Doping News

• Dafne Schippers: “I hate when people see my skin and say I’m a drugs cheat, acne doesn’t mean I dope.” Schippers also says her relationship with Jamaican rival Elaine Thompson is “very bad.”
• Jessica Ennis-Hill And The USA Women’s 4 X 400 Squad Among Those Who Will Receive Re-Allocated Medals At London Worlds Kara Goucher and Jo Pavey will also receive their silver and bronze medals from the 2007 Worlds 10,000 after they originally finished 3rd and 4th.
  *NY Times Article With Quote From Kara Goucher
• Russian Athletes Going To Worlds As Neutrals Will Still Be Paid By The Russian Government The “neutrals” can also win IAAF prize money for their placing at the championships, but the Russian national anthem will not be played if they win.
• Russian Sports Minister Hoping Russia Reinstated To The IAAF Before 2018

LA 2024 Or $2028???

LA Mayor Says 2024/2028 Olympic Decision Could Come Next Week And LA Will Likely Be 2028 Eric Garcetti: “Twenty-twenty-four is not probably most likely to happen, even though the Olympics would be smart to pick us for 2024. … That said, they are making it financially – and we are negotiating this – so attractive we would be stupid not to take 2028.”

Pre-Worlds African News – Say It Ain’t So, Kenny B

• Ethiopia Announces World Team: Kenenisa Bekele Will Not Race The Marathon Bekele was quoted saying, “I’m not fit enough to compete at the event.” Other interesting roster notes are that Genzebe Dibaba is doing the 1,500/5K double and Olympic champ/WR holder Almaz Ayana is doing the 5K/10K double despite not having raced all year. Tirunesh Dibaba is also in the 10K.
  *MB: Kenenisa Bekele OUT of 2017 World Championships marathon
• Kenya’s World 400H Champ Nicholas Bett Won’t Defend His Title Bett has withdrawn with a stress fracture in his right leg.
• Passport/Visa Problems Delayed Eunice Sum From Showing Up At Pre-Worlds Kenyan Training Camp This also kept her from racing the Monaco Diamond League meet.
• Edna Kiplagat Explains The Difference Between Time Trial And Championship Racing “For championships, you need a steady mind on the competition. You don’t strive so much for fast times and that’s why any athlete can win it.”
• Kenyan Editorial: “Cut The Circus, Give Michael Saruni His 800m Ticket To London!” AK has created some controversy by not choosing UTEP’s Saruni for the team despite him finishing 3rd at the Kenyan Trials.
  *Saruni Showed Up At Kenyan Camp As No One Informed Him He’d Been Cut Saruni had to find out from the media that he was off the team despite David Rudisha saying it should have been himself or Ferguson Rotich.
• Kenyan Men’s Marathon Team “Oozes Confidence” Ahead Of Worlds Despite The Fact That None Of Them Have Competed At A Global Championship
• Eliud Kipchoge Confident In Kenya’s World Marathoners “With combined efforts they are likely to sweep the first three places.”
• Nigeria Names Blessing Okagbare And 11 Others To London 2017 Team

Sprint Stuff

• IAAF: Wayde Van Niekerk And Isaac Makwala 400m Rivalry Can Light Up Post-Usain Bolt Athletics World They had a great dual in Monaco, but Makwala is only a month younger than Bolt, so any rivalry might not be a long lasting one.
• We Hope They Didn’t Get Their Hopes Up: Jamaica “Drops” Three Athletes From World Team After “Inadvertently” Naming Them Apparently they accidentally named three alternates to the team.
• GB Sprinter Richard Kilty Almost Almost Lost His Finger After Getting It Jammed In A Door This is why he had to pull out of the GB 4 x 100 squad for Worlds.
• Newest Team Captain Eilidh Doyle Gains Inspiration From Past GB Captains Christine Ohuruogu And Dai Greene The GB captain always gives a team speech before Worlds.
• Sprinter Leon Reid Fails In Bid To Run For Ireland At Worlds Reid applied over a year ago to switch from the UK to Ireland, but his application was stalled by the IAAF freeze on allegiance changes.

