January 22, 2017 | LetsRun.com

Track Action: New Balance Games Results All NCAA Results

RRW Ajee Wilson Runs 1:25.23 For 600 (#2 All-Time US) As Drew Hunter Wins Mile And HSer D.J. Principe Almost Breaks 4:00 Hunter won the mile in 3:58.92 as Principe finished 3rd (4:00.97). Kate Van Buskirk won the women’s mile in 4:30.14.
*Video: Interview With Principe Principe threw up post-race and had to cut the interview short to sit down.
*Video Q&A With Drew Hunter
*MB: High Schooler DJ Principe Runs 4:00.97
*Organizer Release: Drew Hunter Wins in Professional Indoor Debut; Wilson Soars to 2nd Best American Ever in 600m

Sammy Watson Breaks 600m High School Indoor National Record In 1:28.67 She won the race by 9 seconds to break the previous mark by .11.
Molly Seidel Opens Season With 4:44 Mile Win At Notre Dame Invy Erin Finn won the 3,000 in 9:07. *Results
4 X 4 Olympic Silver Medalist Javon Francis Gets 800m Win In 1:54.08 In Jamaica
Florida’s Grant Holloway Joins Ashton Eaton As Only Athlete To Jump 8.05m And Run Under 7.75 In The 60H Indoors
UTEP Freshman Emmanuel Korir Sets World Indoor 600m Record With 1:14.97 He took .15 off the previous record from 1999. *Discuss

XC / Road Results

Olympic 5,000 Silver Medalist Hellen Obiri Defeats Olympic Marathon Champ Jemima Sumgong At Kenyan Defence Forces XC Championships Obiri won handily, beating Sumgong by 28 seconds. Emmanuel Kipsang won the men’s race as 40-year-old Mark Kiptoo finished an impressive 5th.
African XC Champion Alice Aprot Takes Kenyan Prisons XC Championship Title Bernard Muia was the surprise winner in a competitive men’s race which saw 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Thomas Longosiwa finish 27th.
Augustine Choge And Caroline Kipkirui Win Kenyan Police XC Championships Choge won in a sprint finish where sub-27 10K runner Emmanuel Bett finished 3rd.
World Half Marathon Champ Peres Jepchirchir Wins Nandi XC Championship Abraham Kiptum won the men’s race.
Nagano Wins A Record Seventh National Men’s Ekiden Title
Universal Entertainment Wins Kita-Kyushu Invitational Women’s Ekiden
Sunday: Dewi Griffiths And Jessica Judd Lead Fields For British Athletics Cardiff Cross Challenge

US Distance News

Good Listen: Married To The Job: Danny And Katie Mackey Talk About How They Make Their Marriage/Coaching Situation Work Mackey also talks about his coaching and recruiting philosophies with the Brooks Beasts.
Carrie Tollefson Does Podcast With Olympic Champ Triathlete And Distance Runner Gwen Jorgensen, Who Announces She’s Pregnant
Q&A With Nick Symmonds On His Retirement Decision And The State Of The Sport
Brenda Martinez Note To Her Future Self: “Never Forget Where You Came From” Martinez wants her future self to remember what it was like growing up poor and the obstacles she went through in order to become an Olympian.
Jordan Hasay Named USATF Athlete Of The Week For Her 68:40 In Houston

2017 NYRR Millrose Games Are Feb. 11

LRC Olympic Champion Matthew Centrowitz To Race 2-Mile At 2017 NYRR Millrose Games – Will He Attack Galen Rupp’s 8:07.41 American Record? The 3-time Wanamaker mile champ will be seen for twice as long this year as he’ll clash with many of America’s best, including Ryan Hill, Ben Blankenship, Hassan Mead, Mo Ahmed, Donn Cabral and Ben True.

