October 24, 2018 | LetsRun.com

Our Weekly Recap – The Week That Was

WTW Canada And Cam Levins Celebrate Their 1st Sub-2:10, Kenya Outshines The World And Amsterdam And Young Ethiopians Deliver What a week. A couple of young Ethiopian studs rocked the Delhi Half, the TCS Amsterdam Marathon was historically good, a LetsRunner improved from 3:21 to 2:25 in the marathon and after more than 49 years, Jerome Drayton is no longer the Canadian record holder in the marathon as Cam Levins ran 2:09. In honor of Canada’s 1st sub-2:10, we’ve decided to list the number of sub-2:10s produced by every country – all 2,706 of them.

NCAA News

MB: Former High School Star Kate Murphy Retires From Collegiate Running After two years of dealing with injuries and two surgeries at Oregon she’s decided to “step back from competitive training and running during this time in [her] life.” She says she isn’t calling it the “end of her running career”, but won’t be running in the NCAA.
Sad News: University Of Utah Multi-Eventer Lauren McCluskey Shot And Killed On Campus She was shot and killed by her former boyfriend who was found dead hours later inside a church.
*MB: Univ of Utah heptathlete Lauren McCluskey murdered on campus
MB: Two-Time Footlocker Champ Claudia Lane Commits To Dartmouth

Amsterdam Marathon Tracking & Results TV & Streaming Info

Lawrence Cherono Shatters The Course Record To Win The Amsterdam Marathon In 2:04:06 Kenenisa Bekele was with the leaders through the half, but fell off and dropped out near his hotel at the 40k mark and walked back to his room. On the women’s side, Tadelech Bekele defended her title in 2:23:14. Making her marathon debut, two-time Olympic champ Meseret Defar was 7th in 2:27:25.

LRC An Examinaton Of Kenenisa Bekele’s Bizarre Day At The 2018 TCS Amsterdam Marathon The greatest distance runner in history had a bizarre day today in Amsterdam. We detail it for you here. Updated with quotes from Jos Hermens.

Bolt Soccer News

Official Australian A-League Soccer Season Will Kick Off With Usain Bolt Question Left Hanging If the team gives Bolt a pro contract, he won’t be able to register until January 3rd, leaving “him a mere cheerleader for the first half of a season.”
Opinion Piece: “Usain Bolt’s Entitled Reaction To his Drug Test Unfairly Damages Trust In Anti-Doping Agencies” The Independent‘s Tom Kershaw writes, “Just like Serena Williams‘ outburst earlier this year, having the greatest athletes on the planet question why they are being drugs tested does nothing to promote the clean sport that they preach about.”
Former Australian Coach Ange Postecoglou Doubts Usain Bolt Can Make It As A Pro Soccer Player “If you haven’t done it from a very small age and hone your technique and skills, (it’s) very, very difficult at a later age to switch to our sport and play at the highest level.”
The Independent: Usain Bolt’s Complaints Fall On Deaf Ears As Australia Anti-Doping Authority Defends Decision To Test Him

2018 Youth Olympic Games In Buenos Aires Schedule / Live Results Watch Live On The Olympic Channel

Kenya’s Jackson Muema And Uganda’s Sarah Chelangat Secure Gold In Historic Cross-Country Race At Youth Olympic Games It was a strange system where finishes in the XC race determined the medalists from the distance track events (1,500, 3,000m and 2,000m steeple), but it meant that XC was at an “Olympic” event for the first time in 94 years. Meanwhile, back on the track, Tasew Yada won the 800 in 1:50.38 and Luke Davids (10.15) and Rosemary Chukwuma (11.17) took wind-aided 100m titles.
Four Meet Records Fell In On Day Saturday At The Youth Olympic Games It was all about the field events as records went down in the men’s PV (Dmitriy Kachoanov – 5.20m), women’s TJ (Aleksandra Nacheva – 13.11m), men’s TJ (Jordan Diaz – 17.14m) and women’s javelin (Elina Tzengo – 63.34m).

New Balance Nabs A Big One

2016 Olympian Sydney McLaughlin Signs With New Balance Of course we don’t know how much she signed for, but the average guess in our agents’ poll from last month was $1.725 million per year.
*MB: Sydney McLaughlin signs with New Balance

Field Event News

Two-Time Olympic Shot Put Champion Valerie Adams To Have A Second Child She said that the pregnancy would not stop her plans to end her career at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Germany’s Former European Indoor And Outdoor Pole Vault Silver Medalist Silke Spiegelburg Announces Her Retirement At The Age Of 32

General Olympics / Sports News

New USA Gymnastics Chief Catching Flack One Day After Appointment For Tweet Criticizing Nike The tweet last month showed her blackening out the Nike logo on a pair of golf shoes during the Colin Kaepernick sponsorship controversy.
Tour De France Trophy Stolen From Cycling Show In Birmingham Doesn’t that trophy get stolen from clean athletes just about every year?
Indonesia Bidding For 2032 Olympics
Italian Government Will Not Fund 2026 Olympic Bid We’re noticing a trend where Italy likes to talk about the possibility of bidding for the Olympics before shutting it down completely.
There Will Be Another Refugee Team For The Tokyo 2020 Olympics A 10 member team from Syria, Congo, Ethiopia and South Sudan competed at the 2016 Rio Games.

