Upcoming Track Action

• May 3: Hellen Obiri Vs. Genzebe Dibaba Over 3,000m To Highlight The Doha DL They also face steeple WR holder Beatrice Chepkoech and 2017 world XC champ Agnes Tirop. Other top matchups include Conseslus Kipruto vs.  Soufiane El Bakkali in the steeple, Emmanuel Korir vs. Donavan Brazier, Nijel Amos and Adam Kszczot in the 800 and training partners Timothy Cheruiyot and Elijah Manangoi in the 1,500.
• April 27: Sam Kendricks And Sandi Morris To Defend Their Drake Relays Pole Vault Titles
• June 30: Russia’s Olympic And World HJ Champ Mariya Lasitskene Up Against Vashti Cunningham And Ukraine’s Yulia Levchenko At The Pre Classic

Doping News

• Weightlifters Complain About Outdated WADA Data System After 41 Of Them Are Banned From European Championships Apparently the software WADA uses for their whereabouts system is out of date with athletes experiencing crashes and login issues. A Belgian decathlete said the WADA technologically is “stuck in the nineties.”
• Belarusian 800 Runner And Hammer Thrower Banned After Testing Positive In London 2012 Retests
• China And Russia Dominate Latest List Of Sanctions Revealed By The Athletics Integrity Unit
• India’s Asian Champion Shot Putter Manpreeet Kaur Gets 4-Year Doping Ban She failed tests four times in 2017.
• MB: WTF: 1:59 Russian EPO cheat busted both for using Crimean passport of childhood friend to get around Russian ban The Russians continue to get an A+ in coming up with great ways to try to cheat.
• Russia’s Former World Racewalk Champion Sergei Bakulin Caught Doping Again He was previously stripped of his 50k world title from 2011 when he was caught by the biological passport.
• WADA Reinstates Bucharest Laboratory In Romania

Spring Is Here: Carlsbad 5,000 & Cherry Blossom 10 Miler *CB Results

• Edward Cheserek Matches World Record En Route To Carlsbad 5,000 Victory; Sharon Lodeki Wins Women’s Race In Her Professional Debut Cheserek ran 13:29, tying the road WR (the IAAF only started recognizing the 5,000 road record in 2017). In the women’s race, Cheserek’s girlfriend and NCAA 10,000 champ Lokedi made her pro debut with a 15:48 victory.
• Jemal Yimer Defends His Title (45:36) As Stanley Kebenei (46:00) Breaks Greg Meyer’s 36-Year-Old American 10-Mile Record At Cherry Blossom 10 Miler Yimer was challenged by Kenya’s Josphat Tanui, but beat him out by 2 seconds while Kebenei finished 4th. Kenya’s Rosemary Wanjiru won the women’s race with a CR 50:41. Emma Bates was the top American in 6th place (52:18).
  *MB: Emma Bates 52:17

Weekend Half Marathon Action

• Bernard Ngeno Wins Close Race In 59:56 As Ruth Chepngetich Smashes Her Own CR With 65:30 At The Istanbul Half Ngeno came out on top in a three-way battle to just beat out Abayneh Degu (59:58) and Hillary Kipchumba (60:01).
• Prague Half: Caroline Chepkoech Kipkirui Wins Prague Half In 65:44 As Amy Cragg Only Runs 73:26 Benard Kimeli won the men’s race by 1 second in 59:07. *IAAF Recap
  *Pre-Race: Amy Cragg Racing Prague Half On Saturday – Views Race As Stepping Stone To 2020 Success
• Berlin Half: Sifan Hassan’s World Record Attempt Comes Up Real Short As She Runs 65:45 In Berlin The world record is 64:51. *European Athletics Recap
• Kipkemoi Kiprono (61:47) And Tigist Teshome (70:08) Win Madrid Half Marathon

Distance News

• As Of Monday, Yuki Kawauchi Is Now A Full-Time Pro Runner Kawauchi hopes to increase his mileage as a pro and also hopes to be a rare pro that a) runs fast and b) interacts with fans and sponsors. It looks like he’s signed with Asics.
  *MB: Yuki Kawauchi has quit his job and started as a pro runner and opened a twitter account. Thinks he has less pressure as pro
• Kellyn Taylor, USA’s 7th-Fastest Marathoner Ever (2:24:29), Will Run Prague Marathon On May 5th Move over, Boston and London. Kellyn Taylor‘s next marathon will be in Prague on may 5th.
• Laura Muir Says She No Longer Fears Expectations To Win Races “Glasgow was a great confidence booster. … A few years ago, I’d have struggled with the attention and the expectation to be at the front and win races. Now I don’t see it as pressure. I want to deliver.”
• 2-Time FL Champ Claudia Lane Writes Long Essay On What It’s Been Like To Not Be Running “Yes, my body type has changed since I was a sophomore and yes, injury is a part of the sport. No, I will not keep my ears open for people who attempt to filter negative messages to me because I know now I am strong in my own right.”
• The Economist Takes A Look At The Demise Of The 5,000 And 10,000 And The Rise Of The Marathon “The marathon has vanquished other long-distance running events.”
• Joshua Cheptegei Named Ugandan Sportsman Of The Year
• Good Read: Steve Jones Is Excited For Future Of Welsh Marathon Running And Thinks Dewi Griffiths Can Go Sub-2:07 After Hosting Him At Altitude Camp The opening line of the article is a classic: “Wales’ current crop of marathon runners may not be fuelled on a diet of coke and meat pies that took Steve Jones to the world record.”
• Interesting Study From UK: Super-Fit Masters Runners Do No Better At Balance Tests Than Sedentary Older People?
  *MB: How long can you stand on one leg with eyes close without falling? Most 20 yr olds can do 30 seconds, 70 year olds only 4-5

