TrackTown Summer Series Is Friday Night *Schedule, Start Lists And Team Rosters

LRC The Track Town Summer Series Is Here: Everything You Need To Know From The Press Conference – Plus The Pros Don’t Make Much In Europe Team track and field gives it a go Friday.

• LRC Emma Coburn Of New Balance Talks About Rio Olympics, Summer Series, And Zika: “The last 150 at Worlds last year was not a very brilliant finish, so I’m hoping the last 150 in Rio goes a little better for me.”
• LRC  Brenda Martinez Of New Balance On The Intersex Controversy At The 800 At The Olympics: “I think it worked out to my benefit where I’m not running the 8 because it’s Caster (Semenya), it’s Francine (Niyonsaba), it’s (Margaret) Wambui.”
• LRC Nike’s Ben Blankenship Talks About Being An Olympian And Eugene Summer Series 
• LRC Brooks’ Cas Loxsom Talks About Bouncing Back And High School Hour At Trials

LRC TrackTown Summer Series Preview: Robby Andrews Vs. Ben Blankenship In An Olympic Trials Rematch, Plus Matthew Centrowitz Vs. Erik Sowinski & Melissa Bishop Vs. Brenda Martinez at 800 With the Olympics just over two weeks away, several top Americans will get one final tune-up before Rio in the final meet at Hayward Field before it begins renovations. Overall, 23 Brazil-bound athletes will be in action, with Will Claye, Brittney Reese and Erik Kynard all taking part.

Journalists Making News

• Germany’s Largest Newspaper Publishes Picture Of IOC Head Thomas Bach With Putin And Calls Him “Putin’s Poodle”
• UK Columnist Wants Olympics “Denationalised, With Teams, Flags, Anthems And State Identities Banned, And Victory Going To The Best Person, Not The Best State”
• Jamaican Columnist Asks People To Pray For Their Lady Sprinters The only one that has been running exceptionally well this year – Elaine Thompson – hasn’t competed since pulling out of the 200 at the Jamaican Champs with an injury on July 2nd.

Weekly Recap

WTW Age Cheating At World Juniors, Russia Doesn’t Get Banned, The IOC Screws Over Yuliya Stepanova And Is Keni Harrison The Second Coming Of Michael Johnson? We break down the good (Keni Harrison is back in a big way) and bad (lots of cheating still going on all over the place) from an action-packed week with two great meets – one in Houston and one in London.

Fight The Injustice LRC Sign The Petition To Get Whistleblower Yuliya Stepanova Into The Olympics We don’t just think she should be in the Olympics – we think she should lead the parade of nations. She’s a role model that Russia and the world should follow. Yes, she made mistakes, but she’s more than made up for them.
*Sign The German Language Petition That Already Has 35,000+ Signatures Petition has not been translated to English.

Jumps And Throws

• A Different Kind Of Doping: Hammer Thrower Martin Bingisser Takes A Look At The Prevalence Of Athletes Posting Fake Marks In The Throwing Events Bingisser looks at five particularly shady performances, like the 50-year-old former Soviet, past drug cheat Oleksandr Dryhol, whose season best is an age group WR by 6m and 10m farther than he threw at Euros.
• Good Read: Inch For Inch, Inika McPherson Might Be The Most Talented Jumper On The Planet A lengthy look at the unique rise of McPherson, who at 5’4″ is the shortest woman ever to clear 2.0m (though that mark was scratched for the records after she tested positive for cocaine).
• Yelena Isinbayeva Says She’ll Watch The Olympics, But Not Track And Field
• Get To Know Netherlands’ Ghana-Born Former Long Jump World Medalist Ignisious Gaisah Gaisah has a scar on his face which he got from getting elbowed in a soccer game. After that, he decided to focus on a “non-contact sport.”

Looking Ahead To The Fall

• September 3: NYRR 5th Avenue Mile Will Feature Jenny Simpson And Emma Coburn
• This Fall, High School Girls In Most States Will Race The Same Distance As Boys Only two states are holding out, with Oklahoma and Texas having girls from smaller schools only run 3,200m.

