2019 IAAF World Relays Are Saturday (5:30 -9 am ET) and Sunday (5:00 – 8:00 am ET) *Schedule and Results *TV & Streaming *Event by Event previews *Latest updates / Live blog

Day 1: MB: Donavan Brazier and Ce’aira Brown win gold, Japan (not the US) botches men’s 4 x 100

• IAAF Day 1 Recap: On night of dramatic event debuts, US dominates – IAAF World Relays Yokohama 2019, day 1
• USATF Recap: US Wins both finals on Day 1 of 2019 IAAF World Relays Gold in the 2 x 2 x 400 as well as the shuttle hurdle relay. The US women had a world lead in the 4 x 100 and while the US men won their heat and beat China, Canada and Japan they only had the 4th best time of the day.
• Home calamity as Japan’s male 4x100m runners fail to make final\
• Lukewarm results for Jamaica on chilly World Relays opening day Chilly for Jamaica means 20 C (68F).
• British women blunder in 4x100m at World Relays Two years ago, the British men screwed up and four months later they won Worlds.
• MB: Australia false starts in shuttle hurdle relays final at 2019 IAAF World Relays, event is run with just 2 teams

More Sprint News

• Six figure biding war for 17-yr old sprinter Edward Osei-Nketia (10.19) is taking place The rugby world wants him and the track and field world wants him – half to run for NZ and half to run for Australia.
• Statues of Asafa Powell and Veronica Campbell-Brown to be unveiled soon at Jamaica’s national stadium soon

LRC What Are The Best Ultramarathon Records? There are some AMAZING ultra records out there, but we want to know what are the best. Tell us your choice and you could win a pair of HOKA ONE ONE shoes as our month long exploration of the ultra scene continues. (Sponsored content by HOKA ONE ONE)
*MB: What are the best ultramarathon records? (Sponsored by HOKA)

HS News Of Note

• PA’s Marlee Starliper runs 9:54 .75 3200 to break PA state record (#8 all time) at Loucks Games She’s just outside the top 10 if you convert to 2 miles.
• Georgetown signee Matthew Payamps runs 8:52 as 5 boys break 9:00
• Her grandfather was a legend. Her dad was a state champ. Now it’s this N.J. thrower’s turn – Meet Abby Nonnenberg

Pre-World Relays News

• Event by Event previews The mixed gender relay, aka the “clown show” according to Carl Lewis, will be taking place more than once.
• Latest updates / Live blog from Japan
• Athletics Weekly: IAAF World Relays: Who, what and when?
• Kenya drops two sprinters from World Relays team as they also are XY and have elevated testosterone Kenya’s 100m and 200m champion Maximilla Imali and 400m runner Evangeline Makena aren’t competing.
• IAAF Shares Five Reasons They’re Looking Forward To The World Relay Champs If you’re looking for good distance racing, the closest you’ll come will be the mixed 2 x 2 x 400, which will feature 800m runners.
• Seb Coe: World Relays are ‘most vibrant and exciting’ event in athletics calendar
• Mixture of fun and focus fueling British Athletics team at World Relays  The article starts with the following provocative sentence, “What is the point of the World Relays?”
• World Relays to provide Jamaica a pre-worlds test With no Bolt and no VCB, can the Jamaicans remain relevant?
  *SAFP is running
  *Christophe Lemaitre pulls out and flies home with knee injury
  *Yohan Blake Withdraws From The World Relays Blake’s agent said that Blake didn’t feel he could travel all the way to Japan just to run one race.
• Interesting Read: Does Track & Field Have A Popularity Problem? Or A Marketing Problem? The author points out that NASCAR gets promoted on NBC Sports, but there hasn’t been any mention of the IAAF World Relays even though they’re streaming them.

