2017 Virgin Money London Marathon Is Sunday (4:15 & 5:00am ET) *TV & Streaming *Tracking And Live Results

MB: Official 2017 London Marathon Live Discussion Thread 

Bravo, This Field Is A Work Of Art LRC The Greatest Women’s Marathon Ever? London 2017 Is Absurdly Loaded; How Fast Will Mary Keitany Go? The London Marathon website has called this “the best elite women’s field ever assembled” and they may be right. This field is RIDICULOUSLY loaded. There are four sub-2:20 women and four more sub-2:22, including world champ Mare Dibaba, Chicago champ Florence Kiplagat and Berlin champ Aberu Kebede. Plus track studs Tirunesh Dibaba and Vivian Cheruiyot (who is making her debut).

LRC Americans Laura Thweatt And Kellyn Taylor Are Racing The 2017 London Marathon – How Fast Will They Go? The two 2:28 marathoners are looking for PRs in the UK.

LRC 2017 London Marathon Men’s Preview: Kenenisa Bekele Takes On Ghirmay Ghebreslassie, Feyisa Lilesa, Abel Kirui & Rising Star Daniel Wanjiru In Another Stacked Race Even without Eliud Kipchoge, the 2017 London race is LOADED as Bekele (Berlin), Ghebreslassie (NYC), Kirui (Chicago) & Wanjiru (Amsterdam) all won big fall marathons, while Lilesa took Olympic silver in Rio. Kenyan stud Bedan Karoki (’15 World XC/’16 World Half silver) is also making his debut.

• Ethiopian Officials In London Embassy Hit Back At Feyisa Lelisa, Calling His Story A “Fairy Tale” “The blood is not flowing. These are, as usual, unsubstantiated claims, a way to romanticize what happened. (They are) using him for their own political agenda.”
• 43-Year-Old Jo Pavey Is Hoping To PR And Happy To Be Getting Her First World Championships Medal (10 Years After The Fact) Dopers have cost her a lot during her career.
• Bekele: “I think I can improve my personal best, that would be perfect for me.”
• Kenenisa Bekele: “Times are very important.” “In the marathon, running two hours, 10 minutes and winning would not give you full happiness.”
• Telegraph Sport Writers Share Their Marathon Horror Stories Before 2017 London Marathon
• Mary Keitany And Florence Kiplagat And Paula R All Want Doping Criminalized *MB: WADA does Q&A with Marathon WR holder Paula Radcliffe 
• 48-Year-Old Guy Who Was A Chain Smoker 7 Years Ago Will Have Run All 6 WMM In The Last 18 Months When He Finishes London
• Wheelchair Racer David Weir Looking For 7th London Marathon Victory, Hints He’s Not Likely To Retire He retired from track after a controversial Olympic showing.

Full Coverage in Our 2017 London Marathon Special Section

2017 World Relays Are Sat & Sunday *Schedule, Entries & Results (7:30pm ET) *TV & Streaming

MB: Official 2017 World Relays Live Discussion Thread

LRC 5 Things We’re Looking Forward To At the 2017 World Relays – And 2 Things That Need To Be Fixed We break down the 4 x 800s for you and wonder if Team USA can defend their two gold medals.

• Recommended Read A Look At 5 Memorable European Relays (With Video) The videos are great as they include Christine Arron‘s unofficial 9.66 relay from 1998 and a clip of Lillian Board, who tragically died of cancer at age 22 in 1970.
• Justin Gatlin Set To Shine In Usain Bolt’s Absence At World Relays Gatlin led Team USA to the win over Jamaica at the last World Relays in 2015.
• New Relay Coach Orin Richburg Hoping To Change USA Men’s 4 X 100 Trend Of DNFs And DQs Even if he fails, at least he isn’t a past doper.
• Carl Lewis Talks Relays: “The Key Is Simplicity” Lewis doesn’t come out and bash Dennis Mitchell (although he has before), but says he is more hopeful now that Orin Richburg is at the helm. “It’s great to have a coach now who understands a successful system, so that’s exciting for me to see.”
• Andre De Grasse Is Thrilled To Be At World Relays And Says Key To Success Is Patience And Trust
• Olympic Sprint Heroine Elaine Thompson Is Excited For Her 1st World Relays
• Kenyan Women Say They Will Win 4 X 800 We don’t think so.
• Seb Coe Speaks: “There’s Something We Can All Learn From Relays” Did you know Coe actually anchored GB’s 4 x 400 squad a couple of times at the championship level?

