January 24, 2020 Homepage Archive

MB: Breaking: King Ches to Compete for Kenya Ches will go for a World Indoor qualifier this weekend and says he’ll compete for Kenya if he makes the World Indoor and/or Olympic team.

2020 Dubai Marathon Full Race Replay Tracking / Results

LRC Worknesh Degefa (2:19:38) Dominates; 11 Men Run 2:06 As Dubai Marathon Comes Down To Mad Dash Over Final Kilometer The post-Vaporfly marathon madness continued in Dubai. Four marathons in history have seen 11 men break 2:08; three have taken place in the last four months.
*MB:Official 2020 Dubai Marathon Discussion Thread
*World Athletics Recap

World HJ Champ Maria Lasitskene Continues To Bash Russian Fed; Might Sue

Maria Lasitskene Considering Filing A Lawsuit Against The Russian Athletics Federation “Their actions have been detrimental and are resulting in my deprivations in moral, reputational and financial aspects. According to my preliminary estimations, it should be a multi-million lawsuit in case I completely miss this winter season.”
Eight Russian Track Athletes Added To RUSADA’s Testing Pool; Maria Lasitskene Fears This Is A “Bad Sign” Lasitskene thinks this was ordered by World Athletics so they could remove her from the international testing pool and revoke her neutral status.
Maria Lasitskene May Train Abroad Ahead Of Tokyo, But Says She’ll Never Try To Compete For Another Country

Links That Passed Our Vetting Process As They Were Interesting Or Informative

UK Anti-Doping Issues Press Release Saying They Haven’t Refused Any WADA Requests In Regards To Mo Farah That’s not really the point. The whole furor arose because their head said she might not hand over samples without “credible evidence.”
Inside Hitomi Niiya’s Japanese Half Marathon NR, Pacer Tsuyoshi Ugachi Shares His Thoughts: “It was important that she have the moment to shine all to herself.” The Japanese covered all the details in Houston as her pacer, who has PRs of 27:40, 60:58, and 2:10:50, spent a week with her in Houston.
3-Time Alaska State XC Champ And 6-Time Track Champ Kendall Kramer Becomes First American To Win Individual Medal In Cross-Country Skiing At Winter Youth Olympic Games
Dina Asher Smith Writes Column Looking At Track Stars Who Have Made Statements With Their Appearance Over The Years From Gail Devers‘ nails to Cathy Freeman‘s bodysuit, Asher-Smith thinks the results are empowering.
Ever Heard That You Aren’t Firing? That’s Probably Not True Strengthening your calves is way more important anyway.

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

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 Geremew and Julien Wanders are in the men’s field.
Hellen Obiri Will Go For Her Ffth 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 Buildup 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 Sys 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.

**US Weekend Preview *TV & Streaming**

Boots On The Ground In Boston
LRC Profile Trayvon Bromell Is Back; Hoping That This Comeback Will Be His Last Once the brightest young light in US sprinting, Trayvon Bromell is on the comeback trail racing after two Achilles surgeries. He’ll race indoors for the 1st time since 2016 on Saturday at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix

LRCIn Response To Diamond League Changes, Emma Coburn Will Not Run ANY DL Steeples In 2020 Coburn does not like the steeple being excluded from the DL final and will skip the entire DL circuit. Plus Donavan Brazier wants to race David Rudisha. *Discuss Here

LRC What To Watch For This Weekend: Lots Of Great Distance Action At NBIGP, Tuohy Vs. Cain, Debuts For Brazier & McLaughlin & Trayvon Bromell Is Back A lot of pros will be racing indoors in the NY and Boston this weekend. We break it all down for you including Donavan Brazier‘s WR attempt at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix.
*World Athletics Preview: Spotlight On Donavan Brazier, Nia Ali, Sydney McLaughlin

