June 27, 2018 | LetsRun.com

The Best Of

LRC The Best Interviews From 2018 USAs: Centro On How Being Fitter Allows Him To Race Smarter, Coburn On Jebet’s Positive, & The People’s Hero, Jordan Mann We know only a few of the biggest die-hards had time to watch all 79 interviews we conducted in the mixed zone at USAs (you can check out all the videos here). That’s okay. Below, we’ve selected our 10 favorite interviews from 2018 USAs. If you want to be educated, entertained, or both, check this out. From Noah Lyles to Matthew Centrowitz and Emma Coburn, we’ve got you covered.

Des Linden To Run 2018 TCS NYC Marathon Will she face defending champ Shalane Flanagan?

Sprint Stuff

World 100m Champ Tori Bowie Featured In ESPN Body Issue “If I could pick one body part, I’d probably pick my thighs, my quads. I feel they’re the strongest part of my body.”
*Full 2018 ESPN Body Issue
IAAF Inside Athletics: Ato Boldon Video Interview With Sydney McLaughlin This was apparently filmed a while ago as she talked about not going pro and said, “You’re basically running for a paycheck and I don’t think I’m ready to do that yet. To run for food on the table. I’d like to progress in the sport first before I make that decision.”
Usain Bolt Admits It Was “Kind Of Sad” To Lose His Perfect Record Of Olympic Golds It’s probably easier to live with when you have nine of them, though.
World 400H CHamp Kori Carter Looks Back At When She Shockingly Qualified For The 2008 World Junior Championships “Making my first national team was a huge moment. It convinced me that I could be somebody in track and field.”
European 400H Champ Wins In 55.48 At Copenhagen Games She was supposed to have a duel with two-time world champ Zuzana Hejnova, but Hejnova had to scratch with a knee injury.

Bowerman Fan Vote Is Open

Bowerman Fan Vote Is Open Through Thursday Who do you think the best athlete of the year was? You can vote five times a day so make your opinion count.
A Look Back At The History Of The Bowerman Award Fan Vote Only 8 of the 18 Bowerman Award winners won the fan vote before they won the overall award.
Grant Holloway, Michael Norman And Rai Benjamin Are The Men’s Finalists For Bowerman Award
Sydney McLaughlin, Maggie Ewen And Keturah Orji Selected As Women’s Bowerman Award Finalists The winner will be announced in December.
*MB: “I personally don’t believe I should be a finalist for Bowerman”- Sydney McLaughlin

European News

Chris O’Hare Hoping For A Scottish 1-2-3 Repeat In The 1,500 At British Champs This Weekend Last year O’Hare, Josh Kerr and Jake Wightman went 1-3.
Video Interview: Laura Muir Graduates From Veterinary Studies Degree At University Of Glasgow She gets emotional and sheds some tears during this interview with the BBC.
*MB: It’s official: Laura Muir is a vet – Why don’t many other pros do much of anything besides run?

USATFs Saturday

LRC Final Changing Of The Guard? Shelby Houlihan Beats Jenny Simpson For 2nd-Straight Time And First USATF Outdoor 1,500 Title Houlihan used a 57.67 final 400 to prevent Simpson from winning a record 5th-straight 1,500 title.

LRC Final Matthew Centrowitz Returns To The Top And Wins His 5th Outdoor US 1,500 Title The Olympic champion is back on top of the US.

LRC Final Emma Coburn Knocks Back Challenge From Courtney Frerichs, Wins 5th-Straight US Steeplechase Title

LRC Full Day 2 And Day 1 Aggregate Results On 1 Page

Full Coverage In USA Champs Event Page

BAA 10k: Tanzania’s Gabriel Geay (28:24) And Kenya’s Mary Wacera Win In Sprint Finishes Chris Derrick (6th, 29:00) and Nicole DiMercurio (11th, 34:38) were the top Americans. Des Linden and Meb Keflezighi ran the course together for the 1st 5 miles before Linden pulled away for a “victory” in 38:25.

