This Will Please Many

LRC Dennis Mitchell Is No Longer USATF’s Head Relay Coach The controversial coach is out as USATF apparently always hires a new relays coach after the Olympics.
*MB: Confirmed: Dennis Mitchell Out As US Relays Coach!!

The Week That Was Is Back From Paternity Leave

WTW Meet HS Star DJ Principe, Matthew Centrowitz Gets Disrespected, And A Statistical Reason As To Why Men’s Track Is More Popular Than Women’s This week we also take an in-depth look at how often the world #1 wins the Olympics and compare the depth of the three spring World Marathon Majors.

News From Africa

• Eliud Kipchoge Is Predicting Big Things For Vivian Cheruiyot In The Marathon – “I expect fireworks in London …” He thinks she’s going to be the best in the world real soon. “I can predict by the end of 2017 the best road runner will be Vivian.”
• Mary Keitany Makes Bold London Marathon Proclamation “It is still too early to talk about winning the event … But I know I will not be ninth.”
• Eunice Sum Blames Her Sub-Par 2016 On Being Psychologically “Down” Due To Allegations Against Her Manager Federico Rosa In reality, she only ran .09 slower than she did when she won Worlds in 2013. We think she was psychologically down from having to compete against three women with internal testicles.
• Caster Semenya Is Thrilled To Be The Co-Owner Of Famram Solutions – A Company Making The PrincessD Menstrual Cup Has Semenya ever had a menstrual cycle?
• Margaret Wambui Says She’s Trying To Figure Out A Way To Beat Semenya In 2017 “I learnt she was a better runner than me, which has forced me to go back to the drawing board.”
• Felix Sanchez Is Really Enjoying His Time In Nairobi Working With Kenya’s Hurdlers
• Julius Yego Needs A New Javelin Coach As His Old Coach Was Named Finland’s Coach And Is Barred From Working With Foreigners If Nike barred Salazar from working with Farah, would Rupp be a gold medalist?
• Random Fact: Wayde van Niekerk Prefers Fruits To Vegetables He also recommends you don’t respond to direct messages on social media.

News From Europe

Bruno Hortelano And Ruth Beitia Named Spanish Athletes Of The Year By Spanish Athletics Federation Hortelano was a former Ivy League star for Cornell.
*The “Spanish Bullet” Hortelano Is Recovering Nicely From His Car Accident
*Spanish Newspaper On Hortelano / Beitia

European Athletics President Meets With Mayor Of Jerusalem Nir Barkat

Sprints / Throws / Jumps News

• 2-Time Olympic 400H Champ Felix Sanchez Is In Kenya Helping Coach The Hurdlers He thinks Kenya should consistently produce sprint stars as well as distance stars. “There is no reason why they can’t produce greats in sprints consistently.”
• Even Though UF Is #1 In Men’s Track, They Haven’t Had A Guy Win A 60m Race All Season Mike Holloway says it’s his job to get them running faster: “I’ll get those guys going.”
• Jacko Gill Threw A New PR Of 21.01m Over The Weekend
• Wayde van Niekerk And Caster Semenya Named To Provisional South African Team For World Relays They’ll probably both be in the 4 x 400. We’d love to see Caster on the 4 x 800.
• Olympic PV Champ Thiago Braz Now Can’t Walk Down A Brazilian Street Without Being Recognized 
• 40-Year-Old Kim Collins To Open Season In Czech This Saturday

Assorted Distance News

• Recommended Read: Abbey D’Agostino Update: “D’Agostino Returns To Running With Fresh Outlook” D’Agostino has recovered well from her post-Olympic surgery and is back to running on solid ground and hopes to be ready to race again by USA Champs this summer.
• Chinese Website Calls Japanese Women’s Distance Running “Cruel” And “Appalling” After Running The National Women’s Ekiden In A Whiteout Blizzard
• Two-Time NXN Champ Casey Clinger Commits To BYU The decision was down to BYU or Oregon, but Clinger felt BYU was the “better fit.”
  *MB: Clinger chooses BYU *MileSplit Article
• Halie Gebrselassie Gives Investment Tips To His Fellow Athletes “You need to have your own income, otherwise you will be a big loser.”

GB News

• Steve Cram Writes About His Stay In South Africa At The GB Distance Training Camp Cram writes about their long days and says, “A meal out with a dessert every once in a while is their idea of a wild night out here.”
• Sprinter James Ellington Back In The UK And Will Have An Operation On His Injuries From His Motorcycle Crash Ellington has a suspected broken leg and pelvis and will need “significant rehabilitation” after the surgery.
• Olympic Long Jumper Jazmin Sawyers Is Also A Talented Musician And Was Picked As A Contestant On The TV Show “The Voice”
  *Athletics Weekly Profile On Sawyers She recently switched coaches and is now training under Olympic bronze medalist heptathlete Kelly Sotherton.
  *SPIKES: Sawyers Says She Uses Music To “Wind Down” And Make Her Happy “I’m very much the kind of athlete that needs to be happy outside of athletics to be doing well in it.”

A New ARD Report, A New Russian Whistleblower

Latest ARD Doping Report: New Russian Whistleblower Provides Footage Of Banned Coaches Still Working With Athletes And Says “No Changes Really Took Place” (includes video and article) Russian 1,500 runner Andrey Dmitriev thinks 70-80% of Russian athletes are doping. *Discuss

• Russian Athletics Federation President Is “Hopeful” Good News Will Come Out Of Today’s Meeting With The IAAF Given the ARD report that aired last night, he might not want to get his hopes up.
• Banned Russian Distance Runner Anastasiya Bazdyreva Accuses WADA Of Violent Interrogation Tactics She bashes whistleblower Andrey Dmitriev, claiming he “agreed for a piece of silver to make up non-existent stories.”
  *MB: Bazdyreva: WADA tried to forcefully lock me in a room, as part of their violent interrogation and strong-arm tactics
• Ban The Whole Organization? International Biathlon Union Dismisses Cases Against 22 Russians Named In McLaren Report Not surprising considering it took the threat of athletes boycotting for them to move their 2017 Worlds out of Russia and they still awarded Russia the 2021 championships despite it being against the WADA code.
• Will Never Happen: German Olympic Sports Confederation President Calls For Russia To Be Banned From The 2018 And 2020 Olympic Games The IOC showed their stance by refusing to do the right thing and ban Russia from Rio 2016.
• ARD Video Interview With WADA Director General Olivier Niggli On Whistleblowing In Sports Niggli says WADA has put new policies in place to protect athletes who speak out.

Ryan Hall And Michael Wardian Have Started Their 7-7-7 World Marathon Challenge

• Ryan Hall And Michael Wardian Running 7 Marathons On 7 Continents In 7 Days Challenge Wardian wants to get the event record (avg. 3:32 per marathon) while Hall (who has been running 30 miles a week) will run the final leg of the trip in the singlet he wore for his marathon debut (he claims it’s never been washed).
• Washington Post Article: Wardian: “I like to do stuff that scares me.” Ryan Hall: “If I finish within an hour of [Wardian] in each marathon, I’d be surprised. However, I guarantee I can bench more than him.”
• Follow Their Progress On The World Marathon Challenge Facebook Page Wardian won the Antarctic leg in 2:54:54 while Hall finished 5th in 3:26:31.

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