May 24, 2017 | LetsRun.com

Doping Updates

LRC 6 Takeaways On Full USADA Report On Alberto Salazar, NOP: USADA: “It Appears Highly Likely” That 6 NOP Athletes, Including Galen Rupp And Dathan Ritzenhein, Violated Anti-Doping Rules We give you the nitty gritty on the 269-page USADA interim report on Alberto Salazar, Dr Brown and the Nike Oregon Project, hacked by Fancy Bears and released in its entirety on Flotrack.
*MB: The full USADA report on Alberto Salazar has been leaked – Here it is

Yuliya Stepanova Won’t Be Getting Fan Mail From Putin: Vladimir Putin Isn’t A Fan Of Whistleblowers; Says They Remind Him Of Joseph Stalin’s Purges Putin said he’d tolerate whistleblowers in sports if WADA “insists on it,” but he’s generally opposed to them.
Haile Gebrselassie Supports Scrapping Of Pre-2005 World Records Geb claimed he’d say the same even if he still had a WR. “Even though I don’t have any record to be scrapped off at this moment, it will still affect my legacy …”
AP: Ethiopia Carries Out Mass Doping Tests On More Than 350 Athletes Athletes who test positive could face up to 5 years in jail as Ethiopia recently criminalized doping.
Will Russia Ever Get Its Sh*t Together? Russia Faces Complete Ban From 2018 Winter Paralympics As IPC Says They Have Not Met “Key Criteria” Russia has until September to really turns things around or their Para athletes will miss out on the 2018 Games. *2nd Article

Depression Is Real – Please Be Strong & Seek Help If You Are Struggling (800-273-8255)

RIP Two-Time NCAA D2 Champ Gabe Proctor Has Died Proctor lost his battle with depression and took his own life at the age of 27.
*MB: Sad News: Rest in Peace Gabe Proctor 1990-2017
*CitiusMag: Running Community Mourns Loss Of Gabe Proctor

Assorted Distance News

Good Watch: 4-Minute Video With Matt Centrowitz Talking About Training/Racing As A Miler, Rio And What Comes Next Centro says now that his has two major championship golds, he wants to set some American records. “I have the hardware, I want the times to back it up.”
Sunday: Wilson Kipsang Faces Dathan Ritzenhein And Bernard Lagat At The Great Manchester Run 10K Genzebe Dibaba leads the women’s race against GB’s Gemma Steel. GB’s Callum Hawkins had to pull out of the race due to illness.
World 5000m Silver Medalist Senbere Teferi Impresses With A 15:12 Meet Record At The Ethiopian National Championships Another highlight was unheralded Anduamlak Belhu get a shock win in the 10,000m over World XC bronze medalist Muktar Edris as Belhu out sprinted him by .37.
Another One From The Weekend: World 800 Silver Medalist Melissa Bishop Stepped Up In Distance To Run 4:10 For 1500 In Canada (includes video) She won over a field that included fellow Canadian Nicole Sifuentes.
Olympic 1500m Champ Faith Kipyegon Shares Her Advice For Sport And Life Kipyegon’s driving tip: “In Kenya we say ‘pole pole’, which means ‘not too quick’. It is the best way to stay safe on the road. I like to think that I am a pretty good driver!”
July 1: Paris Diamond League Meet Will Include An Epic Battle In The 1500 With Faith Kipyegon, Almaz Ayana And Faith Kipyegon

Is King Ches The GOAT? / Is Steeple Hurdle Technique Overrated?

LRC Is Edward Cheserek The GOAT Of NCAA Distance Running? Why The Answer Isn’t That Simple King Ches certainly had an amazing career but Gerry Lindgren only lost once at NCAA championships, Henry Rono set a world record in four different events in one season, and Suleiman Nyambui won just as many NCAA individual titles but also secured an Olympic medal and had better PRs at the 1,500, mile, 5,000 and 10,000.
*MB: Is Edward Cheserek the GOAT for NCAA distance runners?

