Long Distance News

Eliud Kipchoge Will Make Another Sub-2 Hour Marathon Attempt Later This Year The “preferred location” is in London in mid-October and it would once again not be record eligible as it’d be a loop course with a bunch of pacers swapping in and out. Kipchoge’s manager Jos Hermens said he thinks the three areas they can improve from last time are the crowd, fueling and humidity.
*MB: Eliud Kipchoge / Ineos sub 2 marathon attempt October 13 in London Official Thread
*Eliud Kipchoge’s Sub-2 Attempt Could Have Some Controversy As It’s Going To Be Financed By Britain’s Richest Man, Jim Ratcliffe Ratcliffe’s petrochemical company Ineos has faced protests from environmentalists for its business practices and links to fracking.
*Ineos Announcement Video

Yuki Kawauchi (2:15:01) And His Fiancee Yuko Mizuguchi (2:41:28) Win The Vancouver Marathon Congrats to Kawauchi on his engagement!

HOKA ONE ONE Project Carbon X World Record Attempt *Results *Video Replay Of Race (Sponsored)

LRC With Better Pacing Could Jim Walmsley Gone Sub 6? The heat took its toll, but the question remains did Walmsley’s pacing possibly cost him the sub 6 for 100k? *Discuss

What are the Best Ultra Marathons in the World? We Have No Idea Comrades? Western States? UTMB? That 3,100 mile race around the block in NYC? We really don’t have a clue. It’s time LetsRun.com to get up to speed on the ultra marathoning and HOKA is sponsoring our five week quest and has given us no instructions. We want your input. We’re going to give away 10 pairs of HOKA shoes to the LRC visitors who help us most in this quest. (sponsored content by HOKA ONE ONE)

Upcoming Action

• Defending World Champ And Two-Time World Champ Edna Kiplagat Lead Kenya’s Announced Team For Doha World Champs The women’s team also has Dubai champ Ruth Chepngetich while London and Berlin champions Brigid Kosgei and Gladys Cherono were surprising omissions.

• June 30: WR Holder Beatrice Chepkoech Vs. Emma Coburn And Colleen Quigley Highlights Pre Classic Steeplechase The field will actually have six of the eight fastest women in history including Hyvin Kiyeng and Celliphine Chespol.
• June 11: For The Second Year, Anyone Who Can Break The Finnish All-Comers Record In The Javelin Or The Discus At The Pavo Nurmi Games Will Win An Island USA’s 1976 Olympic champ Mac Wilkins has the discus all-comers mark at 70.98m and Finland’s Aki Parvianinen has the javelin mark with 93.09m from 1999.
• June 30: Omar McLeod And Sergey Shubenkov Lead 110H Field For Pre Classic At Stanford Devon Allen, France’s Euro champ Pascal Martinot-Lagarde and Jamaica’s Hansle Parchment are also in the race.
• May 25: Erica Bougard Leads US Cotingent Set For Gotzis Multi Event Meet Bougard was 3rd in the heptathlon at Gotzis last year. Seven-time NCAA champ Kendell Williams will compete in Gotzis for the first time.

More On Caster Semenya

• Caster Semenya Says She Won’t Take Hormone Reducing Medication Her exact response was, “Hell no.” Semenya also said she wasn’t going to retire: “How am I going to retire when I’m 28? I still feel young, energetic. I still have 10 years or more in athletics.”
• AP: IOC President Thomas Bach Has “A Lot Of Sympathy” For Caster Semenya But Acknowledges The Issue Is “Extremely Complex” “The IOC respects CAS decisions, as we always do, but from a human point of view, yes, I have sympathy for her.”

NCAA News: Conference Champs Start This Weekend

• Ivy League: *Results
  *Princeton Men Claim Third Straight Heps Outdoor Title They got a dominant win with 182 points to Penn’s 123. *Day 1 Recap
  *Penn Women Win Back-To-Back Outdoor Heps Titles For The First Time Since The 1980s They scored 160 points to Harvard’s 126. *Day 1 Recap
  *Meet Home *Watch On ESPN+
• PAC-12: *Oregon Freshman Max Vollmer Wins PAC-12 Decathlon Title Vollmer scored 7,964 points, well ahead of Cal’s runner-up Akeem McMorris (7,259). Washington’s Hannah Rusnak won the heptathlon with 5762 points. *Day 1 Recap
  *Register-Guard: “Freshman Max Vollmer is Oregon’s Latest Star in the Decathlon” Vollmer is the favorite at PAC-12 Champs this weekend.
• Updated Men’s Bowerman Watchlist Mondon Duplantis, Grant Holloway and Divine Oduduru are the three men who have been on the watchlist all year.
• USTFCCCA Conference Championship Central

LRC Weekly Podcast London Marathon Recap Podcast: Caster Semenya Decision, Eliud Kicphoge’s Greatness, Stanford & Doha Diamond League Preview, HOKA Project Carbon X We react to the Caster decision, talk about Kipchoge, Stanford, Doha, and more. Includes an interview with HOKA’s Mike McManus about Project Carbon X.