European News

February 1: Poland’s Adam Kszczot Going For His Sixth-Straight 800m Victory At The PSD Bank Meeting In Dusseldorf He’ll face Erik Sowinski, World bronze medalist Amel Tuka and countryman Marcin Lewandowski.
Update On Status Of Two British Sprinters In Motorcycle Crash Both will be in the hospital for at least a week. Their injuries (including a number of fractures) could be career ending, but will at least keep them out for 2017.
*James Ellington On Crash: “I do not know how me or Nigel are still alive.”
Rio 800 6th Placer Lynsey Sharp Shares Her Tips For Success “Sometimes you may have a tactical plan in your head but it is impossible to predict how the other seven people are going to run, so it is important to be adaptable.”
37-Year-Old Ruth Beitia The Favorite To Win Yet Another European Title This Season Spain’s Olympic champ HJer started off her 2017 with a 1.95m clearance to go to the top of the world rankings.

Doping / Corruption News

Kenya Sports Minister Hassan Wario Facing Prosecution For “Disappearance” Of Rio 2016 Funds He and another official are now accused of “losing” around $864,000 in money and kit designated for athletes.
UK Culture, Media And Sport Committee Wants To Question Seb Coe Again After Hearing Evidence That “Undermines” What He Told Them Last Year Coe said he didn’t have prior knowledge about Russian doping / cover-ups, but David Bedford says he discussed the Liliya Shobukhova case with Coe months before the first ARD documentary.
*Committee Requests To See Seb Coe’s Emails
InsideTheGames’ Nick Butler: “What is likely to happen next in the struggle against Russian doping?” A good analysis/update of where things stand with WADA, the IOC and the Russian doping scandal.
Russian World Champion Hurdler Sergei Shubenkov Files Application With IAAF To Compete Under Neutral Flag
Jessica Ennis-Hill’s Coach Toni Minichiello Says Soccer Is Not Doing Enough To Deter Drug Cheats Minichiello points out that while Ennis-Hill was tested 12-15 times a year, it might take a full year for every member on a soccer team to be tested just once.
Good: Russian Runner Kristina Ugarova Loses Defamation Lawsuit Against German Broadcaster ARD Over Reports She Used Steroids
Russian Skiier Facing Extended Ban For Continuing To Compete In Domestic Competitions While Suspended
Lawyer For Russian Skiiers Claims There Are Inconsistencies In McLaren’s Doping Report The lawyer claims one of his clients was mentioned in two competitions in which he did not compete.

Women’s Running

Canadian Olympic Marathoner Lanni Marchant Speaks Out On Women’s Equality In Sport Marchant tells a story of running with a male friend who insulted her by saying a fan passing by recognized her because of her butt.
Women Runners Including Julia Lucas Planning A 256-Mile Relay From NYC To The National Mall For The Women’s March On Washington

Previous Dubai Marathon News

Organizer Press Release: Bekele Confident He Can Beat 2:02:57 WR
$250,000 Bonus On Offer For New World Record At Dubai With a first place prize of $200,000, that means a victory in a WR time nets you almost half a million.
Free Live Stream Starts Thursday at 9:20PM ET.

Sprint Stuff

Syndey McLaughlin Runs Second-Fastest 300m In High School History With 37.11 The record is 36.96, by Francena McCorory.
Usain Bolt On Why He’s Choosing The 100m Over The 200m In His Final Season: “It’s Easier”
Czech Republic’s Pavel Maslak Aiming To Become The First To Win Three European Indoor 400m Titles Maslak opens his indoor season today in Prague as he prepares to go for his third straight Euro 400m title this March.

2017 Boston Maraton Fields Are Released

LRC Analysis 3 Thoughts On The 2017 Boston Marathon Men’s Field – Galen Rupp Has His Work Cut Out For Him, London Vs. Boston, And Is Galen Rupp The Favorite? We break down the 2017 Boston field which features 9 sub-2:06 guys.