Olympic News: Rule 40 Blackout Period Started Yesterday

• Good Read: Runner’s World Takes An In-Depth Look At Rule 40, Which Prevents Sponsors From Even Congratulating Their Athletes Or Wishing Them Luck During The Olympics Some athletes like Emma Coburn have gotten around the restrictions by thanking their sponsor the day before the blackout period and pinning it to the top of their Twitter feed.
  *BBC: Rule 40 Could See Athletes And Sponsors Facing Sanctions For Using Words Like “Effort,” “Performance” And “Challenge” During Rio
• 23 Athletes Make Their Pitch For Seats On IOC Athlete’s Commission We hope Yelena Isinbayeva knows she probably didn’t help her already slim chances when she said Russian whistleblower Yulia Stepanova should be banned for life.
• NBC Fails In Bid To Change Order Of Teams In Opening Ceremony NBC wanted the countries to parade in alphabetical order by their names in English instead of Portuguese so the US would be near the end.
• Australia Finally Moves Into Rio 2016 Athletes’ Village As Argentina Accuses Rival Brazil Of “Sabotaging” Accommodation After the Aussie complaints the Rio mayor angered some by quipping maybe they should put “a kangaroo in front of their building to make them feel at home.”
• USA Today: The Four Biggest Threats To The Rio Olympics Security, water pollution, traffic and of course Zika.

More Doping News

• World Rowing Has Taken Hardest Stance With 22 Of 28 Russia’s Rowers Banned
• IOC Russian Decision Has Opened Sport Federations Up To A Mess Of Potential Legal Battles Some sports are afraid to even ban athletes named in the Richard McLaren report out of fears of lawsuits.
• Number Of Russians Banned From Rio Passes 100 Mark That includes the 68 track athletes. *2nd Article
• Greg Rutherford Says He Wished They Banned All Past Dopers From Rio, Not Just Russians Rutherford also talks about being the LJ favorite and freezing his sperm over Zika fears.
• Seb Coe Writes Column In The Telegraph: “Officials Must Pull Together In Months After Rio To Create A Level Playing Field”
• Swimming Federation President Thinks WADA “Exceeded Their Power” When Compiling The McLaren Report Considering the IOC has shown it doesn’t have the guts to do what “has to be done,” we’re glad it was WADA.
• Indian Shot Put Champion Inderjeet Singh Blames Positive Doping Test On “Conspiracy” Against Him Singh says he’s been targeted because he’s been speaking out against the politics in Indian sports.

Post-World Under-20 Champs News

• Candace Hill Says She Was So Nervous Before Winning World U20 Gold That She Almost Forgot The “Obligatory Smile And Wave” During Pre-Race Intros Hill says she might study sports journalism at the University of Georgia so maybe one day you’ll be reading race recaps by her.
• USA’s World U20 110H Champ Marcus Krah Started In The Sport At 5 Years Old And Has Been Dreaming Of Going Pro Since 13 Despite being a world junior champ in the hurdles, Krah still wants to try to excel at the LJ and TJ too.

• France’s And The University Of Florida’s Yanis David Took On A Tough Jumping Double At World U20 Champs David overcame multiple fouls to win LJ gold while also jumping rounds in the TJ where fatigue caught up to her and she finished 9th.
• The World Under-20 Record Behind Him, Poland’s Konrad Bukowiecki Has His Sights Set On The Senior Shot Put WR
• Spikes Picks Their Favorite Moments From The Second Half Of World U20 Champs
• 11 Collegians Earned Medals At U20 Champs
• USATF Junior Olympics Are This Week In Sacramento: Day 2 Recap *Day 1 Recap

Stepanovs Hit Back At IOC Decision

• Whistleblowers Yuliya And Vitaly Stepanova Issue Statement On “Unfair” IOC Decision To Exclude Yuliya From Rio The Stepanovs say the IOC made an “unfair decision based on wrong and untrue information” and reveal that Stepanova told the IOC she would have been willing to race under the Russian flag. She has asked the IOC to reconsider their decision.
  
