February 05, 2020 Homepage Archive

Where Your Dreams Become Reality

Archived Homepage For February 05, 2020

Quote Of The Day

“I told the athletes, if you really study the Trials – the marathon but also, pick an event, 5,000, steeple, 10,000, 1,500, whatever. Watch those races, the people who try to win end up on the podium, the people who try to get third end up fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, etc. So of course folks, try to win. You try to win, maybe you win, maybe end up second, maybe you end up third, but I think if you go in with an attitude of ‘I’m going to try to sneak onto the team. I’m going to try to do some cute thing where, you know, I start out in 12th and I slowly move up.’ Those are fantasies. That’s not what really happens.”

“It’s like NCAA cross country. There’s no secret to NCAA cross country. You get out and hammer you put all your five guys up as high as you possibly can and your five ladies and you compete up front. And that’s how you make the podium in the NCAA. And that’s how you’ll make the podium in Atlanta. You, go for the win, you know. Why wouldn’t Fauble think he can win? He was just, he’s just running stride for stride with the best guys in the world at Boston for 22 miles and giving them all they can handle, so I’m glad that they’re saying that.”

– HOKA ONE ONE Northern Arizona Elite coach Ben Rosario talking about his team’s goals for the 2020 US Olympic Marathon Trials. This month, LetsRun is partnering with HOKA to profile athletes at the Trials – from the contenders to the dreamers to the mountain men and women.

Breaking: MB: Nike will release Alphaflys and they WILL be legal for Tokyo 2020

LRC Exclusives

The Aussie 5000 Trials Are Happening Within 24 Hours LRC Stewart McSweyn, Jessica Hull, & More Chase Olympic Berths on Thursday in Melbourne at Australian 5,000m Champs If you can’t wait for the US Olympic Trials, why not whet your appetite by checking out the Melbourne Track Classic as Thusday’s race will serve as Australia’s 5000 Olympic Trials. Read to find out why Morgan McDonald and Patrick Tiernan are skipping it. Races start at 3:40 am ET and 5;05 am ET.

WTW World, Meet Jemma Reekie, Insanity On The Roads in Japan and Did The Vaporflys Cause Asics Stock Price To Drop? Relax, the winter hiatus for our weekly recap is over. We spend a lot of time talking about shoes and wonder, did the stock price of Asics really just plummet because of the Vaporflys?

Going to Millrose?Read This LRC Welcome To Coogan’s, Where Everybody Knows The Runners’ Names When you need to wet your whistle after the Millrose Games, there’s only one place to go. Athlete, coach, fan – it doesn’t matter. Everyone ends up at Coogan’s – the #1 track and field bar in America.

More Solid Results From The Weekend

Emily Lipari Ran The #8 All-Time US Indoor 5000m With 15:07.44 At The BU Scarlet and White Invitational Behind her, Sharon Lokedi was 2nd in 15:13.04. In the women’s 1500m, Cory McGee moved to #5 on the all-time US indoor list with a 4:04.75 victory. BTC’s Josh Thompson won the men’s 1500m in 3:37.21 and Willy Fink took the 3000m in 7:44.21.
Germany’s Marc Reuther Ran World Leading 1:45.39 In Erfurt (Second Fastest Ever By A German Indoors)
Kenyans Davis Kiplangat And Lydia Lagat Win Almond Blossom XC Race In Portugal Kiplangat beat out Richard Yator by just 1-second while Lagat dominated by 20.
GB’s World Indoor 60H Champ Andrew Pozzi Ran World Leading 7.52 To Win Over 110H World Champ Pascal Martinot-Lagarde In Paris
43-Year-Old Japanese Woman Sets Marathon WR For Visually Impaired With 2:54:22

Weekend Indoor Action *All Weekend NCAA Coverage

2020 UW Invitational:Evan Jager Is Back With 3:56 Mile Win; Shelby Houlihan Runs Impressive 4:23/2:01 Double Behind Houlihan, Karissa Schweizer ran a quick 4:24.32 for second while Sean McGorty came in behind Jager with 3:57.19. Besides Jager and Houlihan, the rest of BTC cleaned house as well with Colleen Quigley winning the 3,000m in 8:44.83 and Marc Scott taking the men’s race in 7:49.65.
*DyeStat Recap Houlihan: “I wasn’t expecting to run the times that I ran back to back. I’m pleasantly surprised with that.”