Ultra News: Western States 100 Mile And A New 100k WR From Japan

Jim Walmsley Beats The Heat To Win 2018 Western States 100 Mile In A 14:30:03 Course Record (8:42 Pace) Courtney Dauwalter won the women’s race in the second-fastest time in race history (17:27:03 – 10:28 pace). *Irunfar.com Coverage *Citius Mag’s In-Depth Recap
Japan’s Nao Kazami Breaks 100k World Record At Lake Saroma 100k Ultra Kazami ran 6:09:14 (5:56 pace) to break the previous WR by more than 4 minutes. Yuki Kawauchi‘s brother Yoshiki Kawauchi was 5th (6:28:35) while Mai Fujisawa won the women’s race in 7:37:56 (7:22 pace).

RIP Historic Hayward Field

Crews Demolish Hayward Field’s East Grandstand The new stadium project has begun with the East Grandstand coming down. *Video
*MB: THE EAST GRANDSTANDS ARE GONE.

Changes For Des

Desi Linden Wins 2018 Boston Marathon Des Linden Leaves Hansons Team She’s still with Brooks but has parted ways with the Hanson brothers. Des made it known she didn’t like Dathan Ritzenhein joining the group last year.

News From Kenya

Elijah Manangoi Skips Out On Final For Trials For African Champs As His Sister Died He’s been given a wild-card onto the team.
Conselus Kipruto Says Once Again He’s Going For Steeple World Record In Monaco On July 20 “This year has been so good for me. It’s every athlete’s dream to stay injury-free and God has been good to me,” Kipruto said in Nairobi on Saturday. “I have four more weeks to prepare for the World record attempt in Monaco. It will be great to bring the 3,000m steeplechase record back to Kenya.”

More Non LRC Des Moines Coverage

Olympian Hillary Bor Credits His Time At Iowa State For His Success And Says He Considers Iowa To Be Home “Iowa State gave me an opportunity that changed everything for me. I can’t even comprehend what could have happened without Iowa State. It changed everything for me.”
Des Moines Register: “From Motherhood To Marathons, Gwen Jorgensen Wants To Succeed At Everything”
*MB: Gwen Jorgensen: “I don’t read message boards and I don’t look at commentaries.”
USA Today: Animal Lover Sandi Morris Has Dogs, Three Snakes, A Parakeet And A Lizard
RRW: Molly Huddle Wins Fourth USA 10,000 Title In Dominant Fashion
USATF Day 1 Recap: Keturah Oriji Sets Meet Record To Win Triple Jump With 14.34m
USATF: History Of US Champs At Drake Stadium A look back at when Drake hosted USAs in 2010 and 2013.
FloTrack: 12 Crazy Things That Happened The First Day At USAs

High School Corner

Katelyn Tuohy Named Gatorade Girls Track And Field Athlete Of The Year Sydney McLaughlin surprised Tuohy with the award as she went to pick up what she thought was her dad’s birthday cake, but was actually for her. After winning XC in the fall, Touhy becomes the first athlete in the history of the award to win it in two different sports in the same year. *Surprise Video
*MileSplit Article The only athletes two win the award in track more than once are Marion Jones and Sydney McLaughlin. Since Tuohy is only a sophomore, she has a good chance of doing that herself.
Ping Sisters Dominate In The 1,600/3,200 Double At The Minnesota State Meet Grace won the 1,600 in 4:57.86 to Lauren‘s 4:58.25 while Lauren won the 3,200 in 10:29 and Grace ran 10:38 for third. *Results

