September 16, 2018 | LetsRun.com

The 2018 BMW Berlin Marathon *Berlin Results

LRC Final The Greatest Ever – 2:01:39 – Eliud Kipchoge Crushes World Record To Win 2018 Berlin Marathon The greatest marathoner in history has run the greatest marathon in history, 2:01:39, and taken 78 seconds off the WR, marking the biggest improvement in the WR in 51 years, thanks to a 60:33 second half.

Kenya’s Gladys Cherono Wins A Third Berlin Marathon Title She ran 2:18:11 to become the fourth-fastest woman in history and break the 13-year-old course record by a minute. Ethiopia’s Ruti Aga (2:18:34) and Tirunesh Dibaba (2:18:55) were a close 2-3.

Berlin On The Boards

Seriously Now? What? WADA Recommends RUSADA Be Reinstated

WADA Recommends Reinstatement Of Russian Anti-Doping Agency WADA’s independent compliance review committee has recommended WADA should reinstate RUSADA when they meet on September 20th. This despite Russia not having met the reinstatement criteria by allowing access to the Moscow lab.
Russia’s Life Reads Like A Spy Movie: Swiss Prosecutors Investigating Two Russian Agents Over Cyber Attack On WADA The same two Russians were detained earlier this year for another planned attack on a lab in The Netherlands. The lab was investigating the poisoning of a Russian double agent, Sergei Skripal.
BBC: WADA Suggested Compromise To Bring End To RUSADA Ban BBC obtained copies of the letters between WADA and the Russian Sports minister. Also includes statement from WADA head Craig Reedie responding to the criticism.
InsideTheGames: RUSADA Set To Be Reinstated At WADA Executive Committee Meeting Apparently WADA softened the reinstatement criteria to end the stalemate with Russia. Russia has promised to eventually let inspectors into the Moscow lab and they didn’t publicly accept the McLaren Report, but wrote a letter that “sufficiently acknowledged issues.” *Reuters Article

Pre-Race Berlin News

LRC There’s A Remote Chance All 4 Marathon And Half Marathon World Records Could Fall On Sunday We’ve got a podcast previewing Berlin and Copenhagen and have a chart looking more at the Copenhagen fields and the random Kenyan talent emerging in the half marathon.

LRC LetsRun.com Track Talk: Berlin Marathon And Copenhagen Half Marathon Preview Podcast

LRC Tirunesh Dibaba Plans To Chase World Record At 2018 BMW Berlin Marathon And the plan is to do it the optimal way – with a negative split.

LRC Women’s Preview: Tirunesh Dibaba Plots Return To Winning Ways Against 3 More Sub-2:20 Women After a DNF in London, Dibaba is looking to return to the winner’s circle in Berlin, not Chicago where she won last fall.

LRC Eliud Kipchoge Is Chasing The World Record In Berlin (Again). Whether He Gets It Or Not Is Out Of His Control The last 6 men’s WRs have all been set in Berlin. Can the greatest marathoner ever make it #7?
*MB: Will Eliud Kipchoge get the World Record at this weekend’s 2018 BMW Berlin Marathon?

Wilson Kipsang Says He Wants To Run Near His PR And Go Through Halfway In 61:30 In Berlin Another name of note in the field is half marathon WR holder Zersenay Tadese, who will be taking yet another crack at the full marathon and try to improve his 2:10:41 PR.
ESPN: Record Chasing Tirunesh Dibaba And Gladys Cherono Headline Berlin Women’s Race Dibaba: “I improved my training in preparation for Berlin and did more volume. I am very well prepared and want to beat my best time on Sunday.”
Eliud Kipchoge Emphasizes He’s Going For His PR (Not Necessarily The WR) In Berlin “I am not thinking about the world record. My eyes are on a personal best.” On the surface, it sounds a bit silly considering there are only 8 seconds between Kipchoge’s best and the WR.
*MB: Kipchoge says he goes for a PB. Why doesn’t he say WR?

