January 1, 2018 | LetsRun.com

Undefeated For The Year

RRW Saucony’s Molly Seidel (21:24) And Skechers’ Reid Buchanan (19:08) Win 2017 NYRR Midnight Run Seidel beat Sarah Pagano by 8 seconds whereas Buchanan dominated and won by 50 seconds over Daniel Winn. *Results

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

LRC Women’s Steeple: Emma Coburn Is The World Champ, But Beatrice Chepkoech Is World #1 It was a crazy year in the women’s steeple, making the rankings super difficult but we think we got it right and the US women are #4 and #7.
*Discuss: Men’s and Women’s Steeple World and US Rankings: US Women Go 1-2 at Worlds, But American Men Go 3-4 in Rankings, USWomen 4&7

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

New Year’s Racing *NYRR Midnight Run Live Results

Molly Seidel, Stephanie Bruce And Sarah Pagano Lead Field For NYRR Midnight Run In Central Park Christo Landry leads the men’s race.
Defending Champ Nguse Amlosom And Former World 10,000 Silver Medalist Gelete Burka Lead Fields For Madrid San Silvestre Vallecana 10K
Yuki Kawauchi Going For Most Sub-2:20 Career Marathons Record At Marshfield Road Runners New Year’s Day Marathon He is currently tied at 75 with US’s Doug Kurtis.
Looking For A Race To Start Off The New Year? RW’s List Of Best New Year’s Day/Eve Road Races

More Year-End Reviews

IAAF 2017 End-Of-Year Sprints Review Usain Bolt bombed, Wayde Van Niekerk delivered while Tori Bowie and Dafne Schippers impressed for the women.
IAAF End-Of-Year Mid-Distance Reviews No one dominated their event like Caster Semenya did the women’s 800.
T&F News Event-By-Event #1 Men’s Rankings Team USA took four #1 rankings from Justin Gatlin, Sam Kendricks, Christian Taylor and Ryan Crouser.
T&F News Event-By-Event #1 Women’s Rankings Keni Harrison, Brittney Reese and Kori Carter were the three Americans to make the list.
Top 10 Olympic Bid Stories Of 2017: Part 1 Because it’s the IOC, most of the stories are negative.
Shaunae Miller-Uibo Is Bahamas Female Athlete Of The Year
World High Jump Silver Medalist Yuliya Levchenko Voted Ukrainian Athlete Of The Year
DyeStat’s Favorite Photos Of 2017
Athletics Weekly Month-By-Month 2017 Highlights
List Of All The European Records That Went Down This Year
A-Z Of European Athletics In 2017 (Part Two)

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 5,000 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 PR) and Getaneh Molla (60:34 PR). The women’s race is led 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

Non-Year End Recap News

Maria Lasitskene Opens Indoor Season With 2.00m In Minsk, Makes Attempts At 2.08 World Record Lasitskene, who is undefeated in 2017, becomes the first over 2.00 in December. Video of jump here.
Meseret Defar To Make Her Marathon Debut In 2018
Nick Willis Going For 1,500/3,000 Double At Commonwealths
Valerie Adams Says Birth Of Her Daughter Kimoana Saved Her From Retirement As She Prepares For Commonwealth Games
Injury-Free Lavillenie Looking Forward To The 2018 Season
British Sprinter James Ellington May Sue Nigel Levine Over Bike Crash Levine is the guy who reportedly tested positive this week, so not a good week for him.
Lengthy Interview With Sonia O’Sullivan: “We’d look over at Szabo and her doctor’s big, black bag, wondering why did she need a doctor?” O’Sullivan competed against a slew of suspected dopers.

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

Athletic Weekly‘s Rankings Are Out

Athletics Weekly Top 3 Rankings For All Events: International Women *International Men *UK Men *UK Women

More Year-End News

AP: Track And Field Will Have To Face Up To Uncertain Future Without Usain Bolt In 2018
The Guardian‘s Best Sports Photos Of 2017 Mo Farah makes the list.
Heavy Reading: Tianna Bartoletta Reveals That After A 2nd LJ Gold In 2012, She Thought About Killing Herself By Jumping Off A Train Platform Instead, she became homeless and left her 24-year-old elder husband, who allegedly at one point threatened to sue her parents.
Thomas Bach Says A Complete Ban Of Russia From The Olympics Would Be “Unethical” As There Are Some Innocent Athletes
The Top 10 Ugandan Athletes Of 2017

Distance Q&As

Recommended Read: Extensive Q&A With NCAA XC Champ Justyn Knight Knight talks about winning NCAAs, his favorite competitors, running heroes, how he started running, and future plans.
Carrie Tollefson Does Podcast Q&A With Adam Goucher Goucher talks about the possibility of leading running retreats, stem cell treatment, and life at home with his wife Kara and Colt.
Q&A: Kids Interview Jenny Simpson Asked what most frightens her, Simpson said, “Sometimes when I am warming up, it makes me really nervous because I am thinking about all the people who are watching and cheering for me, and I don’t want to let them down.”
Good Read: Lengthy Interview With Women’s Running Pioneer Joan Lamb Ullyot Ullyot was on the US team for the first International Women’s Marathon in Germany in 1976 where she finished 6th and wrote the first training book for women.

