January 22, 2020 Homepage Archive

Where Your Dreams Become Reality

Archived Homepage For January 22, 2020

Good Luck Raven!

I’ll be competing in my first indoor meet since 2017. 2018 I didn’t compete indoors bc on 1/26/18 I was omw to carrying out an attempt to end my life. If not for sending a text to an old therapist I would not be here rn. Everyday I live is a gift bc that day could’ve been my last pic.twitter.com/N9SWlkVU6u
— Raven HULK Saunders (@GiveMe1Shot) January 17, 2020

-shot-put star Raven Saunders, who was 5th at the 2016 Olympics, writing about how she considered suicide just two years ago. As she told The Post and Courier in an excellent profile of her, “I knew I had to be somewhere, but I just rolled past campus and kept driving and driving. I was in a daze, and I could tell something was very off. I just felt like I was in over my head. I was probably about 10 or 15 minutes from trying to end my life.”

Feeling suicidal? Call the national suicide hot-line at 1-800-273-8255. Or chat online with them here. Read about Saunders inspiring come-back here.

We Reveal The $ecrets of the Sport

LRC How To Turn Pro In Track & Field, Part I: Finding an Agent What happens between an athlete’s final NCAA race and their professional debut? From finding an agent to signing a contract, our three-part series tells you everything you need to know.
*MB: LRC Investigates: How To Turn Pro In Track & Field

Random Olympic News

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe claims Tokyo 2020 will mark new era for Japan just like it did in 1964 1964 marked the return to the world for Japan after WWII. In the final event of the Olympics, a 19-year old who was born in Hiroshima on the day the atomic bomb fell was the last person to finish the marathon.
HJ star Maria Lasitskene lashes out at Russian federation as she’s fearing she’ll miss a 2nd straight Olympics We feel for her but what is the IAAF supposed to do when it came out recently that Russia “forged documents to justify a whereabouts violation by (men’s) high jumper Danil Lysenko.”
What happens is an earthquake hits the Tokyo 2020 Olympics? The Japanese have a plan.
It’s an Olympic year and two recent Oregon track and field grads are getting ready for the… 2022 winter Olympics Venessa D’Arpino and Spenser Schmidt have earned spots on the USA Bobsled and Skeleton.

Olympic / Admin News

This Won’t Get Confusing For Local Viewers:Five Japanese Television Networks Will Take Turns Broadcasting Tokyo 2020, Rotating On A Daily Basis According to Kyodo News, the move is intended to counter the country’s national broadcasting organisation NHK.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce becomes a brand ambassador for Visa, signs endorsement contract
Pavel Kolobkov Steps Down From Role As Russian Sports Minister After Entire Russian Government Resigns The entire government resigned after President Vladimir Putin‘s annual state-of-the-nation address where he proposed several changes to the constitution.
*Russian Government Resignation Throws Spotlight On Putin’s Succession Plans
Tokyo 2020 Torch Relay to visit town near Fukushima declared no-go zone
Safety Concerns Prompt Rio Judge To Order Closure Of Olympic Park
Seb Coe Inaugurates New NACAC Headquarters In Nassau, The Bahamas

Looking Ahead

February 19:Selemon Barega Announced The 3000m For The Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais In Liévin, France Also announced is Orlando Ortega vs Pascal Martinot Lagarde in the 60H.
The 2020 Diamond League By The Numbers The season will span 147 days, starting in April for the first time.

US Women’s Distance News

Defending Trials Champ Amy Cragg Thought About Retiring After 2016, But Now She’s Happy, Healthy And Focused On Making The 2020 Olympic Team Cragg was struggling with extreme fatigue and only had two disappointing road results last year and hasn’t raced a marathon in two years. But now she’s refreshed and gotten up to 130 miles a week in training.
Despite A Disappointing World Champs, Ajee Wilson Is Ready And Excited For The Olympic Year “I’ve matured over the years and my body style is getting used to this level of training. … I’m more passionate about what I’m doing; I’m definitely more appreciative of being able to do what I do.”
Podcast Interview With Amy Yoder Begley Begley talks to Carrie Tollefson about her time with Alberto Salzar and NOP as well as her position at the Atlanta Track Club, where she’s coaching 7 athletes for the Marathon Trials.
Shalane Flanagan Teams Up With Dogfish Head Beer To Launch Virtual Running Club

Pro Track Club Roster Additions

Olympic 5,000m Hopeful Lauren Paquette Joins NAZ Elite Paquette was 4th in the 5,000m at 2018 USAs.
Marathon Vet Maegan Krifchin (2:32:47 PR) And Recent Georgia Tech Grad Avery Bartlett Join Atlanta Track Club Elite

