January 8, 2019 | LetsRun.com

2020 Olympic Marathon Trials 418 Days Away

LRC The Olympic Trials Course Is Here And Here’s What You Need To Know About It – With Elevation Chart It’s a loop course and we’ve got an unofficial elevation chart.

*Runner’s World Says That As Hilly As The Olympic Trials Marathon Course Is, It’s Not As Hilly As It Was Originally Designed They also point out how already 140 men and 262 women have qualified for the Trials and there is still a year to go.

Assorted Distance News

Jakob Ingebrigtsen Wins Norway Breakthrough Of The Year Award Ingebrigtsen’s coach and father Gjert was named Coach of the Year while Euro 400H champ Karsten Warholm was named Role Model of the Year.
Distance Runners Dominate Women’s Pre-Season Bowerman Award Watchlist Dani Jones, Ednah Kurgat, Allie Ostrander, Sammy Watson, Jessica Hull and Jazmine Fray are on the list.
Podcast Interview With Emma Bates Bates talks about what it’s like being coached by her fiancee and living in a solar “off-grid” house.

Looking Ahead To Future Championships

Atlanta Track Club Unveils 2020 US Olympic Trials Marathon Course The course consists of three 6-mile loops and one 8.2-mile loop and includes 1,000 feet of elevation gain.
The IAAF Hypes Up 2019 World XC Champs On March 30th A gritty XC course, a potential Geoffrey Kamworor hat trick and a championship race open to the masses are some things to look forward to.
IAAF Analyzes Some Cool New Innovations Coming To 2019 Worlds Special air conditioning in the stadium, a pink track and a midnight marathon will all come to Doha 2019.
USATF And Toyota Sign Sponsorship Deal Through 2020

International Distance News

Australia’s Former World Record Holder Derek Clayton Predics We’ll See A Sub-2 Hour Marathon In 2030 Clayton held the WR back in 1969 with 2:08:34. Researcher Michael Joyner, who concluded sub-2 is physically possible, agrees that it will be at least that long.
New Years Drama In Kenya As Police Block Samuel Wanjru Race Sources claim that Athletics Kenya fears an alliance between several groups coordinating the race could “snowball into a mass movement and eventually overwhelm the federation.”
Toyo Leads Hakone Ekiden Day One In Course Record Time Distance running got off to a record-breaking start in Japan in 2019 as course records were set on 3 of the 5 legs.
GB 1,500 Man Jake Wightman Will Miss Euro Indoors With Injury

The Latest Results

Jacob Kiplimo (26:51), Brigid Kosgei (29:54) And Hellen Obiri (29:59) Are Spectacular At Madrid’s NY’s Eve Race The Silvestre Vallecana’s net elevation loss of 55m (180 ft) feet is worth up to 32 seconds so Kiplimo’s mark won’t be a new WR.
*MB: San Silvester Kiplimo 26:40 B. Kosgei 29:54
Ethiopians Tamirat Tola (28:12) And Netsanet Gudeta (15:46) Win Boclassic 10k/5k In Bolzano, Italy Tola won over a strong field that included 7:58 steepler Jarius Birech (2nd place), world 5,000m champ Muktar Edris (4th place) and Zane Robertson (5th place).
Chemtai Salpeter Breaks Course Record To Win The We Run Rome 10k In 31:46 Italy’s Daniele Meucci won the men’s race in 29:05.
Julien Wanders Breaks His Own European Road 10k Record With 27:25 In France The old record was 27:32. Gete Alemayehu won the women’s race in a 31:12 CR.
Bedan Karoki Wins 10k In Kenya In 28:22 – Says His #1 Goal For 2019 Is Tokyo Marathon Crown Steepelchasers Emmanuel Bett (28:23) and Amos Kirui (28:52) were second and third. Chepkemoi Mutai (33:34) won the women’s title by a minute.
Meijo Breaks Mount Fuji Women’s Ekiden Course Record To Win 2018 National University Women’s Invitational Ekiden Championships 5-time defending champ Ritsumeikan was third.

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.

Doping Updates

Better Late Than Never? Russia Says WADA Team Will Return To Moscow For The Required Data On January 9th On this, USADA head Travis Tygart said, “We are all holding our breath as to how this one will end come … whether WADA will be finally given the data on the roughly 9,000 presumptive positive tests results on over 4,000 Russian athletes that hopefully have not been destroyed.”
Swedish Winter Olympian Claims WADA Compliance Review Committee Has “Weight Of History On Their Shoulders” If Russia actually give up the Moscow lab data on Wednesday like they’re supposed to, we think there is zero chance WADA imposes any new sanctions come their meeting next week.