UO Coach Robert Johnson Likens Edward Cheserek To A Race Horse That’ll “Ride Itself To Death” If You Let It “Most athletes have that, ‘I want to go, I want to go, I want to go’ mentality. It’s up to the older and the wiser to make good and sound decisions for them.”
Ken Goe: “An Appreciation Of Ducks’ Star Edward Cheserek And What’s Next”

LRC How Much Do The World’s Top Steeplechasers Practice Hurdle Form? For 2008 Olympic Champ Brimin Kipruto, The Answer Is “Never” Everyone prepares for the steeplechase in their own way, from the Olympic champion who claims he never practices hurdling to Evan Jager, who works on his hurdle form every week. LetsRun.com consulted the experts to explore the differences between the top Kenyan and American steeplers and the importance of hurdle form.
*MB: How important is hurdling form to being great at the steeplechase? We asked the experts.
*MB: Kiprop runs steeple 1 week before pre classic

NCAA Regionals Start Thursday Live Results: East *West

Top 4 Remain Unchanged As Texas A&M Men Lead Pre Regional NCAA Rankings Florida and Georgia are 2-3.
Oregon Women Projected As The Clear #1 In Pre-Regional NCAA Rankings Arkansas is ranked #2 with LSU and Southern California a close 3-4.

Women’s Distance News

Must Read: Lauren Fleshman Write A Letter To Her High School Self – “You can be fast and a developed woman.” So many coaches and young athletes fear the body changes that come with puberty.
Recommended Read: RRW: After Long Injury, Canadian Miler Sheila Reid Finds Her Groove Again Reid surprised even herself by winning the 1,500 over Shannon Rowbury at Oxy after coming back from the injury which kept her from making it to Rio last year.
RR #2: Gabriele Grunewald Delays Starting Her Chemo Treatments For A Few More Races Grunewald is trying to get a qualifying time for USAs and plans on competing if she qualifies even though she’ll be doing chemo. “If this is the end (of competitive running) for me, I want to get in a couple of more races. I don’t want to drop everything just because I have cancer.”
Carrie Tollefson Does Podcast Interview With Jordan Hasay Hasay talks about breaking the American marathon debut record in Boston and what it’s like to be coached by Alberto Salazar.
European Athletics Article On Germany’s Konstanze Klosterhalfen’s 14:51 Not only was it a German U23 record, but it is second on the German all-time list and leads Europe for 2017.
*MB: Germany’s Konstanze Klosterhalfen Runs National 23-And-Under Record Of 14:51

More Weekend Track Action

Jamaica: Elaine Thompson Impresses At Jamaica Invitational Tying The 200m World Lead And Breaking The MR With 22.09 Andre DeGrasse led the men’s race from gun to tape to win in 20.14 over LaShawn Merritt while Yohan Blake showed he’s a contender this year by winning the 100m in 9.93. British Virgin Islands’ Kyron McMaster was the upset winner in the 400H in a WL/MR of 47.80; Aleec Harris won the 110H over Devon Allen. *Results
France’s Jimmy Vicaut Opens His Season With 9.97 In France
MB: Asbel Kiprop runs steeple 1 week before Pre Classic We can’t find the result, but here is the evidence. Or is it photo shopped?
MB: Casey Clinger Runs 8:57 At Altitude To Win Utah State Championships
MB: Germany’s Konstanze Klosterhalfen Runs National 20-And-Under Record Of 14:51
Japan: Justin Gatlin Struggles To Victory In 10.28 At Kawasaki Golden Grand Prix Distance action saw Olympic silver medalist Paul Tanui win the 3,000 (7:52), former Olympic bronze medalist Timothy Kitum the 800 (1:47.03), Jairus Birech the steeple (8:19) and Nelly Jepkosgei the 1,500 (4:06.86). *Full Results
*China’s Liu Shiying Breaks Asian Javelin Record With 66.47m US record holder Gwen Berry won the first round of the IAAF Hammer Throw Challenge with 74.13m.
*MB: Golden Grand Prix Kawasaki – Live Discussion

2017 TrackTown Summer Series Draft Is Complete

AP Article On Expansion Of TrackTown Summer Series To 3 Cities And Its Draft
MB: Tracktown Summer Series Draft #2 in the books
LRC Watch A Replay Of The TrackTown Summer Series Draft Star hurdler Devon Allen and Chaunte Lowe were the #1 overall picks for the Philadelphia Force. Paul Chelimo and Gwen Berry went #2 to the Portland Pulse. You can see the complete team rosters here.
TrackTown Summer Series Announces Team Names And Logos Are you ready for the San Francisco Surge, the Portland Pulse, the Philadelphia Force and New York Empire?