Upcoming Diamond League Action: Paris Is Saturday

The Top Three Moments From The History of The Paris Diamond League Evan Jager’s “should have been” sub-8:00 steeplechase from 2015 makes the list.
Loaded Field Events Announced For Paris Diamond League The pole vault has Renaud Lavillenie, Mondo Duplantis and Sam Kendricks while World champ Mariya Lasitskene leads the women’s HJ against World heptathlon camp Nafissatou Thiam (has gone 2.01m this year) and Caterine Ibarguen in the TJ.
*Paris Diamond League Provisional Entry Lists
July 13: A Slew Of High Profile Head-To-Heads Announced For Rabat Diamond League Includes world champ Conseslus Kipruto vs. Worlds silver medalist Soufiane El Bakkali in the steeple, Renaud Lavillenie vs. Sam Kendricks in the PV and Shaunae Miller-Uibo vs. Worlds silver medalist Marie-Josee Ta Lou in the 200. Also Caster Semenya in the 1,000 and Abdelaati Iguider in the 3,000.
IAAF Diamond League Mid-Season Review A look at some highlights and stats from the first 6 DL meets.

2018 USAs Schedule, Results & Entries TV & Streaming Women’s Preview Men’s Preview Prediction Contest LRC Post-Race Interviews

LRC Houlihan, Chelimo, & Jager (7 Straight) Grow Their Legends With Convincing Wins At USAs Greatness was on display as 3 of America’s distance stars lived up to their favorite status.

LRC Ajee Wilson And Clayton Murphy, The Class Of US 800m Running, Win 2018 USATF Titles Murphy and Wilson were you expect them: atop the US 800 ranks. Wilson led 5 women to PRs, including Ce’Aira Brown and Raevyn Rogers going 1:58 for the first time and Kaela Edwards going sub-2:00 for the first time.

Jamaican Champs

IAAF Recap: After Failing To Make It To NCAAs In 200, LSU’s Jahnoy Thompson Runs 20.21 PR To Win Jamaican Camps Thompson didn’t even score a point at SECs. In other news, 18-year-old Christopher Taylor broke Jamaica’s junior 400 record and won the senior title in 44.88.
Video Interview: Christopher Taylor Now Turns His Attention To Usain Bolt’s World Junior 200m Record Bolt’s record is 19.93 and Taylor ran a 20.35 PR back in March.
Ronald Levy And Danielle Williams Recover From Sloppy Performances To Win Jamaican Sprint Hurdle Titles CWG champ Levy won in 13.16 while 2015 world champion Williams ran 12.63.
IAAF Recap Of Jamaican U20 Champs
Damion Thomas Equals 110mH WJR At Jamaica Junior Championships The LSU athlete (who was 3rd at NCAAs this year) ran 12.99 to match the previous WJR from 2014.
*Video Interview: Damion Thomas Not Surprised By His WJR
Olympic Champ Elaine Thompson Retains Her Jamaican 100m National Title With A Hard-Fought Victory Over Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Thompson won in 11.01 to Fraser-Pryce’s 11.09. Meanwhile, there was chaos on the men’s side as two false starts in the semis led to three big names missing the final, including Yohan Blake, as Tyquendo Tracey won in 10.07. Former NCAA champ Natoya Goule won the women’s 800 in 1:58.85 and Kemoy Campbell won a two-man 1,500m race in 3:51.04.
Chaos Reigned In Jamaica After Slew Of 100m Semifinal False Starts After false-starting two different times, Yohan Blake ran under protest and won his semi but was tossed. Two other sprinters quit the semis in protest over false start calls. Meanwhile, SAFP false-started and was allowed to compete.
Unheralded Michael Bentley Wins Jamaican Junior 100 Title In 10.34