Japanese Distance News

Former Japanese Marathon National Record Holder Yuta Shitara Wants To Run 2:04 At The Tokyo Marathon March 1st But he doesn’t just want to run 2:04. The 2:06:11 man says hif he doesn’t run 2:04, he won’t “deserve to run in the Tokyo Olympics” and went as far as to say that if he runs 2:05, he’d “probably turn it (the Olympics) down.”
Sunday:Haftamnesh Tesfay Leads A Quartet Of Sub-2:22 Women While The Japanese Battle It Out For An Olympic Spot At The Women’s Osaka Marathon *Japan Running News Preview: A Sub-2:22:22 Will Earn The Japanese Women An Olympic Spot

Vaporfly News

Interesting Read Helmut Winter: Stats Reveal Elite Marathon Times Have Dropped 1:45 For Men, 3:00 For Women In Last 2 Years, Possibly Due To VF

MB:Can the owners of this site finally stop crying about/doing free advertisement for the Vaporfly all day long?
Unfit Journalist Puts On Vaporflys, Knocks 2.5 Minutes Off A 42-Minute Run
Paula Radcliffe On Vaporflys: “I’m kind of sitting on the fence a little bit with how much the shoes on their own are distorting the competition.” Go to the last 35 seconds of the interview from Radcliffe, who is doing the commentary in Dubai.
From Paul Tergat’s Filas To Eliud Kipchoge’s Alphaflys, AW Shoe Guru Looks At History Of Carbon Fiber-Plated Shoes Tergat set his marathon WR in shoes that had a fiber plate.
Wall Street Journal Produces 8-Minute Video On Vaporfly Controversy

Women’s News Of Note

Foot Locker Champ Zofia Dudek Has Long-Term Vision For Track She wants to be competing in the middle of the summer – at World Juniors in Kenya – but is feeling good after taking 2 weeks off following XC.
Saitama International Marathon To Be Discontinued The women’s elite race which was only 5 years old featured a $6.4 million budget but only 1 elite Japanese woman ran it last year as the pros didn’t like it as it was so hilly. Amateurs, however, love it and it may be brought back in 2021 as it’s one of Japan’s biggest races with 20,000 runners.
What’s A Week Of Training Like With Team Boss (Joe Bosshard’s Group)? Aisha Praught-Leer Shares A Week Of Her Training The hard days are hard and include weights and the easy days are easy.
How Katie Izzo Has Gone From Breaking Her Tibia And Fibula In 2016 To A 15:13 Indoor 5,000 For Arkansas Her PR for Cal Poly was 16:08.
Olivia Baker Talks About Her Bittersweet 2019 Campaign Her first year as a pro saw her finish 4th at USAs but she didn’t have the 2:00.60 standard which would have gotten her to Doha as Ajee won the DL. The Stanford grad now trains in Austin, TX where she has a running book club with Keturah Orji.
After Making The 800m Final In Doha, Ce’Aira Brown Is Considering Doubling Up In The 800 And 1,500 At The 2020 Trials “I’m with the 1,500 girls on strength days and the 800 girls on speed days.”

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 If 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.

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.

Random Olympic-Related News

NCAA To Allow Elite Olympic Athletes To Receive Compensation For Training And Travel Expenses This would allow them to accept money also for travel for their parents and coaches.
Japan On Track To Hit 30 Gold Medal Target For Tokyo Olympics This would put them 4th behind the USA’s projected 47 golds, China’s 43 and Russia’s 25, but would be way more than the 12 golds they won in Rio. On the flip side, GB are projected to win 25 medals (all colors) less than they did in Rio.
Japan’s Olympic Ceremonies Uniforms Unveiled
Late Night Train Services Planned For Tokyo 2020

Parenting News

Baby Bolt Coming Soon!!! Usain Bolt’s GF Is Pregnant
Former GB Marathoner Turned Coach Jo Wilkinson Tells Parents How To Coach Their Own Kids – Don’t “I’ve realised when it comes to my son’s running, my job is to be his mum and let his coach do the coaching.”

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.

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.