2017 Boston Marathon Field Released: Galen Rupp To Have His Hands Full With World Record Holder Dennis Kimetto, Emmanuel Mutai, Patrick Makau 3 sub-2:20 women on the women’s side.

LetsRun.com’s World And US Rankings

*Men’s Marathon: Eliud Kipchoge Caps A Historic Year As World #1 As Breakout Marathon Star Galen Rupp Leads The Americans
*Women’s Marathon: London/Olympic Champ Jemima Sumgong Tops The List; Shalane Flanagan Top American
*Men’s 3,000/5,000: Mo Farah Is #1 Again; Paul Chelimo Tops U.S. List After Shock Silver In Rio
*Women’s 3,000/5,000: Almaz Ayana Is World #1; Shannon Rowbury Or Molly Huddle For U.S. #1?
*Men’s Steeple: Men’s Steeple: Conseslus Kipruto Ascends To #1 After A Year To Remember; Evan Jager (#2) Leads Americans Again
*Women’s Steeple: Ruth Jebet Leads The Way; Olympic Medallist Emma Coburn Tops U.S. List For Third Straight Year
*Men’s 1,500: Olympic Champion Matthew Centrowitz Is Our World #1
*Women’s 1,500: Faith Kipyegon Unseats Genzebe Dibaba As World #1; Jenny Simpson Back On Top Of U.S. Rankings
*Women’s 800: Caster Semenya Is the Clear World #1; Kate Grace Finishes A Shocking Year As U.S. #1
*Men’s 800 David Rudisha Is On Top For 2nd Year In A Row; Olympic Bronze Medalist Clayton Murphy Leads The Americans

LetsRun.com’s World And US Rankings

International Distance News

Mo Farah: “I dream of making Britain my home again – but only after I’ve had one last shot at the marathon.” Farah says he’ll have one more year on the track for London Worlds and then focus more on the road.
Faith Kipyegon’s Coach Says She Could Do The 1,500/5,000 Double In 2020 And Thinks Her Talent Could Extend All The Way To The Marathon The Olympic 1,500 champ is a believer in the benefit of running cross country and will try to make the Kenyan squad for World XC.
Vivian Cheruiyot Wins Kenyan 2016 Sports Personality Of The Year Award Cheruiyot won the overall award while Eliud Kipchoge was the sportsman of the year.
Vivian Cheruiyot Hopes To Emulate Eliud Kipchoge’s As She Transitions From Track To Road A track-to-road switch like Kipchoge’s is setting the bar high, but Cheruiyot says she gets confidence from her 67:54 half marathon debut last year.
Runner Tribe’s Len Johnson: “Kenenisa Bekele Leaves Us Wondering As Marathon Humbles On Of Its Most Prestigious Challengers” Johnson writes, “Say what you like about Kenenisa Bekele, but the man … is never boring.”
New Zealand’s Olympic 800 Runner Angie Petty Now Being Coached By Danny Mackey She hasn’t decided yet if she’s moving to Seattle permanently, but will be visiting this spring.
Edna Kiplagat Wants To Prove Herself In Boston So She Can Get A Chance To Go For A Third World Marathon Title At London 2017

Staten Island To Host Pro Indoor Meet In February The Ocean Breeze Grand Prix will have over $30,000 in prize money.

