Great Distance Races On The Horizon

• Saturday: Teammates Ajee Wilson, Charlene Lipsey And Raevyn Rogers Are Teaming Up With Chrishuna Williams To Try And Break The 4 X 800 World Indoor Record At The Millrose Games The 2011 record is held by Russia at 8:06.24.
• Saturday: Lots Of Prize Money And Deep Mile Field Set For The Camel City Elite Meet The men’s mile has $9,000 offered to the winner if they can beat Matt Centrowitz‘s 3:54.02 facility record. The field includes Edward Cheserek, Craig Engels, Leo Manzano, former NCAA indoor champ Henry Wynne and NCAA runner-up Kirubel Erassa.
• Saturday: MB: Rupp & Hasay to run 2018 USA Cross-Country Championships Evan Jager and Chris Derrick are also on the start list.
• February 9: World Record Holder Joyciline Jepkosgei Will Clash With Mary Keitany At The 2018 RAK Half Marathon Other big names include Vivian Cheruiyot, 2014 World Half champ Gladys Cherono and Fancy Chemutai, who ran 65:36 to finish as runner-up when Jepkosgei set her WR.

International Pro News

• World Decathlon Champion Kevin Mayer Of France Is Eyeing Ashton Eaton’s World Record “Clearly it’s on my mind. I don’t know when it will happen – if it will happen – but I know that I have the potential to do it, it’s up to me to do it.”
• Olympic And World 110H Champ Omar McLeod Might Skip The Commonwealth Games McLeod says he may focus instead on defending his world indoor title and trying to break the WR during outdoor season. He also talks about moving to the 400H after Tokyo 2020.
• Caster Semenya Leads Announced South African Team For 2018 Commonwealth Games The big name missing is Wayde van Niekerk who is still recovering from the knee injury (and subsequent surgery) he sustained during a rugby game.
• IAAF Launches Inside Athletics Podcast The first episode features interviews with Mary Keitany, Hellen Obiri, Christian Coleman, Sydney McLaughlin and Mutaz Barshim. Listen to episode #1 here or download for free here.

LetsSprint.com

• Oregon Sprinter Hannah Cunliffe Leaves School To Go Pro Coach Robert Johnson said, “It surprised me that it was this time of the year. That was a surprise. She just wanted to follow her dreams and her passions and how can you be upset about that?”
  *MB: hannah cunliffe goes pro….drops out of school
• Olympic Champ Elaine Thompson Opens Her Season With A 7.18 Second 60m Win In Jamaica Just days after being shot at, Zharnel Hughes won the 200 in 20.28 while Yohan Blake finished back in 4th place (20.95).
• 30-Year-Old Former World 400H Silver Medalist Kaliese Spencer Says She’s “In The Best Shape Of My Life” And Thinks She Could Break The WR Spencer ran her 52.79 PR back in 2011 and the WR is 52.34.
• GB Sprinter Perri Shakes-Drayton Reflects On Her Dancing On Ice TV Experience Drayton was voted off the on-ice version of “Dancing with the Stars,” but says she enjoyed learned a new skill.
• Q&A With Former Two-Time World Indoor 60m Champ Nelli Cooman Giving her advice for people racing the 60 she said, “The start and the finish are the two most important elements. You have to run like a tiger catching its prey.”

A Historic Weekend Of Indoor Action *All US Results

History Was Made In Boston

LRC The US Army’s Emmanuel Bor Becomes 500th American To Break 4:00 In The Mile As Shadrack Kipchirchir (3:55) Holds Off Justyn Knight For The Win In Boston Today, 60 years, seven months, and 26 days after Don Bowden first ran 3:58.7, Emmanuel Bor became the 500th American to break 4:00 with an eerily similar time – 3:58.77. Despite the sub-4:00 club’s expanding membership, it remains a rare feat. Five hundred people (actually 501; Western Oregon’s David Ribich joined the club three hours later) in a country of over 320 million represents an exceedingly small number. For comparison, there are more billionaires in the country (540 as of 2016) than sub-4:00 milers.

Albuquerque: King Cheserek Is Back! He Just Rocked A 3:54 Mile At 5,120 Feet Of Altitude, Beating Ben Blanenship By 6+ Seconds An astute message board poster points out this would be converted to 3:49 if he were still in the NCAA.

Dr. Sander Invite In NYC

MB: Official 2018 Dr. Norb Sander Invite Live Discussion Thread 

*Men’s 800: Erik Sowinski (1:46.98) DOMINATES As Robby Andrews And Clayton Murphy Both Fail To Break 1:50
*MB: Clayton Murphy is DONE 
*Men’s Mile: Craig Engels Wins In 3:57 Engels wanted the World standard but no one went with the rabbit. HSer Brodey Hasty ran 4:03.26.
*Men’s 3k: Reid Buchanan Gets Worlds Standard By Narrowist Of Margins (7:51.97)
*Women’s 800: Ajee Wilson Ties Up But Wins In 2:00.90
*Women’s Mile: Kate van Buskirk Wins In 4:26 PR Karissa Schweizer moved up to #4 all-time on the collegiate list at 4:27.54.
*RRW: Armory Magic Continues For Canada’s Kate Van Buskirk Van Buskirk won in 4:26.92 to set a world lead and a Canadian indoor record.
*DMR: Oregon Men’s And Women’s DMR Teams Run NCAA Leads With 9:31.87 And 11:00.13
*4 X 200: USA 4 X 200 Women Break A 24-Year-Old American Record Kyra Jefferson, Deajah Stevens, Asha Ruth and Daina Harper ran 1:32.67 to break the 1:33.24 mark from 1994 and just miss the WR of 1:32.41 held by Russia.