More Marathon News

• 2019 Boston Marathon Running Form Analysis Jae Gruenke gives an interesting analysis of how Lelisa Desisa‘s form broke down at the end of the exciting finish and talks about how she’s worked with Jordan Hasay to try to run more like the top Africans.
• Eliud Kipchoge Says Going For Sub-2 Hours Isn’t About The Money “My team doesn’t put money in front and for sure it’s not about business and money involved … It’s good to make history, it’s good to leave a memorable mark in athletics.”
• Nice Story: Des Linden Gives Her Boston Bib To 3-Year-Old Super-Fan Who Wore A Makeshift One Out Of A Post-It Note The three-year-old is a big fan and Linden said his bib needed an “upgrade.”

High School Distance Corner

• MB: Danish 14-Year-Old Alex Vang Christensen Runs 30:50 For 10,000 The time was over a minute faster than the world best for 14-year-olds.
• MB: CBA- 5 man average of 4:15 for 1600m in one race Their top guy was 4:10.97 and their 5th man was 4:18.69. The team also recently had a four man average of 9:14 in one 3200m race.

Random Running Stuff

• Dog “Bandits” One Of The Toughest Ultras In The World At The Marathon des Sables (Sahara Desert Ultra) The dog ran six days out of the seven day race and became very popular with the runners. All the social media posts altered the owner who had lost and was able to pick the dog up at the finish line.
• Mom And 8-Month-Old Daughter Shatter Stroller Half-Marathon Record By More Than Five Minutes Lauren Stroud ran 1:22:29. Alan Webb‘s wife, Julia Webb, apparently broke the record in 2016 with 1:22:57, but it was never ratified by Guiness.
• BBC: Belfast Marathon Organizers Admit Their Course Was .3 Miles Too Long They said it was “human error” as the lead car driver diverted from the route.

Olympic News

• Mondo To Supply Athletics Track At Tokyo 2020 For Eighth Consecutive Olympic Games The company has done the track surface and equipment for every Games since the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
• Site Traffic Overwhelms Tokyo 2020 Ticket Website On Opening Day The website struggled from the moment it opened with long wait times due to the high volume.
• Head Of UK Sport Katherine Grainger Has Plans For GB To Host The Olympics Again And Top The Medal Tables GB was 2nd only behind the US at Rio 2016.
• Japan consider use of military airbase for commercial flights during Tokyo 2020
• Los Angeles Releases “Privately-Funded, Balanced Budget” For 2028 Olympics The budget is $6.9 million, which is up from the original estimate of $5.3 billion.

Russian Doping News

• Russia Mid-Distance Runner Who Used Identity Fraud To Get Around Russian Doping Suspension Gets 12-Year Doping Ban Kseniya Savina not only used a friend’s passport to compete, but then got caught forging medical documents trying to explain away her EPO positive test. Her husband also got a ban (4 years) for his part in the scheme. *InsideTheGames article
  *MB: WTF: 1:59 Russian EPO cheat busted both for using Crimean passport of childhood friend to get around Russian ban
• IAAF Revoke Neutral Status Of Russian Sprinter After Failed Drug Test Russian sprinter Igor Obraztsov failed an out-of-competition test last month.

IAAF Releases More Info On New DSD Athlete Regulations

• IAAF Writes Open Letter To The World Medical Association In Response To Their Call For Physicians Not To Give Testosterone Lowering Drugs The IAAF laid out the many reasons (including non-athletic related) that the WMA’s stance could be harmful to individuals who are intersex.
  *MB: World Medical Association (WMA) urges its Members not to adminster testosterone-lowering drugs in females with DSDs The WMA President, Dr Leonid Eidelman, said: “We have strong reservations about the ethical validity of these regulations.”
• IAAF Releases FAQs And Briefing Notes On New Female Eligibility Regulations The IAAF lists Rojo’s viral Caster Semenya article in their “further reading” section.
• Alan Abrahamson: “In the matter of ’46 XY DSD’ cases: the IAAF is right.” Abrahamson points out that this case isn’t just about Caster Semenya, but the other DSD athletes and the women who have no chance of beating them.

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.