Track / XC Gets Four Mentions On List Of 16 Best Oregon Sports Teams From 2016

Doping News

Most Ridiculous Doping Excuse Ever? Vitaly Mutko Blames “Sexual Intercourse” For Russian Women’s Ice Hockey Players Showing Male DNA The 100% more likely scenario is that this is proof of sample swapping by the Russians during the 2014 Sochi Olympics. This is up there with Dennis Mitchell‘s excuse that he tested positive due to having sex with his wife 4 times and drinking 5 bottles of beer.
Kenyan Athletes Back Plan For Six Internationally Accredited Doctors To Provide Medical Support The goal is to help curb the rise in rogue doctors who help dope Kenyan athletes.
Russia Wins!!! Russia Has The Most Track Athletes Caught Doping In 2016 36 Russians were sanctioned in 2016 with India (24) and Morocco (20) finishing 2nd and 3rd on the list.
Haile Gebrselassie Pledges To Work With Kenya To Fight Against Doping Geb and David Rudisha disagreed a bit about punishment for dopers with Geb pushing for criminal charges and Rudisha arguing that athletes who unknowingly dope get a break.
Valerie Adams Renews Calls For Lifetime Ban For Doper Nadzeya Ostapchuk Ostapchuk’s 4-year ban from London 2012 is over, but she’s since been caught in retroactive tests from 2005 Worlds and the 2008 Olympics.
WADA Gives Advice On How To Avoid Supplements With Banned Substances In Them They give 14 red flags to watch out for.

NB Games Pre Meet News

Drew Hunter To Make Pro Indoor Debut At New Balance Games at The Armory Ajee’ Wilson will run the 600m. (Hunter’s race is at 2:45PM.)
High Schooler DJ Principe Running Pro Race Chasing Sub-4 Mile In December Principe ran the 7th-fastest indoor time in HS history with 4:04.47.

Winners, Losers And More From Houston

LRC Jordan Hasay Is Now One Of America’s Best Half Marathoners, Here’s Why She May Be An Even Better Marathoner Wejo claims he didn’t want to hype her up too much, but then drops a Paula Radcliffe comparison.

LRC The Winners, Losers And Most Confused From The Houston Marathon: Leonard Korir, Jordan Hasay, Kiya Dandena, Becky Wade, & The US Cross-Country Team We give you the winners (above), losers (those seeking a fast time) and most confused (TV fans) from the Chevron Houston Maraton and Aramco Half Marathon, plus an update on Galen Rupp‘s injury and Paul Chelimo.

Hosting News

Jessica Ennis-Hill Helping Launch London 2017 Mascot Design Competition We hope she helps give us something less embarrassing than the “walking alien penis creatures” or “terror sperm” from London 2012.
Local Organizing Committee Launches 2017 World Relays The third edition of the World Relays this April will have a 4 x 100, 4 x 200, 4 x 400, 4 x 800 and a mixed 4 x 400.

More Distance News

February 5: Shalane Flanagan And Amy Cragg Will Face Olympic Marathon Silver Medalist Eunice Kirwa At The Marugame Half Marathon
*59:01 Man Kenneth Kipkemoi Leads Extremely Deep Men’s Field With About 40 Sub-63 Minute Runners Brit Callum Hawkins (60:24) is also racing.
RunnersTribe Q&A With Clayton Murphy About His Transition From Collegiate To Professional Athlete Murphy says he spends his time not training working on finishing his finance degree from Akron and playing video games with his roommates.
David Rudisha Isn’t Resting On His Laurels As He’s Dreaming About Making History With A Third Consecutive Olympic Gold Medal In Tokyo 2020 “I know it’s not easy … if I win, it will be my biggest achievement and I will have to say bye to the track and field.”
Eliud Kipchoge Believes In His Sub-2 Hour Record Attempt In May “Many people have expressed doubts whether it would be logical to achieve this sooner than later, but I believe that it is all possible …”
IAAF XC Round-Up: Ethiopia’s Getaneh Tamire (13:05 5K PR) And Kenya’s Susan Kipsang Won The Cross Ouest France XC Meet

Indoor News

This Saturday: Drew Hunter To Make Pro Indoor Debut At New Balance Games at The Armory Ajee’ Wilson will run the 600m.
UTEP Freshman Emmanuel Korir Is NCAA Athlete Of The Week After Running 1:46.50 Korir’s time gave him the collegiate lead and puts him 23rd on the all-time indoor list. Kaela Edwards is the female athlete of the week for breaking the NCAA 1,000m record with 2:40.79.
DyeStat: Oregon’s Hannah Cunliffe Ready For A Comeback In 2017 Cunliffe says she had to deal with degrading comments on social media last year when she was devastated after her season last year ended with injury.
Event-By-Event Top 10 NCAA Marks From The Weekend