African Marathoner News

Former Marathon World Record Holder Patrick Makau Retires From The Sport The 2:03:38 man says he’s hanging them up after dealing with a persistent patellar tendon injury. He says he plans on staying involved in the sport as a coach.
Former Olympic And World Champion Stephen Kiprotich Still Hoping To Lower His PR Before He Retires And Wants To Run 2:05 At The Toronto Waterfront Marathon Next Month “I have the two medals but also I want to run a faster time than 2:05. Most of the people they look at my times and they ask me how did you win these two medals in poor times? So it is my hope to run a good time before I retire.”
World Record Holder Dennis Kimetto Competing In The Shanghai Marathon In November Kimetto has been DNFs in all his recent marathons and hasn’t finished one since London 2016. But he once again claims he is over his injury issues and thinks he can run 2:06 in Shanghai. We’ll believe it when we see it.

Nike Ad Controversy Message Board Discussion

Weekend Road Action 5th Avenue Mile Results Great North Run Results

RRW & LRC Jenny Simpson Gets Her Sixth Straight Fifth Avenue Mile Title, Jake Wightman Gets His First Simpson capped her season with another 5th Avenue win over the in form Colleen Quigley. Wightman held off veteran Nick Willis.
LRC Post-Race Videos With Simpson, Wightman, Quigley, Willis, Eriva Avila, Neil Gourley, Ben True
*Official 5th Avenue Mile Thread

RRW: World Under-20 Champion Rhonex Kipruto Scares The Road 10k World Record With A 26:46 Solo Effort At The Birell Grand Prix Kipruto now sits second on the all-time list, only behind Leonard Patrick Komon‘s 26:44. Caroline Kipkirui ran the #5 all-time best 10k to win the women’s race in 30:19 ahead of Fancy Chemutai (30:22) and Diana Chemtai Kipyokei (30:23). *IAAF Recap
*MB: Rhonex Kipruto runs 26:46 for 10K on the roads in Prague — #2 all-time

Mo Farah Wins Great North Run For A Record 5th Consecutive Time Farah ran away from Jake Robertson over the last two miles to win in 59:26 (4 seconds short of his PR) to Robertson’s 59:57. Vivian Cheruiyot won the women’s race in 67:43 over Brigid Kosgei (67:52) and WR holder Joyciline Jepkosgei (68.:10). *Discuss

Ethiopia’s Abebe Negewo Breaks Course Record To Win Minsk Half Marathon In 62:39 Kenya’s Sheila Jerotich won the women’s race in 72:05.
Josh Kerr (4:10.5) And Amanda Eccleston (4:47.0) Win Minnesota Mile Kerr beat out Daniel Herrera (4:11.1) while Eccleston outkicked Kellyn Taylor (4:47.4).

All-Time Great Sprint News

Michael Johnson Recovering At Home After Suffering “Mini-Stroke” It occurred last week and Johnson says he has been cleared of any ongoing heart problems. *MB: Michael Johnson Recovering After Stroke
Usain Bolt Takes Break From Aussie Soccer For A Previously Planned Overseas Commitment Bolt will be gone from the 9th through the 16thh in what was a pre-agreed upon break.

Rest In Peace

1998 World Half Marathon Champion Paul Koech Dies At Age 49 Koech had many other top international finishes as well as fast PRs with the 7th best 10,000m of all time at 26:36.26.
Kimbia Athletics’ Tribute To Paul Koech – “An Honest Hero”
Diane Leather, The First Woman To Run A Sub-Five Minute Mile, Dies At Age 85 She ran 4:59.6 in 1954, three weeks after Bannister ran his first sub-four.

Doping: Asbel Kiprop Situation Gets Crazier And Sadder

Asbel Kiprop Publishes Video Of Him Making Out With His Pacemaker’s Wife As He Thinks The Pacemaker Set Him Up For EPO Bust 2008 Olympic champ Asbel Kiprop has published a salacious video of him making out with his pacemaker’s wife. Those in the know think Kiprop did so in retaliation for the pacemaker setting him up for the EPO bust out of anger for the affair. The woman has sadly tried to commit suicide.