The World’s Countries Prepare – 11 Days Until London 2017

• Caster Semenya Will Run The 800/1,500 Double At Worlds Last year Semenya ran a 4:01 PR to win African Champs.
  *South African Editorial: “Athletics SA Is Hobbling, Not Helping Our Sport” 38 athletes hit the World qualifying standard, but Athletics SA is only sending 18.
• Greg Rutherford Won’t Defend His World Title As He Fails To Recover From His Ankle Injury “I am truly gutted. That stadium is such a special place for me, I am so devastated that I won’t be competing in front of the best fans in the world, in the stadium that changed my life.”
• 4 X 100 Relay Team Member Richard Kilty Will Also Miss Worlds After Breaking A Finger On His Changeover Hand
• Four Reigning World Champions And Eight 2016 Olympic Gold Medalists Lead USA Roster Of 132 For Worlds
• Russia Sending 19 Athletes To Worlds Despite Doping Ban Surprisingly, the Russian Athletics Federation director said they filed paperwork for whistleblower Yulia Stepanova, but she wasn’t accepted as she doesn’t have the standard.
• Usain Bolt, Elaine Thompson Headline Jamaica’s 56-Member Worlds Team
• UK’s Marc Scott Qualifies For Worlds In The 5,000 At The Last Minute With A 13:22.37 At Heusden The standard is 13:22.60 and Andy Vernon came agonizingly close with 13:22.65.
• GB Adds 5 More Athletes To World Squad This included long jumpers Shara Proctor and Jazmin Sawyers after they received descending order invites from the IAAF.
• Australia Names Squad Of 48 For Worlds

Post-World Para Champs

• UK Athletics Confirms Interest In Bidding To Host Again For 2019 World Para Championships
  *MB: What explains the popularity of the Paralympics in the UK?
• Audio Clip Of Paralympian Liam Malone Talking About Breaking Usain Bolt’s 100m Record

Pan Am U20s and Euro U-20s *Pan Am Results *Euro Results

Pan Ams: US Team Of Zachary Schinnick, Josephus Lyles, Brian Herron And Sean Hooper Sets New U20 4 X 400 World Record Of 3:00.30 On Final Day Of Pan Am Juniors The previous record was 3:01.09.
*Jordan Geist Was Sensational In The Shot As He Set A New US Junior Record Of 72 feet, 3 Inches (22.02m).
*Jamaica’s Christopher Taylor Won The 200 In 20.38 Only Usain Bolt (20.13) has run faster at Pan Am Jrs.

Euros: IAAF Final Day Recap
*MB: After blaming loss in 1,500 after fall due to a “pile of idiots,” Jakob Ingebrigtsen wins the steeple & 5,000 double.
*Germany’s Nicklas Kaul breaks the world U20 decathlon record (8415) at Euro U20 Champs
*Germany’s  Women’s 4 X 100 Also Broke The World Record Held By The US With A 43.27. Britain’s Jemma Reekie (4:13) crushed everyone in the 1,500.
*Great Britain Equals Its Best-Ever Medal Haul At European U20s (19 medals) But Germany Wins Medal Table

Q&A With Emily Infeld, Who Reveals Her Toughest Workout Is 2 Sets Of Mile, Mile, 800, 800, 4 X 400 We’re disappointed to learn her favorite athlete is Lebron James.

July 24 – Happy Founders Day

• 3 Years To Go – July 24, 2020 Is When The 2020 Olympics Will Begin They are celebrating with a 1000km relay which Olympic marathon champ Naoko Takahashi ran in.
• New National Stadium Is Under Construction In Japan

Random But Interesting

• The New York Times: Yes, Marathon Training Caused Increased Heart Plaque In Men But You May Not Need To Worry About It The plaque is much more hardened than for non-athletes and thus less likely to break off and cause a heart attack.
• Two-Time US Olympic Racewalker Maria Michta-Coffey Wishes People Would Respect The Event “I wish that people were aware that just because everybody can walk doesn’t mean that anybody can be a racewalker. A lot of people can drive a car, but not everybody can jump in and race NASCAR,” she said.
• Interesting Study: Does Arch Height Predict Your Running Injuries? “In general, high-arched runners tend to get bone-related injuries like shin splints and stress fractures in the shin and foot. Low-arched runners, in contrast, tend to get soft-tissue and joint injuries like Achilles tendinopathy and runner’s knee.”
• A Look At The Celebrities Running The 2017 TCS NYC Marathon The list ranges from supermodel Karlie Kloss to adulterer and former NFL star Tiki Barber.
• Q&A With Team USA’s Johnny Gregorek Everyone knows his dad was a two-time Olympian but his mom was also a two-time national champion at 600m and 1,000m at Georgetown.
• A Look At The 11 Collegians Who Won WC Gold The Same Year They Were In College

Friday Was The 10th Anniversary Of Webb’s 3:46.91

Recommended Read: What Is Alan Webb Doing Running A Mobile Truck Repair Business On An Island In Portland? Webb and his wife Julia have started their own business and it has absolutely nothing to do with running. On the 10th anniversary of his 3:46 mile American record run, catch up with Webb and find out what America’s fastest-ever miler is doing with retirement from endurance sports.