International Action

Final Day Of Japanese Champs: National Records Fall In The Men’s Discus (62.16m) And Men’s 110m Hurdles (13.36) Masateru Yugami amazingly threw 5 straight PRs and 3 straight NRs.
Japanese Champs Day 2: Ryota Yamagata Ties Meet Record In 100 (10.05)
Japan Champs Day 1: 2:22 Marathoner Matsuda Dominates 10,000 (31:52) Shuho Dairokuno won the men’s title in 28:30 after 2:06 marathoner Hiroto Inoue did most of the work.
World Champ Netsanet Gudeta Of Ethiopia (67:30) And Stephen Kiprop Of Kenya (60:15) Win Olomouc Half Marathon
Moses Kibet (28:34) And Katsiaryna Shaban Karneyenka (33:40) Take Top Honors At Vidovdan Road Race 10k
Molly Caudery Sets New UK Junior Record In Pole Vault (4.53m) She’ll going to be an NCAA star when she starts college in the US in the fall. *Video
44-Year-Old Jo Pavey Returns To Action With 15:48 5,000 Win She was hoping for the 15:30 European standard.
Eliza McCartney Sets Oceanic PV Record Of 4.92 Meters
Madrid: Su Bingtian Highlights Meeting Madrid With A 9.91 Victory And Chinese 100m Record Su Bingtian took back the NR he had lost just three days ago to Xie Zhenye‘s 9.97. Ethiopia’s 2016 World Indoor bronze medalist Gudaf Tsegay highlighted distance action, winning the 1,500 unopposed in 3:59.60. *Results
*MB: 20-year-old Italian Filippo Tortu runs 9.99 in the 100 in Madrid — 2nd white guy ever under 10?
*Cornell Alum Bruno Hortelano Runs Almost A One-Second PR To Break 29-Year-Old Spanish 400m Record With 44.69 In Madrid Hortelano continues his excellent comeback after he missed all of last year with injuries from his 2016 car crash. Dominican Republic’s former Olympic silver medalist Lugelin Santos won the race in 44.66.
Kenya: Gloria Mulei Shatters Kenyan Triple Jump Record With 12.97m In Kasarani The 18-year-old broke the 12.91m record set back in 2001.
Athens: Olympic Champ Ekaterini Stefanidi Vaults European-Leading 4.80m In Athens

Day 2 at USAs

LRC Noah Lyles Takes Another Step Toward Superstar Status, Wins First U.S. Outdoor Title In 100 With World-Leading 9.88 The 20-year-old Lyles became the youngest man to win the U.S. 100-meter title since Sam Graddy in 1984. *Video Of Lyles’ Race
*MB: NOAH MF LYLES: 9.88: Official Noah Lyles Appreciation Thread
*MB: USA Championships: Ronnie Baker runs 9.90 for 2nd OMG*

Reuters: Lyles Ready To Be A “Big Dog” “I didn’t think that my first USATF championship was going to be a 100 gold medal. I always thought it would be the 200. So to come out here to win the 100, it made me very happy.

Three-For-Three! Former LSU Star Aleia Hobbs Completes Sprint Trifecta At USA Nationals Hobbs this year has won the NCAA 60, 100 and now the USA 100.

LRC 800 Semis Go According To Form – We Can’t Wait For Sunday’s Finals Ajee Wilson, Charlene Lipsey, Raevyn Rogers and Ce’aira Brown all made the final with ease as did Isaiah Harris, Erik Sowinski and Clayton Murphy.
*MB: Is Murphy the favorite? ‘”That’s for you guys to sit in a dungeon and twittle your fingers and write articles about.”
*MB: Anyone else thing Murphy is in trouble for the final?

LRC Men’s Steeplechase Prelims: Isaac Updike Runs A Big PR As Evan Jager Begins His Quest For 7 In A Row Meet Isaac Updike – the pro who has been supporting himself by working at Dick’s Sporting Goods – but is headed to Brussels soon.

Day 1 At USAs

LRC Final Lopez Lomong Is BAAACK, Makes History By Becoming First American To Win 1,500 And 10,000m Titles Lopez Lomong resurrected his career and made history by winning the 10,000 eight years after he won the 1,500 at USAs.