First WADA Approved Lab In East Africa Is Set To Open In Nairobi This will be big for African testing as samples will no longer need to be transported to Europe or South Africa. This will allow for more blood tests which previously were extremely difficult.
Athletics Integrity Unit Confirms Kipyegon Bett’s EPO Positive Not surprisingly, GB 800m runner Kyle Langford (the runner Bett beat out for world bronze by just .04) hasn’t reacted too happilly on Twitter.
Sandi Morris About Demi Payne On Twitter: “Well, I KNEW – but now it’s no longer just a suspicion.” She and Katie Nageotte had a brief exchange where they lament losing NCAA titles/records and a world team place to Payne.

Copenhagen Half & More Non-Berlin *Copenhagen Results

LRC Kevin Mayer (9126 Points) Breaks Ashton Eaton’s World Record In The Decathlon At Décastar Meet In France Mayer scored exactly 4563 points on each day and set PRs in the 100 (10.55), LJ (7.80), and jav (71.90) to eclipse Eaton’s 9045 from the 2015 World Champs.
*Discuss: Might the men’s marathon and decathlon records fall on the day? How scared should Ashton Eaton be that his WR falls today?

LRC What Range: Sifan Hassan Runs 1:05:15 European Record At Copenhagen Half, Kejelcha’s Debut A Success With 59:17 The NOP tracksters brought it in the half marathon. Daniel Kipchumba won on the men’s side in 59:06.
*Discuss: Copenhagen Half Live Thread

Kenyans Stephen Kiprop (59:41) And Diana Chemtai Kipyokei (67:17) Get The Wins At The Usti Nad Labem Half Marathon In The Czech Republic Kiprop beat out Barselius Kipyego (60:25) while Kipyokei finished 15 seconds ahead of Nancy Jepkosgei Kiprop. Jared Ward dropped out after sustaining a hamstring injury at mile 2; Sara Hall was 9th in 1:12:36.
Valary Jemeli Aiyabei Runs 2:21:38 To Become The First Kenyan Woman To Win The Beijing Marathon Post-race she gave a special thanks to her husband as he served as her pacemaker. Ethiopia’s 2:07 man Dejene Debela won the men’s race in 2:12:08.
Elijah Kemboi (2:13:37) And Mercy Kibarus (2:31:24) Deliver As The Favorites To Win The Sydney Marathon

Will Another World Record Go Down Today?

France’s World Champ Kevin Mayer Is Gunning For Ashton Eaton’s Decathlon World Record Today At The Decastar Meet In Talence, France After day 1, he’s only 140 points behind Eaton’s record and he typically has a stronger day 2 than Eaton.
IAAF Day 1 Recap: Kevin Mayer And Carolin Schafer In The Lead *IAAF Preview
MB: Might the men’s marathon and decathlon records fall on the day? How scared should Ashton Eaton be that his WR falls today?

Non-Berlin Weekend Action

IAAF Preview: Strong Fields Targeting World Records At The Copenhagen Half Marathon The men’s race has 14 sub-one hour runners, led by Abraham Cheroben (58:40) and Jorum Okombo (58:48). The women’s field has five women with sub-68 PRs, led by Joan Melly (65:04) and Sifan Hassan, who is will be running her first legitimate half.
Defending Champ Meselech Beyene (2:26:44) And Former Winner Fatuma Sado (2:24:16) Face Off At The Beijing Marathon The race also includes a couple women with sub-2:22 PRs from a few years ago. Tola Dibaba (2:06:17) and Abayneh Ayele (2:06:45) have the fastest PRs in the men’s field.
RRW: Jared Ward To Test Fitness At Mattoni Ústí nad Labem Half Marathon Ward says he’s been fighting injury on and off since 2016, but finally feels like he’s in a good place with his longest training block since the Rio Olympics. *IAAF Preview
2011 Boston Marathon Champ Caroline Kilel Vs. 2016 Paris Marathon Champ Visiline Jepkesho At The Chemususu Dam Half Marathon In Kenya
IAAF Preview: Course Record Assaults On Tap At The Sydney Marathon 2:11:18 and 2:25:51 are the times to beat. USA’s Janet Bawcom (2:29 PR) is among those running.
Defending Champions Victor Kiplangat And Lucy Murigi Lead Fields At The World Mountain Running Championships Former winner Joseph Gray will represent Team USA for the 11th consecutive year at these championships.