Middle Distance News

Good Read: Boris Berian Writes Letter To His Future 80-Year-Old Self Berian hopes that as an old man he doesn’t remember “only the glory,” but also the time he spent struggling as an unsponsored McDonald’s employee.
Worth A Listen: House Of Run Podcast Q&A With Phoebe Wright Wright talks about getting dropped by Nike, the finances of track and field, doping and more.
MB: Kate Grace’s Contract With Oiselle Is Up, “Entertaining Offers” From Other Sponsors
February 10: Genzebe Dibaba Targetting Her Own World Indoor 1,500m Record At Copernicus Cup In Poland Also in the field is Dibaba’s younger sister Anna and 2014 world indoor silver medalist Axumawit Embaye. There will be good 800 fields as well with Adam Kszczot, Erik Sowinski, Marcin Lewandowski and Mark English in the men’s race and world champ Maryna Arzamasova and Euro 1,500m champ Angelika Cichocka in the women’s.

Houston Half & Full

LRC Recap/Results Updated With Videos Leonard Korir (61:14) Outkicks Feyisa Lilesa For The Win; Veronicah Nyaruai Wanjiru (67:58) Wins Women’s Race As Jordan Hasay Runs 68:40 In Debut For the second week in a row, Korir left it late but pulled out the win, nipping Lilesa at the line in a terrific four-way kick.
*MB: Official 2017 Houston Half Marathon Thread
*MB: Hasay is BACK baby!!! 68:40 half-marathon debut in subpar conditions, #2 American debut ever!!

LRC Houston Post-Race Interviews: Big Winner Leonard Korir, Great PR Jordan Hasay, Becky Wade, Big Breakthrough Kiya Dandena, Noah Droddy, Dominic Ondoro, Luke Puskedra, Parker Stinson, Plus Coaches Scott Simmons And Ben Rosario

Other International Road Action

2016 Was A Record Year For Us In Terms Of Traffic – Thanks For Visiting

An Inside Look At How LRC Operates How a Ragtag Crew Of Almost Journalists Created Running’s Most Controversial Website Author Charles Bethea embedded himself with us during the US Olympic trials and got a behind-the-scenes look at how we operate. His article in Outside magazine includes some really nice quotes from Tim Layden, “… their best quality is that they don’t give a shit about offending people,” and Nick Willis, “It gave me a ton of inspiration. LetsRun is one of the primary reasons high-quality coaching and training have improved in America.”
*MB: Long Article on Letsrun… in Outside Magazine

Enjoyed The Article Above? Then Check This Article On LRC’s Founding From Marathon And Beyond In 2009 The LetsRun Phenomenon

2016 Was A Record Year For Us In Terms Of Traffic – Thanks For Visiting

Enjoyed The Article Above? Then Check This Article On LRC’s Founding From Marathon And Beyond In 2009 The LetsRun Phenomenon

Tokyo – The 1st AWMM Of 2017 – Is Feb. 26

2017 Tokyo Elite Fields Released – Wilson Kipsang Headlines Men’s Field – Betsy Saina And Sara Hall In Women’s Field The men’s field features 10 guys who have broken 2:07 while the women’s field features 4 women who have broken 2:23 plus the debut of Saina. Andrew Bumbalough will also make his marathon debut.

2017 Sandard Chartered Dubai Marathon *Results

MB: Official 2017 Dubai Marathon Live Discussion Thread

LRC Olympic 10K Bronze Medalist Tamirat Tola Runs 2:04:11 CR (#9 All-Time) As Kenenisa Bekele Drops Out And Everyone Else Blows Up A fall at the start doomed Bekele, and the suicidal pace (2:01:48 pace 1st 5k) and near 70-degree temps doomed everyone else except Tola.

