December 23, 2018 | LetsRun.com

LetsRun.com’s 2018 World And US Rankings

M 1,500: LRC Timothy Cheruiyot & Matthew Centrowitz Are Our Picks For World & US #1 Timothy Cheruiyot had the greatest DL season in history and we hope some people start to appreciate how good he is.

W 1,500: LRC European/Diamond League Champ Laura Muir Tops Shelby Houlihan For World #1 In 2018, Shelby Houlihan enjoyed one of the greatest seasons ever by an American female on the track, but it wasn’t quite enough to get her a world #1 ranking.

W 800 LRC Caster Semenya & Ajee’ Wilson Come Out On Top Again For the third year in a row, Caster Semenya was undefeated but was this the last of her dominance? Domestically, Ajee Wilson was the best of a strong group of US runners. Should US#3 Ce’Aira Brown be ranked in the world’s top 10?

M 800 LRC Emmanuel Korir Is Our World #1 As Clayton Murphy Regains Top Spot Among Americans Emmanuel Korir had the best 800 season since David Rudisha‘s magical 2012 campaign. Meanwhile, Clayton Murphy started off both indoors and outdoors slowly but nearly returned to his Olympic bronze medal-winning form.

Congratulations Allyson Felix – Wishing Mom And Baby A Speedy Recovery

Recommended Read: After An Emergency C-Section 8 Weeks Before Her Due Date, Allyson Felix Is A Mom A routine checkup appointment turned into an emergency C-section to save both Felix and her daughter Camryn. Her daughter, born 3 pounds, 7 ounces, is still in the NICU, but doing well.
*MB: Allyson Felix is a Mom

The Adults Always Seem To Screw It Up

LRC Bureaucrats Strike Again: 1st-Ever Maryland Meet Of Champions Meet Cancelled Just Weeks Before It Was To Be Held Former Olympic Trials 5th placer Chris Graff was tired of the fact that top runners in Maryland never got the chance to race each other in state so he decided to create a Maryland Meet of Champions. He got Under Armour to sponsor it and everything was set until the state association said anyone competing would be ineligible as they’d be violating the rules regarding “all-star” events.

RIP

1980 Olympic Javelin Silver Medalist Saida Gunba Dies, Age 59 She represented the Soviet Union at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow.
Longtime USATF Board Member Sam Germany Passes Away, Age 73

What’s Up With Nike’s 4% Shoes?

Outside Magazine: Are Marathoners Getting Faster Or Is It The Shoes? Alex Hutchinson plots the top 100 marathon times for the past decade and concludes that the recent improvements in times in 2016-2018 “aren’t noticeably bigger than the fluctuations in annual performance in previous years.” Also, if it was really just the shoes, there should be a bunch of 2:04 guys running 2:01-2:02 like Eliud Kipchoge.
A New Independent Study Confirms Findings That Nike Vaporflys Improve Running Efficiency By 4% The professor doing the study claims that they are even 2.6% faster than track spikes.
LRC Archives: It’s Gotta Be The Shoes? Des Linden & Molly Huddle Discuss Nike’s Vaporfly 4% And The Running Shoe Arms Race
MB: I bought a pair of Cheaterfly 4% , how are they even legal?
MB: NYTimes research suggests that Nike Vaporfly may actually be 4% faster based on Strava data
MB: New IAAF rules are out – Will Zoom Vaporfly 4% be banned for violating “spirit of the universality of athletics?”

Olympic News

Tokyo 2020 Budget Not Expected To Go Down When Third Version Announced This Week The latest number was $11.8 billion.
USOC Says That Bankruptcy Is Not An Option As They Face Lawsuits Over Larry Nassar Scandal USA Gymnastics filed bankruptcy earlier this month.
Salt Lake City Selected As US Candidate For Potential 2030 Winter Olympic Bid
North And South Korea To Meet IOC In February To Discuss Joint Bid For 2032 Olympic Games

