August 25, 2017 Homepage Archive

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Archived Homepage For August 25, 2017

Quote Of The Day

“Tonight, the game plan was just sit on [Muktar Edris] and make him do a lot of the work. And at the same time, going into the last lap, do not give anyone an inch. And that’s what I did. At one point, I was like, Oh my god, can I hold this? And I was telling myself: yes you can, yes you can. … There was a lot of talk [going in about] me and Edris. What a way to end my career and what a way to show the world revenge.”

– Mo Farah speaking after ending his track career with a final thrilling victory in the Zurich Diamond League 5,000m.

2017 Weltlkasse ZürichFull 2017 Results Video Of Farah’s Race

LRC The Great Mo Farah Ends His Track Career With An Epic Win After One Of The Craziest Finishes We’ve Ever Seen What a great way for one of the all-time greats to end his track career.
*Watch One Of The Craziest Race Finishes Ever (video)

LRC What A Meet! Zurich Recap: Jebet Goes 8:55, Semenya, Kendricks, Manyonga, Barshim Stay Undefeated As Kenya Dominates 1,500, Gatlin Loses 100 The first DL finale of 2017 was an incredible track meet. We break it down with analysis, results and video.

The Telegraph:Mo Farah Bows Out With Dramatic Last Gasp 5,000 Victory Farah: “It’s probably going to hit me later. I’m really going to miss all this, but everything must come to an end.”
IAAF Recap:Ruth Jebet Threatens World Steeplechase Record
European Athletics:Top 10 Of Mo Farah’s Most Memorable Track Moments
BBC:The Stats Behind Mo Farah’s Golden Track Career 430 miles on the track since 2006, 10 gold medals and a bunch of 52-second final laps.
IAAF:Mo Farah Ends Track Career With Dramatic 5,000 Victory
MB: Breaking: Paul Chelimo Has Been DQed From Zurich And It Cost Him $20,000
MB: Official 2017 Zurich DL Discussion Thread Farah has won his final track race in thrilling fashion.
MB: MO GOES HOME DELIGHTED! / Mo Farah is the greatest ever
MB: Paul Chelimo spoiled the race – would Edris have beaten Farah again?
MB: Leave Caster Alone

Full Zürich coverage including our pre-race coverage in our special section.

Marathon News

Good Listen:Podcast Q&A With Jared Ward (Starts @ 13:30 Mark) Ward says he was impressed with the way Mo Farah and Usain Bolt lost at Worlds.
Brianne Theisen-Eaton Is Running The Chicago Marathon Theisen-Eaton says before this she hadn’t run more than 1,200m, but now has gotten up to a 13-mile run which “absolutely killed” her.
The Japan Times: Experts Say Tokyo Summer Temperatures Will Raise Heatstroke Risk At 2020 Olympic Marathon The Olympic marathon is often hot, but experts are saying it will be worse than the past and have asked organizers to change the route to pass in the shade of buildings.
Runner’s World:“My Race Attire Is Not An Invitation For Rape” Woman writes blog post in response to a stranger’s lewd comment her race photos.

Africa To Bid To Host The 2025 World Championships The bid is expected to come from one of six nations – Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt or Morocco.

Usain Bolt Updates

Greek Reporter:Usain Bolt Is Having The Retirement Party Of His Life On Greek Island Of Mykonos Includes video.
Usain Bolt Could Be Moving To London “London … is the only city outside of Kingston I could see myself living. Not in the winter, but I am looking to buy a place so I can spend more time here.”
Usain Bolt Speaks About His Career And Retirement Plans “I am looking forward to being free. My whole life has been track and field since I was 10. All I know is track. I need fun and to relax a little bit.”
Jos Hermens Says Track And Field Needs A Fresh, Post-Bolt Strategy Hermens says we can’t continue to depend only on shoe companies for athlete sponsorship and talks about the problem of road racing being so much more lucrative than the track.
“The Sad Tale Of Usain Bolt, Ezekiel Kemboi And Mo Farah” Rather than going out on a high, they all ended their careers in defeat, although we disagree with the writer that it was that “shocking.”