Random Stuff

Running App In Lithuania Giving Its Users Cryptocurrency As Reward For Hitting Fitness Goals The app will come to the US later this year.
Oregonian: Phil Knight Once Again Ranked The #1 Most Influential Person In Oregon Sports By The Oregonian Last year Vin Lananna was #18, but dropped off the list this year.
Runner’s World: Marathoner Chases After Car Thieves To Help Police Catch Them
Running NYC For The First Time? Runner’s World Borough-By-Borough New York City Marathon Course Review
Fast Running: 5 Things Every Runner Can Relate To We’re not sure about everything here. Do you really wear your running shorts multiple times without washing them?

Emma Coburn Speaks

LRC Exclusive Emma Coburn Expresses Doubt That Beatrice Chepkoech’s World Record Is Clean World Champion Emma Coburn is suspicious of Beatrice Chepkoech‘s world record run in the steeple. “I don’t think a woman can run 8:45 when for a whole season she runs 9 minutes and then runs 8:45. I don’t think that’s really possible,” said Coburn. *Discuss
*MB: Dear Emma Coburn “NativeSon,” a Kenyan on the message board, responds to Coburn and points out the Coutney Frerichs has improved massively in the last year, lowering her PR from 9:20 to 9:00.

European News Updates

GB’s Olympic 5,000 6th Placer Andrew Butchart Talks About The Lessons He’s Learned While Taking Time Off For Broken Navicular Bone “I think the protocol for people who are injured is that they get upset and get into the whole ‘why me?’ thing but, as I say, I found it a really good time to learn.”
The Guardian: “Retiring Hero Greg Rutherford Still Driven To Prove People Wrong” When Rutherford won 2012 Olympic gold, people called it a fluke, but he backed it up by winning World and European gold. Now he wants to try and make it as a pro track cyclist and get into broadcasting.
European Athletics: Greg Rutherford’s Place In History Is Ensured As He Retires In Newcastle
*BBC: Video Interview From Greg Rutherford Before His Last LJ Competition
Former World And Olympic Discus Champ Gerd Kanter Is Retiring From The Sport After One Last Event In Estonia On Thursday Gerd is #3 on the all-time list with 73.38m. He threw that mark in 2006 and no one has thrown that far since.
Former European 400H Champ Eilidh Doyle Set To Join Scottish Athletics Board
European Athletics: After Winning Euro Gold In Berlin, Karsten Warholm Is Poised For More Success In 2019

Some More Tidbits From The IAAF Continental Cup

Mohammed Ahmed Says The Elimination 3,000 At The IAAF Continental Cup Was One Of The Hardest Races He’s Ever Run Paul Chelimo also commented on its difficulty: “Every lap, kicking for 40 metres, that really takes it out of you. When you get over the line you are like, dead, but you have got to keep going. It was really tough.”
IAAF’s Ten Most Memorable Moments From The Continental Cup Sifan Hassan‘s 3,000m world lead (8:27.50) tops the list. Includes video highlights.
IAAF: New Look Continental Cup Delivers Victory To Team Americas And Food For Thought To The IAAF Seb Coe said the Continental Cup was “an ideal opportunity to road-test some innovative ideas” and that “we have to innovate and if we don’t innovate, we die.”

European Results

GB’s Former Olympic LJ Champ Greg Rutherford Says An Emotional Farewell In His Last Ever Competition At The Great North CityGames The retiring Rutherford jumped 7.38m to finish 3rd in his final competition. “I stepped out onto the runway for the last jump and it just hit me that ‘this is it and the last time I am going to do this as a professional athlete’ – and I got quite teary.”
Laura Muir Wins Great North CityGames Mile In 4:33 Finishing With The Same Time As Netherlands’ Euro Silver Medalist Susan Krumins
Former World Indoor HJ Champ Gianmarco Tamberi Ends His Season With 2.30m Victory At Italian National Champs

