ISTAF Berlin – Semenya Gets 600m Record *Results

Caster Semenya Breaks 20-Year-Old 600m World Best At ISTAF Berlin Meet Semenya ran 1:21.77 to break the previous mark by almost a second. Ajee Wilson also got under the previous world best, running 1:22.39 for second with Francine Niyonsaba third. *Race Video
*MB: Congrats! Caster Semenya ran 1:21.77 to break 600 m WR held by 1:22.63 Ana Guevara (Mexico) set in 1997

IAAF Meet Recap: Kenya’s Norah Tanui Breaks Meet Steeplechase Record With 9:03.70 As Gesa Krause Gets German NR In 9:11.85 Colleen Quigley was 3rd (9:15.97). Other top action included Germany’s Konstanze Klosterhalfen taking the 1,500 in 3:58.92, Sam Kendricks staying perfect in the PV by beating Worlds medalists Piotr Liesk and Renaud Lavillenie, and Aries Merritt (13.17) and Christina Manning (12.54) taking the sprint hurdles.

More Distance News

• Interesting: Jack Daniels Studying The Effects Of Aging On Elite Distance Runners, 45 Years After He First Tested Them Daniels retested greats such as Jim Ryun and Gerry Lindgren to analyze the effects of aging and weight gain on fitness/VO2 max.
• Joe McConaughy Is On Pace To Break The 2,189-Mile Appalachian Trail Record And He’s Doing It Unsupported Ultra great Karl Metzler set the record last year at 45 days, 22 hours and 38 minutes, while receiving support.
• The Japan Times: Billy Mills To Be Inducted Into The Sacramento Walk Of Stars
• Athletics Weekly: Mo Farah’s 20 Greatest Track Races #1 on their list is the Rio 10,000 where Farah bounced back from a hard fall to get gold.
• CUBuffs.com: Colorado Prepped For Another Exciting XC Season

More Sprint Stuff

• Good Read: It Was A Long Road Back To The Top For Sally Pearson After Her Italian Nightmare After breaking her wrist at the 2015 Rome DL, Pearson barely raced in 2016, but now she’s the World and Diamond League champion.
• GB’s Adam Gemili Motivated To Win More Medals After Getting 4×100 Gold At London 2017 “It’s a great little motivation for the winter months having achieved that (gold) and working to achieve that again and have that same feeling.”
• US 400m Champ And 4 X 400 Gold Medalist Quanera Hayes Looks Back On The First Time She Raced Her Idol Allyson Felix Hayes first lined up against Felix at 2015 USAs and a blown-up photo of the two on the home straight hangs at Hayes’ grandparents’ house.

2017 Weltlkasse Zürich *Full 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.

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 Champion Betty 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

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.”