Things To Watch

2017 Birmingham DL *Compiled Results *Video Interviews *Full Coverage

LRC Recap: Farah Exits British Soil With A Win, Hassan Impresses, Americans Struggle, Barshim Goes 2.40 The American distance runners weren’t great, but we can forgive them after their medal haul in London. Jenny Simpson may be forced to watch the DL final from home. *Full Results

LRC Birmingham Post-Race Interviews

MB Talk

• Birmingham Diamond League Thread
• OMG what did I just see?? Klosterhalfen 8:29!!!
• Blankenship highly inspirational in Birmingham
• Can anyone explain Obiri’s fourth place? 

Outside Coverage

• Klosterhalfen Is Thrilled With 2nd In 3,000 “I beat the world champion (Obiri). I cannot believe it. I am so happy. It has been such a memorable year for me.”
• Farah Takes Off His Vest And Gives It To Andy Butchart To Mark Symbolic Changing Of GB Guard
• BBC Puts Random People On Treadmill And Has Them Run At Mo Farah’s 5,000m Pace For As Long As Possible (Video)
• Barshim Became The First Man To Ever Jump 2.40 Or Higher In 5 Straight Years
• Week After Relay Glory, Britain’s Top Sprinters Are Brought Back To Reality In Birmingham

A Look Back At 2017 Worlds

LRC Track Talk Post-Worlds 2017 Podcast We took a look back at the highs and lows of Worlds, wondered if Emma Coburn‘s gold was the result of white privilege and got excited for the rest of the DL season. Archive coming soon.

LRC The Grades Are In: USA Distance Runner Report Cards From The World Championships In London We rank everyone from A++ to D.

LRC The Five Races We Most Want To See After The World Championships, Including Jenny Simpson Vs. Emma Coburn In The Steeple The good news for track fans is they should see 4 of these matchups in the next 2 weeks. The Jenny vs. Emma one is the only one not likely to happen.

LRC What A Year Sam Kendricks Is Having And Hope You Didn’t Bet Big On The Favorites If you placed bets on the favorite at Worlds, you would have lost a lot.

Young Stars In The News

• With Mo Farah Gone From The Track, Joshua Cheptegei Feeling Confident He’ll Dominate The 10k “There is nothing that is going to stop me from dominating the 10,000m race,” said Cheptegei.
• After 200/400 Double Didn’t Go As Planned, Shaunae Miller-Uibo Is Taking Long-Term Approach: “I’m still young and I still have a lot more years in me …”
• Paul Ereng Has No Problems With Fact That Korir Went Pro: “The decision for him to turn pro not only benefits him but also the program.”

Post-Worlds Reaction – Ireland Didn’t Win Any Medals And Britain Only Won 2 Individual Medals

• Pat Butcher Is Far From Impressed From Britain’s Success In Relays As He Thinks Relays Are A Joke “Athletics is an individual sport; one man or woman (more or less) against the rest, and the best one wins.” On that front, GBR was awful as Farah was the only Brit to medal individually.
• Cathal Dennehy Says World Champs Were One Of Worst Ever For Ireland They only put one non-walker in the top 20 of any events.
• Sonia O’Sullivan Is Very Upset That Ireland Didn’t Wear Green Warmups At Worlds – Say They Looked More Like The New Zealand All Blacks We agree.

Kiwi Coach Is Satisfied: NZ Coach Pleased With Worlds Performance: “I’d say it was six or seven out of ten.” The article also says the Robertson twins “probably” will be moving to the marathon.

(Russian) Doping News

• Associated Press: Does US Medal Dominance At Worlds Reflect Doping Cleanup In Track? While American athletes have certainly been guilty of doping as well, for years the US has had way stricter anti-doping testing than other countries.
• USADA Bans Former Long Jumper Marquise Goodwin For Not Providing His Whereabouts For Drug Testing Goodwin, a 49ers receiver, says he says he quit track for the NFL, but didn’t inform USADA.
• Good Read: BBC: Olympic Medals – The Tricky Job Of Reallocating And Getting Them Back Between court cases, appeals and getting medals returned, medal reallocation is like pulling teeth.
• Good Read: NY Times: Russians Compete At Worlds, But Not For Their Country The article gives props to the IAAF for being a “lone wolf” with the Russian ban and reminds you not to feel too much (or any) pity for the neutral Russians who had to compete without a country.
• Five More Russian Track Athletes Banned By RUSADA They include two European distance medalist. It’s a second offense for steepler Lyubov Kharlamova, but for some reason she only got 2 years instead of life (she hasn’t competed in years, but we don’t want her coaching).
• There Is A Crowdfunding Campaign Set Up To Support Whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov Rodchenkov is getting attention as the centerpiece of a new Netflix doping documentary Icarus, but we say he’s lucky not to be in prison, forget about getting crowdfunded support.
• Russian Olympic Committee President Deems Worlds A Success As Russia Neutrals Finished 9th In The Medal Tables They won one gold and five silvers, which was actually more than they won at 2015 Worlds when they could field a full team.
• Russian Federation Anti-Doping Coordinator Admits They’re Having Trouble Getting Athletes To Return Their Stripped Medals Of the ten track athletes ordered to return medals, only three have. Ironically, the three were athletes not even caught doping, but were on relay teams where a teammate was.
• Dick Pound Warns IOC That Monetary Fines Are Not Enough Punishment For Russia After Sochi 2014 Doping Scandal There are calls for Russia to miss the 2018 Winter Olympics and Pound warns that athletes may sue for lost prize money if they don’t get part of the fines the IOC collects from Russia.