Saturday Paris Diamond League *Results

LRC  Paris Recap: Sifan Hassan Beats Faith Kipyegon, Ronald Kwemoi and Omar McLeod Lose For First Time, Nijel Amos is Back?  The World Championship picture may be getting a little bit clearer after Paris and Sifan Hassan may be your new favorite. Get up to speed on everything in Paris.

• Paris Discussion: Live Paris Diamond League Thread
• Kwemoi not so impressive in Paris Edris outkicked him for win in 3000
• Is Ben MF True the stockiest elite distance runner of all time? True took lead in 3000 and got 6th in 7:35.
• Can a sprint expert explain all the false starts in Paris?

Distance News / Upcoming Action

• Recommended Read: Profile On Former Irish Olympic Miler And Current Agent Ray Flynn Looking Back At When He Broke 3:50 In The Dream Mile In Oslo Flynn ran 3:49.77 to set the still-standing Irish record and says that is the race he is “… most proud of. … I didn’t win any Olympic medals, but I think I got as much out of myself as I could.”
• Sunday: Robby Andrews Going For The 1,500 World Standard At TrackTown Summer Series Meet At Mt. Hood Community College In Oregon Andrews has until July 21st to run the 3:36.0 standard. There won’t be any rabbits in this one though, so he’ll have to hope for a fast pace or set it himself.
• Recommended Read #2: The Oregonian: “No Mystery About Ben Blankenship’s Race Plan Sunday At Mt. Hood – He Will Run To Win” “I would rather be last every time for 100 times to give myself a chance to win once.”
• Sunday: Kenneth Mungara Chasing A Hatrick At The Gold Coast Marathon In Australia He’ll face Yuki Kawauchi, whom he only beat by 1 second last year. Abebech Afework (2:23:33) leads the women’s race.
• July 4: Bernard Lagat, Chris Derrick, Leonard Korir And Shadrack Kipchirchir Lead Field For Peachtree Road Race The women’s race has Shalane Flanagan, Jordan Hasay, Neely Gracey and Aliphine Tuliamuk.
• MB: Craig Engels to NOP… BTC, OTC go home DEVASTATED

More British News

• Good Read: Legendary BBC Commentator (And Runner) Brendan Foster Is Retiring From Announcing: “I’ve loved it, but you have to get out at the right time.” Foster talks about some of his favorite memories from his 37 years of commentating. He also talks about how it’s “bloody horrible commentating on people who you know have doped and you can’t say.”

• BBC: How Annie Conway Went From A Weekend Fun Runner To A World Champion Conway picked up running in her late 20s to stay in shape with her husband, but 8 years later she was the World Long Distance Mountain Running Champion.
• UK Athletics Chairman Ed Warner Calls For UK Sport To Be Scrapped Warner claims governing bodies have been “thrown off a cliff” by UK sport after 11 sports were left without lottery funding for the 2020 Olympic cycle.
• Images Released Of What Stadium Would Look Like if Birmingham Awarded 2022 Commonwealth Games

Week That Was – USA & Kenyan Trials In The Books

LRC WTW: The Winners And Losers From USAs + Ronald Kwemoi Breaks The 1,500 WR* and Mo Farah Breathes Easy Plus everything you need to know about the Kenyan Trials and a rarity on LetsRun.com – ultra running news.

Doping News

• Not Every Athlete Can Get Stripped Of A Medal Twice: Jamaican Sprinter Dominique Blake Finally Returns Her Erroneous 4 X 400 Olympic Bronze Medal She was part of the 2012 relay pool, but never competed so wasn’t supposed to get a medal according to the JAAA. However, she would have lost the medal either way as she failed a drug test and served a 4-year ban.
• The IAAF Approves The Applications Of Nine Russians To Compete As Neutrals At The World Under-18 Championships In Nairobi
• Athletics Integrity Unit Head David Howman Encourages Athletes To Come Talk To Them About Concerns Before Worlds

