2018 Dubai Marathon – The Richest Prize In Our Sport Gets Awarded Tonight (9pm ET) *Live Stream *Dubai Historical Stats *Results/ Tracking/ Live Leaderboard

Live Now: Official 2018 Dubai Marathon Discussion Thread – Who you got? 

LRC 2018 Dubai Marathon Women’s Preview: Former Champs Worknesh Degefa & Aselefech Mergia Battle World Champs Medalists Mare Dibaba & Senbere Teferi (Debut) The women’s race in Dubai this year race boasts two sub-2:20 women and a total of six who have run under 2:23 as well as super-talented debutantes Gelete Burka (10k silver at 2015 Worlds) and 22-year-old Senbere Teferi (5k silver at 2015 Worlds, 14:29 PR).

LRC 2018 Dubai Marathon Men’s Preview: Tamirat Tola Aims To Become First Man To Repeat Since Haile G In 2010 The Olympic bronze medalist at 10,000 is back to defend his crown but he’ll face five other sub-2:07 guys in the field plus four really interesting debutants: Yenew Alamirew (12:48/27:19 track PRs),  Birhanu Legese (59:20 to win New Delhi Half Marathon in November), Leul Gebresilase (59:18 HM), and Fikadu Haftu (59:22).

Mary Keitany Is Going Big In London

Mary Keitany Will Use Male Pacers To Try To Break Paula Radcliffe’s 2:15:25 World Record At The 2018 London Marathon When Keitany ran the 2:17:01 women’s only WR last year, she was on pace to break 2:15:25 at halfway, but had to run the second half of the race solo when her pacer fell back.
*MB: Mary Keitany to use MALE pacemakers at London Marathon! Down goes WR?!

Daniel Wanjiru To Defend His London Marathon Title Also announced was World champion Rose Chelimo.

Field Event News

• Two-Time NCAA Decathlon Champion Lindon Victor Talks About The High And Lows From His Career High was setting the NCAA record, the low happened at 2017 Worlds.
• World Champ And WR Holder Barbora Spotakova To Miss The 2018 Season As She Is Expecting Her Second Child Spotakova says she still plans to return for the 2020 Olympics.
• February 3: Germany’s World Javelin Champ Johannes Vetter Will Open His Season In Offenburg He’ll face his domestic rival and Olympic champ Thomas Rohler.
• Teen Start Kate O’Connor Breaks Irish Pentathlon Record With A Score Of 4,108

The 2018 Winter Olympics Start February 9th

• 22 North Koreans To Compete At Pyeongchang 2018 They will compete in hockey, figure skating, short-track speed skating, cross country skiing and alpine skiing.
• IOC Approves Joint Korean Team For Opening Ceremony And Women’s Hockey This despite objections from the South Korean coach who feels it will damage her players.
• Good Read: InsideTheGames’ Nick Butler: “Thomas Bach Shouldn’t Start Clearing A Place In His Trophy Cabinet For The Nobel Peace Prize Quite Yet” Butler writes that Bach’s opening remarks on the unified Korean team on at a recent press conference “produced a collective wave of nausea” in the media room.
• NY Times: Protesters In Seoul Burn Image Of Kim Jong-un During North Koreans’ Visit
• North Koreans Face Protest During Pyeongchang 2018 Visit
• North Korea To Hold Military Demonstration The Day Before The 2018 Winter Games Opening Ceremony
• USA Today: Neither North Nor South Korea Want Defections During The Olympics South Korea normally encourages North Koreans to defect, but wants to avoid confrontation during such a sensitive time.
• Exploratory Committee Claims Future Winter Olympics In Salt Lake City Could Cost Less Than 2002 Costs will be reduced because many of the 2002 venues have been well maintained.
• Former Pyeongchang 2018 Minister Jailed For Two Years She was jailed for her part in the blacklisting of artists critical of the former president’s government.
• USOC CEO Scott Blackmun May Miss Winter Olympics After Being Diagnosed With Prostate Cancer

LetsJump.com

• From The Weekend: Keturah Orji Breaks NCAA And American Triple Jump Record With 14.32m
• Getting Started Early: There’s Going To Be A Documentary On High School Pole Vault Star Mondo Duplantis This is a 4-minute clip from the Reno National PV Summit two weekends ago.
• February 3: Olympic Champ Tianna Bartoletta And Euro Champ Ivana Spanovic Will Clash At The Karlsruhe Indoor Meet
• Sergey Bubka Warns Against Changes That May Put Athletes At Risk Last year the IAAF changed time given to athletes to make an attempt in the PV from 60 seconds to 30 to speed up the meet, but Bubka and Renaud Lavillenie have argued it’s not safe for athletes.
• Greg Rutherford Withdraws From 2018 Commonwealth Games Rutherford says he has recovered from the ankle injury which kept him out of London Worlds, but wants to “ease back into competition.”

Fast High School Action – Tuohy Runs 15:37!

• Katelyn Tuohy Runs 15:37 To Smash The High School 5,000m Record The previous indoor mark was 15:55 by Brie Oakley and Tuohy’s time is also faster than Mary Cain‘s 15:45 outdoor record.
• *MB: Katelyn Tuohy – 15:37 High School Record
• Fresh Off Her Great Edinburgh Win, Kelsey Chmiel Wins New Balance Games Mile In 4:48.94 Chmiel then doubled back to anchor the Saratoga DMR team to a win/meet record (11:59) with a 4:48.75 leg.
• Brian Herron Runs 32.64 To Break National High School 300m Record The previous record holder (Tyrese Cooper) was actually in the race and finished 3rd (33.12).
• Bullis High School Girls Break World Junior 4 X 200 Record With 1:35.40
• Lanae-Tava Thomas Breaks NY High School Long Jump Record And #2 All-Time With 21-8 (6.60m)

International Distance Results

• Uganda’s World 10,000 Silver Medalist Joshua Cheptegei And Kenya’s Former World XC Champ Agnes Tirop Prevail At Seville XC Meet Tirop beat a field that included world 5,000 champ Hellen Obiri (3rd place) and steeplechase WR holder Ruth Jebet (4th).
• Amane Gobena (2:25:49) And Solomon Deksisa (2:09:34) Win Mumbai Maraton
• Ethiopia’s Gulume Tollesa Defended Her Title With A CR 2:29:37 At The Hong Kong Marathon 44-year-old Kenneth Mungara won over opponents half his age to win in 2:13:39.
• IAAF Weekend XC Round-Up: Kenya’s 9:03 Steepler Norah Tanui Wins Rovereto XC Meet By Over A Minute Ethiopia’s Telahun Bekele won the men’s race. Meanwhile in Kenya, Joan Chelimo won over 66:25 half runner Valary Jemeli at the Elgeyo-Marakwet XC Champs. Benard Kimeli won the men’s race.
• Belgium’s Soufiane Bouchikhi Beats Out GB’s Andy Vernon To Win At Home At The Easykit Cross Cup
• South African XC Champs: Thabang Mosiako and Kesa Molotsane Win

Administrative News

Plan Your Winter/Set Your DVRs Now 2018 USATF Indoor Championship Series TV Broadcast Schedule Released – Millrose Leads Way With 2 Hours Live On NBC

• USATF’s Annual President’s Report To The Board Of Directors This is the first report of the Vin Lananna era.
• Kenya Paper Writes About How No Big Name Stars Are Doing Commonwealth Marathon Tim Hutchings has a GREAT solution – ax the marathon and run a half marathon. Big stars like Kipchoge could do it in their buildup for London.
• So Much For Punishment – Russia To Have Nearly As Many Athletes At 2018 Winter Games As In 2014 When They Hosted The Games