It Was A Record-Setting Friday In Terms Of US Action *All US Indoor Track Results

LRC Spoiler Alert: Christian Coleman’s 6.37 60m Mark Most Definitely Won’t Count As A World Record The IAAF rules are VERY clear – start reaction times must be recorded for a world record in any event 400m or less.

Usain Who? MB: CHRISTIAN MF COLEMAN – COLEMAN OPENS 2018 WITH 6.37 WR!!! Coleman, who beat Bolt in London, opens 2018 with a stunner.
*Christian Coleman’s Coach Tim Hall: “I’m in disbelief. This was his season opener. It was totally unexpected.”
*Christian Coleman Had To Drive Two Hours Away To Meet Drug Testers So He Could Give A Urine Sample At A Rest Stop Even still, Coleman’s run might not be ratified as the WR as the IAAF requires electronic startling blocks which weren’t used.

MB: UTEP’S Michael Saruni Runs 1:14.79 600m WR Technically the 600m distance is a world’s best.

• Keturah Orji Breaks NCAA And American Triple Jump Record With 14.32m
• MB: ERIN FINN – NEW SCHOOL RECORD – 8:58
• Texas Tech’s Vincent Crisp Runs Fastest 600-Yard Time In Collegiate History – 68.16 – The old record of 68.26 (Arkansas’ Roddie Haley) had stood since 1987.
• Florida Star Grant Holloway Runs 7.49 60H To Move To #3 Collegian All-Time Omar McLeod is the collegiate record holder at 7.45.
• Texas Tech’s Divine Oduduru Runs 20.49 200 On Their Scorching-Fast New Track

European Sprint Stuff

• Recommended Read: GB 4 X 100 Gold Medalist Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake Doesn’t Want To Dwell On 2017 Success As He Moves On To A New Season “As much as what happened in the summer was nice, I want to forget about it now … I don’t want to just dwell on an accomplishment. I want to achieve more.”
• GB’s World 4 X 100 Silver Medalist Dina Asher-Smith Writes About Her Work-Life Balance And The Sacrifices She Makes As A Pro Athlete Asher-Smith says she’s in bed by 10:30 and uses food as fuel “rather than pleasure.” She adds, “I don’t do cheat days and I don’t drink.”
• Euro Weekend Sprint Round-Up: Germany’s Gina Luckenkemper Opens Her Season With A 7.11 PR To Tie The 60m World Lead

Mid-D And Distance News / Advice

Oh Baby, It’s On! Kenenisa Bekele Added To 2018 London Marathon Field, Meaning We’ll Get Bekele Vs. Kipchoge And Farah At 2018 London

• Following Centro’s Lead, Nick Willis Is Also Skipping World Indoors To Race In Australia
• Good Read A 1,600-Word Look At How Kiwi Matt Baxter Has Thrived At NAU The NCAA runner-up in XC was a 14:10 man before he went to NAU.
• 70-Minute Meb K Podcast – Meb Talks About Life After Retirement And Looks Back At His Career Highlights
• IAAF Visits Eugene And Is Assured Hayward Field Renovation Will Be Done In Time For Worlds The article says the new plans for the track will come out in April.
• If Austin, TX Hosts The 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials, It Will Be Held The Day Before The Austin Marathon
• Free Training Advice: Mastering The Threshold Run By Sub-2:14 Marathoner Mark Tucker
• Runner’s World: The 10 Best Onion Stories About Running Some might mistake RW for an Onion production itself.

High School Coaching Legends

LRC 10 Things I Learned From The Best High School Cross-Country And Track Coaches In America LetsRun.com’s Wejo flew to Boulder to hear from the high school top XC coaches in America Joan Hunter (#1 team), Dan Iverson (#2 team), Jonathan Dalby (#3 team) and John O’Malley (Foot Locker champ). What did he learn? A lot.
Discussion: “I attended a clinic with the top high school cross coaches in the country: ask me anything.”

Articles Interesting Enough To Pass Our Stringent Vetting

• 2,000 + Words On The Demise Of The Print Edition Of Track & Field News: Death Of A Bible? Track & Field News Ends Print Edition, Stuns Old Fans The article, a version of which appears in the San Diego paper, quotes both Rojo and Wejo, who are called “the Nelsons for a new generation.”
• Even Rival Coaches Are Raving About Texas Tech’s New $48 Million Indoor Facility We’re pleased to report it features a legitimate (not oversized) 200 meter bank. What many love is the athletes in the warmup area can watch the action. Dennis Shaver of LSU says it’s “one of the best in the country.” Might it host NCAAs?
• Omar McLeod Says Hurdling Is In His Blood “I recall from the age of nine or ten I used to set buckets up in the road and invite my cousins and my little brother to race over them.”
• Edna Kiplagat, Sara Hall And Betsy Saina Will All Race At Marugame Half On Feb. 4th Zersenay Tadese leads the men’s field – but he hasn’t broken 60:00 since 2015.
• Paralympian Samuel Muchai Wins 2017 Sports Personality Of The Year Award (SOYA) In Kenya The blind 1,500/5,000 man beat favorites Conseslus Kipruto and Hellen Obiri.
• Spikes Mag Takes A Look Back At The Big Meets Being Offered In 2018 – “Things We Look Forward To In 2018” From World Indoors to the Continental Cup, they give you an overview of what to look forward to in 2018.