Goals For Bolt

Usain Bolt Scores His First Soccer Goals As A Pro Soccer Player Bolt had two goals in in the Central Coast Mariners 4-0 victory (includes video).
*The Guardian Article Bolt: “I’m proud of myself. Scoring a goal in your first proper match is a big deal. It was a good feeling.”
Bolt Pre-Game: “This will determine … (what) the club want to do with my career, so it’s a very important game.”

Oregon News: Galen Rupp Is On The Mend

MB: Galen Rupp Undergoes Foot Surgery, Will Miss 2019 Spring Marathon Season Last week Rupp decided to get surgery “to correct a condition called Haglund’s Deformity, a bony bump on his heel that was causing his Achilles tendon to fray.” He hopes to start running again in three months. He added this will let him help his wife more as they are expecting their fourth child.
Oregon21 Gets $10 Million In State Money For The World Championships Organizers were originally asking for $40 million, then scaled back to $25 million and eventually the $10 million they got.

Jos Hermens Doesn’t Hold Back

LRC Jos Hermens Rips (And Praises) Kenenisa Bekele After Amsterdam Marathon Disappointment It’s rare for an agent to speak honestly about an athlete but Jos Hermens didn’t hold back in sharing his thoughts about the greatest distance runner in history, Kenenisa Bekele, after Amsterdam. “It all comes down to preparation. He has just as much talent as Kipchoge, but while Kipchoge will prepare for six months before a marathon, Bekele only started 7 weeks ago. That just can’t work. … It’s extremely frustrating. … I think he has some kind of dyslexia, an inability to plan. … It’s really hard with him.”
*MB: Jos Hermens holds nothing back regarding Bekele: “I think he has some kind of dyslexia, an inability to plan …”

Sound Familiar? From the Archives: 2017: LRC Jos Hermens: Kenenisa Bekele Must Become More “Professional” If He Is To Realize Marathon Potential

More Sunday Road Action: Sub-2:10 For Cam Levins!

RRW: Benson Kipruto (2:07:24) And Mimi Belete (2:22:29) Win Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon As Cam Levins Breaks The Canadian Record With A 2:09:25 Debut Tanzania’s Augustine Sulle was a close second in 2:07:46 while Levins was 4th and Jake Robertson 5th (2:09:52). Levins broke the 2:10:09 Canadian record which was set by Jerome Drayton nearly 43 years ago. Belete broke the women’s CR in a close race with defending champ Marta Megra (2:22:35).

MB: Cam Levins SMASHES 43 year-old Canadian record with a 2:09:25 !!!
MB: Why Did Cam Levins Break the Tape?
MB: Unknown ~~American~~ Eritrean Daniel Teklebrhan 2:10.02 at Toronto Marathon
Live Stream
RRW Preview: Canadian Marathon Record Within Cam Levins’s Grasp On Sunday In Toronto

Debutante Tsehay Gemechu Breaks Delhi Half Marathon Women’s Course Record As She Beats Out WR Holder Joyciline Jepkosgei And Tirunesh Dibaba Gemechu won in 66:50 to beat out Jepkosgei by 6 seconds and her countrywoman Zeineba Yim by 9. Dibaba struggled early and finished back in 6th (68:36). Ethiopia’s Andamlak Belihu won the men’s race in 59:18 to win over Amdework Walelegn (59:22). USA’s Leonard Korir was 6th in 60:12.
*MB: Official 2018 Airtel Delhi Half Discussion Thread

Semenya Case Update

IAAF Delays Testosterone Rules Until Caster Semenya CAS Verdict The CAS verdict is expected on or before March 26th. This may cause hyperandrogenous athletes to gamble on the case since the IAAF rules (if enforced by CAS) requires them to reduce their testosterone levels for 6 months before racing internationally.
Seb Coe Says They Made A Deal With Caster Semenya And Athletics South Africa To Expedite The CAS Case The IAAF won’t enforce their testosterone rules until the verdict, and in return Semenya agreed not to prolong the process. Coe: “All athletes need this situation resolved as soon as possible.”
IAAF Statement “The IAAF remains very confident of the legal, scientific, and ethical bases for the Regulations, and therefore fully expects CAS to reject these challenges.”