Zatopek 10k Results Full Video Of Races

Stewart McSweyn (27:50.98) And Hitomi Niiya (31:32.50) Win Zatopek 10ks McSweyn ran a 15-second PR but was nowhere near his pre-race goal of the Aussie record (27:24.95) due to windy conditions. Arkansas’ Jack Bruce was third in 28:49 and Patrick Tiernan didn’t run. 41-year-old Aussie Sinead Diver ran 31:50.98 and missed the Worlds standard by less than a second. *IAAF
*MB: Zatopek 10k on right now

GB News

The Telegraph: UK’s Kyle Langford Says He Isn’t Holding Grudges Against EPO Cheat Kipyegon Bett Bett beat Langford out for 2017 bronze. He has since been banned for EPO, but will get to keep his Worlds medal.
GB’s Dina Asher-Smith Is Proud Of Her End-Of-The-Year Awards, But Knows She Is Not The Best Yet “I’m really happy and proud but I’m under no illusions. It was the Europeans – it wasn’t the Worlds, it wasn’t the Olympics.”
Dina Asher-Smith And Tour De France Winner Geraint Thomas Named Sportsman/Sportswoman Of The Year By Britain’s Sports Journalists’ Association
Dina Asher-Smith’s Coach Says She’ll Run The 100/200 Double At Worlds Next Year He also vaguely spoke of how some of her competitors were engaging in a ploy to try to “psyche her out.”
GB’s Former World 110H Champ Colin Jackson Named New Chancellor Of UK University Wrexham Glyndwr

Honolulu And Other US Action

RRW: Despite Powerful Trade Winds, Kenya’s Titus Ekiru Comes Close To Honolulu Marathon Record With 2:09:01 Victory Ekiru won by 4 minutes, not far off the 2:08:27 course record. Olympic steeplechaser Donn Cabral made his marathon debut for 4th place in 2:19:16. The women’s title went to Vivian Jerono Kiplagat (2:36:22).
RRW: Successful Marathon Debut For American Donn Cabral At Honolulu Marathon Cabral thought he was in 2:15 shape on a flat course, so figured around 2:18 at Honolulu would be equivalent. He ran 2:19:16, but said the wind hindered him.
*MB: Donn Cabral 2:19:16 Marathon Debut in Honolulu
RRW: Edward Cheserek Wins Fast Kalakaua Merrie Mile In Photo Finish Cheserek defended his title from last year with a 3:54.83 victory over Leonard Bett (3:54.89). Craig Engels was 3rd (3:59.94), Canada’s Ben Flanagan 4th (3:59.97) and Nick Willis 5th (4:00.78). Merriam Cherop won the women’s race in 4:22.54, breaking her own record as the fastest mile on Hawaiian soil by a woman.
Pre-Race: RRW: Steeplechaser Donn Cabral To Make Surprise Marathon Debut In Honolulu On Sunday Cabral says he wanted to run a marathon because he thinks he responds well to that kind of training and it will help him run his best at the steeplechase.
Camille Herron Runs 162.9 Miles To Break The 24 Hour World Record Running at the Desert Solstice Invy in Phoenix, Herron broke the WR and won the overall race, beating all the men, including world 12 hour record holder Zach Bitter. *Results
*MB: CAMILLE MF HERRON!!!!!!!!!
*MB: Follow Camille Herron’s WR Attempt

**Thursday Night Marathoning *Abu Dhabi Top 10 Results**

MB: Official 1st Ever Abu Dhabi Marathon Discussion Thread

Rojo Speaks Was The Inaugural Abu Dhabi Marathon Course Short? I Think It Was – Update: I Know It Was – Here’s Video Proof The splits make no sense. I’m supposed to believe a 2:06 guy went 62:35-61:29 to run 2:04:04, running a big negative split in 70 degree temps with a 13:55 5k from 30 to 35k? Sorry, I can’t do that.
*MB: Length matters: Here’s why I believe the Abu Dhabi course was short

LRC Marius Kipserem Upsets Half Marathon WR Holder Abraham Kiptum In 2:04:04 At Inaugural Abu Dhabi Marathon, But Was The Course Short? Forty-four years after Muhammad Ali had his Rope a Dope moment in boxing, marathoning had its own version of it as Kipserem sprinted to a $100,000 victory after Kiptum grabbed the lead at the 2:02 mark.