Non-Distance News

• MB: Lynna Irby pulls a Sammy Watson. Struggling (by her lofty standards) as a collegian, the solution is to … go pro early Last year, she ran 49.80 and won NCAAs. This year, she’s run 52.02 and was 5th at NCAAs but someone is paying her.
• Nice Article On Former Hurdles WR Holder Charles Foster, Who Died On Sunday At 65
• Serbian Olympic Hurdler And Former Cal Bear Milan Ristic Talks About Overcoming Testiclular Cancer
• Some Are Outraged That San Jose State Plans To Turn Historic Bud Winter Track Into Parking Garage It’s the track that Tommie Smith, John Carlos and Lee Evans once but now is dilapidated and people have been trying to prevent them from turning it into a parking lot since at least 2002. Look how dilapidated it was in 2018.
• Usain Bolt Races A Motorcycle Taxi In Peru (And Wins)

Non-Distance News

• GB Olympic Discus Thrower Jade Lally Explains Why She Was “Devastated” When She Found Out She Was Pregnant Professional athletes are as a necessity, very selfish, but parents don’t get to be. Thankfully Lally seems to realize this: “I don’t want my child to feel that she is coming second to anything, I will have to learn to juggle putting her needs alongside mine as an athlete.”
• Good Read: NZ Shot Putter Jacko Gill Opens Up On His Life-Threatening Illness And Stalled Career Between many injuries and being bedridden with myocarditis (inflammation of the heart) Gill has struggled a lot since the days when he was a junior world champ and YouTube star. But now he has changed a lot about his training and is on the comeback trail.
• May 3: Doha Confirms Six Global Champions For The Opening Of The 2019 Diamond League The fields include Caterine Ibarguen vs. Tianna Bartoletta in the LJ, Sam Kendricks vs. Olympic champ Thiago Braz in the PV, Brianna Rollins-McNeal vs. Sally Pearson in the 100H.
• GB Olympic Hurdlers Colin Jackson And Jamie Baulch Talk About Living Together Back In The 1990s In Florida Jackson was six years older, owned the house and was also Baulch’s coach. He’s also a bit of a neat freak, which made for an interesting living dynamic with a 21-year-old who was living away from home for the first time.

USATF: What To Watch, When And Where In April

Tokyo 2020 News

• German Athletes Group Fighting IOC For Increased Representation And A Bigger Share Of Olympic Revenue Even if the IOC doesn’t share more money with athletes (which they probably should), they need to revise the ridiculous advertising restrictions of Rule 40 (which has apparently already been scaled back in Germany).
  *MB Archives: RULE 40, is it BS?
  *MB Archives: Coburn skirts Rule 40
• SEGA Announces A Mario And Sonic At The Tokyo Olympics Video Game Coming Out This Year
• Future Of Olympic Boxing Still In Doubt After IOC Postpone Decision On Tokyo Inclusion Boxing has been contested at every Summer Olympic Games since 1904 except for Stockholm 1912 because of a Swedish law banning the sport.
• Tokyo 2020 Warn That They Are Struggling With A Lack Of Buses And Drivers For The Olympics They believe they need 2,000 buses a day with at least twice as many drivers.
• Tokyo 2020 Unveil Mascot Images Representing Olympic And Paralympic Sports
• Tokyo 2020 Hold Welcoming Ceremony As Olympic And Paralympic Flags Return To Tokyo After Tour Of The Country

Looking Ahead

• May 5: Two-Time Winner Ayantu Dakebu Hailemaryam Aims For Three-Peat At 2019 DICK’S Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon Ethiopian Tadesse Yae Dabi will try to defend his title in the men’s race.
• May 26: Laura Muir Will Open Her Summer Racing Season On The Roads At The Westminster Mile In London
• June 22: World Record Holder Kevin Mayer And Olympic/World Champ Nafissatou Thiam Announced For The Decastar Meet In Talence
• June 30: “Dream Men’s Pole Vault Field” Set For The Pre Classic At Stanford The field has the WR holder Renaud Lavillenie, Olympic champ Thiago Braz, world champ Sam Kendricks, 2018 world leader Armand Duplantis, and every Diamond League champion ever.
• Want To Race Up A Mountain In Italy? August 2: US Youth Skyrunners Wanted For The 2019 Youth Skyrunning World Championships They are currently seeking Team USA applicants.