Olympic Sex Abuse Scandals

Group Of Olympians Call For “Near Complete” Resignation Of USOC Board Following Report That The USOC Had Facilitated Gymnastics Sexual Abuse Scandal Among its findings, the report accused former USOC chief executive Scott Blackmun and chief of sport performance Alan Ashley of being aware of the accusations more than a year before they became public.
Dick’s Sporting Goods Ends Their USOC Sponsorship They cited “new investment focus” as the reason for not renewing their sponsorship, but it is suspected it is related to the USA Gymnastics sexual-abuse scandal.
AP: Dutch Athletics Federation Bans Track Coach For Life For Sexually Abusing Young Girls They were not able to press criminal charges because victims did not want to go to police.

Non-Distance News

Torie Bowie Considering Changing Training Base, Coaching And Management After Being Asked To Leave The Olympic Training Center Bowie explains that security watched her pack up her things at the Olympic training center and forced her to leave and she was told by staff she owed $6,000. Bowie also reveals that last year she got in a physical altercation with Olympic champ Shaunae Miller-Uibo when they were training partners in Florida which left her bleeding from the head.
*MB: CATFIGHT! Tori Bowie and Shaune Miller Got Into Fight Drawing Blood!
*MB: World 100m champ Tori Bowie denied access to Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, CA over unpaid $6k bill
Kenya’s Julius Yego Wants To Reclaim His World Javelin Title In 2019 “YouTube Man” Yego won African Champs last year, but says he’s still not back to the level he was at in 2015 and 2016 before he got injured.
Video Interview With Andre De Grasse Talking About The Future After A Coaching Change De Grasse also talks about being a new dad as he had a daughter last year.
2016 Olympic Sprinter Marvin Bracy Trying To Make It As A Football Player Bracey was a high school football star, but quit in college to go pro in track. Since competing in the 100m at Rio 2016, Bracey has gone back to trying to make it in Football, just missing several close tryouts with NFL teams.
47.83 By Ashton Allen Highlights Marine Corps Holiday Classic High School Meet

Upcoming Action

January 24: Ajee Wilson, Craig Engels, Katelyn Tuohy Will Highlight Dr. Sander Invitational Columbia Challenge Wilson is in the 600m while Engels is in the 1,000m with Johnny Gregorek and Sam Prakel. Natoya Goule vs. Laura Roesler in the women’s 1,000m and Tuohy takes on the pros including Heather Kampf in the 3,000.
*MB: Katelyn Tuohy to take on pro field in the 3k at Dr. Sanders Invite

The December 31st Deadline For Russia To Hand Over The Moscow Lab Data Has Come & Gone – Will Russia Ever Get Their Sh- Act Together?

Craig Reedie “Bitterly Disappointed” In Russia As They Miss Moscow Lab Deadline We think there’s a more appropriate saying that starts with “Fool me once …” *Reuters
IOC ~~Fool~~ Head Thomas Bach Says Russia “Has Served Its Sanction,” Signaling They Won’t Be Banned From 2020 Olympics For Giving WADA The Middle Finger
WADA Will Discuss Russia Situation In January 14th Meeting In Canada As Groups Around The World Urging Them To “Immediately” Suspend Russia Again
USADA Head Travis Tygart Calls Russian Episode A “Joke And Embarrassment For WADA” “It’s time for WADA to stop being played by the Russians and immediately declare them non-compliant …”
The Guardian: “Inconceivable! Russia Yet Again Leaves Sir Craig Reedie Looking The Fool” Guardian writer Marina Hyde: “If you insist on starting each new year with a sense of childlike wonderment, you will be stunned by news that Russia has missed the New Year’s Eve deadline …”

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

Weekend Distance Action

Olympic 5,000m Bronze Medalist Hagos Gebrhiwet Defeats 12:43 Man Selemon Barega By Four Seconds To Win The Campaccio 10k XC Race In Italy Turkey’s three-time Euro XC champ Yasemin Can dominated the women’s 6km race by 16 seconds.
Laura Muir Gets A Flying Start To 2019 With A 14:52.02 Victory At The GAA Miler Indoor Meet In Glasgow Second place was Gabriela Stafford with a new Canadian national record of 14:57.45.
*MB: Muir 14:52 Stafford of Canada 14:57 First meet of year.
Kenya’s Joseph Mwangi Ngare Runs Hong Kong All Comers’ Record To Beat Yuki Kawauchi At The Lok Wah 100 Minutes Half Marathon Ngare ran 65:56 to Kawauchi’s 66:07.
Kenya’s World U20 5,000m Silver Medalist Stanley Mburu Waithaka And Spain’s Trihas Gebre Win Cross Zornotza XC Race In Spain
Bahrain’s Albert Rop And Alia Saeed Mohammed Win Arab XC Championships
From Last Week: Tokai University Wins First-Ever Hakone Ekiden Title Tokai University set a course record to win by over 3 minutes.
*Stats From The Hakone Ekiden
Ethiopians Dejene Debela (2:09:26) And Medina Deme Armino (2:27:25) Win Xiamen Marathon Titles In China
British 10,000m Champ Charlotte Arter Clocks 15:50 Parkrun Record In Cardiff The race series is mostly recreational runners (she came in one second behind the top guy).