Sprints And Jumps

• Mondo Duplantis’ New World Junior And Swedish National Pole Vault Record Invalidated All the men’s pole vault marks were invalidated because the pegs holding the crossbar were too long (75mm instead of the international standard of 55m).
• Usain Bolt Says The One Regret He Has About His Career Is That He Never Broke 19 Seconds In The 200m “That’s my unfulfilled ambition and it’s going to stay unfulfilled for me. I couldn’t do it. No one can do it.”
• Advice On Life And Track From Diamond League 400H Champ Kyron McMaster We liked his cooking tip: “My fav food is ribs. I could eat it all day every day. And in terms of a tip, I would get my mum to cook them!”
• Shaunae Miller-Uibo Tells The “Story Behind The Picture” Of Her Dive At The 2016 Olympics “I just remember the complete silence before hearing my mum’s scream in the stadium followed by confirmation on the big screen I had won.”
• From The Weekend: Texas Tech HJer Trey Culver And Kentucky Pole Vaulter Olivia Gruver Highlighted The Jumps Culver cleared 2.33m to tie the 4th best mark in NCAA history while Gruver went over 4.60m to equal the 7th best NCAA all-time.
• February 10: World 200m Champ Dafne Schippers Confirmed For Ghent 60m Poland’s Marcin Lewandowski will be in the 1500.
• Oregon Announces First Nine Additions To Next Year’s Recruiting Class

Industry News

Houston Marathon/Half *Results

LRC Official Houston Thread

LRC Final Molly Huddle Breaks American Record At 2018 Aramco Houston Half Marathon Huddle went out blazing fast – 66:29 pace at 15k – and held on to get the AR in 67:25. In the process, she beat Jordan Hasay by 73 seconds. Oh yeah, Huddle didn’t win. She was just 7th. Ruti Aga, the 2017 Berlin Marathon runner-up, won in 66:39. Updated with analysis, quotes and videos.
*RRW: Three USA Records For Molly Huddle At Aramco Houston Half Marathon
*Houston Chronicle: After AR In Houston, Molly Huddle Is Looking Forward To Boston And Another Clash With Hasay Huddle: “I think her recent marathon success is going to spark a good rivalry. She’s just at another level of running right now. Rivalries are good for the sport. I think we’re going to be finishing close to each other in Boston.”

LRC Final Jake Robertson (60:01) Crushes Stacked Field Over Final 2 Miles To Win 2018 Houston Half Marathon Kiwi Jake Robertson was dancing after this one was over as he got the biggest win of his career and took some huge scalps, including runner-up Guye Adola. American Sam Chelanga moved to #4 on the US all-time list with a 60:37 and Haron Lagat cracked the top 10 for the US all-time at 61:01.
Updated with analysis, quotes and videos.
*Post-Race Reaction: Jake Robertson Paid His Own Money To Top Up And Fly Business Class To Houston As He Knew He Was Ready To Run Fast

Marathon: LRC Bazu Worku (2:08:30) And Degefa Biruktayir (2:24:51) Win Full Marathons Wilkerson Given (2:15:52) and Sarah Crouch (2:35:22) were the top Americans.
*Houston Chronicle Recap Of Ethiopian Domination

IAAF: Ethiopians Dominate In Houston Once Again We think the Kiwis did incredibly well on a per capita basis.

Reads We Enjoyed

• Former Providence Star David McCarthy Quit Running For 18 Months And Loved Not Being A Runner – But Now He’s Back Trying Again Thanks To Kyle Merber “I had the best 18 months of my life … It was great to wake up knowing I didn’t have to run. I could have more nights out, enjoy hanging with friends and family more and not feel guilty about it because I had a long run the next morning.”
• Villanova Coach Marcus O’Sullivan Remembers When 20,000+ Showed Up In Indianapolis To Watch 1st World Indoors O’Sullivan won his first of 3 World Indoor golds in Indy at the Hoosier Dome.
• RIP: Gene Cole – 1st Olympian To Break 47 And Not Make The Olympic Final – Has Died At Age 89
• Recommended Read: Italy’s World Indoor Champ Gianmarco Tamberi Writes About His Comeback From Injury And The Support He Got From His Friend Mutaz Essa Barshim Tamberi tells the story of Barshim coming to his hotel room and consoling him after a disappointing competition where he couldn’t clear the opening height.

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