Dreams Become Reality:Jemma Reekie Runs 1:57.91 To Break Scottish Record And Beat Laura Muir Pretty impressive for someone with a 2:01 outdoor PR. *Discussion/Video Of Race
*Was Jemma Reekie’s 800m Breakthrough Another Instance Of Nike Mechanical Doping? Reekie broke her PR by nearly four seconds, but was wearing a Nike prototype spike. Her coach says that the shoes were legal and would be available for retail shortly.
The Oregon Men Break The Collegiate Record In The DMR With 9:24.52 Running at the Razorback Invy, the team of James West, Jacob Miller, Charlie Hunter and Cooper Teare broke the former record (9:25.97) set by Texas in 2008. Teare ran the 1,600m leg in 3:55.45.
*MB: OREGON DMR COLLEGIATE RECORD
MB:Power Five Invite/Michigan – Mary Cain Back in the Mile (6th – 4:42.78) Julie-Ann Staehli won the race in 4:33.80. Shannon Osika won the 800m in 2:02.11. *Full Results
MB: Matt Boling Run 20.90 200M At Razorback Meet He was 5th overall; Texas Micaiah Harris won the race in 20.49.*Razorback Full Results
Ella Donaghu Breaks Stanford Indoor Mile Record With 4:33.71 Victory At Razorback Invy She ran faster than Elise Cranny‘s 4:34.48, but slower than Cranny ran on Washington’s oversized track (4:31.29).
Allyson Felix Opens Seaon With 60m Victory (7.35) At Power Five Invitational In Michigan GB’s Cindy Ofili edged Tiffany Porter in the60H 8.19 (8.181) to 8.19 (8.188).
High School MB CRUZ CULPEPPER Runs 4:01.81 for full mile at UW The son of two Olympians is producing at a high level.
Brandon Miller’s 1:52.10 800m Among HS US#1s at Music City HS Invitational
USTFCCCA Weekend Collegiate Preview

The World Reacts To The New Shoe Rules

LRC Olympian And Key Vaporfly Researcher Shalaya Kipp Talks To LRC About World Athletics’ New Shoe Regulations And The Shoe Nicknamed “The Magic” Kipp, who worked on the study that gave the Vaporflys their 4% name, is pleased by the new regulations as she thinks within a year or two athletes will have a level playing field. Or listen to Kipp’s remarks as a podcast here.

LRC5 Takeaways About World Atheltics New Shoe Rules Soon the back of the packers at major marathons will be running in technology superior to the winners.

The Irish Times‘ Ian O’Riordan Reminds Us How Fair Or Unfair, Shoe Technology Innovations Has Always Been A Thing From Bill Bowerman‘s waffle iron to the now standard tongue loop for shoe laces, Nike’s often been ahead of the curve, but other companies have been there too.
Ben Bloom: Integrity Of Athletics The Price Tag For Nike’s Latest Shoe “When five-time Olympian Bernard Lagat posted a photo of himself in what appeared to be Alphafly shoes this week, someone asked how much they would cost. One reply summed up what is at stake for the sport: “The price is integrity.”
Rojo Raves (And Moans About) Vaporflys In NY Post “They made an incredible shoe … [but[ running is not supposed to be about who has the best technology. It’s supposed to be about who pushes the hardest, has the most talent and trains the hardest,” said Rojo, who referred to Nike’s action in 2016 when they secretly released it and made it look like other shoes as “shady.”
BBC Takes A Look At The Technology Behind The Vaporfly
AP:World Athletics Sees Risk In Shoe Technology, But Clears Nike Design

