– LRC’s Jonathan Gault and Robert Johnson writing about USATF’s decision that it will send athletes to the Olympics based on not whether they are top 3 at the Trials, but rather if they have hit the automatic qualifying standard. This could reward an athlete who hits the standard in 2019, but is not fit at the Trials in 2020.
Vivian Cheruiyot (66:34) Breaks Lisbon CR, Mosinet Geremew (59:37) Wins STACKED Men’s Race 6 men broke 60:00 & 14 broke 61 in Lisbon.
LRC Surprise Win For #1163 Belay Tilahun, Domination for World Record Holder Joyciline Jepkosgei At United Airlines NYC Half Tilahun wasn’t invited to the elite field in NYC. That didn’t stop him from showing up and winning $20,000. Paul Chelimo was 3rd in his half-marathon debut. WR holder Jepkosgei dominated women’s field. Plus comments from Emma Bates 4th, Jared Ward 4th, and Des Linden5th on new proposed USATF Olympic qualifying.
NYC Half: MB: 2019 NYC 1/2: Paul Chelimo predictions and Official Discussion Thread
MB: Holy smoly: A non-elite just won the United Airlines NYC Half
*Full results
LRC Paul Chelimo Wants to Do 5,000/10,000m Double at Worlds, Speaks Out Against Olympic Qualifying Changes Chelimo finished 3rd at the NYC Half in 62:19 in his half-marathon debut. He hasn’t run a track 10,000 since 2011.
More Weekend Results
LRC Find Out Who Would Have Qualified Under The IAAF’s New World Rankings If Worlds Were Held Last Year, Plus The IAAF Answers Our Questions On Olympic Changes The IAAF is very much aware that people have lots of questions about the new Olympic qualifying system so they have shared with us the spreadsheet they gave to the member federations showing you who would get into Worlds based on the new rules.
LRCRich Kenah, Head Of Atlanta Track Club (Host Of Olympic Marathon Trials) On New Olympic Qualifying: “(I hope they) reconsider the damage this will do to the Olympic movement.” Kenah is worried the simplicity and dream of the US Marathon Trials will be lost by the new qualifying system. The new qualifying system treats the US Trials equal to the national marathon champs of Andorra.
LRCDid The IAAF Just Kill Off Some Of The Significance Of The Olympic Trials? IAAF Announces New Qualifying System & Entry Standards For 2020 Olympics We’re not opposed to change but we have a lot of questions about the qualification system that will be used for the 2020 Olympics. For example, the men’s marathon standard is now 2:11:30 – what does that mean for the US Trials?
*MB: New 2020 Olympic Standards Posted – They Are WAY Tougher – Will US Olympic Trials take a hit
MB: BREAKING: IAAF Guts The Diamond League? Bans 5,000 And Reduces TV Times From 2 Hours To 90 MinutesIf changing the Olympic qualifying wasn’t enough change for you, the IAAF has doubled down and totally altered the Diamond League starting in 2020. The longest event allowed will be the 3,000.
Absolutely StunningLRC Our Worst Fears Realized: USATF WILL NOT Honor Top-Three Finish At The US Olympic Trials Unless You Have The Standard This is one of the darkest days in history for US distance fans. We emailed USATF to make sure they would be honoring the IAAF world rankings so those top 3 at the Olympic Trials could go to the Olympics – they told us they would not. That means Olympic silver medalist Paul Chelimo wouldn’t have made the 2016 team, nor would Jared Ward and five others, including Bernard Lagat, who won the most thrilling race at the Trials. Some US Olympic Trials races may now be totally meaningless.
*MB: Breaking: An Absolute Travesty! USATF WILL NOT honor top 3 finish at US Olympic Trials unless you have the standard!!!
Pushback Against The IAAF’s Recent Changes Is Growing
LRC Chaos Reigns At Inaugural Bahrain Night Half Marathon: Jemal Yimer Costs Himself $75K By Stopping Early As Elites Dodge Cars & Pedestrians BIG MONEY was on the line and BIG CHAOS resulted in Bahrain today.
*MB: Inaugural Bahrain HM Live Thread
LRC Q&A Prefontaine Classic Director Tom Jordan On New Diamond League Format: Original Proposal Was To Drop All Races Longer Than The Mile The Pre Classic meet director answers our questions about the Diamond League and Olympic qualifying changes.
*MB: Tom Jordan tells AP Pre Classic will still focus on distances: “We are certainly going to play to our base and that is middle and long distance plus virtually every event,”
LRC Distance Runners And Fans Around The Globe React Negatively To Diamond League Cutting The 5,000 It wasn’t hard to find a lot of people expressing their disapproval, but we did find one person who is “not against” the move – former Diamond League 5,000 winner Lauren Fleshman.
LRC Podcast The Death Of The 5,000m, New Olympic Track Qualifying Procedures, Grant Holloway Machine, NCAA Indoors, The Future Of The Diamond League – LetsRun.com Track Talk We have a funeral for the 5,000m on the show. *Discuss
LRC Paul Chelimo Pushes Back Against Recent IAAF Decisions & Explains Why He’s Making His Half Marathon Debut In New York This Weekend Paul Chelimo isn’t a fan of the IAAF killing off the 5,000 in the Diamond League: “I don’t know if they’re trying to kill distance running or what.” And it may cause him to move up to 26.2 sooner than he expected: “I know I’m going to be a great marathoner.”
*MB: Paul Chelimo on IAAF rule changes: “I don’t know if they’re trying to kill distance running or what.”
LRC 5 Final Thoughts from 2019 NCAA Indoors: Grant Holloway Is Ready for His Closeup, You Don’t Need to Train Indoors to Win Indoors, & Florida’s Other Sprint Phenom And how about some love for USC’s Caryl Smith Gilbert and NAU’s Mike Smith?
LRC Week That Was By The Numbers: New Champs Erika Kemp, Julia Rizk & Geordie Beamish, Canada Vs. The USA, And Mo Farah Says He’s Ready For London This week we let the stats do the work for us and they reveal that Canada is 97.49% the equal of the US. Plus learn about the NCAA virgins that won the miles.
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