Olympic / Hosting News

Grigory Rodchenkov’s Lawyer Accuses Thomas Bach Of “Kowtowing To Powerful Russian” And Says He Should Resign As IOC President Jim Walden: “Lest there be any doubt about the political nature of the IOC’s decision making, recall it imposed a multi-year and continuing, complete ban of Kuwait for acts far less serious than Russia’s criminality.”
Japan Overdoes It Again: Tokyo 2020 Olympic Torch Relay To Last 30 Days Longer Than IOC Target The relay will last around 130 days.
Study Reveals That London 2017 Worlds Had A $145 Million Economic Impact
Japanese Prime Minister Threatening To Boycott 2018 Winter Games Over Disagreement With South Korea Over “Comfort Women” Apparently South Korea has demanded that Japan apologize and pay reparations for mistreatment of women forced into sexual slavery during WWII.
South Korea Departs 17 Foreigners In Anti-Terror Move Prior To Pyeongchang 2018
AP: NHL In No Rush To Discuss Future Winter Olympic Plans They aren’t letting their players compete in the 2018 Games, which is the first time since 1994.
US Defense Secretary Claims No Current Plans To Postpone Military Exercises During 2018 Winter Games In South Korea
Pyeongchang 2018 Torch Relay Takes On Christmas Feel As Olympic Year Approaches

Updates From Russia

Vitaly Mutko Files CAS Appeal Against Lifetime Olympic Ban The case is expected to take place in early January.
Russian Ski Association Avoids Suspension; Gets Warning Instead

More End-Of-Year Reviews

IAAF End-Of-Year Long Distance Review The highlight at Worlds for Team USA was Emma Coburn and Courtney Frerichs going 1-2 in the steeple.
Mo Farah’s And 400 Hurdler Karsten Warholm’s Faces Make Guardian’s Best Sports Photos Of 2017
DyeStat Shares Their Top Video Interviews Of The Year
European Athletics’ A-Z Of Euro Performances In 2017
Usain Bolt’s Retirement On The Guardian’s List Of Biggest Sporting Moments In 2017

LetsJump.com

Four-Time World LJ Champ Dwight Phillips Reflects About His Early Career When He “Competed Off Talent Alone” And Wasn’t “Educated” About The Technical Aspects Of His Event Philips says he almost quit the sport in 2001 when he was offered $85,000 a year for a pharmaceutical sales job.
BBC Video Interview: World LJ Champion Luvo Manyonga Talks About Battling His Crystal Meth Addiction And Desire To Break The World Record Manyonga got an 18-month ban in 2012 for his crystal meth use.
World HJ Champ Maria Lasitskene Named Female Russian Athlete Of The Year Undefeated in 2017, Lasitskene won the award over athletes from all Russian sports.
Video: Chaunte Lowe Finally Receives Her 2008 Olympic HJ Bronze Medal Lowe was in tears as she was awarded the medal at a special ceremony earlier this month.

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.

Distance News

Kenenisa Bekele Craves The Marathon World Record; Hopes He’ll Be Invited To London Bekele also talked about his place in T&F history and said, “I am rated highest.”
Shalane Flanagan Credits Having A Group To Train With In Keeping Her Going Strong At 36 Years Old “The accountability and camaraderie – after the New York marathon I had to take a week off to recover. But I was chomping to get back into my running because I get to go run with my friends and gossip and chat.”
Catching Up With Retired 1:57 800 Runner Molly Ludlow, Who Recently Gave Birth to Her First Child Ludlow reflects on her career, missing the 2016 Olympic team due to a crazy fall and shares that she has begun nursing school.
January 26: Defending Champions Tamirat Tola And Worknesh Degefa Lead Fields For The Dubai Marathon Tola set a CR last year with 2:04:11 while Degefa debuted to win in 2:22:36.

Sprint Stuff

Recommended Read: Take A Behind The Scenes Look At GB’s World Gold 4 X 100 Squad Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake and Danny Talbot talk about the teamwork, practice and emotion that went into the upset win in front of the home crowd in London this summer.
FloridaGators.com: A Long Trip To Catch Up To Gators’ 18-Year-Old Japanese Sprint Sensation Abdul Hakim Sani Brown While most on the Florida campus wouldn’t recognize Sani Brown or his name, people on the streets of Tokyo “would give you a weird look for even asking.”
UK Para Athlete Sophie Kamlish Doesn’t Want To Be Known As “Blade Babe” “I guess it’s not an insult, but I don’t think it would be a total complement either.”