The 2018 IAAF Continental Cup Sat. & Sunday *Results

LRC Continental Cup Day 1: Sifan Hassan & Winny Chebet Impress As Conseslus Kipruto & Emmanuel Korir Keep Winning Both Hassan (2:40 final 1k) and Chebet (56.2 final lap) closed incredibly fast while Kipruto turned the steeple into a laugher after both Soufiane El Bakkali (DNF) and Evan Jager (DNS) missed out due to injury. Clayton Murphy was second in the 800, barely edging out Nijel Amos.
Caster Semenya Runs 49.62 To Finish Second In A New South African National Record Salwa Eid Naser won the race in 49.32. Semenya now has the SA 400, 800, 1,000 and 1,500 records.
MB: JAGER PULLS OUT Jager was a DNS with an injury issuel.
EA: Sifan Hassan And Anzhelika Sidorova (PV) The Team Europe Heroes On Day One Russia’s Sidorova won on countback after three vaulters cleared 4.85m on their second attempts, but failed to go over 4.90m.
IAAF: Americas Lead Overnight At IAAF Continental Cup
BBC: Ivory Coast’s Marie-Josee Ta Lou Beats Out GB’s Dina Asher-Smith In Continental Cup 100m (11.14 To 11.16)
LRC Official Continental Cup Thread This weekend’s meet has some great matchups. Noah Lyles vs. all-comers at 100, Korir vs. Amos vs. Murphy at 800, Jakob Ingebrigtsen returns vs. Manangoi (and Drew Hunter), the big 3 in the steeple (El Bakkali, Kipruto and Jager), an elimination 3,000, Miller-Uibo vs. Jackon vs. Schippers at 200, Semenya vs. Naser at 400, Semenya, Niyonsaba, Wilson and Goule at 800, Houlihan at 1,500, Obiri vs. Hassan at 3k, and Frerichs sub-9 attempt in steeple.

Going Pro

LRCNCAA Indoor 800m Champion Sabrina Southerland Signs With The Brooks Beasts

She’s the 2nd NCAA champ to sign with the Beasts this year. *Discuss

Diamond League Final$$$ Full Zurich Results Full Brussels Results *TV & Streaming

Full Brussels Results

LRC Legendary Company: Selemon Barega Runs 12:43 (#4 All-Time) In Brussels To Join Bekele, Geb & Komen In The Sub-12:45 Club What a spectacular race. We hadn’t seen a sub-13 all year and now 18-year-old Selemon Barega has run 12:43.02 – only Kenenisa Bekele, Haile Gebrselassie, and Daniel Komen have run faster.
*MB: Holy sh**!!! The guy who couldn’t even medal at World Jrs or the African Champs just ran 12:43!!! Selemon Barega

LRC 2018 Memorial Van Damme Full Recap: The Diamond League Season Comes To An End In Fine Fashion What a way for the season to end. A 9.79 100m win for Christian Coleman, a thrilling win by Laura Muir and more brilliance from Emmanuel Korir and Beatrice Chepkoech.

Brussels On The Message Board

MB: Official 2018 Brussels DL Discussion Thread
MB: Christian MF Coleman! 9.79! I never doubted you, bro. Never! If you adjust for wind, it was better than the AR.

Doping News

GB’s Kelly Sotherton Says “The Cloud Has Lifted” After Finally Receiving Her 2008 Olympic Bronze Ten Years Later She says she always knew the medal was hers as she saw Ukraine’s Lyudmila Blonska get passed something by her husband during the competition and found two empty vials by her bag.
British Athletes/Olympians Send Letter To WADA Warning It Will Be A “Catastrophe For Clean Sport” If Russia Is Reinstated When They Meet Next Week Russia still hasn’t met some of the reinstatement criteria set forth by WADA (including access to the Moscow lab). *BBC Article
BBC: WADA Compliance Review Committee Recommends RUSADA Remain Suspended WADA will vote whether to reinstate RUSADA on September 20th.
RUSADA Director Yuri Ganus “Not Optimistic” That They’ll Be Reinstated By WADA Next Week
IPC Calls For Increased Efforts To Resolve WADA And RUSADA Stalemate In addition to WADA’s criteria, the Russian Paralympic Committee also has to pay the IPC “reimbursements costs related to the suspension and reinstatement process.”