Japan Olympic News

This Week’s Podcast

LRC Pro Track Is Back: Brazier And Hoppel Impress, Mary Cain Vs. Katelyn Tuohy + Rojo’s Rants Get your weekly fix on the running world.
Been Gone The Last Few Weeks? 2 of our most famous podcast listeners were guests the 2 previous weeks:
*Boston Marathon Champ And American Legend Des Linden Talked Trials, Ultras And More And explains her $50 tip to LetsRun.com
*Foot Locker High School National Champ Josh Methner

Why Name The Team Before The Spring Marathon Season?

MB Athletics Kenya Names Eliud Kipchoge, Lawrence Cherono, Amos Kipruto, Brigid Kosgei, Ruth Chepngetich And Vivian Cheruiyot To Its Olympic Marathon Team Yet again a federation making a dumb decision. We see no benefit to naming the team now if you aren’t going to forbid the runners from running a spring marathon. Cheruiyot will be on her 5th Olympic team – a record for Kenya. Pretty impressive since she started in 2000 and missed out on 2004.

More Sprint Stuff

Kansas City Chiefs Receiver Tyreek Hill Says He Wants To Try To Make The 2020 US Olympic Team Hill has 100/200 PRs of 10.19 and 20.14 from his senior year of high school in 2012. He says he’d have to lose a lot of weight as he’s 195 pounds and weighed 175 when he ran in high school.
*MB: Tyreek Hill says he wants to try out for 2020 Olympic team
Apparently Demek Kempt Is Facing Some Criticism In Jamaica For Calling Asafa Powell An “Old Guy” 37-year-old Powell responded by saying, “Age is just a number …I am still feeling very strong, still feeling as fast as I did years ago,” Powell said.
Q&A With GB’s Dina Asher-Smith About Her Winter Training Routine She talks about having to train in the cold, wind and snow. Does she not have access to an indoor track?
World Athletics Podcast Interview With World 400H Champ Karsten Warholm Sounds like they go off on some interesting tangents ,including talking about skydiving and horse racing.
Video Interview With Shamier Little After 2nd Place Run In NBIGP 300m Little was happy with her run and said she was focused on winning a medal at World Indoors, but that obviously won’t be happening now
Two Scottish Records Went Down Over The Weekend – Alisha Reese With 7.33 In The 60m And Nikki Manson With 1.92m In The HJ

Previous Vaporfly Stuff

Wall St. Journal Video Of Nike Vaporfly Controversy Has More Than 3.5 Million V iews
What the Wall Street Journal video didn’t reveal The video ends with a guy running a mile in the Vaporflys and a mile in the Adios Boosts. What it didn’t reveal was his HR was 5 bpm less in the Vaporflys and his stride frequency was about 3 strides/minute lower in the Vaporfly.
The Telegraph Opinion Piece:“Nike’s Vaporfly Shoes Are Fine – But The Sport’s Integrity Is At Stake If Their Next Version Is Not Banned” Ben Bloom writes, “The Alphafly is a step too far. When five-time Olympian Bernard Lagat posted a photo of him in what appeared to be Alphafly shoes this week, someone asked how much they would cost. One reply summed up what is at stake for the sport: ‘the price is integrity.'”

Vaporfly Related MB Talk:

February 8th Will Be A Good Day For Indoor Action

NXN Champ Nico Young Going After The American Junior 3,000m Record In The Pro Race At Millrose Chris Derrick has the record at 7:56.31 (Drew Hunter has the HS record at 7:59.33).
NYRR Gives A Rundown Of The Top Men And Women Competing At This Year’s Millrose Games Highlights will include the men’s and women’s 800 where Donavan Brazier faces Bryce Hoppel, Michael Saruin, Isaiah Harris and Ajee Wilson faces Laura Muir.
Strong Pole Vaults Set For Perche Elite Tour De Rouen With Sam Kendricks Vs. Renaud Lavillenie And Euro Silver And Bronze Medalists Nikoleta Kiriakopoulou Vs. Holly Bradshaw
Trio Of 60H Medalists Will Face-Off At The Orlen Copernicus Cup In Poland With GB’s Andrew Pozzi, Serbia’s Milan Trajkovic And US’s Jarret Eaton