Shoe News

Reuters: Why A Ban On The Vaporfly Could Boost Nike’s Bottom Line It would likely lead to an increased amount of sales among amateurs who wouldn’t be affected by the ban.
Bloomberg: “Asics Runs Into Trouble As Athletes Opt For Nike’s Super-Shoe” Asics stock price has dropped and Nike is taking over areas where they normally reigned. At this year’s Hakone Ekiden 84% wore the Nike Vaporfly and the number of runners with Asics dropped to 7 from 51 a year earlier.
The Guardian Says Nike Vaporflys Unlikely To Be Banned They report that the World Athletics working group met Wednesday and will announce their findings at the end of the month, but the issue remains under debate despite other headlines saying the shoes would be banned. It’s possible Eliud Kipchoge‘s AlphaFly could be banned, but not the Vaporfly.
MB:Former marathon star Rob de Castella calls Vaporflys “ludicrous – it definitely needs to be addressed.”

Nike Vaporflys Getting Banned?

Eliud Kipchoge Responds: “It’s the person who is running, and not the shoes.” Kipchoge made the analogy to Formula One and said it’s Lewis Hamilton who does the driving, not Pirelli Tyres. However, we’re not sure Formula One is the best “sport” to compare as just about every aspect of the car has regulations that need to be strictly followed.

Reports Coming Out That World Athletics Is Going To Ban The Nike Vaporfly The issue being discussed is the foam and carbon-fiber sole which acts like a spring; new rules would limit sole thickness and the use of carbon plates. The ban would also apply to Nike’s new running spikes which were worn by Laura Muir to set the British indoor mile record last year (4:18.75). There’s no decision on whether records set before the shoes were banned (like Brigid Kosgei‘s 2:14:04) will be allowed to stand.
*The Times: “Nike’s Record Breaking Running Shoe To Be Banned” (article behind paywall)
*MB: Reports: Vaporfly to be banned

Better Running Shoes

LRCThe 10 Most Popular Running Shoes On LetsRun.com Before we do our final call of shoe reviews in 2019, we decided to take a look at what shoes are the most popluar on LetsRun. Four shoe lines dominant, the Nike Pegasus, the Brooks Ghost, the HOKA Clifton and the Saucony Kinvara. These four might be a great place to start when looking for a new pair of shoes.

Boston Is Going To Entertain in April and This Weekend

RRW 2020 Boston Marathon Field Released: 8 Sub 2:21 Women, 10 Sub-2:07 Men Scheduled To Race The field also includes Ethiopian half marathon record holder Jemal Yimer (58:33) who will be making his marathon debut.
*MB: Boston Elite Field Announced

World Athletics Indoor Tour Begins This Weekend With New Balance Indoor Grand Prix – Here’s How You Can Follow The Tour on TV/Online

London Will Entertain Twice As Well – Once in March and Then in April

Mo Farah to race Kenenisa Bekele at Vitality Half Marathon in March Bekele has only one career half marathon in his career on his resume, but boy oh boy was it a classic.
*MB: Mo Farah set to get spanked by Kenenisa Bekele at Big Half

Men In The News

Famed Australian agent and broadcaster Maurie Plant has died at 66, tributes pour in He played a big role in the careers of Sally Pearson, Catherine Freeman, Steve Hooker and others and was loved by many. *Len Johnson *Athletics Weekly
2020 Paralympic Star? Q&A with Michael Roeger, who became the 1st one-armed person to break 2:20 in the marathon He actually was hoping to run 2:16 but ran 2:19:33.
Recommended Read: RW:Lyme Disease Almost Ended Robby Andrews’ Career. Here’s What Finally Cured Him Spoiler alert, it wasn’t just traditional medicine. *Discuss
GB Marathoner Callum Hawkins Is Using A Garden Shed To Train For The Heat At Tokyo 2020 Hawkins has been running on a treadmill in his shed with heaters to simulate the hot conditions he’ll face this summer. Talking about being 4th place at the last two world championships Hawkins said, “I try not to let it get me down and try not to let it discourage me, but I think I am a little bit disappointed and won’t ever quite get over it unless I win a medal at Tokyo.” *Video