• The Guardian: Whistleblower Stepanova Hits Out At IOC After Being Banned From Rio *2nd Article
• Sign Petition To Get Stepanova Into Rio

Trail / Ultra News

• Help Out Your Fellow Trail Runners In California: Sign Petition To Allow Trail Use In Pleasant View Ridge Wilderness The group that helped put in the thousands of hours of work to make the trails runnable is now being barred from using them.
• MB: Pete Kostelnick has destroyed the Badwater course record by nearly an hour Alyson Venti also broke the women’s CR. (Note: Runners benefited from schedule changes which have more of the race run at night.)
• Short Profile On College Sophomore Andrew Miller, Who Last Month Became The Youngest Winner Of The Western States 100 Mile Ultra Since his surprise win, Miller has set a couple of ultra CRs and has more races planned for the fall.

American Track League Houston *Results

LRC Clayton Murphy Versus Centro Lives Up To The Hype, De Grasse Defeats Powell & Gives The Stare, Prandini Gets The Double Centro and Murphy both brought it in the 1,000m and Murphy was too good and got the win. Ajee Wilson won the 800.

LRC Sandi Morris Breaks The American Record In The Pole Vault Video.

IOC Decides Against Total Russian Ban

Russian Team Escapes Blanket Ban From IOC For Rio Games Instead, the 28 individual sports federations that make up the summer Games will make their own decisions while any Russian with a previous doping sanction is banned. *Discuss

• WADA Disappointed With IOC Decision Not To Ban Russia And Not Let Whistleblower Yulia Stepanova Compete Olivier Niggli: “The approach taken and the criteria set forward [by the IOC] will inevitably lead to a lack of harmonization, potential challenges and lesser protection for clean athletes.”
• Good Read: Greg Rutherford Calls IOC Decision “Spineless” Rutherford ripped the IOC while Paula Radcliffe called it “A sad day for Clean Sport.”
• Irish Independent: “The White Flag Of Capitulation Flies Over Olympic Body”
• Good Read: NY Times: Russia Decision Muddies Legacy Of IOC President Thomas Bach “Bach could have set a strong example for nations who dare to cheat … But he failed, and in so many ways, too.”
• Toni Reavis: “No Ban, No Justice … The IOC took the coward’s way out.”
• Alan Abramson: “An Imperfect Compromise: IOC Mostly Gets It Right”
• The Guardian‘s Owen Gibson: “IOC Chooses Obfuscation And Chaos”
• Russia Greets IOC Decision With Relief And Jubilation Russian modern pentathlete Alexander Lesun: “Thank God the grown-ups at the IOC made this decision …”
• Seb Coe Says IAAF Willing To Offer Advice To Sports Federations Making Decision On Russia LRC has some advice too: “Ban ’em.”
• NY Times: “Who’s Really In The Fight Against Doping?” … Apparently not the IOC.
• Russia Celebrates Its Rio Reprieve Comments from sports minister Vitaly Mutko.
• The Telegraph: “Olympics Authorities Are Teaching Vladimir Putin He Can Get Away With Anything”
• Audio: IOC President Thomas Bach: “They deserve chance to rebut allegations.”
• USADA Head Rips Decision As IOC Board Member Claims Sport Federations Will “Pull Out All The Stops” In Assessing Russian Athletes
• USA Today: IOC Decision A Cop-Out *2nd Article

(Mostly Negative) News From Rio

Sprint Stuff: Could Bolt Go To 2020?