Brianna Rollins Gets Suspended

LRC Brianna Rollins, Olympic 100 Hurdles Champ, Is Banned For 1 Year For Not Being Available For Three Drug Tests Utterly idiotic and avoidable. She took the blame but her agency and USATF were noted in the arbitrators decision.
Discuss:  Olympic 100H Champ Brianna Rollins Gets 12-Month Ban For 3 Whereabouts Violations 

Non-London Sunday Road Action: WR Holder Jepkosgei & Sara Hall In Japan

• Germany:Former Olympic And World Champ Stephen Kiprotich Faces Three 2:04 Ethiopians At The Hamburg Marathon Former Dubai winner Tsegaye Mekonnen (2:04:32), former London winner Tsegaye Kebede (2:04:38) and former world bronze medalist Tadesse Tola (2:04:49) headline with Kiprotich while 2:24-woman Jessica Augosto is the favorite on the women’s side.
• Austria: Ethiopia’s Deribe Robi (2:05:21) Eyes A Sub-2:06 Time As He Leads A Field Of Ten Sub-2:10 Men At The Vienna City Marathon
• *Ethiopia’s Defending Champ Meseret Mengistu (2:23:26) And Shuku Genemo (2:24:31) Lead Field For The Vienna City Marathon
• Japan: Joyciline Jepkosgei Will Run Her First Post-World Record Race At The Gifu Seiryu Half She’ll face former world 10,000 bronze medalist Belaynesh Oljira as well as Sara Hall. The men’s race is led by Bernard Kipyego (59:10), who is up against a deep field that includes Yuki Kawauchi.
• China: Defending Winner Mosinet Geremew Going For A Hatrick At The Yangzhou Jianzhen Half He faces a strong field with 11 sub-one hour men including Ethiopian NR holder Atsedu Tsegay (58:47), Asian record holder Abraham Cheroben (58:48) and and road 10K WR holder Leonard Patrick Komon. The women’s field is lead by Mary Wacera (66:29) and Genet Yalew (66:26).
• Poland: Warsaw Marathon Preview: Three Sub-2:08 Men And Bahrain’s Merima Mohammed (2:23 PR From 2010) Headline
• Poland: Jafred Kipchumba (2:05:48 From 2011) And Poland’s Agnieszka Mierzejewska (2:30:55) Favorites At Lodz Marathon In Poland

LRC Goes To Kenya

LRC My Trip To A Possible Doping Camp In Kenya: What I Saw When I Spent A Day With Olympic Champion Jemima Sumgong LRC founder Weldon Johnson was at Olympic marathon champion Jemima Sumgong‘s training camp in Kenya a couple of weeks before her positive “A” sample doping test was announced.

Doping News

• Top Kenyans Say They Are “Embarrassed” And “Ashamed” Of Jemima Sumgong Vivian Cheruiyot, Florence Kiplagat and Mary Keitany all spoke out against her at the London Marathon press conference.
• Former UK Athletics Chief Medical Officer Chastised For “Inexcusable” Conduct When He Failed To Record Mo Farah’s L-Carnitine Injection Dr. Rob Chakraverty was questioned by UK MPs and said he had simply forgotten to record the treatment as he was busy and flying out the next day.
  *The Independent article The doctor said the 13.5mL injection was well below the maximum 50mL allowed within 6-hours.
• It Never Ends: Russia State Medical Agency Boasts That It Has New And Improved Alternatives To Meldonium The agency claimed it has found “several drugs which are not banned and work significantly better than meldonium.”
• Five Russian Athletes Given 2-Year Doping Bans After Being Caught In 2012 Olympic And 2013 World Re-Tests Sprinter Antonina Krivoshapka will lose her 2013 400m bronze and 4×400, meaning the Team USA squad of Jessica Beard, Natasha Hastings, Ashley Spencer and Francena McCorory will be promoted to gold.
• Five-Time Russian Olympic Gymnastics Medal Winner Denis Ablyazin Questioned As A “Witness” To Doping In Russian T&F

Olympic News

• No, We’re Not Joking: E-Sports To Become Official Medal Sport At 2022 Asian Games Apparently playing video games is now a “sport.”
  *USA Today: “E-Sports In Olympics Could Happen Before You Know It” “Crushing it at Call of Duty or Madden will soon get you a gold medal just like the swimmer who sets a world record in the 100-meter butterfly.”
• Rio Organizers Still Owe $28 Million In Outstanding Payments For The Olympics

More Post-Boston Stuff

• adidas Apologizes For Poorly Worded Email Saying “You Survived The Boston Marathon” Their word choice sparked outrage on Twitter as many connected it to the 2013 Boston bombing.
• Boston Globe: “Kathrine Switzer Finishes Boston Again, 50 Years Later” The 70-year-old Switzer ran 4:44 to finish 8th in her age group.
• Boston Globe: Boston Bombing Survivor Says Memorial Wreath Was Placed In The Wrong Spot
  *MB: Boston Marathon bombing victim lashes out at officials for misplaced wreath.
• Article/Video: Veteran Who Lost Leg In Afghanistan Carries Woman Across Boston Finish Line
  *MB: Should this girl be DQ’d from Boston for being carried across the finish line?
• Boston Herald: Marine Who Lost Leg In Afghanistan Runs Boston Carrying American Flag