Want To Race Like A Pro? Read The Following

LRC Kim Conley’s Race Day Routine: Conley Shares Her Race Day Routine On The Newly-Formed LRC Instagram Account From breakfast at Whole Foods to some afternoon book time (Racing the Rain), Kim shares the secrets that have made her a two-time Olympian for New Balance. Follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Non-Oxy Mid-Week Results

Olympic Silver Medalist Joe Kovacs Threw 22.57m in Tucson On Thursday – Farthest Throw In World In 14 Years
World-Leading Jump Performances From Brittney Reese (LJ), Will Claye (TJ) And Yulimar Rojas (TJ) Highlighted The Action At Guadeloupe International Meet Mike Rodgers beat out Andre De Grasse in the 100 (10.08 to 10.10) and there was also a world lead in the 400H from Kori Carter (54.53) and Jenna Prandini won the 100/200 double. LaShawn Merritt won the 400 (44.99) and Ryan Crouser won the shot.
*Mike Rodgers Takes Down Andre De Grasse At 100m In 10.08 (Race Video)
20-Year-Old Turkish Javelin Thrower Eda Tugsuz Throws Stunning 67.21m In Azerbaijan

Pre Is Next Week Men’s 5,000 At Pre Is Going To Be Le LOADED More than half the field has a global medal. It includes Farah, Geoffrey Kamworor, Conseslus Kipruto, Yomif Kejelcha, Paul Tanui, and Americans Paul Chelimo, Ryan Hill, Ben True and Eric Jenkins.

Women’s 200 Will Also Be Loaded Field includes Elaine Thompson, Dafne Schippers, Allyson Felix, Shaunae Miller-Uibo and Tori Bowie.

Weekly Recap

LRC WTW: Molly Seidel And Erin Finn Are Both MIA, Devin Dixon Arrives, Mark Wetmore Produces An 800 Champ, And A Simple Rule Change Guaranteed To Make Track & Field More Popular This week we tell the NCAA of simple rule change that needs to be made immediately, take a look at the Colorado men’s first 800 champ in 28 years, and more.

Random Road Running News

Boston Marathon Race Director Dave McGillvray Among A Group Doing The World Marathon Challenge (7 Marathons In 7 Days On 7 Continents)
Joan Benoit Samuelson Wants To Be The First Woman Over 60 Years Old To Break 3 Hours In The Marathon The WR in the 60-64 age group is 3:01:30 and Samuelson ran a 55-59 WR of 2:50:33 when she was 55.
*MB: Happy 60th BDay Joan Benoit Samuelson!! Will she soon become the first 60 yr old woman to break 3 in the marathon?
14-Year Old Completes 50th State Marathon To Raise Money For Vision Care For Kids
Runners Misdirected By Course Marshal At Maine Coast Marathon, Run An Extra Half Mile About one-half to two-thirds of the runners ran the extra distance, some of them missing out on Boston qualifiers because of the mistake.
Duluth, Minnesota To Hold Road Race In Tribute Of A Popular Neighborhood Cat
Minneapolis-St. Paul Named The Fittest City In The Nation DC was pushed down to the second fittest city after holding the #1 spot from 2014 to 2016.
North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis Is Fine After Collapsing During Road Race And Being Taken To Hospital

TrackTown Summer Series Draft 2.0 Is Friday *Watch It Live At 7pm ET

LRC Watch The TrackTown Summer Series Draft Live On LetsRun.com At 7 PM ET On Friday

LRC “GM” Nick Symmonds, Hoping To Make USAs One Final Time, Is In 1:50 Shape Right Now, Ready For Friday’s Tracktown Summer Series Draft This is Symmonds’ final season on the track and he’s hoping to qualify for USAs and see what happens. Meanwhile, as GM of team San Francisco, he’s getting ready for Friday’s Tracktown Summer Series draft, and also getting ready for life after being a pro track runner.

Citius Mag’s 2017 Tracktown Summer Series Unofficial Mock Draft
Seven Top Athletes Sign Contract Extensions For 2017 TrackTown Summer Series Emma Coburn, Brenda Martinez, Ben Blankenship, Brittney Reese, Queen Harrison, Phyllis Francis and Erik Kynard have all signed with teams for 2017.

