The Best Of 2017

LRC LetsRun’s Best Articles Of 2017: A Day With Eliud Kipchoge In Kenya, The Summer Of Alan Webb, The Rise Of Syracuse & Many More Looking for some reading in your time off from work? We’ve got you covered.

LRC The Best Races Of 2017 w Video: Gold & Silver For U.S. In The Steeple, Shalane Wins NYC, Kipchoge Runs 2:00:25 & More  From the track to the roads we’ve got you covered. We reflect on the most exciting races of 2017, including history from Emma Coburn and Courtney Frerichs, major marathon wins from Shalane Flanagan and Galen Rupp, the brilliance of Eliud Kipchoge and some NCAA action.

• Video: The Best Viral Sports Clips Of 2017 Pro track and field got one clip and there was another from the London Marathon.
• IAAF Starting Their 2017 End-Of-Year Reviews *Racewalks
• The Most Popular Runner’s World Stories Of 2017

Doping News

• MB: Lolo Jones Suggesting US’s 2012 Olympic Bronze Medalist Kellie Wells Could Also Be A Doper (Same Coach & Agent As Gatlin)
• Dick Pound In The Telegraph: “The Future Of Sport May Well Be At Stake If This Doping Problem Is Not Solved Once And For All”
• The Telegraph Evaluates Dennis Mitchell’s Comments On “Designer” Drugs Which Were Made Famous By The BALCO Scandal Mitchell said there were “simple easy stuff” as well as “complex” drugs and it was only the simple things “you’re gonna get busted on.”
• Seb Coe Claims Russia Is “Moving In The Right Direction” Towards Having IAAF Suspension Lifted There is still no set date for their return, but it definitely won’t be in time for the 2018 World Indoor Champs.
• IOC Establish Task Forces To Tackle Corruption In Sport

More Gatlin Doping News

• Agent Robert Wagner Claims He Invented The Story About Obtaining Banned Drugs To Impress The Undercover Reporters Wagner claims it was all “just big talk.”
• Justin Gatlin’s Samples Expected To Be Re-Tested After Latest Drug Scandal
• Opinion Piece: “Remorse Is The Very Least That Justin Gatlin Should Be Showing For An Athlete Association With Dennis Mitchell” Steve Magness said it best when he asked, “If you’re Justin Gatlin and you’re coming back from a four-year drug ban, why in the world do you say that you want a guy who has tested positive before to coach you?”
• Irish Hurdler Thomas Barr Calls Out Justin Gatlin After He Issued Statement That He Had Not Used PEDs Barr tweeted, “Correct me if I’m wrong, but have you not served two bans for PEDs?”
• Many In Sport Once Again Calling For One Strike Lifetime Bans An interesting note is that a number of Wagner’s clients as well as his wife have served doping bans.
• The Telegraph: “Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word For Justin Gatlin And His Drug-Cheat Mentor”
• Sports Experts Call For FBI To Investigate Doping In Sport After Latest Gatlin Scandal

Justin Gatlin Scandal 2.0?

Justin Gatlin’s Entourage Caught Up In Undercover Doping Sting, Gatlin Fires Coach Dennis Mitchell The Telegraph from the UK went undercover and said they needed help training an actor to be an athlete in the film. Robert Wagner, an agent who occasionally works with Gatlin, and coach Dennis Mitchell both reportedly said they could get him steroids with the agent also saying Gatlin used them. *Discuss

• Gatlin’s Agent Robert Wagner Says He “Played Along” Because He Knew What Was Going On Dennis Mitchell said, “I never suggested in any way that any of my current athletes used any banned substances …”
• Justin Gatlin “Shocked And Surprised” At Doping Allegations Against Dennis Mitchell “I am not using and have not used PEDs. … I fired [Mitchell] as soon as I found out about this.”

Post BBC Sports Personality Of The Year Awards

• Viewers Convinced Paula Radcliffe’s Husband Blasts Mo Farah’s SPOTY Win After Farah was announced the winner, the camera panned to Gary Lough in the audience and some thought it look like he said, “f***ing joke.”
  *MB: Paula Radcliffe’s husband throws shade at Farah during awards ceremony? 
• Paula Radcliffe Says That Neither She Nor Her Husband Disagreed With The Results, They Were “Just Surprised And Bit Shocked By It” Lough has recently taken over as Farah’s coach with his move back to the UK and the roads.
• Mo Farah’s Acceptance Speech Was Cut Off By A Power Failure The screen went from a shocked Farah to a blue screen before the program ended so The Apprentice could start.
• Telegraph Writer Rip SPOTY Awards: “Shambolic Night Sees SPOTY Lose All Credibility As An Arbiter Of Sporting Prowess”
• Mo Farah Says He Was In Shock After BBC Award And “Can’t Stop Staring At The Trophy”

Monday Distance News Of Note

• 2:05:48 Man Sondre Nordstadt Moen Talks About Training In Kenya, Renato Canova, Targeting World Half In 2017 On Same Course Where He Ran 59:48
• Hellen Obiri, Paul Chelimo, Sondre Nordstadt Moen To Run Campaccio XC In Italy On Jan 6
• Sonia O’Sullivan Shares Her Love For The Mile And Says She’s Proof People Can Win Medals While Clean
• 1981 – The Year An Unknown Brit Showed Up At USA XC Champs And Beat Henry Rono And Alberto Salazar
• Four Illinois Running Icons Remember Competing Against Coach Joe Newton NCAA Champs, Olympians and World XC Champ Mike Durkin, Ken Popejoy, Jim Spivey and Craig Virgin share their remembrances.