LRC Final Molly Huddle Crushes Final 4 Laps To Win 4th-Straight USATF 10,000 Title Just 66 Days After Running Boston Marathon The 33-year-old Huddle closed out her final 4 laps in a remarkable 4:38.93 to get the win over fellow Olympian Marielle Hall, who was running her first 10k since the Olympics. Olympic triathlon champ Gwen Jorgensen was 7th.
*MB: My god Molly Huddle is good. 66 days after Boston she runs a 4:38 final 1600 to win her 4th straight 10k title
*Q&A With Stephanie Bruce After Her Career-Best Showing In 10k (3rd) And With Ben Bruce After His 16th-Straight USAs

LRC Shock Day 1 Qualifying: Robby Andrews Is OUT, Drew Windle, Donavan Brazier, Sammy Watson, Sydney McLaughlin DNS Boris Berian was eliminated but the usual suspects looked good, including Clayton Murphy. Kate Grace showed some spark.

Mike Rodgers Runs World’s Fastest 100 Of Year At 9.89, Noah Lyles Runs 9.92w
Keturah Orji Outduels Tori Franklin, Wins By 3 Inches And Breaks Meet Record In The Process In addition to losing the competition, Franklin also lost some respect off of it in some people’s eyes as she broke her Oiselle contract to compete for Nike.
*MB: Oiselle says Tori Franklin broker her Oiselle contract to compete for Nike at USAs

Off The Track At USAs

LRC My Sac out USATF Board Meeting Recap – USOC Slams Mt. SAC Bid For Olympic Trials: “Thank goodness that embarrassment is behind us.” Highlights and lowlights of USATF Board meeting with the biggest lowlight being when the Board violated USATF’s own bylaws to extend the terms of two of its members. At the meeting it was also stated that after Mt. SAC won the bid they were very interested in finding out if they’d get “free clothes.”
*Discuss Here

More USAs Coverage

Sandi Morris Wins Her Second National Outdoor Pole Vault Title Over Katie Nagoette And Jenn Suhr Morris cleared 4.80m, but the weather conditions kept her from getting more than one attempt at a world leading 4.94m.
Reuters: Devon Allen Ekes Out 110H Win Over Grant Holloway Both Allen and Holloway were timed at 13.46, but looking at the thousandths place, Allen was .002 faster.
Shamier Little Claims USATF 400 Hurdles Title With A 53.61 Drake Stadium Record
Darrell Hill Heaves Sigh Of Relief With First Shot Put National Title, Out-Throwing Olympic Champ Ryan Crouser Hill threw 21.57m to Crouser’s 20.99m.
USATF: Champions Reign Supreme On Final Day Of USA Champs Other winners included Ameer Webb in the 200 (20.47), Maggie Ewen in the shot put (19.29m) Jeffer Henderson in the LJ (8.10m), Reggie Jagers in the discus (68.61m), and Erica Bougard in the heptathlon (6,347 points).
Des Moines Register: Shelby Houlihan Adds Legacy With Double Win At USAs “I don’t know if it’s actually hit me yet. I did set out to come out and try to win both and it’s awesome I was able to do that.”
Des Moines Register: Former Hawkeye Erik Sowinski Grabs 3rd In 800 “In that race, second – to me – would’ve been the same as eighth. The idea was, ‘Let’s try to do what we could to win.'”
Register Guard‘s Oregon-Centric USAs Sunday Recap Jenna Prandini wins her first US title in the 200m with 22.62.
Des Moines Register: Former Iowa State Star Hillary Bor Gets 2nd In Steeple “I tried to bring my ‘A’ game today and my ‘A’ game wasn’t enough.”
RRW: Shelby Houlihan Completes 1,500m/5,000m Double At USA Championships
FloTrack: Six Moments That Made The Rain Delay Worth It On The Final Day Of USAs