Assorted Distance News

GB’s Anthony Whiteman Goes Sub-1:50 To Break World M45 800m Record Whiteman ran 1:49.86 to break his own record by .66 and become the oldest man to ever go under 1:50.
Mo Farah “Wouldn’t Change Any Part” Of His Career After Ending With A Win In Birmingham Farah gave his singlet to countryman Andrew Butchart after the race and told him it was “his time to shine.”
The Denver Post:British Runner Ian Sharman Wins Leadville 100 For The Fourth Time
2020 Tokyo Olympic Marathon To Start And Finish At The Olympic Stadium And Follow The Tokyo Marathon Course The last time the Olympic marathon finished in the stadium was in the Bird’s Nest at the 2008 Beijing Games.
Runner Fights Off Attacker On The Trails In Eugene, Oregon The woman was brought to the ground by an attacker hiding in the brush, but she fought him off, possibly breaking his nose before escaping.

Upcoming Action: Caster Semenya Going For A WR?

Sunday:Caster Semenya Leads List Of Eight World Champions Competing In The ISTAF Meet At Berlin’s Olympic Stadium Semenya specifically requested that the meet run the 600 instead of the 800 and she may go for the 20-year-old WR of 1:22.63 while facing world silver medalist Francine Niyonsaba. Other world champions include Phyllis Francis, Ramil Guliyev, Dafne Schippers and Sam Kendricks vs. Renaud Lavillenie.
The World University Games Begin Today In Taipei GB is sending distance runners Jess Judd and Adelle Tracey while three-time world hammer champ Pawell Fajdek highlights the throws. *Live Results/Schedule/Start Lists*Entries
August 29:Zagreb Meeting Preview: World Discus Champ Sandra Perkovic Leads “Parade Of Stars” An interesting 100m features 200 world champ Ramil Guliyev against Asafa Powell, Yohan Blake and and Adam Gemili while Dawn Harper Nelson faces Queen Harrison, Christina Manning and Kristi Castlin in the 100H.
February: Indoor Track Returns To Georgia The meet will feature competition from the youth level all the way through NCAA and the pros.

Doping News

Justin Gatlin Issues “Official Apology” To Fans Who Booed Him At Worlds Gatlin admitted that it “hurt” when he was booed by the London fans and reminds people that he wrote apology letters to the IAAF back in 2010.
CAS Upholds Life Bans For Papa Massata Diack And Two Former Russian Officials They were all banned for covering up Liliya Shobukhova‘s doping and blackmailing her for it.
*IAAF Statement On CAS Ruling Upholding Bans On Three Former Officials
Shalane Flanagan Officially Gets Her 2008 Olympic Silver Medal Upgrade After Turkish Distance Runner Elvan Abeylegesse’s Doping Positive Flanagan decided to “celebrate in private” rather than receive her medal during any formal ceremony. *2nd Article

Truly Random

Usain Bolt To Open 15 Of His Tracks & Records Fast Food Restaurants In The UK
Just 3 Or 4 Journalists Showed Up To Hear People Complain About The IAAF Not Adding The Women’s 50k Racewalk Earlier
What Was The Best Throws Country In 2017? Poland. The good news for US fans is America was #1 in the shot.

Good Reads

Recommended Read Tianna Bartoletta Writes Great Blog Stating She’s Upset She Was Booted Off 4 X 100 Team
LetsRun Visitor Writes About U.S. Army’s World Class Athlete Program For ESPN’s “The Undefeated” Article quotes Rojo and has this great quote from Andy Bayer: “I think our country was built by immigration. Welcoming new citizens is what the nation has been about. At times I’ve gotten frustrated because I didn’t want to lose to them, but when I step back and see how we should be as a people, it’s a lot different.”
*MB: Check out an article I wrote on the WCAP
Sarcastic British Fans Are Happy They Will Have A Dual Meet With US Next Year: “Less chance of finishing fourth I suppose.”
British Journalist Wonders If Mo Farah Should Do A Podcast With Someone Like LetsRun (Like Evan Jager) About Doping Instead Of Getting Annoyed By Questions

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.

