More On Kipchoge

JG Opinion The Meaning Of 2:01:39: The Era Of World Record Chase Is Over LRC’s Jon Gault argues the era of the world record chase is over for the immediate future on the men’s side thanks to Kipchoge’s run.
*MB: Gault’s Kipchoge article is great.

Russia’s Back

• WADA Votes To Lift Russia’s Three-Year Doping Suspension The decision means RUSADA will now be able to test its own athletes again and issue TUEs. The move has been widely condemned by athletes and anti-doping officials.
  *BBC Article Lawyer for Russian whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov calls it “the greatest treachery against clean athletes in Olympic history.”
• IAAF Statement On WADA’s Reinstatement Of RUSADA The IAAF says it has “its own set of criteria for the reinstatement of the Russian Athletics Federation,” but they are actually the same as WADAs. The question will be if the IAAF considers the criteria fulfilled when they meet in December.
• Good Read: BBC: What Now For Sport After WADA Decision? Dan Roan writes that part of the fallout from this move will be that WADA will no longer trusted after it effectively left Russia “off the hook.”
• WADA Tried To Help Russia Lift Their Doping Ban In May Letters between WADA director general Olivier Niggli and Russia Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkoov show Niggli gave tips on how to word their letter to WADA’s compliance review committee to “ensure a positive recommendation.”
• The Guardian: “WADA Appears To Have Complied With Russia – Wasn’t It Meant To Be The Other Way Around?”
• IAAF Athletes’ Commission Letter To WADA Before They Voted To Reinstate Russia The letter (signed by athletes including Paula Radcliffe, Valerie Adams, Mutaz Essa Barshim and Adam Kszczot) urged WADA not to do it, but obviously they did not listen.
• IOC Athletes’ Commission Backs WADA Decision To Reinstate Russia
• The Guardian: Anti-Doping Rift Deepens As Agencies Turn On WADA Over Russia “Compromise”
• InsideTheGames: iNADO Urges WADA Not To Pander To Russia As Express “Dismay” AT Compromise

NCAA News

NCAA 800 Record Holder Michael Saruni Goes Pro Early The 1:43.25 man is following in the footsteps of Isaiah Harris and Emmanuel Korir and going pro early. Initially it was reported that he signed with Nike, but that was not correct.

The 2018 BMW Berlin Marathon *Berlin Results

LRC Meet “Drinks Guy,” The Fist-Pumping German Who Gave Eliud Kipchoge His Drinks During His World Record Marathon We tracked down “Drinks Guy,” the fist-pumping German who gave Eliud Kipchoge his drinks in Berlin. He’s Claus-Henning Schulke, a 52-year-old amateur triathlete from Berlin.

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.

• Ross Tucker: Was 2:01:39 Really A Big Breakthrough Or Was It Just The Shoes? Tucker, who predicted after Monza that Kipchoge could run 2:01:40, wonders if the jump from 2:02:57 to 2:01:40 is simply the result of the Nike 4% shoes which (despite the name) the NY Times found is worth 1%.
• IAAF: Eliud Kipchoge Breaks Marathon WR With Stunning 2:01:39 In Berlin
• MB: Fernando Cabada– 2:15 today in Berlin
• MB Pre-Race: Huge NY Times Profile on Eliud Kipchoge: “Eliud Kipchoge Is the Greatest Marathoner, Ever”

Berlin On The Boards

• MB: Official 2018 Berlin Marathon Live Thread
  
• MB: ELIUD KIPCHOGE ? 2:01:40 !!!
  
• MB: The downside of Kipchoge breaking the world record is all the obnoxious Nike Vaporfly marketing that will follow
  
• MB: Is Berlin the fastest marathon course out there? Could Kipchoge have run faster today on a different record eligible course?
  
• MB: Just ran Berlin, 10 minutes slower than PR. Please help with a post-mortem 

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

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.

• Ibarguen Wins LJ To Complete $100,000 TJ/LJ Double
• Ibargüen Admits She Almost Retired After A Stressful 2017 Campaign (Translated From Spanish)
• Mondo Duplantis Wears LSU Jersey At DL Finale And Gets 7th
• Sandi Morris Got Engaged On The Diamond League Track

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.