March 21, 2018 | LetsRun.com

Week That Was

LRCWayde Van Who? Clarence Munyai Runs 19.69, Scott Fauble Interviews Himself, Americans Dominate NYC Half, And A Last Hurrah For Caster Semenya?

Clarence Munyai and Caster Semenya put on a show at the S. African Champs, the Americans did well at NYC Half, and a look back at some splits from World Indoors.

Problems In Kenya

Russian Athletes Suspect Fraud After “Fake IAAF Officers” Took Doping Samples In Kenya The Russians became suspicious as the “officers” showed their ID cards on a phone. Were these good samaritans just trying to make sure the Russians were clean?
Recommended Read: Kenya Standard Digital: “Athletes Race From Rags To Riches And Back To Rags” Kenyans use running to escape poverty and gain a fortune, but with no education on how to manage their wealth, many can end up right back where they started.
Athletics Kenya Cracking Down On Officials Accused Of Molesting Female Athletes They’ve changed the management of training camps, now having them run by schools rather than individuals.

News From Spain

Spain’s Antonio Abadia Breaks 13-Year-Old Spanish 10K Record With 27:47, Moving Him To 3rd Best European Of All-Time Running in his mother’s hometown, Abadia finished second at the Laredo 10k behind Ethiopia’s Amdework Walelegn (27:36).

Outdoor Track Is Here: Big Weekend For Semenya

Caster Semenya Completes 800/1,500 Double At SA Champs Semenya soloed 1:58.92 in the 800 heats and came back that day to win the 1,500 by 13 seconds in 4:10.68. She won the 800 final the next day in 1:57.80.
Clarence Munyai’s 19.69 National 200m Record Highlights South African Championships There was also a national record in the women’s 100 as Carina Horn sped to 11.03 in the semis. World long jump champ Luvo Manyonga lept 8.41m to beat world bronze medalist Ruswahl Samaai by 20 centimeters.
MB: Fred Kerly opens outdoor season with 20.41 200 (video)
MB: Unreal: Briana Williams – age 15 – just ran 11.13 wind legal for 100m!!
Matt Centrowitz Wins 1,500 In Australia In 3:37.96 Ahead Of Jeff Riseley (3:38.69) Behind them, 18-year-old Jaryd Clifford set a T-12 (vision impaired) paralympic record of 3:45.18. In the sprints, USA’s Devon Allen (10.26) and GB’s Dina Asher-Smith (11.24) took the 100m. Linden Hall won the women’s 3,000 in 8:53.
*MB: Matt Centro 3:37.96 down under!
*IAAF Recap

Meet The Guy Who Outkicked Justyn Knight At NCAAs

LRC How Andy Trouard Went From Northern Arizona’s #4 Man In Cross-Country To A National Champion On The Track A couple of years ago, the odds were pretty high that Andy Trouard wouldn’t even be a runner right now – he was planning on becoming a triathlete. Now he’s the NCAA 3,000-meter champion. Here’s how it happened.
*MB: NCAA Champ Andy Trouard sticks out tongue on last turn of 3k and nearly falls

Bonus Material: Podcast With NAU Coach Mike Smith: The Rise Of Andy Trouard And Why You Should Embrace The Hurt In A 5K

2018 World Half Champs Are Saturday TV & Streaming (12:05 And 12:30 PM ET) Entries

LRC This Piece Is “Recommended By Rojo” Men’s Preview: Geoffrey Kamworor Goes For Three-Peat Against The “King Of Valencia,” 58:44 Man Abraham Cheroben Can Kamworor add yet another gold medal to his collection or will Cheroben, who has run incredibly fast but never done anything internationally, back up his performances by winning in Valencia? 59:52 man Leonard Korir & 43-year-old Bernard Lagat highlight Team USA.

LRC Women’s Preview: Kenyan Joyciline Jepkosgei Is The Woman To Beat As Jordan Hasay Leads Team USA Kenyans Fancy Chemutai (64:52, #2 all-time) and reigning bronze medalist Mary Wacera (66:29) were both late scratches so Kenya will only have 3 entrants, not 5. Could Jordan Hasay break the American record or sneak a medal?

Good Read: The Honor Of Representing His Nation Motivates Ethiopia’s Jemal Yimer As He Prepares For The World Half Champs Yimer ran the fastest debut ever at RAK last month with 59:00. Even still, the World 10,000 5th placer says his future is on the track: “I am a man of the track. I feel like the track is where I breathe better. I can train there the whole day.”
Lornah Kiplagat Reflects On Her World Half Marathon Champs Hat Trick Between 2006 And 2008 “To win gold three times in a row at my favorite distance, I couldn’t ask for more and I’m honored to be part of history.”
Course And Scoring Details For The World Half Marathon Championships Each country can run 5 athletes with the top 3 scoring.
World Half Champs Statistics Handbook Available For Download Includes facts and figures including past individual and team medalists, stats on the youngest and oldest participants, national records and more.

