The LetsRun.com World And US Rankings Are Here – Who’s #1?

LRC Men’s Steeple Conseslus Kipruto Kicks His Way To World #1; USA’s Evan Jager Is #3 In World, Stanley Kebenei #4 Kipruto is king of the steeple, but 2 Americans in the top 5 is impressive.

LRC Women’s 3/5k: 2017 LRC World & US Rankings, W 3K/5K: Hellen Obiri Reigns Supreme, Shannon Rowbury US #1 Obiri was dominant this year and gets the top spot. *Discuss 3k/5k Rankings Here

LRC Men’s 5,000: M 3K/5K: Muktar Edris Edges Mo Farah For Top Spot, Paul Chelimo #3 Mo Farah‘s loss at Worlds cost him the #1 ranking. *Discuss 5k Rankings Here

Previous LRC Rankings: *M1,500: Manangoi And Centro #1 *W1,500: Faith Kipyegon #1, Jenny Simpson #3 In World *Women’s 800 *Men 800

Road News

• Matt Hughes (51:18) Battles -22 Degree Conditions (With The Wind Chill) And Snow-Covered Roads To Win Boxing Day 10-Miler In Canada Two-time national XC champ Ross Proudfoot and Olympic marathoner Reid Coolsaet were 2-3.
  *MB: Canadian Steeple Olympian Matt Hughes wins 10-miler (51:18) in “feels like -22C” temps. Whoa.
• Sunday: Defending Champ And Three-Time Winner Cornelius Kangogo Going For A Fourth Title At The Corrida Pedestre Internationale de Houilles 10K One of the top contenders will be GB’s 60:00 half-marathoner Callum Hawkins. Kenya’s Stacy Ndiwa (31:37) is the favorite in the women’s race.
• January 7: Former World Champs 5000 Bronze Medalist Moses Kipsiro Headlines At The Safi Half-Marathon In Morocco Kipsiro faces a slew of contenders including Ethiopia’s Terefa Debela (60:22 half PB) and Getaneh Molla (60:34 PB). The women’s race is lead by Zerfie Limeneh (71:02) and Zinash Debebe (71:04).

RIP Jamaican 1960 Olympic 4 X 400 Bronze Medalist Malcolm Spence, 81

Russian Doping Updates

• IOC Accused Of “Cowardice” For Failing To Help Protect Whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov Russia has been pushing for Rodchenkov’s extradition and his lawyer thinks the IOC should step in and tell Russia they must stop.
• Vitaly Mutko Steps Down As Head Of Organizing Committee For The 2018 FIFA World Cup Mutko claims he’s taking time away to focus on fighting against his lifetime Olympic ban.
• Russia Paralympic Committee Holding A Qualifying Meet With 50 Athletes Despite The Fact That They’re Still Banned From Pyeongchang 2018 A final decision on Russian Paralympians hasn’t been made yet (the IPC is separate from the IOC).
• Non-News: Vladimir Putin Does Not Plan To Attend Winter Olympics

2017 Recap

• IAAF End-Of-Year Jumps Review Mutaz Essa Barshim and Maria Lasistkene dominated the HJ this year.
• The Irish Times 2017 Track And Field Review: Shocks Galore Under A Cloud Of Doping Questions Ian O’Riordan writes, “Mo Farah and Usain Bolt bid farewell, but not in the manner most had expected them to.”

The Best Of 2017

LRC The 2017 LetsRun.com Awards: Runner And Rookie Of The Year, Upset Of The Year, Doping Excuse Of The Year & More Shalane Flanagan and Galen Rupp are US runners of the year and Joyciline Jepkosgei and Eliud Kipchoge international runners of the year. Did your favorite runner make the cut?
*Discuss: LetsRun.com Year End Awards: Galen Rupp and Shalane Flanagan US Runners of Year, Noah Lyles Rookie of the Year and More … 

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 With 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.

Worth A Read

• Profile On US 5k Legend Tim Broe’s High School Coaching Success At Wellesley, MA Broe is also doing a great job with Saucony Freedom Track Club. “The school is a pressure-cooker. I have kids who are crying because they didn’t get into Harvard.”
• Ryan Crouser Wants To Break Drug Cheat Randy Barnes’s World Record In The Shot In 2018 Crouser wants to do it clean and goes to http://informed-choice.org/ to make sure the supplements he uses are legit. Crouser uses a device called TrackMan to figure out the optimal speed and angle on his throws. Crouser is a throwing stud and is the national high school record holder in the discus.
• 2:05 Marathoner Sondre Moen To Race World 5k Champ Muktar Edris Dec 31 At BOclassic Desi Linden is racing on women’s side.
• Alan Pascoe, Former Top British Hurdler And Sports Marketer And Meet Promoter, Talks About Success In Life
• Stephanie Bruce to be Sponsored by Hoka Exclusivley Going Forward Gives a Big Thank you to Oiselle Both companies supported her during pregnancy #2.
• Andrew Butchart Expecting Big Things In 2018 – The Scotsman
• Nigel Levine, British 400m Man, Who Was European 4 X 400 Champ, Reportedly Tests Positive, Awaiting “B” Sample He tested positive for the banned asthma drug clenbuterol, which also can be used to cut weight.

Justin Gatlin Scandal Updates

• Alan Abrahamson: “Zero Facts Implicating Justin Gatlin – That’s A Scandal?” Abrahamson argues that the Telegraph is unfairly going after Gatlin and blowing the story out of proportion. We agree that the British media is biased against Gatlin, but you can’t downplay his association with Dennis Mitchell.
• With Dennis Mitchell Out Of The Picture, What’s Next For Justin Gatlin? Speaking under the condition of anonymity, one coach said, “I’d tell him, ‘Sorry sir, we run a clean camp here.'” and another said, “Taking Gatlin now means press and drama and BS in your camp.”
• Gatlin May Sue The Telegraph For Defamation

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

The World’s Biggest XC Fan

LRC Meet Mr. Cross-Country, The Sport’s Biggest Fan Cross-country’s biggest fan, Michael Mahon, resides in Massachusetts, where for the past 33 years he has traveled to over 1,747 career meets, bag of cans in tow. And he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon.
*Michael Mahon – Mr. Cross-Country – Share Your Favorite Story Here

Add This To Your Christmas List?

Independent Study (Funded By Nike) Finds That Nike Zoom Vaporfly 4% Actually Could Make You Run Faster They found energy saving of between 2% and 6% – with an average of 4%. A big criticism of the study is it wasn’t blind testing, so the placebo effect could be at play.

NCAA News: The Bowerman Award

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

USATF Club XC Champs  *Men’s Team And Ind. Results *Women’s Results

Club Nats Men’s Results: Ian La Mere And Tinman Elite Win La Mere is on Hansons-Brooks.
Women’s Results: Sarah Pagano Of BAA and Hansons Brooks Win Women’s Title

• USATF Recap
  
• Discussion: Official USATF Club Nationals Thread
• RR: Inspired By XC Origins, Hansons-Brooks Puts U.S. Distance Back On The Map This week should be the final race for Bobby Curtis.
• RR: Ahead Of Club XC Champs, The Georgetown Running Club Remembers The Tragic Loss Of Two Of Its Members
  *Lauren Woodal Roady’s Memorial Page
  *Nina Brekelman’s Memorial Page