympic Trials Women’s 10,000 Preview: Molly Huddle, Then Who?

Doping Updates: USADA NOP Investigation Not Over

Russian Doping News

The 2nd-Fastest Man In World History Is On The Comeback Trail

LRCThe Rebirth Of Yohan Blake

Last year, on the comeback trail after hamstring surgery, Yohan Blake, the second-fastest man in history, was running and losing "B" heats in Europe. Now, the man formerly known as "The Beast" is back in form, having exorcised his demons. "The nickname was holding me back. I keep on getting injured and it was related to the beasts in the Bible ... God didn't like it, so I had to change it."