2020 Olympic Trials News

Judge Orders Mt. SAC To Halt Stadium Work, Potentially Putting The 2020 Olympic Trials At Risk The college and the city of Walnut are in a legal battle over whether the stadium reconstruction is complying with regulations protecting water quality. Mt. SAC is also dealing with a civil suit which is arguing the cost of the stadium shouldn’t be covered by public funds.
*Ken Goe’s Take And Comparison To Hayward’s Issues

Older Trials News We Missed
Atlanta Track Club Surprised USATF Selection Committee By Bringing In Meb To Endorse Their Bid For The 2020 Marathon Trials Meb likes the Olympic tradition of Atlanta, saying he still has a T-shirt a teammate brought him back from the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and will be working with the ATC in the future. USATF will decide in April between Atlanta, Austin, Chattanooga and Orlando.

NYC Half Watch Replay On ESPN3 Pro Results

LRC Final Ben True Outkicks Dathan Ritzenhein To Win 2018 NYC Half In His Half Marathon Debut, Buze Diriba Edges Emily Sisson For Women’s Title Ritz may not have gotten the win but he was happy with the result: “This was a great simulator for Boston for me. This was a perfect, perfect pre-race for that.”
*NYRR Release: Record-Breaking Day Features Ben True Becoming The First American Male Winner *RRW Recap
*MB: Official 2018 United Airlines NYC Half Live Discussion Thread
*MB: BEN MF TRUE

More NYC Action: Malcolm Richards (2:19:01) And Lindsey Scherf (2:40:55) Break Indoor Marathon World Records Chris Zablocki, who had the men’s record, only managed a 2:29:13.
*MB: New indoor marathon world records set – 2:19:01 and 2:40:55

Weekend Road/XC Results

Wilson Erupe Loyannae Wins A Fourth Seoul Marathon Title In 2:06:57 It was a close race as 2nd through 5th were all in the 2:07 range. Damte Hiru won the women’s race in 2:24:08.
Yuki Kawauchi Wins New Taipei City Wan Jin Shi Marathon In 2:14:12 Kenya’s Rael Kyara Kguriatukei took the women’s race in 2:35:57, just one second ahead of her compatriot Chemtai Rionotueki.
Kenya’s Weldon Kirui (2:11:48) And Ethiopia’s Sule Utura Gedo (2:33:49) Triumph At LA Marathon *Results
Celliphine Chespol And Alfred Barkack Make It A Kenyan Double Win At African XC Champs Kenya also won both team titles.
Uganda’s Ben Somikwo (63:32) And Kenya’s Christine Oigo (1:13:54) Win Chilly Gdynia Half Marathon In Poland Somikwo won over Spain’s El Hassan Oubaddi by one second in a sprint finish.
Athletics Weekly: English Schools XC Champs Recap

Sprint Stuff

Andre De Grasse Pulls Out Of Next Month’s Commonwealth Games De Grasse said he is healthy, but not at 100% fitness and wants to focus on getting ready for outdoor season.
USA’s World Indoor 60m Bronze Medalist Ronnie Baker Talks About The High And Low Of His Career, Both Of Which Happened In 2017 Last year Baker won the 100m at Pre Classic, but strained his hamstring at USAs and didn’t make the final.
GB World 4 X 100 Silver Medalist Dina Asher-Smith Talks About Her Love For Sprinting Asher-Smith actually started off as a cross-country runner and finished 5th out of 300-400 runners in her first race.
USATF Domestic Relay Program Starts Next Weekend At The Prairie View Relays In Texas The program will help prepare potential USA relay runners for the USA vs. World race at Penn Relays.

Can Blake Fill Bolt’s Golden Shoes?

Usain Bolt Will Travel To The 2018 Commonwealth Games As A Spectator Yohan Blake revealed Bolt’s planned visit as he arrived yesterday in Brisbane, Australia on Sunday. Blake says that Botl told him before he left, “When I come to Australia, if you don’t win there is going to be problems.”

We Prefer The US Libel Laws

LRC Mo Farah Sued British Journalist Ben Bloom For Defamation; Parties Agreed To Five-Figure Settlement British journalists had better be careful what they write about Mo Farah. Farah sued journalist Ben Bloom for a tweet he wrote in 2017 criticizing Farah for not talking to the media before the 2017 IAAF World Championships.
*Discuss: Mo Farah Sues Ben Bloom