Non-Pro News

• RW Profile: Masters Runner Of The Year Sabra Harvey Didn’t Let Hurricane Harvey Slow Her Down Harvey’s Houston home was ruined by flooding, but Harvey didn’t let that stop her from winning every age-graded national race she entered this year (mile, 5K, 10K and 15K)
• US Masters Runner Gary Patton Runs 70-74 Indoor Mile Record With 5:29.81 Patton broke the previous WR of 5:32.4, which had stood for 30 years. His training includes only running just once every three days and strength training the rest.
  *MB: 71 year old sets mile record, and only runs once every three days.
• Top 10 Most Popular Strava Segments In The US For 2017 The most popular route is a 1.5K loop around the Central Park Reservoir in NYC. The fastest time on it is 4:44 (5:05 pace).
• Listening To The Right Music Can Actually Help You Recover From A Tough Workout A study shows that listening to slow relaxing music after a workout can help lower your cortisol levels whereas fast music increases them.
• If You Missed This: In Dramatic Finish, Dallas Women’s Marathon Winner Gets Helped Across The Line By A High Schooler Chandler Self collapsed across the line in 2:53:57.
  *MB: Women’s winner of BMW Dallas Marathon blows her legs out, finishes carrying a fridge.

More International Pro News

• New Star Constellations Created For Usain Bolt And Mo Farah They are not official, but they were chosen by Astronomy experts at the University of Birmingham.
• Scottish Distance Couple Lynsey Sharp And Andrew Butchart Are Moving To California To Be Close To Their Coach, Terrence Mahon
• Good Read: IAAF Profile On Aussie Pole Vaulter Kurtis Marschall, Who Made The Rio Olympics Just Three Days Short Of The Deadline Marschall has improved quickly from 2016 with a 7th place finish at Worlds. He takes a mature approach to sport, following a “24-hour rule” where you have 1 day to celebrate or cry over a performance, then you have to move on.
• Japanese Teen Star Sprinter Abdul Hakim Sani Brown Talks About The Challenge He Faced In High School Of Not Having Access To A Track To Train At In Tokyo, even his school campus was very limited space so he sometimes had to train on the streets.
• Heart Condition Rules New Zealand Shot Putter Jacko Gill Out Of Commonwealth Games Gill is suffering from myocarditis and been advised to avoid training for at least six months.

(Russian) Doping/Scandal Updates

• Does He Think This Is Russia Or Something? Vladimir Putin Claims US Security Services Drugged Grigory Rodchenkov To Persuade Him To Reveal Doping Scandal Putin also continues to claim that the attack on Russian doping is about “politics” and specifically timed before he stands for re-election.
• International Federations Told Names Of 300 Russian Athletes On Grigory Rodchenkov’s Doping Cover-Up List
• IAAF Doping Review Board Approve Guidelines For 2018 Neutral Athlete Status Previously-approved neutral athletes have to reapply for continued permission in 2018.
• Vitaly Mutko Does Post-Russian Ban Interview, Says There Would Be No Point To Him Resigning
• The FBI Is Investigating The Awarding Of The 2016 Games The investigation is focused on alleged vote buying, which won Rio the 2016 bid over Chicago and other cities.
• IOC Confident 2020 Tokyo Games Won’t Be Tainted By Doping
• Decision On Russian Women’s Ice Hockey Team At 2018 Winter Games Due To Be Made Next Week It’s kind of hard to argue a country is banned from the Olympics if they’re allowed to send an entire team. Especially a team that had six players get doping bans.
• IOC Bans Six Russian Female Ice Hockey Players For Life Over Doping

Upcoming Winter Action

• January 12: Mo Farah To Race The Doha Half Marathon
• March 24: IAAF Countdown: The World Half Marathon Championships Are In Valencia, Spain In 100 Days
• February 3: 100H World Bronze Medalist Pamela Dutkiewicz Will Clash With European 60H Bronze Medalist Gina Luckenkemper At The Karlsruhe Indoor Meet Other headliners include PV WR holder Renaud Lavillenie.