Catching Up With Eugene 2021

The Oregonian:World Athletics CEO Jon Ridgeon Likes What He Sees In Preparations For Eugene 2021 Talking about the new Hayward Field stadium, Ridgeon said, “It’s lovely to have a genuinely, made-for-athletics stadium. Most of the time you’re using as a backdrop to the championships, a multi-sport stadium. …The challenge is, it’s a relatively small stadium for a world championships.”
InsideTheGames:Budget Concerns Dismissed As Confidence Expressed IN 2020 World Champs Concerns have been raised about the Oregon Legislature’s refusal so far to give organizers the full $40 million they requested and that there is no progress on concessions being offered on taxes for the $7.2 million in prize money.
WA:World Athletics Pleased With Oregon21 Planning And Preparations As Five-Day Venue Visit Concludes

Looking Back (HS/NCAA)

T&F News Names Their Top-10 Collegiate Men Of The Decade Edward Cheserek is their #1.
T&F News Names Their Top-10 Collegiate Women Of The Decade They rank TJer Keturah Orji #1.
T&F News’ Top-10 High School Boys Of The Decade Mondo Duplantis beats out Noah Lyles.
T&F News’ Top-10 High School Girls Of The Decade Sydney McLaughlin beats out Mary Cain.
MileSplits Lists Off The High Schoolers Who Have Turned Pro In The Last Five Years There are more than you may think who have gone pro right out of high school or after freshman year of college. Their list has 20.

More Weekend Road / XC Results

Running In Borrowed Shoes, Ethiopia’s Derara Hurisa Wins Mumbai Marathon In CR 2:08:09 He lost his shoes while traveling, but it might have worked out for the best since the shoes he borrowed were Nike Vaporflys. Ethiopia’s Amane Beriso won the women’s race in 2:24:51. Hurisa and Beriso each took home $45,000 for the win, Hurisa got an extra $15,000 for the CR.
Tadese Worku And World 5,000m Silver Medalist Margaret Chelimo Reign Supreme At Seville, Spain World Athletics XC Permit Race Worku beat out Paul Chelimo by 16 seconds while Margaret Chelimo won over a deep field that included world U20 XC champ Beatrice Chebet (2nd), world 5,000m 4th placer Tsehay Gemechu (3rd) and world 5,000m champ Hellen Obiri (4th).
Results: Daniel Kemoi Wins, Kellyn Taylor/Stephanie Bruce “Tie” At The Rock ‘N’ Roll Arizona Half Marathon Taylor tweeted that she and Bruce were using the race as a controlled effort and tried to tie at the finish. Kemoi won in 60:24 and Taylor/Bruce were timed at 69:13, but reports are saying the course was short.
*MB: Jim Walmsley runs a fake 1:02 half, trail trolls loose their minds
Germany’s Samuel Fitwi And Poland’s Anna Gosk Win Hannut CrossCup In Belgium
Joel Mwaura (60:44) And Mao Ichiyama (70:25) Break Course Records To Win At The Okukuma Half Marathon

Non-Distance News

Briana Williams Signs Multi-Year Deal With Nike The 17-year-old sprint star missed Worlds this year and had her 10.94 U18 record struck from the record books when she tested positive for a banned diuretic (she was reprimanded, but not given a ban).
Reuters:Noah Lyles, Many Top Sprinters Skipping Indoor Season Many coaches and agents explained with 2019 worlds being much later than usual, many athletes are skipping or limiting their indoor seasons.
World Athletics Profile On US’s World Hammer Champion Deanna Price Interestingly, Price was originally a softball player and had a home run record in Missouri with opportunities for full-ride. She did track to stay in shape for softball and actually wanted to break her mother’s school 800m record before she discovered throwing.

We Can’t Wait For April

JG Column Even After Four Blowouts, Why We Still Care About Eliud Kipchoge Vs. Kenenisa Bekele In London Jonathan Gault explains why distance fans are fascinated by Bekele vs. Kipchoge in London. While we’ve technically seen Kipchoge vs. Bekele four times before, we’ve never actually seen it the way we imagine it in our minds with both in supreme fitness battling it out mano a mano. Plus how does Bekele remind Jonathan of Muhammad Ali and Tiger Woods?
*MB:Kenenisa Bekele Added To London Marathon Field The matchup that all the fans wanted – Bekele vs. Kipchoge – is on.