Ababel Yeshaneh Wins Women’s Race In 2:20:16 (Results Only)

Pre-Race LRC One Of The World’s Richest Marathons Is Taking Place Tonight At 9 PM ET – Get The Inside Scoop On The Inaugural Abu Dhabi Marathon Here

We’re Shocked. Are You Shocked? Who Could Have Ever Predicted This?

Russia On The Verge Of Being Suspended Again After WADA Team Was Denied Access To The Moscow Anti-Doping Lab Access to the Moscow laboratory data and samples before the end of 2018 was a condition of Russia’s reinstatement. But they were denied access because “the team’s equipment to be used for the data extraction was required to be certified under Russian law.” WADA said Russia did not mention this issue before the visit. *Reuters Article

The Best Of 2018

Michael Norman Wins The 2018 Men’s Bowerman Award Norman’s year was full of super-fast 400s as he broke the world indoor 400m record (44.52) and had the second-fastest 4 x 400 relay carry in history (43.06), plus the collegiate outdoor record with 43.61 to win NCAAs.
Keturah Orji Wins The 2018 Women’s Bowerman Award Orji was the only three-time female finalist in the history of the award, but she finally won it this year after a season where she scored 38 points between indoor and outdoor NCAAs (winning two TJ titles and the outdoor LJ).
Bring Back The Mile’s Best Mile Moments Of 2018 Ed Cheserek‘s 3:49.44 was definitely one of the highlights of the year at any distance.
Mary Keitany Wins NYRR Pro Performer Of The Year Award Keitany now has four NYC Marathon titles to her name. Other finalists she beat out for the award included Jenny Simpson and Ben True, though they were both beaten out by two wheelchair racers in the voting.

Catching Up On Recent Road Results

IAAF: Kenya’s Edwin Kipngetich Koech Runs First Ever Sub-2:10 At The Shenzhen Marathon With A 2:09:44 Victory Ethiopia’s Mulu Seboka won the women’s race in a CR of 2:27:12. Elsewhere, Kenya’s Kenneth Kiplagat Limo (2:10:12) and Ethiopia’s Konjit Tilahun (2:33:18) won the Mersin Marathon.
Birhanu Legese And Dibaba Kuma Make It An Ethiopian Double At The Kolkata 25k Both races were close as Legese beat out Bayelign Yegsaw by just one second and Kuma won by four as 23 seconds separated the top 5 (Florence Kiplagat was 5th).
Yuki Kawauchi (2:11:29) And Hisae Yoshimatsu (2:38:58) Wins Hofu Yomiuri Marathon
*MB: Yuki kawauchi 2:11:29 at Hofu Yomiuri Marathon
Abraham Kiptum’s 58:18 Half Marathon World Record Ratified By The IAAF
Kyoto’s Katsura Boys And Girls Win National Junior High School Ekiden Titles

Floyd Landis Big Talk Part II

LRC Floyd Landis On Life After Cycling, Runners Vs. Cyclists, CBD Products, Running A Business, And Donald Trump Landis shares some of the secrets he’s learned from his crazy life in part 2 of our recap of our talk with him. From a Mennonite upbringing, to crossing the line at the Tour first, to a doping suspension, denial, depression, and now fatherhood and a successful new business, Floyd has seen a lot.

Miss Part I? Part 1: Is There Any Hope For Anti-Doping? Floyd Talks Doping Then, Now And What Can Be Done Landis is one of the most notorious dopers in American sport, and the man who helped bring out the truth about Lance Armstrong. He’s got a lot of interesting things to say.

Women’s Distance News

Carrie Tollefson Does Podcast Q&A Catching Up With Abbey D’Agostino (Now Abbey Cooper) D’Agostino talks about her return to racing with a 16:58 Turkey Trot, changing coaches to agent Chris Lane, getting married (hence her last name change) and moving from Boston to North Carolina.
Former World 800 Silver Medalist Melissa Bishop Back In Training After Having Her First Baby In July “There is a very high chance you will see me with a baby jogger; running is a huge part of my life and my job, so on my easier days I’m looking forward to bringing Corinne along.”