Rupp And Flanagan To Boston 2018

Loaded American Field Set For 2018 Boston Marathon With WMM Winners Galen Rupp And Shalane Flanagan Joined By Jordan Hasay, Desiree Linden, Molly Huddle And Dathan Ritzenhein (link fixed) Rupp and Flanagan will go try to get back-to-back WMM victories. They’re also joined by Abdi Abdirahman, Ryan Vail, Shadrack Biwott, Sara Hall, Kellyn Taylor and Deena Kastor will also race. *Announcement Video
*Flanagan: “My heart ♥️ said … give it one more chance, try again. See everyone in Boston on Patriots Day.”
*MB: Rupp is running boston, scared of running a real marathon
*MB: Flanagan, Hasay, Huddle, and Linden ALL set to race Boston 2018!

European XC Champs In The Books *Results

Kaan Kigen Ozbilen And Yasemin Can Make It A Turkish Double Victory At European XC Championships Ozbilen won by 9 seconds over Spain’s Adel Mechaal, helping Turkey to a 3-point team win over Spain. On the women’s side, Can won easily while GB took the team title.

• Irish Journalist Cathal Dennehy Rips Turkey: “Turks’ Shameless Talent Grab Playing A Sick Joke On European Athletics” Dennehy writes that it was “another proud day for Kenya” and another “up yours from Turkey” at the Euro XC champs.
• You Can’t Make This Up: After Winning Euro XC Champs, The Four Kenyans That Made Up The Kenyan Team Posed With The Turkish Flag The Wrong Way
• Video Highlights
• GB Lands Five Gold Medals At Euro XC Champs The GB senior women didn’t have anyone in the top 5, but put 4 in the top 10 to win team gold. Andrew Butchart took individual bronze after Dewi Griffiths did the early leading and DNFed with a hamstring injury.
• Former Two-Time Euro XC Champs Fionnuala McCormack Could Only Manage 12th This Year
• Jakob Ingebrigsten Defends His Euro U20 Title GB’s Harriet Knowles-Jones won the women’s race.
• After Near Misses, France’s Jimmy Gressier And Germany’s Alina Reh Take Euro U23 Titles Reh beat out her countrywoman Konstanze Klosterhalfen by 3 seconds as GB’s Jessica Judd was 3rd.
• Britain Wins Inaugural Mixed Relay Gold 

Honolulu Marathon *Results

RRW Lawrence Cherono (2:08:26) And Brigid Kosgei (2:22:14) Smash Course Records At Honolulu Marathon, Win $50,000 World record holder Dennis Kimetto dropped out again. Nick Symmonds ran 3:00:35.

RRW King Cheserek Wins Battle Of Sexes Kalakaua Mile In Hawaii And Defeats Nick Willis And Will Leer The race does not give splits and makes the runners essentially time trial it by feel. Excellent.
*MB: Nick Willis’ 8-Month Pregnant Wife Runs 6:59 Mile In Hawaii

Hot Track Action

• Donavan Brazier Joins Sub-4:00 Club With 3:59.30 To Beat Leo Manzano By 4 Seconds
• Sydney McLaughlin’s Collegiate Debut Is A Success As She Breaks 300m World Junior Record, Becomes No. 7 World, No. 2 American, No. 2 Collegian She ran 36.12. Video of race here.
• Sammy Watson Runs 2:42.12 1,000m To Crush NCAA 800m Record Holder Jazmine Fray In Her First Collegiate Race Watson did run 2:40.72 last year.
• Indiana’s Ben Veatch Runs 13:57.27 To Break American Junior Indoor 5,000 Record (14:08)
• Kaori Morita Runs 31:59.94 In 10,000m Debut

Track/Olympic News

• IAAF Says 9 Million More Americans Watched Diamond League In 2017 Than In 2016 On TV
• Kiwi Shot Put World Camp Tom Walsh Relishes Challenge From Joe Kovacs And Ryan Crouser Will they all square off at World Indoors?
• Track And Field News Looks At New “National Relay Championships”
• Denver, Reno-Tahoe And Salt Lake City May Bid For 2026 Or 2030 Olympics
• Athletics Weekly Readers Choice End-Of-Year Winners

USATF Marathon Championships *Results

RRW Sara Hall And Tim Ritchie Win 2017 USA Marathon Titles At Cal Int’l Marathon Hall won in 2:28:10 just 5 weeks after running 2:27:21 in Frankfurt while Ritchie ran a new PR of 2:11:55.
*CIM Going The Extra Mile To Stop Race Cheats In addition to analyzing results, CIM hired Marathon Investigation’s Derek Murphy to help catch cheats and even catch people pre-race who tried to hire a “bib mule.”

Message Board Talk

• MB: Timothy Ritchie (2:11:56) And Sara Hall (2:28:10) Win 2017 USATF Marathon Championships At CIM Ritchie beat out Tyler McCandless by 32 seconds with the top 10 all breaking 2:15. Hall won the women’s race by over 2 minutes over Roberta Groner (2:30:38).
  
• MB: CIM Race Tracking
  
• MB: Holy hell the depth at CIM.
  
• MB: Over/Under 3:30 @ CIM Sunday? No training runs over 5 miles, first marathon
  
• MB: Ashley Brasovan is BACK, baby! The former Foot Locker champ was 17th in 2:40:19.
  *Pre-CIM Q&A With Ashley Brasovan