Kenya Continues To Lose Credibility / Yet Another Kenyan Gets Popped

Former World Youth And Jr. 800 Champ Alfred Kipkter Gets Popped For Whereabouts Failures He ran 1:42.87 after finishing 7th in the Olympics in 2016.
*MB: Is there really no LRC thread about Kenyan doper A. Kipketer (1:42.87s 800m) being suspended provisionally by AIU
MB: Kenyan drug testers show up at camp. Top Kenyan athlete jumps out window and jumps over fence to escape
Other Countries Aren’t Totally Innocent Either Commonwealth 100m Champion Michelle-Lee Ahye Gets Two-Year Ban For “Whereabouts Failures”

Kenyan Distance News

Brigid Kosgei will race RAK Half on Feb 21 If her shoes aren’t banned by then, we imagine the WR will be CRUSHED. Mosinet Geremewand Julien Wanders are in the men’s field.
Hellen Obiri will go for her fifth Kenya Defence Forces Cross Country title on Friday
Recommended Read:Eliud Kipchoge Talks About A Slew Of Topics Including Keeping a Training Diary, Kenyan Doping, Making Lots Of Money And Facing Kenenisa Bekele In London Talking about living a relatively modest lifestyle despite his wealth, Kipchoge said, “I don’t envy people with big cars, helicopters and everything… that’s their life. What I want is to inspire someone… I don’t think I need a one million-dollar car to drive around.”
World Bronze Medalist Amos Kipruto Using The Tokyo Marathon As Build-Up For Tokyo 2020 That is, assuming the 2:05:43 man is selected for the team.
Choosing The Tokyo 2020 Marathon Squad Is Leaving Athletics Kenya Bosses With Sleepless Nights
Robert Keter’s 13:22 World Record From The Urban Trail Lille 5k In November Ratified By World Athletics The road 5k has only been officially recognized as a WR since November 2017. The fastest recorded time is Sammy Kipketer‘s 13:00 from Carlsbad in 2000.

Anti-Doping News

Mo Farah says he’s happy to have his samples re-tested and says he has nothing to do with UKAD refusing to hand them over to WADA UKAD has officially lost this one in terms of PR.
Jessica Judd Rips UKAD Over Reluctance To Release Mo Farah’s Samples She called it “embarrassing” and said it’s no wonder why “athletics is dying a drug-fuelled death.”
*MB:UKAD is ready to fight any attempt by WADA to seize its stock of Sir Mo Farah’s urine and blood samples
Russia Accuses UK Anti-Doping Of Creating A “Wall Of Mistrust” Over Mo Farah Samples Denial It’s never a good day when Russia can call you out over anti-doping failures.
*RUSADA Cites Where The WADA Code Says They Can Carry Out “Additional Analysis Of Doping Samples … Solely On The Instructions Of WADA”
Kenyan Newspaper Hits Back At GB’s The Times After They Ask If It’s Time For “Disgraced Kenya To Follow Russia To Follow Russia In Exile?” This writer correctly points out that Russia was banned because of state-sponsored systematic doping whereas a WADA study has concluded that Kenyan doping is “unsophisticated, uncoordinated and opportunistic.”

More Results From The Weekend

Eilish McColgan Wins BF&M 10k In 33:28 In Bermuda She doubled back from winning the Butterfield Front Street Mile the night before in 4:46.
Fast Rising Emmanuel Kiprop Wins Nyandaru XC Meet In Kenya Mercy Chepkurui won the women’s race.
Jacques Sallberg Defends And Lorilyn Bloomer Wins At The USATF Masters XC Championships
Nagano Wins National Men’s Ekiden Team Title

**USA XC And Houston *USA XC Results**

LRCComeback Queen Hitomi Niiya Breaks Japanese Record (66:38), Jemal Yimer Wins (59:25), 14 American Men Go Sub-62, 7 Women Sub-70:00 At Houston Half MarathonHitomi Niiya‘s comeback story is pretty cool and Jemal Yimer believe it or not crossed the line first for the first time ever on a day that saw 14 American men go sub-1:02 and 7 women go sub-1:10 as Jared Ward was 1st American and Sara Hall beat Molly Huddle.

LRC 2020 USATF XC Results: Natosha Rogers And Anthony Rotich Dominate It was a good day for the Army WCAP team as their Kenyan Americans went 1-2-3 in the men’s race.