Distance News

Edna Kiplagat Declared World Marathon Majors Winner After Jemima Sumgong’s Doping Ban This is the third time Kiplagat has won the $500,000 WMM title.
Former Olympic Champ Meseret Defar Looking Forward To Making Her Marathon Debut In 2018 Defar hasn’t raced a lot the last few years, but says she wants to “assure my fans I’m in athletics to stay.”
Nick Willis Looking To Double Medal In The 1,500/5,000 At The 2018 Commonwealth Games Only twice in CWG history has someone medaled in both events at the same Games (the first time was Kip Keino in 1970). Willis won 1,500 bronze and was 10th in the 5,000 back in 2014.
Podcast Q&A With Nick Symmonds Symmonds talks about his career, business and 3:00:35 marathon debut.

2017 Comes To An End

Mutaz Barshim Is T&F News Male Athlete Of The Year 11 competitions and 11 victories for Barshim in 2017.
IAAF End-Of-Year XC/Road Racing Review There were a lot of impressive road performances this year, highlighted by two WRs, one at the half marathon (Joyciline Jepkosgei‘s 64:52) and the other Mary Keitany‘s 2:17:01 “women’s only” record.
What Do You Think? Vote For DyeStat’s Performers Of The Year: High School Boys *High School Girls *College *Pro *Relays
17 Brits Make Athletics Weekly’s Event-By-Event Top 10 World Merit Rankings Mo Farah is Britain’s sole top world-ranked athlete as he’s #1 in the 10,000 (but only #2 in the 5,000).
Mary Keitany’s 2:17:01 Is T&F News’s Women’s Performances Of The Year
German Javelin Thrower Johannes Vetter’s #2 All-Time Throw Was T&F News Top Men’s Performance Of 2017

IAAF End-Of-Year Hurdles Review Omar McLeod continued to dominate while WR holder Keni Harrison continued to falter on the biggest stage, finishing 4th at Worlds as Sally Pearson won.
World Discus Champ Sandra Perkovic Named Croatian Sportswoman Of The Year (All Sports)

Post-Christmas Day News

Mo Farah Targeted With Racist Messages After His “Merry Christmas” Instagram Post Farah is a practicing Muslim and received offensive messages for acknowledging Christmas.
Athletics Weekly: What Did British Track And Field Athletes Do On Their Christmas? Most of the distance runners polled said they would put in the usual one to two easy runs they’d normally have on a Monday.
MB: How far did you run on Christmas?

Merry Christmas!

Screenshot 2017-12-25 at 09.39.51 Pros/College Stars Share Their Christmas Greetings On Social Media Mo Farah, Eliud Kipchoge, Evan Jager, Andre De Grasse, Sally Pearson, Lolo Jones, Jordan Hasay, more.

Ryan Gregson And Genevieve LaCaze Are Engaged!!! A great Xmas gift for the couple.

Great News From Kenya

XMas Spirit Eliud Kipchoge, Marty Keiatny, Sally Kipyego, Matthew Birir Bring Loads Of Presents To Kids In Hospital In Kenya Birir is the 1992 Olympic steeplechase champ ahead of favorite Patrick Sang (now Kipchoge’s coach).

Elijah Manangoi, Faith Kipyegon, Helen Obiri All To Run World Indoors In March

LRC Rankings 800/1500 (All Rankings here)

LRC Women’s 1,500: Faith Kipyegon Is #1 Again; Jenny Simpson Ranks #3 Simpson gets credit for the silver at Worlds and winning USAs.
Discuss: World and US Women’s Rankings are Here: Faith Kipyegon #1 in World, Jenny Simpson #3 Give us your feedback

LRC Men’s 1,500: Training Partners Elijah Manangoi & Timothy Cheruiyot Lead The Way, Matt Centrowitz Still US #1 Sorry, Robby Andrews fans, Centro is still atop the US.
*Discuss: 2018 World and US 1,500m Rankings Here, Share your opinion

LRC Women’s 800: Caster Semenya’s Perfect Season Makes Her World #1 Again; Ajee Wilson Produces Greatest Year Ever By An American What a year for Semenya and Ajee Wilson, and the American women in general, who had three in the world top 10.
*Discussion: 2017 800m Women’s Rankings: Semenya #1, Ajee Wilson #3, 3 Americans in top 10

LRC Men’s 800: Nijel Amos Is Your World #1; U.S. Champ Donavan Brazier Is Top American World champion Pierre-Ambroise Bosse comes in at #5 with Clayton Murphy, who bombed out the back half of the season, still getting #2 in the US rankings.
*Discussion: 800 World Rankings Men: What do you think?

Check back as we unveil more rankings each day.

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