Previous NCAA Stuff

MB: Tara Davis transfers from Georgia Davis was 5th at NCAAs last year in the LJ and won World Junior bronze.
All-American Sprinter Shae Anderson Announces She Will Transfer From Oregon To UCLA
MB: Oregon track and field team on probation through 2020! Oregon self-reported an issue where Jasmine Todd competed while academically ineligible. They won’t lose any titles.
*Ken Goe Criticizes NCAA For Giving Out Penalties For “Paddy-Cake Rules Violations”
Kansas State’s Brett Neelly And Kentucky’s Marie-Josee Ebwea-Bile Were USTFCCCA’s NCAA Athletes Of The Week Neelly threw 20.15m in the shot put to break a 37-year-old school record while Ebwea-Bile went 13.78m in the TJ.
Last Week’s Event-By-Event Top-10 Marks In The NCAA

EOY Awards

Eliud Kipchoge Is #2 On ESPN’s “Dominant 20” List For 2018 They make their list with a formula to determine how many standard deviations better than the typical top performer in their sport. #1 on the list was gymnast Simone Biles.
*MB: Eliud Kipchoge named #2 on ESPN’s top 20 athletes of 2018
*In Case You Missed It: Eliud Kipchoge And Caterine Ibarguen Named 2018 IAAF World Athletes Of The Year
Winner Chosen For IAAF Fan Photograph Of The Year Contest Brit Andrew Smith won with his photo of Mo Farah from London’s Big Half. Smith wins a trip for two to a DL meet of his choice.
Turkey’s Euro 200m Champ Ramil Guliyev And Greece’s Euro TJ Champ Paraskevi Papahristou Named Balkan Athletes Of The Year

Boston 2019

Des Linden & Yuki Kawauchi Will Return To Defend Their Titles At 2019 Boston Marathon Linden: “I thought I had every experience imaginable racing in Boston, but in 2019 I’m thrilled and proud to have another first as I’ll start the race as the defending Boston Marathon Champion.”

The 40th Foot Locker XC Champs Watch On Demand Results

MB: Official 2018 Foot Locker XC Discussion Thread

LRC Sydney Masciarelli Arrives As A Star, Outkicking Katelynne Hart In One Of The Greatest Foot Locker Finals Ever What an incredible race. Read all about it here and watch the epic finish as well.
*MB: Wow: Was that the greatest Foot Locker battle in history? Sydney Masciarelli edges Katelynne Hart for the title!!

LRC Cole Hocker (15:13.7) Uses Big Kick To Win 2018 Foot Locker National Title Hocker, who was second at NXN last week, broke away from runner-up Jake Renfree of Tennessee at the 3-mile mark.

Week That Was

LRC King Ches Wins With A Lean, How Good Was Abu Dhabi? Bye Bye To One Of Ed Whitlock’s Records And Janet Bawcom Is Prolific On The Roads Week That Was is here and December means it’s got some surprisingly good road action from the mile to the marathon.

Doping News

WADA Reportedly Gained Access To Moscow Lab Data Monday Providing access to the Moscow laboratory data and samples before the end of 2018 was a condition of Russia’s reinstatement. After the data has been reviewed, Russian authorities must retest any samples required by WADA before June 30 2019.
Vitaly Mutko Steps Down As Russian Soccer Union President Mutko has got a lot of criticism for his alleged role in the Russian doping scandal as well as the ridiculous statements he makes. For example, he once claimed female Russian hockey players had male DNA in their urine because they had sex.
Rune Andersen On Russian Doping Ban: “This debt must be settled. We need to receive the money.”
MB: new study shows micro-doping can boost performance nearly 5% and impossible to detect

2018 Boston Elite US Field Announced *Full Field

LRC Where Is Shalane? And More Thoughts On The 2019 Boston Marathon Elite Field Some big names will be running in Beantown this year but there also are some notable absences like Shalane Flanagan and Molly Huddle. We break it down for you.
MB: 2019 Boston Marathon American Field is Announced … Guess who’s not on it (Hint SF)

New LRC Big Chat Podcast Highlights

LRC The Big Chat With Floyd Landis, Part 1: Is There Any Hope For Anti-Doping? Floyd Talks Doping Then, Now And What Can Be Done We sat down for an hour forty with Floyd Landis, one of the most notorious dopers in American sport, and the man who helped bring out the truth about Lance Armstrong. We’ve got the highlights, plus full audio and a transcript of our chat. Landis thinks it would be pretty easy to dope today and not confident in the anti-doping authorities and says he was busted for a drug he didn’t take at the 2006 Tour de France. If you just want full audio/transcript, click here.