More Upcoming Action

May 28: Tirunesh Dibaba Will Defend Her Title At The Great Manchester Run 10K
May 27: US Champ English Gardner And Olympic LJ Champ Tianna Bartoleetta Lead Pre Classic 100m Field Veronica Campbell-Brown and Trinidad and Tobago’s Michelle-Lee Ahye are also in the race.
May 27: Five Major Championship Medalists Lead Heptathlon Field For Hypo Multi Meet In Gotzis GB’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson will be hoping to get back to the level which saw her win the meet in a lifetime best of 6,682 points back in 2014.
May 28: Defending Champions Nick Goolab And Sarah McDonald Return To The Westminster Mile Seb Coe is running the “Olympians Mile” along with other former UK sporting greats.
June 4: Noah Lyles And Four Olympic Champions Announced For Boston “Street Meet”
June 15: Dafne Schippers Announced For Oslo Bislett Games 200m

Week That Was

LRC WTW: Yohan Blake is BACK, A College Woman Runs 14:51, Why The 2020 Trials Shouldn’t Be In Eugene, Joanie Turns 60 & More Plus we point out a high school meet in Georgia produced more World Championship qualifiers than the USATF Distance Classic and praise an American who won an international marathon last week.

2017 Pre Classic is Fri / Saturday Schedule & results TV & streaming

LRC 2017 Pre Classic Friday Night Preview: Genzebe Dibaba Goes for the 5,000-Meter World Record Joan Benoit Samuelson night at Pre looks fantastic as a couple of world record holders (Ruth Jebet and Genzebe Dibaba) will be racing as will a couple of American record holder (Emma Coburn and Molly Huddle). Might some WRs and ARs fall?
*MB: Official 2017 Prefontaine Classic live discussion thread – Is this the best Pre meet ever?

Hosting News

The Stadium Where Jesse Owens Won Four Gold Medals And Usain Bolt Broke Two World Records Might Stop Holding Track And Field Events Berlin’s Olympic Stadium may be converted into a soccer-only stadium after the 2018 European Championships.
Friday’s Manchester Street Meet To Take Place As Planned Despite Terror Attack
*BBC: Sport to conduct security reviews after Manchester attack *2nd article
USA Today: Federal Prosecutor Delivers Scathing Report On Rio Games He says that many of the venues “are white elephants” that were built with “no planning.”
IOC Vice President Wants A “Principle Of Agreement” Between LA And Paris If 2024 And 2028 Games Are Given At Same Time The IOC definitely wants to do this, but the cities have to agree with it first and so far Paris has been hesitant.
Silicon.com: Smart Stadiums, Streets & Airports: How Tokyo Is Preparing For 2020 Olympics

LetsThrow.com

New Zealand’s Olympic Shot Put Bronze Medalist Tiptoes Between Confidence And Cockiness As He Declares Himself “As Good If Not Better” Than Any Other Thrower In The World
Hammer Thrower Martin Bingisser Does Podcast “Rant” He talks about several throwing related topics including doping: “We keep putting historic throwers on a pedestal when we know they doped. They’re cheaters not heroes.”
Prep Liam Christensen Writes Thesis Paper Making A Case To Have The Javelin Throw In High School There are only 19 states that sanction the javelin with safety concerns being a major thing holding it back.
RIP: GB Olympic Discus Thrower Philippa Roles Dies At 39 Roles competed at the 2004 and 2008 Games and is 4th on the UK all-time list.
*Athletics Weekly: Athletes, Officials Pay Tribute To Philippa Roles
Police Say A Moment Of Inattention Cost Wheaton College Student His Life In Hammer Throw Accident Last Month The student volunteer was distracted by two other volunteers who were goofing off during warmups.
*MB: Student Fatally Struck by Hammer at Wheaton College Track Meet
1-Minute Video: Olympic Champ Michelle Carter’s Guide To The Perfect Shot Put Technique