UW: Sifan Hassan runs 8:34 and Shalane Flanagan 8:43 Flanagan is in the midst of a 110 mile week.

Texas Tech: Michael Saruni 1:45.19! #2 Time In Ccollegiate History And Leo Manzano had an encouraging 1:48 result as well.

Boston: 10k Man Shad Kipchirchir Just Ran 3:55.52 For The Mile, Beating Justyn Knight (3:55.82)

Arkansas: Aggie Men Win Razorback Invy Team Title By Half A Point Over Florida
*Arkansas Women Take Razorback Invite Team Title

Previewing This Weekend’s Action

LRC Weekend Preview: Clayton Murphy Vs. Robby Andrews; Ajee Wilson Vs. Charlene Lipsey; An AR Attempt In The 3K; & the Return Of The LetsRun.com Singlet Oh, baby. We hope you are ready. Indoor track is BACK in a BIG WAY with action all over the US. In Boston, American Shadrack Kipchirchir wants to run the low 7:30s in the same race where the LRC singlet will be looking for a big PR. In NY, Ajee Wilson and Charlene Lipsey go for the AR and Robby Andrews and Clayton Murphy clash over 800.  In Seattle, these big names will be racing – Galen Rupp, Yomif Kejelcha, Shalane Flanagan and Sifan Hassan. Plus marathoners Scott Smith & Aaron Braun chase sub-4:00.

Weekend Road Action

2018 Osaka Marathon Is This Weekend (10pm ET Saturday Night – Watch It Live) Yuko Ando – the fastest debutante in Japanese history (2:21:36) – runs marathon #3 here. *IAAF Preview Of 2018 Osaka

Will The 500th US Sub-4 Happen This Weekend?

494 Americans Have Broken 4:00 In The Mile – Predict Who Will Be #500 And Win Fee Saucony Gear Plus the athlete who is #500 will win $500 from BBTM.

2018 Dubai Marathon *Results

LRC Final The Marathon Turns Into A Track Race: Mosinet Geremew & Roza Dereje Win Dubai Marathon – The Deepest Marathon In History As 7 Men Break 2:05 & 4 Women Break 2:20 Total insanity. What a race for the richest prize in the sport. A guy ran 2:04:15 and took home $12,000. Another guy ran 2:04:00 and took home $200,000.
*IAAF Recap: Earlier Start Pays Off In Two Course Records In Dubai The elite race started at 6 am – when Geb won it was 7 am.
*Men’s Winner Geremew Wasn’t Sure He Could Win Until Late “It was very fast, perhaps a little too fast. But then it settled down, and I felt good. Although I wasn’t sure I had a chance of winning until between 40 and 41 kilometres.”
*Paula Radcliffe Thinks Defending Champ Tola Would Have Won Had He Not Had A Collision At 35k

Dubai Discussion:

MB: The bar has been rasied: Ethiopia just had 7 men under 2:04:45 and 6 women 2:20:45 or better in one race
MB: Official 2018 Dubai Live Thread

Non-Distance News

• Former Cornell Star Bruno Hortelano – The Reigning European 200 Champ Who Ran 10.06 And 20.12 – Is Almost Ready To Return To Action For 1st Time Since 2016 A car accident kept him out in 2017.
• Good Read Jazmin Sawyers Writes 1,000+ Words About Competing And Practicing While On Your Period “I want to be able to talk about (my period), so you’re in on this conversation. It’s a conversation sport has been having all wrong – if at all.”
• Double Olympic Champion Elaine Thompson And Double World Silver Medalist Marie-Josée Ta Lou Will Clash In 60m At Müller Indoor Grand Prix Glasgow On Feb. 25
• Olympic Javelin Champ Thomas Rohler Started Out In Track As A Jumper Bur Does Remember Telling His Dad As A 9-Year-Old That He wanted To Be An Olympic Javelin Thrower

Sprint Stuff

• WOW! British Sprinter Zharnel Hughes Victim Of Attempted Robbery At Gunpoint In Jamaica When the gunman demanded Hughes’ phone, Hughes turned and ran while the gunman shot at him. Even after all the excitement, Hughes still competed his training session for the day at the UWI track.
  *LRC Archives: Meet Zharnel Hughes: The 18-Year-Old Has A Shot At Taking Down Yohan Blake’s 10.21 And Usain Bolt’s 20.25 “Champs” Records
• Oregon’s Three-Time NCAA Champ Ariana Washington Postpones A Pro Career To Stay With The Ducks Washington says it was a tough decision and she sought advice from boyfriend Clayton Murphy, who left Akron early to go pro.
• Good Read: The Guardian: “Double First: The Twin GB Sprinters With The Tokyo Olympics In Their Sights” The twin sisters used to be dancers/volleyball players, but after only five years in the sport, Cheriece and Shannon Hylton are eyeing the GB Olympic team.
• Omar McLeod Was Motivated By A Schoolgirl’s Slur After winning Worlds gold, McLeod said, “Every time I remember that girl who told me I was a cruff (Jamaican word for someone who is worthless), I pushed myself more.”
• Spain’s Oscar Husillos Looking For A Euro Medal After Opening His Season By Breaking The Spanish Indoor 300 And 400 Records