An Update On The Confusion / Controversy Surrounding The 2020 Olympic Selection System

LRC One Week Later: How Will USATF Select The 2020 Olympic Team? No One Really Seems To Know We have a little good news to report. Amid confusion, USA Track and Field is refusing to confirm the statement they gave us last week that put US distance fans into a tizzy. And USATF tells us they are appealing to the IAAF to give the top 5 at the US Olympic Marathon Trials the marathon standard.
*MB: A Little Good News: USATF is appealing to get top 5 at US Olympic Marathon Trials the standard.

More Distance News

• Henry Rono’s Relatives And Neighbors Claim He Owns Properties And Doesn’t Need To Beg To Return Home Rono has been in the US for 33 years and has begged for an airline ticket to return home to Kenya. A celebration has been planned for when he arrives, although this article doesn’t specify when that is.
  *Previously: Kenyan County Governor Offers Lifeline To Struggling Legend Henry Rono After struggling with alcoholism, Rono had been working as a security guard in Albuquerque and said that he couldn’t afford to get back to Kenya.
• Alberto Salazar On Jordan Hasay: “She has been running over 100 miles a week and has not had foot problems. Hopefully, that is behind her.” Salazar says he had hoped she’d be under 70 minutes rather than over at last weekend’s Shamrock Run 15k, but that he was still “pleased with it.”
• Japan’s Oldest-Ever Olympic Marathoner Suehiro Ishikawa Retires at 39 Ishikawa was 36 when he competed at Rio 2016, but now says he’s ready to retire after he DNF’d for the first time ever earlier this month.
• Calls For “Rudisha Stadium” To Be Built In Narok County To Honor The Late Daniel Rudisha Rudisha was part of the relay that won Kenya’s first 4×400 medal at the Olympics in 1968.
• IAAF: Paula Radcliffe Discusses Girls’ Empowerment Through Sport At “She Runs-Active Girls’ Lead Event In Paris Seb Coe: “Sport, and athletics in particular, develops many of the skills that a leader requires, including confidence, capability, integrity and work ethic.”

More On IAAF Neutering The 5000

• Kenya’s World Junior 5000 Champ Edward Zakayo Expresses Concern Over The IAAF’s Decision To Cut Distance Events From The Diamond League “The decision means most of the distance athletes like me will not get the chance to make a smooth progress from one event to another …we have no alternative but to drop to the road races and the marathon, which will very hard for the younger runners like me.”
• MB: Eliud Kipchoge Weighs In on IAAF’s Decision to Kill off Distance Running on the Track On Instagram Kipchoge wrote, “9 out of 10 seasons I broke 13:00 on the 5000m.  It’s the distance which has been crucial for my career and has helped me to become the athlete I am today.”
  *LRC Archives: A Look Back at a Race for the Ages: Eliud Kipchoge Takes Down Kenenisa Bekele & El Guerrouj at the 2003 World Championships
• IAAF Say Diamond League Meets Are Still Free To Include A 5000, Just Not In The 90-Minute TV Window Yeah, and the fact that the big prize money will be in the 3000 won’t water down those 5000 fields at all.

Assorted Distance News

• Kemoy Campbell On Millrose Collapse: “The doctors said I basically died.” The doctors told him to take some time off and then do some tests which will determine if he can build back up or if it’s the end of his career.
• IAAF Inside Athletics Video Interview With Geoffrey Kamworor Just a quick 4-minute interview.
• Podcast Q&A With Becky Wade Firth Carrie Tollefson talks to 2:30 marathoner Wade about her 110 mile weeks training for Boston and her new book, “Run The World.”
• May 5: USA Marathon Champions Brogan Austin And Emma Bates Headline Fields For 2019 USATF Half Marathon Championships In Pittsburgh
• Sunday: Former Winners Return To The Wuxi Marathon In China Priscilla Kipruto Chepatiy (2:33:34) will try to defend her title in the women’s race while 2015 winner Li Zicheng (2:13:12) faces several sub-2:10 men.

Tickets / Broadcast Schedule Now Available For The The 2019 USATF Championships In Des Moines

Our Weekly Recap

LRC WTW: USATF Defies The IAAF And Ruins The Olympic Trials, Fast Halves And The Perfect Solution To The DL 5,000 Situation What a ridiculous week for US distance fans. We pick ourselves off the mat and offer common sense solutions to keep the crown jewel of US track and field – the Olympic Trials – exciting and to save the Diamond League 5,000. Along the way we wonder if Brigid Kosgei is now the favorite for next month’s London Marathon.

Collegiate News

• Good Read: DyeStat: Inside All-American And Two-Time NXN Champ Casey Clinger’s Two-Year Mission To Japan An interesting look into Clinger’s life as a missionary in Japan which has included helping people in the aftermath of earthquakes, a lot of snow shoveling and barely running.
  *MB: All American Casey Clinger steps away from college to serve as a missionary – His Story
• University Of Arizona Coach Fred Harvey Accused Of Assaulting An Athlete; UA Facing Possible $10 Million Lawsuit The former team member Michael Grabowski says Harvey threw him down causing him to faint. He claims he was kicked off the team and lost his scholarship because he complained about being bullied by teammates.
  *MB: University of Arizona cross country coach accused of assaulting athlete
• Tony Sandoval To Retire After 37 Years At Cal Sandoval has coached 12 individual national champions and 6 Olympians.
  *MB: Cal Director Tony Sandoval Asked to Retire?
• Pre-Season Men’s Outdoor Rankings Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Alabama and Florida are ranked 1-4.
• Women’s Outdoor Pre-Season Rankings Southern California, Texas A&M, LSU and Arkansas have the top 4 spots.
• In Case You Missed This: High School Sprint Star Tyrese Cooper Is Going To Oregon The 20.46/45.23 man chose Oregon over Texas and Ohio State.
• Event-By-Event Top 10 NCAA Marks From First Week Of Outdoor Season
• MB: College XC teams with a “team house”?

More Distance News

• Cam Levins Feels Like He’s “A Natural” At The Marathon Distance “I don’t know if I’ve stepped into an event before and had it feel so natural like this. I feel I’m built for the marathon.”
• Forbes: Short Q&A With Des Linden Did you know Linden has her own coffee company with Ben True called Linden & True?
• David Rudisha’s Father, Daniel, Is Buried In Kenya Those at the funeral included Kip Keino, Moses Tanui and Milcah Chemos.
• Germany’s Euro U23 XC Champ Alina Reh Wins Citylauf Dresden 10k In A Course Record 32:09

African Distance News: Semenya Does 5,000m

• Caster Semenya Opens Her Season With A 1,500/5,000 Double Win In South Africa Semenya won the 1,500 in 4:14 and double backed in the 5,000 with 16:11. Is she preparing in case she loses her CAS case? The IAAF testosterone rules are only for events up to a mile.
• Ezekiel Kemboi Prepping For His Marathon Debut In Hamburg On April 28th Kemboi has been coached by Eliud Kipchoge‘s coach, Patrick Sang and says, “I have been training hard on the roads. I started training last year, my body is fit for the marathons and my timing is equally good.”
• Eliud Kipchoge Donates One Of The Shoes He Wore Winning Olympic Marathon Gold For IAAF Heritage Exhibition Opening In Doha Next Month