More From The Weekend

Philemon Cheboi And Former World Champs 5,000m 5th Placer Buze Diriba Win 2017 Bay To Breakers 12K In San Francisco Part race, part block party, it sounds like the 2017 edition (which included a kissing booth with dogs) was just as crazy as ever. *Results
*SFGate.com: “Bay To Breakers Costumes Show Off Local Creativity, Humor At Its Finest”
*Bleacher Report: Top Photos
GB Olympian Andrew Lemoncello Wins Stirling Scottish Marathon In 2:25 Former world champions Zola Budd and Liz McColgan ran in the W50 division with Budd winning and McColgan taking 3rd (3:18).
The Denver Post: 6-Foot-1 And 193’Pound Runner Isaac Green Wins 800, 1,600, 3,200, 4 X 800 At Colorado State Meet
*MB: CO runner wins 800, 1600, 3200, 4×800 at state is 6-1 193lbs
USA Today: Jumper And Hurdler Tara Davis Equals Marion Jones’s Record For Division Titles In The CIF-Southern Section She won the LJ, TJ and 100H for the third year in a row and her wind-aided LJ mark of 22 feet, 3.75 inches is the second farthest jump all-time for all conditions.

Ultra News: Running Goes To Everest

Spanish Ultra Runner Kilian Jornet Summits Mt. Everest; Claims Fastest Known Time He climbed the North face in 26 hours without oxygen or fixed ropes which most climbers use and take up to four days. *Discuss
Free PDF Book: “Swift Endurance Legends The Fastest 100-Mile Ultrarunners During The 1970s, ’80s And ’90s”

Championship News

Do You Plan On Winning A Medal At London 2017 Worlds? Here’s What It Will Look Like They’re pretty cool looking, shaped like a track with a symbol for every event.
*London 2017 Organizers Promise The Medals Won’t Fall Apart Like The Rio 2016 Ones Are Doing
*MB: Olympic Medals Aren’t What They Used To Be – 6 To 7 % Of Rio Olympic Medals Have Already Begun To Flake Apart
The IOC Could Announce Decision On Whether To Award 2024 And 2028 Games Simultaneously In A Little Over 2 Weeks The IOC will discuss it when they meet in Lausanne on June 9.
School Children Will Choose Tokyo 2020 Olympic Mascots The eventual winner won’t be decided until March 2018.

Kenyans On The Roads

Kenya’s World XC Champ Irene Cheptai (31:51) And Alex Korio Win Worlde’s Richest 10k – The TCS World 10K Bengaluru New Zealand’s Zane Robertson pushed the pace early on, but struggled and finished back in 7th. *IAAF

So Much For The Greatest Marathon Field Ever: Eliud Kipchoge And Wilson Kipsang Turn Down Their Spots On Kenya’s World Marathon Squad According to the Daily Nation, the Kenyan team will now have London winner Daniel Wanjiru, Boston champ Geoffrey Kirui and Paris winner Paul Lonyangata while the women’s squad has Edna Kiplagat, Worlds silver medalist Helah Kiprop and Paris winner Purity Rionoripo.
Fancy Chemutai (67:58) And Geoffrey Yegon (60:19) Make It A Kenyan Double Victory At Gothenburg Half Marathon
Kenyans Wilfred Kimitei (60:54) And Yvonne Jelagat (68:19) Break Down Course Records At The Mattoni Karlovy Vary Half Marathon
Silas Muturi (2:30:23) And Esther Macharia (2:53:31) Win Bangkok Midnight Marathon The times were 18 and 23 minutes slower than their PRs, which was down to the super-hot and humid conditions (84 with 90% humidity).

2017 Oxy USATF Distance Classic *Results

LRC Matthew Centrowitz Takes Down Mo Farah, Brenda Martinez Impresses – 2017 Oxy USATF Distance Classic Recap The Olympic 1,500m champ took down the Olympic 5,000m champ. Other highlights: Sheila Reid upset Shannon Rowbury in the 1,500m, Laura Weightman and Natosha Rogers had breakthroughs in the 5k, Eric Jenkins and Cristian Soratos battled in the second 1,500m heat, Olympian Hillary Bor looked great in the steeple, and his Olympic teammate Shadrack Kipchirchir came up short of the Worlds qualifying time.
*Alberto Salazar Thought Centro Would Run 3:36, Not 3:33, As He’s Been Dealing With “Abductor Muscle Strains” Salazar declined to comment on the NY Times doping story.

Oxy ON The Boards: Official 2017 Oxy Live Discussion Thread
*What’s up with Centrowitz?
*Can Centro Challenge The Men’s 1500M WR?