Fallout From Caster Semenya Decision

• Caster Semenya ADDED To Doha Diamond League 800m Field Tomorrow is her last chance to race before the IAAF’s testosterone rules go into effect. Discuss: Semenya ADDED to 800 field in Doha. How fast will she go?
• Caster Semenya Hints At Possible Retirement With “Cryptic” Tweet She tweeted, “Knowing when to walk away is wisdom. Being able to is courage. Walking away with your head held high is dignity.” However, that could mean walking away from the legal battle rather than the sport.
• Seb Coe “Really Grateful” To CAS  “It’s pretty straightforward. Athletics has two classifications, it has age and gender. We are fiercely protective of both and I am really grateful the court of arbitration has upheld that principle.”
• Athletics South Africa Considering Approaching Swiss Federal Tribunal To Appeal CAS Decision Athletics South Africa went so far as to say CAS had “opened the wounds of Apartheid.”
• The Guardian Runs Through The Behind-The-Scenes Play-By-Play Of The Semenya’s CAS Case An interesting synopsis of how each side’s legal team tried to frame the debate.
• Reuters: Caster Semenya At Career Crossroads With Little Time To Choose Direction Semenya either needs to start taking testosterone lowering medication or move up to 5000m.
• BBC: “Nobody Has Truly Won – One Side Has Just Lost Less Than The Other”
• The Guardian Opinion Piece: “CAS tried to provide a clear verdict on Caster Semenya but left a tangled mess” Andy Bull argues that CAS came down on one side of the debate, but its ruling had “enough holes and caveats” that the dispute will continue.

Some London Marathon Leftovers

• Mo Farah Turns Down Marathon Spot At 2019 Worlds; Could Still Return To The Track He could also just skip Worlds altogether and focus on a fall marathon.
  *Charlotte Purdue And Callum Hawkins Lead Team GB’s World Marathon Team Both Hawkins and Purdue moved to #3 on the UK all-time lista after their performances in London.
• Athletics Weekly: Eliud Kipchoge Remains Focused After Fourth London Marathon Win “I am a man who doesn’t like celebrations. I think celebrations ended yesterday at the finish line.”
• Mo Farah Hits Haile Gebrselassie With A $11,700 Compensation Bill; Geb Calls Farah His “Enemy” Geb tels a little more from his side of the story. Says Farah still hasn’t paid his $2700 bill and that four of the employees who were detained quit.
  *Mo Farah Says He Didn’t Want To Take The “Limelight” Away From London With Battle With Haile Gebrselassie “I’m one of those people, I like to get things off my chest. It’s become a bit too much but I stick by every word I said.”
• “Big Ben” Runner Has His Costume Stolen After London It wasn’t a total loss, though, as he got a mention on Good Morning Britain by Piers Morgan, who offered up $1,300 for the return of the costume.
• Mo Farah Says He Wasn’t “Distracted” By The Halie G Conflict And It Didn’t Affect His Race
• Pre-Race Video: Mo Farah Gets Thrown Off “World Record Pace” Treadmill At London Expo Farah was just goofing around, but maybe a bit more gutsy (or foolish?) than most pros would have done right before a huge marathon race.

2019 London Marathon *TV & Streaming *Tracking & Results *Pre-Race Podcast

LRC Final Eliud Kipchoge Runs 2:02:37, Shatters London Course Record To Win 10th Straight Marathon Eliud Kipchoge continues to redefine what we thought was possible in the marathon.

LRC Putting Eliud Kipchoge’s Marathon Greatness In Perspective No matter how you look at it – win rate, average time, or world ranking – Kipchoge is WAY better than anyone else in history.

LRC Mo Farah Speaks On Haile G & Jama Aden As His Coach Gary Lough Criticizes Media Coverage: “I Don’t Think It’s Fair” Mo Farah said he doesn’t regret anything he’s said this week and his coach Gary Lough went a step further, criticizing the media for feeding “off Haile’s lies.” “Haile was president of the Ethiopian federation. He let Jama Aden coach Genzebe Dibaba. So why’s he coming out and saying stuff like this?”