Sprints And Jumps

• Recommended Read: Olympic HJ Silver Medalist Mutaz Essa Barshim Talks About Overcoming Injury Leading Up To The London Olympics, Where He Won His First Medal Barshim had a stress fracture in his back before the Olympics and every doctor told him his season was done. Good thing he didn’t listen.
• Sydney McLaughlin Named Gatorade National Girls Track Athlete Of The Year Allyson Felix surprised her with the honor why she was on a tour in San Francisco. *“Surprise” Video She didn’t seem too surprised.
• Video: A Day In The Life With Andre De Grasse
• Yohan Blake Wants To Take Over From Usain Bolt As World’s Best “When you have a legend retiring someone has to step up and fill the void. Why not me.”
• Asafa Powell Seeking Medical Exemption To Be Considered For World Champs Team Powell had to withdraw from the Jamaican Trials final with an Achilles injury.
• GB Sprinter Richard Kilty Hoping Both He And His Fiancee Can Make It To London Worlds Kilty’s fiancée, Lithuanian TJer Dovile Dzindzaletaite, will have an easier time making it as she pretty much just has to hit the standard.
• Pole Vault WR Holder Renaud Lavillenie Does Talk With Young Athetes: “The most important thing when you do sports is to have fun.”
• IAAF Inside Athletics Video: Ato Boldon Interviews France’s European Indoor 400m Champ Floria Guei
• UK’s Former European 400H Champ Rhys Williams Announces Retirement

More Upcoming

• Saturday: Provisional Entry Lists For Paris DL Meet
• July 6: Olympic Champ Dalilah Muhammad Leads Field For Lausanne DL Meet The historically deep field has four of the top five finishers from USAs and the top five finishers from Rio. Others competing include Ryan Crouser and Sam Kendricks.
• July 9: Twelve Olympic Champions Set To Compete At London Anniversary Games

Doping Related News: Russia & WR Rewrites Back In The News

• RUSADA Allowed To Resume Drug Testing Under Supervision Of UK Anti-Doping Up until now UKAD had been handling all Russian testing, but now RUSADA employees will actually be able to conduct tests and choose which athletes get tested.
• Russia’s Entire 2014 World Cup Squad Face Fifa Doping Investigation Dick Pound: “Even within a governing body with as little credibility remaining as Fifa, if you were a senior official you wouldn’t want to be part of a body that ignores this.”
  *Same Old Response: Russian Deputy Prime Minister Calls Claims Against Russian Soccer “Nonsense”
• Deadspin: “The Next Big Thing In Cycling Could Be Poop Doping” Just when you thought your opinion of dopers couldn’t go any lower.
  *MB: poop doping” to greatly enhance recovery has arrived – pro cyclist pioneers DIY process
• Thomas Bach All Of A Sudden Pretending To Take A Hard Stance On Russia As Bach says Russia’s transgressions from Sochi 2014 can’t be forgotten, neither can Bach’s failure to take action against Russia when he had the chance at the Rio Games.
• Paula Radcliffe Argues Erasing World Records Would Be Punishing Clean Athletes Twice First they had to compete against dopers and now they’ll lose their records because of them.
• Michael Johnson Questions Proposal To Rewrite WRs “I don’t understand what problem that remedies. It doesn’t make sense to me.”
• European Athletics President Hansen Says Rewriting Records Decision Not Likely Until The End Of The Year The proposal will probably be discussed at November’s IAAF Council meeting.
• Outgoing UK Athletics Chief Ed Warner Backs Proposals To Reset WRs Warner says athlete like Paula Radcliffe and Colin Jackson “understand the greater good is what matters,” but Radcliffe said specifically she doesn’t care if it’s supposedly for the “greater good.”
• Jessica Ennis-Hill’s Coach Toni Minichiello Encourages Seb Coe To Take Action Over Delay In Presenting Ennis Her 2011 Upgraded Medal The medal reallocation is delayed because of pending court cases as Tatyana Chernova has appealed her ban.
• GB 400 Runner Martyn Rooney Says He’d Rather Receive His Upgraded Beijing Olympic 4 X 400 Medal At The Anniversary Games Rather Than London Worlds Rooney doesn’t want to be “distracted” at Worlds where he wants to be focusing on competing.