*The Oregonian‘s Ken Goe Won’t Be Shelling Out 70 Bucks For NBC Sports Gold Track And Field Past Goe writes, “I find this to be disastrous to any hope elite track and field will grow its audience.”

Three Recommended Reads

LetsRun Forum Reader And Ultrarunning Star Anton Krupicka Contemplates If It Is Better To Be Popular Or Good Krupicka, aka LRC forum reader and “Jesus-man,” used to win big trail runs with regularity, now he is injured but more popular than ever.

NCAA Mile Champ Karissa Nelson Sometimes Only Ran 4 Times A Week As A Freshman As She Wanted To Be Social Even up through sophomore year, she wasn’t sure she wanted to be elite.
*MB: NCAA mile champ Karisa Nelson sometimes only ran 4 days a week freshman year as she wanted to be social –

Deshae Wise, The Fastest HS Girl In Oregon, Spent The First Six Years Of Her Life As A Hostage As Her Mom Was Sexually Trafficked In Vegas She’s a star now and will be going to Berkeley next year.

Also Interesting

NCAA News

Track And Field News NCAA Women’s Form Chart Now That Regionals Are Set: Oregon Has Already Won
Track And Field News NCAA Men’s Form Chart Now That Regionals Are Set: Texas A&M And Florida In Virtual Tie
Mike Maynard Out As UCLA Coach After 5 Years As Men’s And Women’s Director Are you a college coach? Discuss the latest job openings here: 2017 College Track & Field Open Coaching Positions Discussion

Doping Updates

Doping Decision On 400 Hurdler Kaliese Spencer To Be Made Before Jamaican National Champs Spencer is accused of evading a drug test and faces up to a 4-year ban.
Kenyan Article Shares Out-Of-Competition Testing Numbers On Kenyan Athletes The article isn’t well written and we doubt its accuracy, but it states “the IAAF has 57 athletes under investigation for related doping offences.”
*MB: 57 Kenyans on doping watch list?
Maria Sharapova Denied Wild-Card Invite To French Open The French Tennis Federation president said, “If there can be a wild card for the return from injuries, there cannot be a wild card for the return from doping.”
*Independent.ie: “Maria Sharapova Snaps Back With Defiant Tweet After Her French Open Snub”
WADA Vice President Rejects IOC Proposal That WADA Athlete Committee Members Should Be Elected Rather Than Appointed
International Paralympic Committee To Provide Update On Russian Reinstatement Process Next Week Russian paralympic athletes have been suspended from all events since before Rio.
WADA Discussing Update On Russia’s Reinstatement Efforts At Board Meeting Today

A Friendly Debate – A Noted Sub-2 Optimist And Pessimist Share Their Thoughts On What Eliud Kipchoge’s 2:00:25 Means

LRC Was Eliud Kipchoge’s 2:00:25 A Monumental Step Forward In Marathoning? No, It Was Not – We Still Are 20+ Years Away From A Legitimate Sub-2 Marathon LetsRun.com co-founder Robert Johnson said four years ago that are nowhere close to a sub-2 in a legitimate race and he’s not backing down.

LRC Guest Column By Dr. Michael Joyner: Kipchoge’s Run & What Might (Or Might Not) Happen Next What does the man who famously predicted way back in 1991 that a human could run a marathon in 1:57:58 think of Eliud Kipchoge’s 2:00:25 run? Find out here.

MB: Dr. Michael Joyner and LetsRun’s Robert Johnson share their thoughts on what Eliud Kipchoge’s 2:00:25 means.

Sprint Stuff

Usain Bolt Donates His World Record Spikes To Raise Money For Charity Bolt gave up the spikes he wore when he broke the 100m WR in 2009 to be auctioned off to raise money for a charity which provides equipment and medical services for Jamaican hospital pediatric wards.
Good Read/Watch: Article And 22-Minute Documentary On Jamaica’s Boys’ And Girls’ Champs The documentary follows several sprinters before and through the biggest high school meet in the world.
Olympic Hurdler Queen Harrison Stars In TV Show “Say Yes To The Dress” Harrison is engaged to three-time Olympic medalist Will Claye, who proposed in the stands after winning TJ silver in Rio. *USATF Article
Multi News: Good Listen: Podcast Q&A With Former World Decathlon Champion Trey Hardee In a three-hour interview, Hardee opens up about his career, training and life as an athlete/father.
NCAA Athletes Of The Week Are Sprinters Christian Coleman And Deajah Stevens Coleman is the first collegian (8th man in history) to go sub-10 and sub-20 in the 100/200 on the same day while Stevens put herself #2 on the NCAA all-time 200 list with a 22.09.

