Bekele Will Be In Berlin

Kenenisa Bekele Added To The Berlin Marathon Field Bekele will face a good field of fellow Ethiopians including Guye Adola (2:03:46), Leul Gebrselassie(2:04:02), Sisay Lemma (2;04:08) and Birhanu Legese (2:04:15). *Discuss

Bad News – No Van Niekerk In Doha

Wayde Van Niekerk Won’t Defend His World 400m Title In Doha Van Niekerk raced in February (a 47.28 win in South Africa), but then suffered a “minor setback” which has ruled him out of Worlds.

European Weekend Action *ISAF Berlin Results

• Israel’s Euro Champ Chemtai Salpeter Moves To #2 All-Time And Smashes Paula Radcliffe’s European 10k Record With 30:05 At The Tilburg 10k Salpeter won by over a minute and crushed Radcliffe’s 30:21 mark from 2003.
• ISTAF: Gesa Felicitas Krause World Best In 2,000m Steeple, Omar McLeod Returns To Form With 13.07 Season’s Best, De Grasse Wins 100, Josh Thompson Wins 1,500 (3:35.01) There were other solid distance results as well Kenya’s Daisy Jepkemei won the 5,000 in 14:51.72. Jessica Hull had a big PR for 4th in 15:00.32 and Shannon Rowbury was 5th in 15:05.99.
  *European Athletics Article On Gesa Felicitas’ 2000m Steeple World Best
• MB: Norway’s Sondre Moen Runs 10,000m National Record 27:24.78 In Kristiansand

African Games

• Kenya Sweeps The Top Three Men’s 5,000 Spots With Robert Kiprop Taking Gold In 13:30.96 Second and third were 13:31.40 and 13:31.41. Kenya also won both 1,500m titles with world U20 champ George Manangoi beating out Ayanleh Souleiman (3:38.27 to 3:38.44) and Quailyne Jebiwott Kiprop winning the women’s race (4:19.33). In the 200m, Gambia’s Gina Bass was a surprise winner with a NR of 22.58; Zambia’s Sydney Siame won the men’s race in 20.35. Kenyan domination continued in the javelin with Julius Yego winning in 87.73m.
• Tsehay Gemechu Leads Ethiopian 1-2-3 Sweep Of African Games 10,000m Gemechu took gold in 31:56.92 with her teammates Zeineba Yimer and Dera Dida right behind in 31:57.95 and 31:58.78.
• Botswana’s Leungo Scotch (45.27) And Galefele Moroko (51.30) Sweep African Games 400m Titles Ethiopia’s Mekides Abebe won the women’s steeple in 9:35.18 while Tunisia’s Abdessalem Ayouni got a surprise win in the men’s 800m with 1:45.17.
• Daily Nation: “Why Africa’s Elite Athletes Skipped Rabat” Idah Waringa writes, “Remember the ‘Would You Rather’ game that kids played back in the day? … Well, I’ll keep mine simple … if you had your pick, would you rather be King of Africa or King of the World?”
  *Previously: Three Of Kenya’s Biggest Stars (Emmanuel Korir, Beatrice Chepkoech, Hyviin Kiyeng) Were Late Withdrawals From The African Games
• Nigerian Government Paying Out Cash Rewards To Their African Games Medalists They get $3,000 for gold, $2,000 for silver and $1000 for bronze. This after some controversy over how much daily allowance the Sports Ministry was giving athletes during the Games.

Upcoming Action In Europe

• Sunday: IAAF Preview Of ISTAF Berlin Meet: Sam Kendricks And Mondo Duplantis Will Go Head-To-Head Again In The PV Andre De Grasse is in the 100m, Omar McLeod and Pascal Martinot-Lagarde in the 110H, and 9:11 woman Gesa Krause in the steeple.
• September 9-10: Team Europe And Team USA Announced For “The Match” In Minsk The meet will be a scored competition between Team USA and Team Europe. Top athletes competing for the US include Craig Engels, Hilary Bor, Ben True, Kate Grace, Athing Mu, Shannon Rowbury, Brianna McNeal, Allyson Felix and Brittney Reese. *USATF Release

_{NCAA XC Is Here}

• Runner’s World Profile: June Eastwood Running Her First XC Race Of The Season Today At The Clash Of the Inland Northwest Meet In Montana Talking about Eastwood’s training, her coach says that her times “don’t compare” to what she ran as a male NCAA athlete. Eastwood claims she isn’t the fastest on the women’s team right now.
  *Results: June Eastwood Finishes 7th In First XC Race Eastwood ran 14:33.0 for the 4k race, 19.3 seconds off the winner.
  *MB: First transgender athlete June Eastwood to compete in women’s DI XC this fall, has pbs of 1:55/3:50/14:38 
• NAU And BYU Top Two Ranked Teams In Men’s NCAA XC Pre-Season Coaches’ Poll Washington, Colorado and Iowa State are ranked 3-5.
• Colorado And New Mexico Ranked 1-2 In Pre-Season Women’s NCAA Coaching Poll Washington, Michigan and Stanford made up the rest of the top 5.
• Pre-Season Men’s D1 Regional XC Rankings
• Pre-Season Women’s D1 Regional XC Rankings

Chicago Marathon Talk

LRC 2019 Chicago Marathon Elite Field Analysis: Men’s Race Could Be Epic With Farah, Rupp & 2:03 Crew; An Extremely Shallow Women’s Race Boston champ Lawrence Cherono & Dubai champ Getaneh Molla join Mo Farah & Galen Rupp in the men’s race. Defending champ Brigid Kosgei is back, but Jordan Hasay is the only other woman faster than 2:22:56. And Amy Cragg is a scratch.

