Kipchoge Vs. Farah At London

• World Record Holder Eliud Kipchoge Will Return To Defend His Title At The 2019 Virgin Money London Marathon This means that Kipchoge will race against the previously-announced Mo Farah. The London event director Hugh Brasher says, “Everyone has been talking about another head-to-head between Mo and Eliud … I cannot wait to see who comes out on top.”

Doping News

• Former Commonwealth 10,000m Champ Lucy Kabuu (2:19:34 Marathon PR) Gets Two-Year Drug Ban After Testing Positive For Morphine Athletics Kenya chairman Jackson Tuwei has claimed that from now on any Kenyan who has served a doping ban will not be able to represent the country internationally (effectively giving a lifetime ban).
• Bahrain’s Former World Indoor 400m Champ Kemi Adekoya Is Provisionally Suspended After Testing Positive For Steroids
• “Reasoned” Decisions Involving Russian Athletics In Sochi 2014 Doping Scandal To Be Published This Month CAS will outline why they overturned doping sanctions against 28 out of 39 Russian athletes who had been banned from the Olympic Games for life, with their results from Sochi 2014 being reinstated.

More Weekend Results *All NCAA Results

• World Junior 10,000 Champ Rhonex Kipruto And World 5,000 Champ Hellen Obiri Dominate Juan Muguerza XC Race In Spain Kipruto beat out 12:43-man Selemon Barega by 22 seconds while Obiri won by 20 seconds as Uganda’s Commonwealth Games 10,000 champ Stella Chesang was 2nd, steeplechase WR holder Beatrice Chepkoech 3rd and three-time Euro XC champ Yasemin Can 4th.
• Tsehay Gemechu Smashes Ethiopian 10k Record To Win Valencia 10k With 30:15 Victory Her compatriot Chala Ketema Regassa ran 27:23 to win a tight men’s race by 1 second over Uganda’s Stephen Kissa. Further back, Spain’s 1995 world marathon champ Martin Fiz set a world M55 best with 31:36 (27 seconds faster than the previous record).
• European Weekend Track Round-Up: Ukraine’s World HJ Silver Medalist Yuliya Levchenko Clears 1.96m In Kyiv

Upcoming Distance Action: Boston International Field Released

LRC Analysis Breaking Down The 2019 Boston Marathon International Field, Plus What Does The Addition Of Sally Kipyego Mean To The US Field? The Boston field is out and we help make sense of it all.
*MB: 2019 Boston Marathon Elite Field Is Released – 5 Sub-2:05 men, 4 Sub-2:20 women will battle + AMERICAN Sally Kipyego.

John Hancock Announces 2019 Boston Marathon International Elite Field – Sally Kipyego Will Make Her Debut For America The race for top American honors (and the battle for the 2020 US Olympic team) just got more interesting with the addition of Sally Kipyego, who will run for the US for the 1st time. In addition to Kipyego, previously announced defending champions Yuki Kawauchi and Des Linden are joined by World champ Geoffrey Kirui, NYC champ Lelisa Desisa, and sub-2:20 women Edna Kiplagat and Aselefech Mergia. Other notables include former Boston champions Lemi Berhanu, 2:04 man Lawrence Cherono, 2015 World champ Ghirmay Ghebreslassie, 2015 World champ Mare Dibaba and 2:19 woman Worknesh Degefa.

• February 9: Olympic Medalists Clayton Murphy And Nick Willis And World’s Fastest Miler Of 2018 Edward Cheserek To Headline NYRR Wanamaker Mile Men’s Field At 112th NYRR Millrose Games Murphy was runner-up in 2017 while Willis has three runner-up finishes to his name.

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 … 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.

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).

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

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?

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