Weekend Indoor Action

Athing Mu Breaks National 500m Record With 1:10.22 At The Virginia Showcase She broke the previous mark of 1:10.30 by Chanelle Price.
*Also At VA Showcase: Taylor Ewert Breaks Her Own Indoor 3,000m Racewalk National Record
MB:UW Indoor Preview Results Ben Blakenship won the men’s mile in 3:57.67 over Brannon Kidder (3:58.43). Eleanor Fulton beat out Allie Ostrander in the women’s mile (3:34.82 to 3:35.94). UW’s Sam Tanner won the 1.000m in 2:21.78 (Ben Blankenship was 4th). Kaela Edwards won the 800m in 2:03.81.
USTFCCCA’s Collegiate Weekend-In-Review At the Virginia Tech Invy, Jacory Patterson broke the collegiate 300m record with 32.28 and Tennessee’s Darryl Sullivan cleared 2.33m in the HJ to move to #4 on the all-time list.
*Event-By-Event Top-10 Marks From The Collegiate Weekend
Ukraine’s World Silver Medalist Yaroslava Mahuchikh Clears World Indoor U20 High Jump Record Of 2.01m
World Athletics’ Weekend Indoor Round-Up:Keni Harrison Opens Her 2020 With A 200m Win (23.18) At The Leonard Hilton Memorial In Houston At other US indoor meets, Tonea Marshal ran a 60H PR of 7.86 and Lorraine Ugen jumped 6.74m in the LJ.
Renaud Lavillenie Opens Season With 5.80m Victory In Bordeaux In the US, Andreas Dimitrakis became the first Greek to go sub-4 indoors with 3:59.22 on Staten Island and Nicholas Scarvelis broke the Greek SP record with 20.38m. Lucia Vadlejch broke the Slovakian national pentathlon record with 4488 points.
Jacob Wooten Clears 5.80m PR To Win UCS Spirit National Pole Vault Summit In Reno; Sweden’s Lisa Gunnarsson Wins Women’s With 4.50m

UKAD Not Cooperating With WADA On Salazar Investigation?

UK Anti-Doping Won’t Release Mo Farah’s Blood And Urine Samples To WADA Inquiry USADA is looking into any athletes who were coached by Alberto Salazar but UKAD head Nicole Sapstead said she would block the release of samples stored for future retesting unless there was “credible evidence” to suggest they contained banned substances. She said they save samples to test “when the science moves along.” *2nd Article *Discuss

Upcoming Armory Action

January 23-25:Katelyn Tuohy, Mary Cain, Justyn Knight And Athing Mu Set Sights For Dr. Sander Invitational Columbia Challenge Tuohy and Cain will face off in the 3,000m along with last year’s winner Amanda Eccleston and Emily Lipari. Robby Andrews, Erik Sowinski, Isaiah Harris are in the men’s 800m while Ajee Wilson leads the women’s race. Knight is in the mile.
February 8: Short Interview With Nick Willis Ahead Of The Millrose Games Wanamaker Mile “There have been some great battles, and the allure of trying to get my first victory there keeps me coming back every year.”
More Wanamaker Mile Q&As: 2018 Wanamaker Mile Champion Chris O’Hare *3:50.94 Miler Sam Prakel *GB Miler Charlie Grice *Former NCAA Champ Morgan McDonald
Ajee Wilson Will Return To Defend Her Title In The Millrose Games 800m Wilson will face a stiff challenge from GB’s Laura Muir and Jamaica’s Natoya Goule.
World Champ Grant Holloway Vs. Olympic Champ Omar McLeod Set For Millrose Games 60m Hurdles They’ll take on defending NYRR Millrose Games champion Devon Allen and outdoor national champion Daniel Roberts.

The Decade Has Ended

LRC LetsRun.com’s Decade Awards: Alberto Salazar Is Our Person Of The Decade + Best Runner, Best Upset, Doping Excuse Of The Decade, & More! In a decade marked by controversy, it’s fitting that Alberto Salazar is our Person of the Decade as controversy clung to Salazar like a paper clip to a magnet. Plus who wins our world and US athlete of the decade honors?

LRCUS And World Runners Of The Decade: Jenny Simpson, Matthew Centrowitz, Caster Semenya And Eliud Kipchoge

LRC 2019 LetsRun.com World And American Rankings: Donavan Brazier And Ajee’ Wilson Are World #1s The 6th annual world and US distance rankings are here and for the first time ever two Americans are #1 in the world in their events.

Rojo Speaks: The 2010s Are History: It Was Both The Best And Worst Of Times For Track And Field Fans What a crazy decade. From Chris Solinsky‘s 26:59 at the start of the decade to Brigid Kosgei‘s 2:14:04 at the end, there were plenty of high highs but the lows were also big as well as Olympic champs at 800, 1,500, steeple and the marathon were all banned from the sport. What does it all mean? LetsRun.com co-founder Robert Johnson looks for meaning and tries to figure it all out by taking you back in a time machine to January 1, 2010.

LetsRun.com Founders Named as Two of “The 50 Most Influential People in Running”