Gender Controversy News

LRC 5 Facts About June Eastwood, Who Will Become The First Transgender Woman To Run An NCAA Division I Cross-Country Race Saturday Eastwood, who ran PRs of 1:55/3:50/14:38 competing as a male for the University of Montana, has undergone a year of testosterone suppression treatment and is now cleared to compete in the NCAA as a woman.
*MB: First transgender athlete June Eastwood to compete in women’s DI XC this fall, has pbs of 1:55/3:50/14:38

• Bozeman Daily Chronicle: Profile On University Of Montana Transgender Runner June Eastwood Eastwood says she began questioning her gender in fifth or sixth grade.
• Chinese Women’s 400m Runners Go Viral On Social Media “For Looking Like Men” The appearance of the Chinese national 400m champ, Liao Mengxue, and runner-up, Tong Zenghuan, has led to questions over their genders. The Chinese Athletics Association has reportedly responded, declaring that the two runners are female.

Chicago 2019

LRC 2019 Chicago Marathon Elite Field Analysis: The Men’s Race Could Be Epic, Women’s Field Looking Extremely Shallow Defending champ Brigid Kosgei is back, but Jordan Hasay is the only other woman faster than 2:22:56. Boston champ Lawrence Cherono & Dubai champ Getaneh Molla join Mo Farah & Galen Rupp in the men’s race. And Amy Cragg is a scratch.

Chicago Press Release: Past Champions Dickson Chumba And Brigid Kosgei Lead International Field For The 2019 Chicago Marathon Kosgei comes in as the defending champion after winning in 2018 in 2:18:35 and then winning London in 2:18:20. She is joined by Betsy Saina (2:22:56) and Mexico’s Madai Perez (2:22:59). Chumba won Chicago in 2015, but will only be the fourth fastest in the field as Dubai champ Getaneh Molla (2:03:34) and runner-up Herpasa Negasa (2:03:40) lead the way along with previously announced Mo Farah. USA’s Amy Cragg, Chris Derrick and Brogan Austin have all withdrawn.

Doping News

• Jamaican Sprinter On World Champs Squad Reportedly Tests Positive Inside sources say that the sprinter tested positive for a banned diuretic which came from a contaminated cold and flu medication.
• Belarus’ Former 800m World Champ Marina Arzamasova Gets Doping Ban After Testing Positive For A Steroid-Like Substance Arzamasova beat out Canada’s Melissa Bishop for world 800m gold in 2015.
• Canada’s Former 100m WR Holder Donovan Bailey Is Hoping “There’s A Proper Explanation” For Christian Coleman’s Missed Tests Although Bailey claims he never missed tests himself. “I never missed one test, so I personally can’t see why [anyone] would miss three.”
• GB’s Steve Cram Says HIs Reaction To Christian Coleman’s Missed Tests Is “Less Of Surprise, More Of Despair” More than a dirty sport, Cram seems to feel like this points to today’s athletes not taking responsibility for their own careers and leaving too much to agents and/or coaches.
• Former Olympic PV Champ And Current IOC Member Yelena Isinbayeva Calls For IAAF To Lift Russia’s Ban We prefer the statements of another Russian Olympic champion jumper, Maria Lasitskene, who has been very critical of the Russian federation for failing to show “a desire to change.”
• German Javelin Thrower Christina Obergfoll Criticizes Anti-Doping System After Being Awarded 2008 Olympic Silver Medal 11-Years Late She was upgraded from bronze to silver after Russia’s Mariya Abakumova was caught in doping re-tests.
• AIU Announces Re-test Of A Sample From The 2011 World Champs Has Lead To A 2-Year Ban For Ukraine Shot Putter Andriy Semenov Semenov was the Ukraine national champion that year, but did not make the final at Worlds.
• WADA Suspend Accreditation Of New Delhi Laboratory For Up To Six Months They were suspended when WADA found “non-conformities with international standards.”

LRC In-Depth

LRC A Life On Pause: Jarrion Lawson’s Career Hangs In The Balance As He Fights His Four-Year Doping Ban – And The Global Anti-Doping System How do you prove something you ate over a year ago was contaminated with a substance banned for athletes – but not for cattle? That’s what Lawson, who in 2016 joined Jesse Owens as the only men in history to win the 100 meters, 200 meters, and long jump at the NCAA championship and came inches shy of Olympic gold, must do to prove his innocence and save his career.
*MB: Ajee Wilson, Will Claye and a 90 yr old cyclist got cleared after eating contaminated beef – Why not Jarrion Lawson?