LRC Unbelievable: Kenenisa Bekele Falls At Start, Gets Injured, And Later Drops Out Of The Dubai Marathon The world’s richest prize money marathon didn’t get the start right.

LRC Worknesh Degefa’s Marathon Debut Is A Huge Success As She Runs 2:22:36 To Win $200,000 Degefa was already one of the world’s best half marathoners; being a marathoner pays a lot better.

LRC Listen To LetsRun.com’s 2017 Dubai Marathon Pre-Race Podcast We were joined by Sean Hartnett – The Marathon Professor – who has seen every WR live since 1988 (and wasn’t in Dubai).

*Statement From Kenenisa Bekele He says he was “ready for something special today” and adds “See you in London in April.”
*Pat Butcher’s Recap: Tola Triumphs, Bekele Blows Out!

2017 Dubai On the Message Board

Sub-2 Hour Marathon Season Is Here

Recommended Read: The Guardian: “Can Nike’s Two-Hour Marathon Quest Learn From Roger Bannister?” Michael Crawley explains how Bannister’s sub-4 actually has a lot in common with Nike’s sub-2 hour marathon project. Even if low tech by today’s standards, at the time there were actually concerns about the legitimacy of Bannister’s approach.
Sports Scientist Ross Tucker: The “2-Hour Marathon” Season Begins With Dubai Tucker is pretty critical of the 2-hour hype and doubts it can be done without doping anytime soon. He jokes that the “barrier is now ‘in sight,’ even if a telescope is required.”

Presidential Corner

Interesting Read: InsideTheGames: The Olympic Rings And The Oval Office: From Teddy To Donald And interesting history lesson on US presidents and the Olympics. The author points out for Donald Trump to open the 2024 Games, two more elections would need to go his way.
MB: Official LRC President Donald J Trump Inauguration Thread
President Obama Praises Michael Phelps And Simone Biles In His Final Press Conference

Japanese Distance News

UK Updates

Eilish McColgan Pleased With Her Strong Start To 2017 After A Big 10K PR Of 31:56 The time puts her tied for 10th on the UK all-time list and 2nd on the Scottish list behind only her mother who ran 30:39 in 1989.
Two British Sprinters In Hospital With Career Threatening Injuries After A Head-On-Collision Motorcycle Accident James Ellington and Nigel Levine crashed head-on into a car being driven on the wrong side of the road by a tourist not used to driving on the right-hand side.
Britain’s Oldest Living Olympian Turns 100 Bill Lucas competed in the 5,000 at the 1948 Games, but said he could have won a medal in 1940 or 1944 if it hadn’t been for WWII where he flew 81 missions as a bomber pilot.
*Video: Lucas: “Hitler stopped me getting a medal so I bombed him.” (may need UK IP address)
Former Paralympic Wheelchair Champion David Weir Retires From International Competition After Venting Frustration With British Athletics He didn’t specify the issue, but tweeted, “I have been let down again … I will never put a shirt on again. #thanksBritishAthletics what a joke.”
*British Athletics Respond That They Are Unaware Of The Reason Behind Weir’s Comments
IAAF Takes A Look Back At “Britain’s Rich History Of Hosting IAAF Championships” GB is one of only five countries to have hosted IAAF championships on all surfaces (outdoor, indoor, road and XC).

London Is Loaded

2017 Virgin Money London Marathon Women’s Elite Field: Olympic Champion Jemima Sumgong Will Face Mary Keitany, Tirunesh Dibaba, Olympic Bronze Medalist Mare Dibaba And Vivian Cheruiyot In Her Debut The field is stacked as usual with 7 women who have run under 2:21 and also includes Chicago champion Florence Kiplagat, Berlin winner Aberu Kebede and and former London winners Tigist Tufa (2015) and Aselefech Mergia (2010). Team USA will get some representation from Laura Thweatt and Kellyn Taylor.