Negative News

MB: Legendary track coach Roy Chernock has died at age 90. HOFer was Vin Lananna’s college coach
Japan’s Nittai University Head Coach Masaaki Watanabe Fired Over Abuse Scandal He was accused of multiple acts of violence including kicking athletes’ legs and grabbing them by the chest as well as over-the-top verbal abuse.
Very Sad: Two Teens Arrested In Murder Of Incoming Penn State Track Athlete Kristian Marche was shot at his home last month after stopping an attempted break-in by the teens.
The Guardian Tribute To The Late Diane Leather, The First Woman To Run A Sub-5 Minute Mile Leather actually ran sub-5 just 23 days after Roger Bannister ran his first sub-4.

The Copenhagen Half Is Sunday

Sifan Hassan Is A Bit Nervous About Racing On The Roads For The First Time In 5 Years At The Copenhagen Half It’s not her first half, but her only other one was in 2011 when she was 18 and only ran 1:17:10.
MB: Galen Rupp OUT of this weekend’s Copenhagen half marathon Rupp withdrew due to some soreness in his Achilles.

MB: Hasay won’t go run Copenhagen half because Rupp isn’t???
MB Prediction: When will Jordan Hasay announce that she is not running the Chicago Marathon?
Preview: Seventeen Sub-60 Minute Men Will Line Up At The Copenhagen Half Marathon 58:40 man Abraham Cheroben leads the field and faces Berlin Half champ Erick Kiptanui (58:42), who says he’s gunning for the world record. World indoor 3,000 champ Yomif Kejelcha will make his half debut. Meanwhile, the women’s race has seven sub-68 runners, led by 65:04 woman Joan Melly and world champ Netsanet Gudeta, who will also be making a bid at the WR.

The 2018 IAAF Continental Cup Sat. & Sunday *Results

LRC Continental Cup Day 2: Caster Semenya Remains A Champion, Chelimo Wins Crazy Elimination-Style Race, Manangoi Too Good For Ingebrigtsen Nice $30,000 win for Paul Chelimo.
*Official Continental Cup Thread

IAAF: Christian Taylor, Caterine Ibarguen And Shaune Miller-Uibo Lead Americas To Continental Cup Victory The Americas finished with 262 points ahead of Europe (233 points), Asia-Pacific (188 points) and Africa (142 points).
European Athletics: Sergey Shubenkov, Mariya Lasitskene And Thomas Rohler Get Wins For Team Europe
Reuters: Noah Lyles Helps Americas Win IAAF Continental Cup Lyles ran 10.01 to beat out China’s Bingtian Su.

2018 Pro Runners’ Salary Survey

LRC Pro Runners’ Salaries: How Much Do Pro Runners Make? We Unveil One Of The Sport’s Biggest Secrets We asked some of the top agents in the world to tell us how much the stars of the sport make in endorsement contracts and appearance fees. The results are in.
Discuss: The wait is over: 2018 Pro Runners’ Salary Data Revealed: How Much Do the Pros Make?

Hoka One One Long Island Mile

RRW & LRC Chris O’Hare (3:55) Wins And Pays Tribute To David Torrence, Shannon Osika Wins (4:29), Ben Flanagan Goes Sub-Four For First Time With 3:57 The field left lane 1 empty in honor of Torrence, who still has the meet record.
Interviews: *Chris O’Hare *Ben Flanagan’s Dream Summer Continues (Video Interview)
*Shannon Osika Peaking Now *Daniel Winn Giving Up Being A Dog Walker To Get Back To Being A Pro Runner

Zürich Coverage

LRC Conseslus Kipruto Unleashes Furious Kick To Win 2018 Diamond League Steeplechase Final With One Shoe! In a heroic performance, Conseslus Kipruto ran nearly the whole race with only one shoe. It didn’t matter as he dug deep and won the DL title and $50,000.