RIP: Kobe Bryant Dies In Helicopter Crash

MB: RIP Kobe Bryant: Bryant killed in helicopter crash in CA
IOC President Thomas Bach Leads Tribute To Double Olympic Gold Medalist Kobe Bryant Bryant was part of the US team that won Olympic gold medals at Beijing 2008 and London 2012. Bach said, “After retiring from the game he loved so much, he continued to support the Olympic Movement and was an inspiration for the Olympic Games LA 2028.”
Usain Bolt And Yohan Blake Among Track Stars To Pay Tribute To Kobe Bryant Americans Will Claye, Lolo Jones and Wallace Spearmon were also among those to make posts on social media.
MB: Pat Porter or Kobe Bryant? Which Death Impacted You Most?
MB: No disrespect to Kobe Bryant but 9 people lost their lives but hardly a word about them in the media

Marathon Month Is Here (Sponsored by HOKA ONE ONE)

LRC HOKA NAZ Elite Coach Ben Rosario Talks 2020 Marathon Trials Expectations, Shoe Technology, Jim Walmsley, & Even Galen Rupp 4 years ago, Rosario coached two athletes to 4th place at the Trials and two more to 6th. What will happen in 2020? While talking about the 2020 Trials, Rosario, who will be coaching 3 of the top 11 seeds in both races in Atlanta, also talks about shoe technology, Jim Walmsley, Galen Rupp‘s new coach, Jordan Hasay, Emily Sisson, Des Linden, and much more.

Pole Vault Record Nearly Goes Down In Dusseldorf *Results

Mondo Duplantis Clears 6.00m In Dusseldorf; Narrowly Misses 6.17m World Record Duplantis’ second attempt was “painfully close” to breaking Renaud Lavillenie‘s 6.16m WR as he just nudged the bar slightly with his knee on the way over and brushed it with his arm on the way down. Besides the PV, distance events highlighted the meet as Beatrice Chepkoech broke her own Kenyan national indoor 1500m record with a 4:02.09 win over Axumawit Embaye (4:02.96). Filip Ingebrigtsen won the men’s race in 3:36.32 while Selemon Barega ran 7:35.71 to win a competitive 3000m over Getnet Wale (7:36.03) and Bethwel Birgen (7:46.21). There was an upset in the men’s 800 where Germany’s Marc Reuther ran 1:46.13 to end Adam Kszczot‘s (1:46.42) seven straight Dusseldorf victory winning streak.
*MB: Pole Vault WR under threat in Dusseldorf?

Admin / Random

Race Walkers Lose CAS Legal Case To Add Women’s 50k Event To The Olympics CAS said they have no jurisdiction to hear the athletes’ appeal. World Athletics previously said the women’s event lacks the depth and quality to justify Olympic status.
MB: True or false: It’s easier to run 6-7 days a week than 2 or 3. Rojo says true!!
Runner’s World Takes A Look At All The Running-Related Super Bowl Ads. Usain Bolt, Jimmy Fallon,The Rock, and Oprah were among those to star in the commercials.
Chinese Athletes Forced To Train In Isolation Due To Coronavirus One official said Olympic hopefuls around the country are being kept “behind closed doors.”
World Athletics Ratifies A Slew Of WRs Including Edward Cheserek’s WR Equalling 13:29 And Dalilah Muhammad’s 52.16 In The 400H Also Joshua Cheptegei‘s 26:38 10k WR, but that’s already been broken by the yet-to-be-ratified 26:24 by Rhonex Kipruto.
LA 2028 Opening And Closing Ceremony Stadium 85% Complete

Previous Olympic Marathon Trials News (Sponsored By HOKA ONE ONE)

LRC HOKA ONE ONE Trials Athlete Of The Day: 2007 Foot Locker Champ Ashley Brasovan The former high school star is our first HOKA ONE ONE Trials Athlete of the Day. She beat Jordan Hasay to win the crown and later was told by doctors she would never “run again, let alone compete, after being diagnosed with osteoporosis and having 4 femoral stress fractures.” Yet she’s become a professional trail runner and 2X Olympic Marathon trials qualifier.