Sprints And Jumps

Yohan Blake Says He Could Have Gone Faster Than The 9.93 He Ran At The Jamaica Invitational Last Weekend Blake says he “shut it down” when he realized he had control of the race, but was happy with the quick time after a terrible start to his season.
Radek Juska Smashes 29-Year-Old Czech Long Jump Record With A European-Leading 8.29m
Good Read: Kerron Clement Reminisces About Finally Realizing His Dreams By Winning Olympic 400H Gold In Rio Clement finished second at the 2008 Olympics but says, “I just didn’t feel complete winning silver.”
Multis: GB Heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson Says She Has Grown Up Since Leaving Home In The UK To Join A New Training Group In France Johnson-Thompson said it was hard to split with her coach of 8 years, but thinks the move has paid off as she’s done the most training and competing since she was a junior.
*2nd Article From The Telegraph Johnson-Thompson has struggled a bit with the language barrier as she doesn’t speak French. “There’s some things that I had to sacrifice with finding the right place for me and language was one of them.”
IAAF Inside Athletics Video: Ato Boldon Interviews Jamaica’s Double Olympic Champ Elaine Thompson
Rising Young Talent Ready To Challenge LaShawn Merritt In The Pre Classic 400m
Video: Sandi Morris Talks About The Pole Vaulters Never Ending Struggle Of Traveling With Poles
Two World Under-20 Indoor Records Ratified By The IAAF France’s Melvin Raffin (17.14m TJ) and Ukraine’s Alina Shukh (4,535 points in the heptathlon).

Upcoming DL Action: Pre Classic Is Saturday *Provisional Entry Lists

Justin Gatlin And Andre De Grasse Set To Collide In The Pre Classic 100m They lead a field of 8 sub-10.00 men including Mike Rodgers and Adam Gemili.
English Gardner Withdraws From Pre With Slight Calf Tear
July 1: Elaine Thompson Announced For Paris DL Meet

The King Has Abdicated His Throne

MB: Edward Cheserek’s NCAA Career Comes To A Close – King Ches Scratches From NCAAs Due To Back Strain King Ches certainly had an amazing career but Gerry Lindgren only lost once at NCAA championships, Henry Rono set a world record in four different events in one season, and Suleiman Nyambui won just as many NCAA individual titles but also secured an Olympic medal and had better PRs at the 1,500, mile, 5,000 and 10,000.

British 10K Trials In The Books *Results

Triathlete Beth Potter And Andy Vernon Triumph At British 10,000 Trials At Highgate Night Of The 10,000m PBs Potter, a triathlete who only runs 50 miles a week, took the win in 32:04 with a comfortable lead over Steph Twell while Jo Pavey finished back in 4th (32:42). Vernon won in 28:21 to beat Dewi Griffiths by 10 seconds.

*BBC: 43-Year-Old Jo Pavey Misses Out, But Not Giving Up As She Can Still Be Selected For The 3rd Spot If She Drops A Fast Time Pavey had a tough comeback with some health issues after DNFing at the London Marathon.
*IAAF Recap
*MB: Official Night of 10k PBs Live Discussion Thread

Doping News

Federico Rosa Says They’ve Suspended Paris And Tokyo Champs Purity Rionoripo And Visiline Jepkesho From Their Group While Investigating Doping The two were training partners with Jemimah Sumgong, however Kenya’s anti-doping agency denies that the two runners are suspected of doping.
ESPN: WADA Discusses Signs Of Russian Anti-Doping Progress At Meeting In Montreal Russia still hopes to be reinstated by November, but multiple issues still exist.
Former World 10,000 Champ Liz McColgan Says World Record Rewrite Plan Is “Very Unfair” She made a point which we agree with when she said, “Before they scrap records, they need to think of how to guarantee the next few years will be clean.” Zola Budd thinks if they’re going to rewrite the books, it should be all of them and start from scratch.
Lengthy Interview With European Athletics President Svein Arne Hansen About WR Rewrite Proposal “Everybody has self-interest, but our thinking is: no individual is bigger than the sport.”
Federation President Says Doping In Sambo Is “Useless” And “Can Hardly Give You Any Advantage” Even before we Googled what “sambo” was (a form of martial arts) we knew this was a BS statement since even barely-sports like ping pong and non-sports like chess utilize doping.