Doping Updates

WADA’s Athlete Committee And Vice President Join Calls For Immediate Re-Issuing Of RUSADA Ban It’ll be interesting to see how things at WADA change if the current vice president Linda Helleland wins the coming election as she’s often been at odds with WADA’s and Craig Reedie‘s decisions.
*The Guardian Article
Dick Pound Compares Critics Of WADA To A “Lynch Mob” Pound explains that despite Russia missing the December 31st deadline, there still needs to be due process before any action is taken against them.
WADA Leaders Admit They’re “Navigating Challenging Times” But Claim They Made Several Achievements In 2018
Head To Key WADA Panel Defends Waiting To Decide On Next Action With Russia British lawyer Jonathan Taylor explained that there needed to be time for a full report explaining the reasons for Russia’s “non-compliance.” But the reason is simple; the deadline was December 31st and they didn’t meet it.
IOC Athletes’ Commission Joins Slew Of Groups Pushing For Fresh Sanctions On Russia From WADA Hey WADA, if everybody else agrees but you, then you’re the problem.
IOC Athletes’ Commission Calls For WADA Compliance Review Committee To Recommend Immediate Measures After Missed RUSADA Deadline
Is This The Best Use Of USADA’s Resources? 90-Year-Old Cyclist Accepts Public Warning For Failing Drug Test Here’s the thing – he tested positive in his second test in two days. Then there was a hearing and in the end, he just got a warning anyway (for tainted meat). Is this useful?

More Looking Back At 2018 And Ahead To 2019

LRC The 2018 LetsRun.com Awards: Meet Our Athletes Of The Year, The Breakout Performers Of The Year, And A Whole Lot More 2018 was quite a year. We do our best to recap it all for you by handing out awards – everything from most improved to race of the year to travesty of the year. Does your favorite runner make the cut?
*MB: The 2018 LetsRun.com Awards are out. Did your favorite runner make the cut?

IAAF Analyzes Some Head-To-Head Matchups They Are Most Anticipating In 2019 One constant back-and-forth is the battle between Ryan Crouser and Tom Walsh in the shot put.
FloTrack’s Top 5 Upsets Of The Year Yuki Kawauchi in Boston tops the list.
IAAF’s List Of Five Stars Making Comebacks In 2019 Olympic 400m champ Wayde Van Niekerk tops the list. He’s not raced since 2017 Worlds thanks to a charity rugby game and knee injury which required surgery.
What World Record Might Go Down In 2019? The men’s HJ makes the list for the umpteenth time and the men’s almost 30-year-old shot put record is mentioned as a possibility.
IAAF’s Eight “Emerging Stars” They Are Watching For In 2019 Sydney McLaughlin and Noah Lyles top their list.
IAAF 2018 Roads And XC Year In Review There was a record number of women’s sub-2:20s and sub-2:19s. 11 women broke 2:20 (previous record was 6) and 6 women broke 2:19 (previous record was 3).
GB Athlete New Year’s Resolutions Zharnel Hughes had arguably the best resolution, which is to win World Championships gold.
European Champions Nataliya Pryshchepa (800) And Maryan Zakalnytskky (Racewalk) Named Ukrainian Athletes Of The Year

LetsRun.com’s 2018 World And US Rankings Are Complete

LRC M Marathon: Eliud Kipchoge (Duh) & Galen Rupp Are World & US #1s The unparalleled Eliud Kipchoge tops the marathon rankings yet again.

LRC David Graham’s 2018 Marathon Rankings And Musings LRC visitor David Graham is back with his annual men’s marathon musings. This year, he comes in at a record 4,823 words.

LRC W Marathon: Vivian Cheruiyot & Des Linden End Year As World & US #1s 2018 was the best year in the history of the women’s marathoning. Coming into the year, only five women in history had ever broken 2:19 but six different women did it 2019. Plus 11 times a woman broke 2:20 in 2018, the most in history.

Previous LRC’s 2018 Rankings: M3k/5k *W3k/5k *MSteeple *WSteeple *M1,500 *W1,500 *M800 *W800

Athletics Weekly‘s Top 3 World Rankings For 2018: *Women *Men
Athletics Weekly‘s Top 3 British Rankings For 2018: *Women *Men
TFN’s World #1s For 2018: *Women *Men
College Rankings: Sydney McLaughlin & Michael Norman Named Dyestat College Performers Of The Year McLaughlin was the people’s choice, Norman was the editor’s choice.
HS Rankings: Katelyn Tuohy & Armand Duplantis Named Dyestat High School Performers Of The Year Tuohy was the people’s choice, Duplantis was the editor’s choice.

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.

LetsRun.com Founders Named as Two of “The 50 Most Influential People in Running”