LRC HOKA ONE ONE Is Ready To Take On The Marathon Trials We’re making February Marathon Month on LetsRun.com. HOKA ONE ONE has partnered with us to bring to life the stories of their 17 athletes competing at the Trials in Atlanta. From the dreamers, to the contenders, to the debutantes, to the mountain men and women, we’ll bring their stories to life and help you get pumped up for the Trials, plus get some training advice.

Sprint Stuff

InsideTheGames’ Article On Kansas City’s Wide Receiver Tyreek Hill Looking To Make The 2020 Olympics Tokyo 1964 100m and 4 x 100 gold medalist Bob Hayes is the only Olympic champion to ever win a Super Bowl ring (he won with the Dallas Cowboys in 1971).
*MB: Tyreek Hill says he wants to try out for 2020 Olympic team
US 16-Year-Old Sprinter Tamari Davis Signs Pro Contract With Adidas Last month Davis ran 7.19 to set the world under-18 60m record.

More Indoor Action

Ukraine’s World Silver Medalist Yaroslava Mahuchikh Tops Her Own World U20 Record With A 2.02m Victory At The Karlsruhe Indoor Meet In Germany The 18-year-old also took 3 unsuccessful attempts at 2.04m.
*Earlier In The Week: Yaroslava Mahuchikh Clears 1.98m To Win Springer Meeting In Germany She took failed attempts at 2.02m, which would have broke her own world U20 record.
World Athletics Karlsruhe Meet Recap: World Champs 6th Placer Fantu Worku Domindates The 3,000m In A World-Leading 8:37.58 Bethwel Birgen won the men’s 3000m in 7:38.50 while Axumawit Embaye took the women’s 1,500m in 4:07.94. Mostafa Smaili won the men’s 800m in a world-leading 1:46.38.

Will Russia Ever Learn?

Interesting In Depth Analysis Of Russian Track And Field Doping Data This analysis looks at 29,544 results achieved by 354 Russian athletes during the 1993-2019 period to compare performances between athletes that were busted for doping to athletes who never tested positive. It also looks at how the results of banned athletes during their disqualified period compare to when they passed doping tests.
Russia Edging Towards Blanket Track And Field Ban After Athletics Integrity Unit Suggests The Expulsion Of RusAF From Membership Of World Athletics The AIU said that in response to evidence officials forged documents to cover-up a whereabouts violation by high jumper Danil Lysenko, RusAF had not put “forward any material or evidence” to answer the case against it and showed a “total lack of contrition.”
World Athletics Statement; Won’t Be Considering Any Applications For “Neutral Athlete” Status “Instead of admitting the charges and expressing contrition, RusAF has instead ‘gone to great lengths to deny any involvement in the matter, blame others and attack the process.'”
Reuters: RUSADA Official Says Banned Race Walking Coach Viktor Chegin Still Working With Athletes RUSADA deputy head Margarita Pakhnotskaya: “Chegin is working to this day. He is hidden by security guards. He walks around in a hood and glasses. He changes vehicles. To catch him we would need the police, a law enforcement operation, wiretaps and so on.”