Non-LRC USAs Coverage

Des Moines Register: Houlihan: “I didn’t run maybe the smartest race but it worked out.”
Reuters: Shakima Wimbley Arrives As Another New Sprint Star For US With 49.52 Win Wimbley, who was the NCAA runner-up last year for Miami, is another pro thriving under Lance Brauman.
Vashti Cunningham Overcomes Shocking Start To Win Second National Outdoor High Jump Title With 1.95m She missed her first attempt at opening height, but got back on track with this message to herself: “”Vashti, if you don’t do this, you suck.’ That’s what I’m telling myself in my head. ‘This is the last one, you have to make it.'”
Sam Kendricks Wins HIs Fifth USA Outdoor Pole Vault Title Kendricks won with a new Drake Stadium record of 5.85m over NCAA champ Chris Nilsen (5.80m).
45 Pounds Lighter Than Last Year, DeAnna Price Reclaims American Record In Hammer At 256 Feet, 3 Inches (78.12) All 4 of her legal throws were better than former those of the runner-up, the former AR holder Gwen Berry.
After Finishing Just 7th At NCAAs, Houston Kahmari Montgomery Wins 400 Title With Big 44.58 PR
Keni Harrison Defends 100-Meter Hurdles Title With Ease (12.46); Dawn Harper-Nelson Says Goodbye To US Nationals With 5th-Place Showing
Olympic Champ Dawn Harper-Nelson Talks Before Her Last Race At A US Champs Harper-Nelson, who has been competing at USAs since 2004, is ready to move on. “I’m personally ready to have some babies.”
Citius Mag: Podcast From Iowa With Tinman, Drew Hunter, Sam Parsons, Reed Fischer And Tyler Mueller
RunblogRun: Clayton Murphy: One Race Away From Redemption?

Doping News

Spanish Police Arrest Six Athletes (Including Ethiopia’s Madrid Half Marathon Winner Gizaw Bekele) Involved In Drug Trafficking Operation It was an interestingly elaborate scheme which included code names, athletes smuggling drugs in from multiple countries, and making exchanges on train trips to Madrid.
IAAF Approves Application Of 33 More Russian Athletes To Compete Internationally As Neutral Athletes
WADA Granted Immunity From Lawsuits To Boost Doping Investigations The bill that was unanimously passed in Quebec seeks to stop lawsuits designed to impede doping cases and stop or slow down investigations against athletes.

Day 2 USA Outside LRC Coverage

RRW: Evan Jager Looks To Extend His Steeplechase Legacy At USA Championships Jager is one win away from tying the record for most consecutive US steeplechase titles (held by Henry Marsh, who won seven from 1981 to 1987).
Des Moines Register: Noah Lyles After Realizing He’s The Fastest Man In The World This Year: “Now that you just said that, I just realized it. That’s actually pretty cool. Oh my God.”
5 Years After Winning USA Steeplechase In Des Moines, Nicole Bush Returns … As A Journalist She’s successfully overcome depression and crippling anxiety.
Adopted Iowan Erik Sowinski Hoping To Win 1st US Outdoor Title
Both Aragon Sisters Come Up Short In 1,500
USATF Day 2 Recap: Multiple Drake Stadium Records Go Down
FloTrack: 6 Weird Things That Happened The Second Day At USAs

Non-USAs Distance News

Recommended Read: World Indoor Silver Is Life-Changing For Family Man Drew Windle Windle talks about having a big family with nine Windles at Worlds last year, being “taken out of his element” by the commotion of his two European races and how his name is really Curt.
World And Olympic Steeplechase Champ Conseslus Kipruto Wasn’t Always A Runner When Kipruto was younger he wanted to be a soccer player and had to be convinced by multiple people that he should switch to running.
What Did World 1,500 Silver Medalist Timothy Cheruiyot Do With The Money From His Lucrative 2017 Season? A lot of the money went to his family, but he did buy himself a car.
Carrie Tollefson Does Interview With Kara Goucher While On A Run Goucher discusses staying injury-free, her new book, designing for Oiselle, and her family life.