It Was A Great Night For The NOP On The Track But A Horrible Morning Off The Track

NY Times Publishes 2,400-Word Expose On The Nike Oregon Project: “This Doesn’t Sound Legal” – Ritz Testifies Under Oath The Times has secured access to the 269-page report that the USADA has written about the NOP. Dathan Ritzenhein testified under oath that he felt compelled to take an L-Carnitine injection that he thought didn’t “sound legal” as Nike was reducing his payments. Ritz also said Alberto Salazar had him take thyroid medication to rev up his endocrine system for a race “instead just whatever was best for my health.” The report also indicates Tara Welling lied to investigators about ever being a patient of Dr. Brown and that Dr. Brown sent investigators altered medical records. When pressed about what sort of treatment she received from Dr. Brown, Welling cried and said, “I don’t know if Alberto did something to me.”
*MB: NY Times Article on Nike Oregon Project implicates Ritz and Farah
*Ken Goe’s Quick Takes From The Latest Story Alleging Doping Within Alberto Salazar’s NOP

RIP

1956 Olympic 10,000 Bronze Medalist And Houston Coaching Legend Al Lawrence Has Died
*MB: RIP Al Lawrence — 1956 Bronze Medalist

Toni Reavis Remembers The Great Grete Waitz 6 Years After Her Passing

Hosting / Bidding News

Chris Chavez Makes A Case For Each Of The Finalists Bidding To Host 2020 Olympic Trials Do the two California cities (Sacramento and Walnut) have any chance against Eugene?
USA Today: IOC Evaluation Commission Praises Paris’ Vision IOC members finished their three-day visit to Paris on Tuesday.
Paris’ Olympic Athletes’ Village Key Issue In Fight Against LA The IOC may want to award the 2024 and 2028 Games at the same time, but Paris says their site for the athletes’ village won’t be available in 2028.
Getting An Early Jump On The Corruption Allegations: Paris 2024 Chief Denies Conflict Of Interest After Company He Founded Is Awarded Contracts To Work For Bid
Rio 2016 Organizers Ask Local And National Governments To Help Pay Their Outstanding Debuts From The Olympics They still owe $37.8 million, but that’s mostly because the governments didn’t contribute the amount they initially promised.
Brazilian Olympic Committee Set To Be The Target of A Federal Police Investigation They are being investigated for corruption allegations related to the use of public money.
London Withdraws Interest In Hosting 2022 Commonwealth Games That leaves Birmingham and Liverpool as GB’s potential bid cities.

From The IAAF

Need A Job? IAAF Posting For A Head Of Event Operations Position
IAAF Tribute: RIP 69-Year-Old Cuban Track Journalist Enrique Montesinos

News Worth Noting

USATF Announces Finalists To Host 2020 Olympic Trials Eugene obviously, but also Sacramento and Walnut, California. A final choice will be made no later than mid-July.
*Ken Goe Suggests Delayed Renovations Could Possibly Be An Issue With Eugene Hosting 2020 Trials
London 2017 Won’t Be The Best Women’s Marathon Ever: Mary Keitany And Florence Kiplagat Turn Down Kenyan World Championships Marathon Spots There are mixed reports on what other selected team members (including Eliud Kipchoge and Wilson Kipsang) are planning to do.

NCAA Studs

LRC Top 10 Greatest Performers From NCAA Conference Weekend: Christian Coleman, Fred Kerley, Deajah Stevens, Grant Fisher, Dani Jones And More Shine Just another ho-hum NCAA weekend with a 9.97/19.98 double, 44.09 in the 400m, 11.05/22.09 double, 51.8-second lap in a 1,500m. Plus there was some great distance action. From Grant Fisher‘s domination of the PAC-12 1,500 to the arrival of Texas A&M’s true freshman Devin Dixon as an NCAA star (1:45 win at SECs), we’ve got the top performances from last week covered.