NCAA Updates

NAU, BYU And Wisconsin Men Still Sit 1-3 In The Post Pre-Nats Coaches’ Poll Stanford moved up to 4th. *Regional Rankings
No Changes To The Top 4 Teams In The Latest Women’s NCAA DI Rankings Colorado, Boise State, New Mexico and Oregon are ranked 1-4. *Regional Rankings
Grant Fisher And Weini Kelati Are NCAA Athletes Of The Week After Their Pre-Nats Victories

XC News: Pre-Nats *Live Results

LRC 2018 Pre-Nats: BYU (29 Points) & NAU Men (41 Points) Go Super Low; Grant Fisher Earns Narrow Win In 2018 XC Debut The teams were divided into two roughly even races as Arkansas (51 points) & New Mexico (67 points) claimed the women’s team races. Fisher (23:48), Rory Linkletter (23:54), Weini Kelati (19:33), and Jessica Hull (20:03) earned individual titles.

Grant Fisher: “I went way too early. I was really fortunate to come away with it.”
USTFCCCA Pre-Nats Recap
Q&A With Maurica Powell On Her First Season At Washington On getting the job, Powell said, “I was absolutely not trying to leave Oregon. Andy and I had really never tried to leave, we’d been there for 13 years and would have stayed probably forever. But we got a call …”
USTFCCCA: Putting NAU’s Lengthy Reign Into Perspective In the last 20 years, NAU is one of only four teams that have topped the NCAA DI coaches’ poll for more than 15 consecutive weeks.
Do You Want To Race World XC? IAAF: Six Months To Go Until World XC Championships In Aarhus, Denmark The event has open entry into the championship race so recreational runners can “measure yourself against the top runners from nations all over the world.”
December 9: Two Months To Go Until European XC Championships In The Netherlands

High School XC

Katelyn Tuohy Crushes Another Big High School Course Record, This Time At Sunken Meadow Tuohy ran 16:52.97 to absolutely destroy the record held by former Foot Locker champ Aisling Cuffe at 17:45. Tuohy’s time would have put her third in the varsity boys race.
*MB: Katelyn Tuohy takes on Sunken Meadow
MileSplit Notes From Manhattan Invy
*Results
MileSplit: Athletes And Coaches Find Relief In Return To XC After Dealing With The Floods From Hurricane Florence Wreaked Havoc On Their Town And Homes

Distance News

The Oregonian: Nike Signs Oregon Runner Justin Gallegos As Their First Athlete With Cerebral Palsy Gallegos is a junior club runner who is trying to break 2 hours in the half marathon.
Mo Farah Thinks He’s Capable Of Running 2:04 Low Or 2:03 High “What I’ve learned [in Chicago] is I’m definitely better off going slower and finishing fast towards the end of the race. That definitely suits me a little better. It just depends how much slower I need to go the first half.”
October 21: MB: New Bekele Video!!! The pre-Amsterdam Marathon video has Bekele talking with training footage in the background.
November 11: Former Boston Champ Wesley Korir Faces Ethiopia’s Bazu Worku (2:05:25) At The Beirut Marathon

Previous Youth Olympic Games News

IAAF Youth Olympic Games Day 2 Recap Ethiopia’s Abrham Sime took the men’s 2,000 steeplecahse in 5:34.94 while Kenya’s Fancy Cherono won the women’s race in 6:28.08. Ethiopia’s Melese Kefale (3:52.95) and Kenya’s Edina Jebitok (4:16.68) came through as the favorites in the 1500. Argentina’s Nazareno Sasia highlighted non-distance action with a 21.58m victory in the shot put.
IAAF Youth Olympic Games Day 1 Recap Uganda got double wins in the 3,000s from Oscar Chelimo (8:08.20) and Sarah Chalangat (9:11.63) to highlight the distance action.
A Rundown Of The Top US Athletes Competing At The 2018 Youth Olympic Games In Buenos Aires
Entries For 2018 Youth Olympics Games There are some cool innovations this year, including a XC race for athletes from the 1,500, 3,000 and steeple as well as a mixed 8 x 100m relay.
MB: 144,000 Condoms For 4000 Under-18 Athletes In Youth Olympic Village

50 Years Ago – Bob Beamon Shocked The World

LRC Feature A Leap For The Ages: Bob Beamon’s 29-Foot Long Jump Turns 50 A half century later, there’s still only one way to describe the men’s long jump at the 1968 Olympics: Beamonesque. We take an in-depth look at one of the greatest singular accomplishments in sports history. Beamon improved the WR by 6.59% – that’s the equivalent of someone in 2018 lowering the marathon WR to 1:53:28 or the 100-meter record to 8.95.
*MB: 50 years ago, Bob Beamon made history. Where does his performance rank on list of greatest singular sports performances?

LRC Why Is The Long Jump World Record So Hard To Break? Mike Powell‘s WR has stood for 27 years and the #2 mark from Bob Beamon celebrates its 50th anniversary today. What explains their longevity? Are the best athletes in the NFL? Are the runways too soft? Is there a mental block?