LetsRun Exclusives

LRC Q&A:Emma Coburn Reveals The Greatest Race She’s Ever Seen, Greatest Workout Rep She’s Ever Run & What She Thinks Jenny Simpson Could Run In A Steeple Trust us, this isn’t your normal boring interview where you learn nothing about the person. We learned a lot about Coburn by sitting down with her in Zürich.

LRC WTW: Gabe Grunewald Keeps Inspiring Us, Shalane Flanagan Gets Upgraded To Silver, And Why Wasn’t Dawit Seyaum At Worlds? A look around the running world.

LRC Is The 2017 Bank Of America Chicago Marathon Being Watered Down So Galen Rupp Can Win It? Normally a world marathon major like Chicago has at least 6 or 7 sub-2:07 guys who can challenge for the win. This year Chicago has just two. Is a victory for Galen Rupp almost pre-ordained?
*MB: Is the 2017 Chicago Marathon being set up so Galen Rupp is almost guaranteed to win it?

Doping News: Only (?) Three Positives So Far From London

Good Read: ITV News:“Justin Gatlin: Not Quite The ‘Bad Boy.’ A Side Of The New World Champion You Don’t Often Read About” British journalist Steve Scott found Gatlin “softly spoken and surprisingly eloquent” and writes how Gatlin was bothered most in London by the boos hurting his parents in the stands.
There Were Three (Non-Medalist) Positive Drug Tests From London Worlds The identity of the athletes won’t be announced until their cases are completed.
*IAAF: Athletics Integrity Unit Announces Summary Of World Champs Testing Program 596 urine and 917 blood samples were collected in London. *Reuters Article
There Was A 26.4% Increase In Positive Tests In 2016 Due To Meldonium There were 4,814 adverse analytical findings in 2016, up 1,005 from 2015, but 497 of those were meldonium, many of which didn’t result in bans.

Sprint Stuff

Andre De Grasse Vows To Bounce Back After London Disappointment Instead of challenging Usain Bolt, De Grasse spent his time in London playing tourist. “I just tried to be happy, be positive, and find other things to do.”
Natasha Hastings Blogs On Why She Missed Out On The Worlds 4 X 400 Final Hastings says she “felt robbed of a moment” after she had been promised a leg in the final, but was replaced at the last minute.
Christian Coleman Returns To Georgia After Beating Usain Bolt Coleman returned to visit with students at his high school, where he was voted “most likely to get a Nike endorsement” when he graduated in 2014.
Short Video:The Incredible Story Of The First And Youngest Women’s 100m Olympic ChampionBetty Robinson won at age 16 and later came back to win a 4 x 100 gold after shattering her leg in a plane crash.
Christian Coleman Back At The University of Tennessee Coleman is pro, but is still training on campus while finishing his degree.

LetsJumpAndThrow.com

IAAF Profile:The More Pressure The Better For Mutaz Essa Barshim Barshim says he moved the bar up to 2.40 in Birmingham because there wasn’t enough pressure at the lower heights.
Good Read:Bermudan LJ Record Holder Tyrone Smith Shares The Challenge Of Being A Pro Athlete While Working Full Time As A Car Salesman Smith talks about the dilemma as whether or not to answer sales calls during training and anti-doping testers showing up while he’s in the middle of a sale.
Post Worlds Podcast Featuring Interview With World Champ Sam Kendricks And Silver Medalist Jarrion Lawson
European Athletics:Barbora Spotakova Still Striking Gold At Age Of 36 It’s almost 9 years since Spotakova set the javelin WR and it had been 10 years since she had won her only world title, but her London gold showed she’s still the top woman in the event.
Video Interview:“Who Is USA Hammer Hottie?” Olympic shot put champ Michelle Carter interviews USAs 4th placer Amber Campbell.