Random But Interesting

• Yahoo Finance: Adidas Has Nearly Doubled Its US Sneaker Market Share – At Nike’s Expense Apparently adidas dominates the “athleisure” market (stylish athletic clothes you can wear on the couch) so naturally they’re doing well in America.
• Michael Jordan’s 1984 Olympic Shoes And Jersey Break Auction Records After They’re Bought For $190,372 And $273,904 Apparently Jordan autographed and gave the shoes to an 11-year-old ball boy after the gold medal final game.
• Runner’s World: Woman Who Used Running To Lose 150 Pounds Runs In Naked 5K Race

2017 USAs *Schedule *Results *TV & Streaming Info *LRC Post-Race Interviews *Prediction Contest Scores *LRC USAs Coverage Hub

LRC Redemption: Donavan Brazier Wins His First National Title With A Brilliant 1:44.14 At The Age Of 20! Brazier silenced his critics with a 1:44.14 victory as Penn State’s Isaiah Harris and Brooks Beasts’ Drew Windle each made their first US team.

LRC Ajee Wilson Doesn’t Miss A Step As She Wins Her Second Outdoor 800m National Title With A Negative Split 1:57.78 You’d never know that Ajee Wilson hadn’t raced in nearly four months prior to USAs as she was in the form of her life today as she took home the women’s 800 crown and sent a warning shot to Caster Semenya, Maragaret Wambui and Francine Niyonsaba.
*RRW: Donavan Brazier, Ajee Wilson Take USA 800m Titles

LRC Evan Jager Blasts 56.70 Final Lap To Win Sixth Straight USATF Title As Andy Bayer Finishes 4th Again Jager showed great finishing speed as the entire top 4 went sub-60 on the final lap over barriers.

• MB Official 2017 USATF Outdoor Nats Day 4 Live Discussion Thread 
• Evan Jager closed in a 56!
• Wow. Ajee Wilson negative split 1:57.78!!!
• I am excited for Donovan Brazier
• DREW MF WINDLE 
• Clayton Murphy a DNS

European Team Championships In The Books *Results

• Germany Wins European Team Championships Germany’s 3:59 woman Konstanze Klosterhalfen won the 1,500 comfortably in 4:09 with a 2:02 final 800 while France’s three-time Olympic medalist Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad took the steeple in 8:26. Adam Kszczot was DQed from the 800 giving the Netherlands’ Thijmen Kuipers the win.
• Saturday Recap In a tactical men’s 1,500, Poland’s Marcin Lewandowski won with a 50.50 lap to beat GB’s Stockholm Diamond League winner Jake Wightman 3:53.40 to 3:53.72.
• BBC: GB Fades To Fourth On Final Day As They Lose Podium Spot To France By A Single Point
• European-Athletics.org Recap
• Standings For All Four Euro Team Champs “Leagues”
• Strong Irish Showing On Track Undone By Field Failings
• Day 1 Recap: Brits In Command In The Hurdles On Opening Day
• More Coverage At European-Athletics.org

Two More Titles For Coburn And Simpson

LRC Jenny Simpson Makes It Four In A Row In The 1,500 As 31-Year-Old Mother Of Three Sara Vaughn Snags Final Spot To London Simpson and Kate Grace both punched their tickets to London but the big surprise was that Shannon Rowbury did not and Sara Vaughn did.
*MB: SARA MF VAUGHN 
*MB: Jenny Simpson is the Greatest US 1500m runner EVER- male or female
*The Sacramento Bee Article Grace gives a lot of praise the NorCal Distance Project under Drew Wartenburg.

LRC Emma Coburn Remains Queen Of The Steeple At USATF Championships As The Team From Rio 2016 Will Repeat At London 2017 The order of finish was the same in 2017 as 2016 but is the gap between Coburn and everyone else narrowing?

RRW Emily Richards – Star at DIII’s Ohio Northern – Impresses at USA Championships in 800m

LetsRun.com’s Pre-Meet Previews:
*W800/1,500/Steeple *M800/1,500/Steeple 

Friday’s USA Coverage

LRC Paul Chelimo Crushes The Field & Sends A Message To Mo Farah With Meet Record 13:08 Victory In 5,000 At 2017 USAs Chelimo was so dominant he could pump up the crowd with a lap to go and do his signature WCAP Army salute at the finish.