• Usain Bolt Says He’d Consider Going On Until 2020 Games If He Felt Up To It “You never know what will make me continue … [If] the sport needs me, why not?”
• Nigerian Olympic Team Told To Buy Their Own Plane Tickets Some have gone to GoFundMe seeking financial support.
• Video: Usain Bolt Does 60-Second Hula Hoop Challenge

Previous London Diamond League News

• Mo Farah Hasn’t Been Satisfied With His Races; Expects Double Gold In Rio Will Be Tougher Than London 2012 “People always think Mo is going to double up … It ain’t going to be that easy. The Kenyans aren’t going to make it easy.”
• Farah Is A Die-Hard Arsenal Fan And Said It Will Be Tough To Run In The Olympic Stadium Clad With West Ham United Colors
• Usain Bolt Hits Back At Justin Gatlin, Who Accused Him Of Getting Preferential Treatment When He Got A Medical Exemption To Miss The Jamaican Trials Bolt: “For me I felt it was a joke – I felt it was a disrespect they think I’d back out of a trials. … I was disappointed, especially in Justin Gatlin.”
• Laura Muir Says Breaking Kelly Holmes’ Record Will Always Be One Of Best Achievements “It’s not just any record, it’s Kelly Holmes’ Olympic gold medal record.”
• RunBlogRun: Agony, And Now, Ecstasy For Keni Harrison Harrison said the thought of breaking the WR was “the only thing that kept” her going after not making the Olympics.
  *Harrison Teleconference Quotes She wants to possibly do the 100H/400H double at Worlds next year.
• The Guardian’s Owen Gibson: “Dark Clouds Hang Over Anniversary Games As Bad News Keeps Pouring In” Gibson writes “attempts of positivity at the Olympic Stadium feel forced as the hangover from London 2012 kicks in hard.”
• IAAF: Usain Bolt Blasts Back To Fitness In London Bolt said he’s not “fully in shape” and didn’t think he “executed well.”
• IAAF: Keni Harrison Says She Wanted To “Come Out Here With A Vengeance” After Not Making The Olympics
• LRC London DL Preview:  Saturday: Mo Farah Vs. Bernard Lagat In 5K

Previous 2016 World Junior (U20) Championships

LRC What A Day For High School Sprint Stars: Michael Norman Wins World Juniors 200m And Lyles Brothers Turn Pro Noah Lyles gets all the attention but his younger brother has better range. Video of Norman’s run.

• Kenya’s Caroline Chepteek Chespol Breaks Steeplechase Championship Record And World Under-18 Best With 9:25.15 Victory She destroyed the field winning by about 9 seconds.
• IAAF: USA’s Michael Norman And Anna Cockrell Impress Cockrell dominated the 400H running 55.20. Qatar’s Abdalelah Haroun smoked the field in the 400 with 44.81 victory. *USATF
• Morning Qualifying: Alexa Efraimson And Christina Aragon Both Advance To 1,500m Final USA got one to the men’s 800 semi with Brian Bell as Kenya’s World Youth champ Willy Tarbei ran the fastest time of the day (1:48.95).
• SPIKES Picks Their Highlights From The World U20 Champs So Far The diving finish in the men’s 1,500 tops their list.

More Sprint Stuff

• Q&A With South Africa’s 9.89 Man Akani Simbine Simbine shocked himself when he ran a .07 PR to take down Asafa Powell earlier this week.
• The Telegraph Complies Some Of Usain Bolt’s Best Quotes Bolt once said, “When I’m at the gym, I think about chicks, going to the beach, and looking good. I do it for the girls.”
  *“Adjectives Are Inadequate”: A Look Back At Some Of The Best Usain Bolt Racing Commentaries
• USA’s Allen Woodard Sets Masters (45-49) World 400m Best With 49.32 At 47, Woodard is the oldest man to dip under the 50-second barrier.
• Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare May Drop Long Jump Or 200 In Rio She is listed for the 100, 200 and LJ, but the LJ and 200 start the same day.

Two All-Time Greats Will Duel At Berlin 2016

Get Psyched For September: Wilson Kipsang And Kenenisa Bekele Will Go Head-To-Head At The 2016 Berlin Marathon Maybe something positive will come out of the madness that was Ethiopia not selecting Bekele for their Rio marathon squad.
*MB: Bekele and Kipsang in Berlin, also Yuki Kawauch

The Real Winners From The Trials

LRCMeet The $200,016 Running Warehouse Trials Prediction Contest Winners And Proof LetsRun.com Is As American As Apple Pie