Upcoming Distance Action

IAAF Road Racing Weekend Preview: Ethiopians Markos Geneti (2:04:54) And Mulu Seboka (2:21:56) Lead Fields For The Shenzhen Marathon In China
Defending Champ Degitu Azimeraw And Two-Time World Champ Florence Kiplagat Will Go Head-To-Head At The Kolkata 25k Ethiopia’s Birhanu Legese leads the men’s race.
This Weekend: Former African XC Bronze Medalist Beatrice Mutai Looks To Defend Her Title At The Mt. Elgon XC Race In Kenya She’ll face World XC silver medalist Alice Aprot. Wilfred Kimitei leads the men’s race.
January 2-3: 2019 Hakone Ekiden Entry Lists And Rankings
Laura Muir To Run Great Stirling XC Mixed Relay Race On January 12th

The Latest News Regarding Abu Dhabi

LRC German Expert Believes The Abu Dhabi Marathon Was Between 120 And 130 Meters Short An analysis by Helmut Winter, who has been involved with 18 of the fastest 20 marathons in history, reveals that the 13:55 5k that Marius Kipserem allegedly ran between 30 and 35k in Abu Dhabi, was indeed too good to be true, just like we told you.
*MB: Length matters: Here’s why I believe the Abu Dhabi course was short

Euro XC Champs *Results

Filip Ingebrigtsen And Yasemin Can Impress At Euro XC Champs Ingebrigsten beat out Belgium’s Isaac Kimeli by 3 seconds while Can got her third consecutive Euro XC title one second ahead of Switzerland’s Fabienne Schlumpf. Turkey won the men’s team title while it was a home victory for the Dutch women.
Jakob Ingebrigsten Storms To His Third Successive Under-20 Title There was an interesting exchange between Ingebristen and Spain’s runner-up Ouassim Oumaiz, who apparently spent a lot of the race waving to the crowd and tried to wave Ingebrigsten to the lead, but got a high five from him instead. Italy’s Nadia Battocletti won the women’s race.
France’s Jimmy Gressier Defends His Euro U23 Title; Denmark’s Anna Emili Moller Took The Women’s
*Video: France’s Jimmy Gressier Has Very Not-Smooth-Looking Finish Line Celebration
Spain Wins Euro XC Mixed Relay

USATF Club XC Champs Results: Men *Women

Ben Blankenship And Tinman Elite Win USATF Club XC Championships (link updated with USATF recap) Blankenship beat out Hillary Bor by 6 seconds to take the individual title. Tinman Elite won the team competition by 14 points over the Garrett Heath-led Brooks Beasts. Dathan Ritzenhein was 25th, one spot ahead of former multi-time NCAA champ Lawi Lalang.
*LRCBen Blankenship Talks After Winning Club Nats (Video)
Katie Mackey And The Nomad Track Club Come Out On Top At USATF Club XC Championships M (link updated with USATF recap) Mackey beat out Hansons-Brooks’ Anne-Marie Blaney by 6 seconds while the Nomad TC (led by Molly Grabill) won over Hansons-Brooks by just 3 points.
Brooks Beasts Coach Danny Mackey And Hansons-Brooks’ Coaches Kevin And Keith Hanson Made A Wager On The Outcome Of Club XC Champs The bet was if the Beasts beat Hansons, Kevin and Keith Hanson would have to race a 1-mile run in spikes wearing the Beasts singlet. If the Hansons won, Danny Mackey would run a half marathon in the Hansons singlet. The Beasts ended up on top with a 2nd place finish to the Hansons’ 4th.
MB: Club Nats Discussion Thread
Recap Of USATF National Junior Olympic XC Champs