LRC Three Years After Making 800m Final At USATFs In Sacramento, Shelby Houlihan Returns To Win The 5,000m Houlihan got the upset win over 10,000m winner Molly Huddle and American record holder Shannon Rowbury.

LRC 800 Semis: Donavan Brazier Makes His First Final, So Do 2 Ex-DII Guys, Mouth-Watering Women’s Final Set Murphy’s quest for the double is on track. One woman will be left out in the cold in the women’s 800.

• MB Official 2017 USATF Outdoor Nats Day 2 Live Discussion Thread
• LRC Check Your $200,017 LRC Running Warehouse USAs Track Prediction Contest Scores You can also change your picks. Now updated through the 5,000s.
• LRC Post-Race Interviews

• LRC Men’s steeple Prelims: Dan Huling’s Streak Of World Championship Teams Is Over But The Other Big Names Advance Huling had made every US WC team since 2009 but he walked off the track midway through the prelims tonight.

Friday Night Message Board Talk 

• Paul Chelimo is the BOSS!! He just solo’d a 13:08 USATF championship record!!
• Justin MF Gatlin…Dude is keeping it in the tank. Gatlin took down Coleman!!
• Tianna Bartoletta, Jenna Prandini, Hannah Cunliffe, Ronnie Baker and Jarrion Lawson Talk After Not Making 100m Final 
• Great run by Ajee Wilson Wilson and Lipsey were DOMINANT in heat #1. Rogers and Martinez were dominant in heat #2 as HSer Sammy Watson made the final. 
• Hannah Cunliffe “tweak”
• What about the sport? Christian Taylor Flies to USAs from Holland, Fouls on First Jump and Passes on Next Two
• Trey Hardee dominates the decathlon He walked across the line in the 1,500.
• 19-year-old Vashti Cunningham wins her first (of many) US titles in HJ
• This is great: They’re running heats of the 400m Hurdles to eliminate 1 person 

Previous USA Champs Outside Coverage

• Register-Guard: Hassan Mead Ends Galen Rupp’s Reign In The 10,000 “The streak is over for Rupp. So too, perhaps, is his career on the track.”
• Rupp Did Talk To The Oregonian: “I never want to rule out running on the track again. It wasn’t like I came into this thinking this was my last one ever.”
• AP: Alysia Montano Competes Again While Pregnant At US Champs “Montano took two laps at nationals while pregnant with her first child. It was only fair she do the same with baby No 2.”
• The Sacramento Bee: Gabe Grunewald – From Chemotherapy To Startling Line, She Faces Nations’s Best In Race Unlike Any Other “I don’t know how else to go through cancer. I don’t want to sit on my couch.”
• Did You Know There Is A Paralympian Competing At USAs In The 400? Fresh off a two-year drug ban (for cocaine), Blake Leeper just squeaked into the 400m semis as the final time qualifier with a 45.52. Oscar Pistorius’ PR is 45.07.
• USA Today: “Tyson Gay Keeps Sprinting In Memory Of 15-Year-Old Daughter” “It’s been eight months and it still seems unreal. … I don’t think you ever have peace. I’ve learned to think about the good times, try to block that image of her death out of my mind.”
• USATF Recap: Six National Champions Crowned On Day 1 Alex Young (hammer), Kara Winger (javelin), Gia Lewis-Smallwood (shot put), and Keturah Orji (triple jump) were your Thursday field event winners. *Day 1 USATF Athlete Quotes
• RRW: Despite Searing Heat, Emma Coburn Looking For Sixth USATF Steeplechase Title
• Register-Guard: Raevyn Rogers Seeks Worlds Spot Rogers talks about last year’s Olympic Trials final where contact between her, Brenda Martinez and Alysia Montano kept any of them from making the team.

Week That Was

LRC WTW: How Much Does A Diamond League Meet Cost, The LRC Singlet Comes Out Of Retirement, And Are Stars Now Ducking Each Other In High School? Plus Iceland’s Mary Cain is back, Will Claye‘s got a new music video and more.