• Mo Farah When Asked To Beat Eliud Kipchoge: “I think just let him retire. I’ve run 2.05, I was hoping to improve but 2.04 is not enough for Eliud, is it?”
• Mo Farah Undecided On Whether He Wants To Run The 10,000 Or Marathon At 2019 Doha World Champs
• BBC Video Interview With Mo Farah – “I’m disappointed in myself.”
• Funny Video: Guy Runs London Dressed As Big Ben And Can’t Get Through The Finish Line

Non-Penn/Drake Track Action

• Caster Semenya Completes 1,500/5,000 Double At South African Nationals She won the 1,500 in 4:13.61 a day after she beat Dominique Scott in the 5,000 with 16:05.97.
  *MB: Caster Semenya Beats Dominique Scott To Win South African 5,000 Title In 16:05.97 The time was at 5,000 feet altitude and coverts to 15:36 according to the NCAA conversion.
  *Wayde Van Niekerk Backs Caster Semenya In Her Battle With The IAAF “She’s fighting for women in sports, in society and I respect her for that.”
• Armand Duplantis Clears World-Leading 5.94m In LSU Invy Pole Vault 
• Kenya’s Daisy Jepkemei Runs 3,00m World Lead With 8:52.16 At Brazil IAAF World Challenge Meet Other winners were Alfred Kipketer (1:47.16) in the 800, Michael Kibet in the 1,500 (3:38.85), Nigeria’s Chukwuebuka Enekwechi (21.77m) in the SP and a South American U20 400H record by Alison Brendom Alves dos Santos (48.84).
• Czech Decathlete Jan Dolezal (8117 Points) And US Heptathlete Annie Kunz (5971 Points) Win IAAF Combined Events Challenge In Lana, Italy *Day 1 Recap
• IAAF’s Weekend Track Recap: Shaunae Miller-Uibo OPENS SEASON With 49.05
• MB: High Schooler Matt Boling- 19 yr old white dude – runs 9.98 (4.2 m/s) It’s the fastest 100m ever by any US high schooler but if you convert it to still conditions it’s worth 10.16.

The 125th Penn Relays *Results *TV & Streaming

Saturday

• Georgetown Men Win 1st Wheel In A Long Time In 4 X 800
• Indiana Women Win 1st-Ever Relay At Penn In Women’s 4 X 800 Monmouth’s Allie Wilson (2:02.29) and Penn’s Nia Akins (2:02.33) had the best splits.
  *Morgan McDonald And Wisco Win 4 X Mile (Barely) They were way back but Oliver Hoare got them back in it on leg #3.
• South Carolina Wins College Women’s 4 X 400 To Cap Off Best Penn Relays In Over A Decade They won 3 COA events.
• St Jago Ends 12-Year Drought With 4 X 100m Upset Win

Friday

• Morgan McDonald And Oliver Hoare Show They Are The Best In NCAA As Wisco Wins 1st DMR At Penn In Over 100 Years
• Penn Coach’s Son, Sean Dolan, Finishes 2nd In Boys Mile Canada’s Foster Malleck got the win.
• Hyped Field For Boys 3,000 Fails To Live Up To Expectations
  *MB: If Penn Relays 3k champ Eldad Mulugeta wasn’t American, people would think he’s really old
  *MB: Defending Penn Relays HS 3k champ scratches because it rained?
• Penn Relays has switched order of boys 4 x 800 and 4 x mile this year 4 x 800 is now first.
• Wisconsin Football Superstar Jonathan Taylor Made His Collegiate Track Debut At Penn Taylor, who has rushed for more than 4,000 yards in two years, ran the 4 x 100 and Wisco only beat his studly HS team’s time of 42.41 by 0.41.
• Holmwood Tech Gets Revenge On Hydel, Wins Girls 4 X 400 (3:37.20)
• Edwin Allen Girls Set 4 X 100m Record (43.62) At Penn They also won the 4 x 800 in 8:54.02.

Thursday

• Penn Women BLOW It Open Early, Then Hold On And Win Women’s DMR At Penn Relays In 10:59.44 It’s the first distance relay title for a women’s Ivy League school ever. Thanks to Nia Akins (3:22.73) and Uchechi Nwogwugwu (52.22), they had more than a 10-second lead on the eventual 2nd and 3rd placers after two legs. Notre Dame’s Jessica Harris had the leg of the day (4:28).
• Victoria Starcher Breaks Mary Cain’s Penn Relays Meet Record, Wins In 4:38.19 According to a message board poster, she’s now the fourth US girl under 4:40 on the year.
• Philly.com: Indiana Freshman Maddy Pollard Saves Best For Last In Penn Relays Shot Put Pollard won with a big 16.41m on her last throw.
• DyeStat.com’s Day 1 HS Recap From Penn