World Indoors Postponed

Nanjing, China World Indoor Championships Postponed Until March 2021 The World Athletics statement read, “We know that China is doing all it can to contain the new Coronavirus … [but] the advice from our medical team, who are in contact with the World Health Organisation, is that the spread of the Coronavirus both within China and outside the country is still at a concerning level.”
*MB: 2020 World Indoors in China is POSTPONED until 2021 due to Coronavirus

Nike Is Done Investigating Itself

Nike’s Investigation Of The Oregon Project’s Treatment Of Women Is Complete The report will not be released to the public but Erin Strout reports Nike will be increasing its number of female coaches, investing into scientific research on the impact that elite training has on girls/women, hiring a VP to have “strategic oversight” of Nike’s female athletes and more.
*MB: Nike’s NOP investigation is complete – Cain declined to participate but calls them “weak and cowardly”

World Indoors Are In DangerPostponed

Coronavirus Threatens World Indoor Championships In Nanjing, China World Athletics confirmed that it is in close discussions with the World Health Organization and is monitoring the situation “carefully.”
*MB: Olympic soccer qualifying tournament for Feb moved out of Nanjing, China. Will World Indoors be next? What’s a good alternative?
*MB: Coronavirus is going to kill AT LEAST 3% of all of us.
Asian Indoor Championships Cancelled Amid Coronavirus Outbreak They were scheduled to take place February 12-13. World Indoors are March 13-15.
Health Minister Might Barr Jamaican Athletes From Going To World Indoors In Nanjing
Coronavirus Outbreak Forces Cancellation Of Opening Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics Test Event
Bird’s Nest Stadium Among Public Buildings Closing In China Because Of Coronavirus

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.

Upcoming: What Kind Of Shape Is Galen Rupp In? We Find Out This Weekend

Galen Rupp Will Tune-Up For The Olympic Marathon Trials At Sprouts Mesa Half Marathon Saturday In Arizona This will be Rupp’s first race since dropping out of the Chicago Marathon and also his first race since being coached by NAU’s Mike Smith.
Also Saturday: 2020 Camel City Elite Fields Finalized The meet will be highlighted by Paul Chelimo (3000), Jenny Simpson (3000), Edward Cheserek (mile), Clayton Murphy vs Craig Engels in the 800 and Raevyn Rogers and Athing Mu in the 800.
Mo Farah Withdraws From London Half-Marathon With Achilles Injury Farah: “My priority is to be fit, healthy and competitive for the summer season. For that reason I have had to make the tough decision not to race this year.”
*MB: Farah runs away from Bekele

NCAA News

USTFCCCA NCAA Weekend In Review Joe Klecker a new Colorado state soil mile record of 4:01.00 (converts to 3:55.06 with NCAA altitude conversion). In New Mexico, Weini Kelati ran a solo 4:38.73 (altitude conversion of 4:32.66).
BYU And UW Women Got DMR NCAA Qualifiers A Day After An Official Error Ruined Their Chances An official had the women on one leg line up a lap early on Friday, so they stopped the race and re-ran it on Saturday. BYU won in a facility record 10:53.95 followed by BYU in 10:56.23.
*MB: UW and BYU go home DEVASTATED, hand off baton a lap early
Florida State And LSU Men Stay Ranked 1-2 In Latest NCAA Rankings Texas moved up to #3 and Southern California down to #4.
No Changes To Women’s Top-4 Ranked NCAA Teams As Southern California Remains #1 Georgia, Arkansas and Texas are ranked 2-4.
The Oregon Men’s DMR And Georgia Jumper Jasmine Moore Are NCAA Athletes Of The Week The Oregon DMR broke the collegiate record with 9:24.52 while Moore jumped 13.90m in the TJ, which is the second best ever by a freshman.
Event-By-Event Top Ten NCAA Marks From Last Week
MB:NCAA athlete gets $20k from Ellen DeGeneres. How is this not an NCAA violation?

Road Action

Vaporfly Madness Continues MB Australian, Japanese, Canadian, Korean And Namibian Half NRs All Fall In Japan Australia’s Brett Robinson led the way at 59:57 as Japan’s Yusuke Ogura ran 60:00. In the women’s race, national records were set by Helalia Johannes (68:10, Namibia), Kyun Sun Cho (68:35, South Korea) and Andrea Seccafien (69:38, Canada).
*World Athletics Recap