Duel In The Sun

LRC Investigates Epic iPhone Failure: iPhone Fails To Record Solar Eclipse – Is This A Sign From Above It’s Time To Short Apple (AAPL)? A LetsRun.com investigation reveals that Apple’s much-hyped iPhone is incapable of properly recording the solar eclipse. Is this a sign that it’s time to dump AAPL?
*MB: Discuss

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

LRCBirmingham Post-Race Interviews

MB Talk

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.”

Susa, Italy WMRA World Cup Mountain Race Preview Eritrea’s Petro Mamu and Italy’s Alice Gaggi are the favorites.

Lebron James Vs. Malcolm Gladwell?

Citius Mag:“How Fast Can Lebron James Run A Mile? Faster Than You Think” The writer concludes James could run a 4:20 mile. Before you assume he’s delusional, note that the article is tagged under “humor” so maybe he’s just trolling.
*MB:LeBron James – Article says he can run a 4:20 mile
Sports Illustrated:Malcolm Gladwell Really Wants To Race LeBron James In A Mile Gladwell, a sub-5 minute miler, challenged James to a charity mile race.
*MB:Malcolm Gladwell officially challenges Lebron to a mile race

Mid-Distance News

Clayton Murphy Joins The Nike Oregon Project
*MB: Murphy gone to NOP!!
September 10:Jenny Simpson, Emma Coburn, Courtney Frerichs Lead Stacked Fields For New Balance 5th Avenue Mile The women’s race also has Shelby Houlihan, Colleen Quigley and Brenda Martinez while the men’s race is led by Robby Andrews, Nick Willis, Filip Ingebrigsten, Ryan Hill, Craig Engels, Ben Blankenship and Edward Cheserek.
BBC:GB Steepler Hatti Archer Feels “Cheated” Despite European Silver Medal Upgrade Archer came in 4th in that race, but was upgraded to bronze in 2015 after doper Marta Dominguez was caught and now is moving up to silver due to the DQ of Russian Lyubov Kharlamova.
Friday:Largest-Ever Field Set To Compete At USATF Masters 1 Mile Road Champs Kevin Castille and last year’s winners John Gardiner (4:31) and Tammy Nowik (5:26) lead the fields.

Drug Stuff

Linet Masai, Like Shalane Flanagan, Was Happy To Receive Her 2008 Olympic 10,000 Medal Upgrade “Without Any Pomp” Masai moved up from 4th to 3rd after Turkey’s Elvan Abeylegesse‘s positive retest.
Fancy Bears Release TUE Information On 2010 FIFA World Cup Players The files reveal 25 soccer players that received TUEs.

Things To Watch

Movie Review Of Netflix Doping Documentary, Icarus Athletics Illustrated’s Chris Kelsall gives a rundown of the new film which he says “brings you a step closer to the proverbial big red doping machine of Russia.” *Trailer
Running Themed Music Video – “I Keep Loving You” The song, written by 2:17 marathoner Pete McNeill, isn’t about running, but it’s the theme of the music video which features a number of DII and DIII NCAA athletes.
Check Out The New Documentary On Gabe GrunewaldGABE shows Grunewald’s journey as she tries to train and race while battling cancer for the fourth time.
PSA:Kara Goucher Teams Up With PETA To Remind Dog Owners That Running With Your Dog In The Heat Can Be Fatal Dogs can’t cool themselves as well as humans can and Goucher warns rather than stop, they will “try to soldier through until they collapse.”

**2017 New Balance Falmouth *Results**

RRW Stephen Sambu Edges Leonard Korir To Win 4th-Straight Falmouth Title; Sambu Is Now Winningest Man In Falmouth History Olympian Leonard Korir didn’t want to do any of the leading but Stephen Sambu was still able to outkick him and move past Bill Rodgers for the most men’s wins in Falmouth history.