February 16, 2020 | LetsRun.com

Joshua Cheptegei Crushes Road World Record

Joshua Cheptegei Runs 12:51 To Smash World 5k Road Record Cheptegei has been on fire the last year. The previous road best was 13:00. *Video Of Race
*World Athletics Recap
*MB:Why Do Joshua Cheptegei And Rhonex Kipruto Avoid Even Attempting Track Records?

HOKA ONE ONE Takes On The Marathon Trials (Sponsored By HOKA ONE ONE)

LRC In “2:10 shape” & With Secret “Trials Dagger” Shoes, Ultra Star Jim Walmsley Is Ready To Take On The 2020 US Olympic Marathon Trials “I’d like to think I’m around 2:10 shape right now. … I feel like I’ve legitimately put in the training and the work to contend up front. I feel pretty confident with that,” said Walmsley.
*HOKA Trials Athlete Of The Day #8 Jim Walmsley Walmsley gives some advice and also wants advice for his marathon debut.

Glasgow Indoor GP: Duplantis Breaks The WR Again

World Athletics Recap: Mondo Duplantis Breaks PV WR Again With 6.18m In Glasgow Duplantis picked up a $30,000 bonus for breaking his own record from a week ago, sailing over it on his first attempt. Distance winners winners included Adam Kszczot (1:46.34) in the 800m (just .18 ahead of Kenya’s Cornelius Tuwei) and Bethwell Birgen in the 1500m (3:36.22).
*MB: MONDO Duplantis does it AGAIN – 6.18 new WR!!!

GB’s Jemma Reekie Maintains Momentum With Glasgow 1500m Win In 4:04.07 Ahead Of Ethiopia’s Former World Indoor Silver Medalist Dawit Seyaum (4:04.24) Laura Muir was shooting for the 2:30.94 world record in the 1000m, but was way off with a 2:33.45 win (still the 11th-fastest of all time).
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Runs 7.16 To Beat Out Murielle Ahoure In The Glasgow 60m USA’s Ronnie Baker won the men’s race in 6.50 seconds.

Transgender Controversies

Families Of Three High School Girls Sue To Block Participation Of Transgender Athletes In Girls Sports In Connecticut They argue that allowing athletes with male anatomy to compete has deprived them of track titles and scholarship opportunities. The two transgender sprinters at the center of the controversy have won 15 girls state indoor or outdoor titles since 2017.
*MB: Parents and girls sue to block participation of transgender athletes
SI.com: Megan Youngren To Become First Openly Transgender Athlete To Compete At The Olympic Marathon Trials Youngren ran 2:43:52 at CIM to qualify. *Discuss

Caster Semenya Returning To The Track In South African Event Alongside High Schoolers The event, which includes a few SA Olympians, is aimed at encouraging high schoolers to take up sport. Semenya will run in the 300m in her first race since losing her CAS appeal last year.

Will Coronavirus Be An Issue At Tokyo 2020?

Tokyo 2020 Chief Dismisses Suggestions The Olympics Could Be Cancelled Because Of Coronavirus As “Irresponsible Rumors”
World Health Organization Says There Is No Case For Cancelling Or Postponing The Tokyo 2020 Games
The Telegraph: “Tokyo 2020 Organizers Are “Childlike'”To Not Plan For Games Being Cancelled Over Coronavirus” A leading public-health specialist in Britain criticized Tokyo 2020 for outright ruling out cancelling the Games.
The Telegraph: “Tokyo 2020 Organizers Face Agonising Wait As Coronavirus Threat Looms Large” Apparently there is a cruise ship in a Japanese port near Tokyo with 218 people diagnosed with coronavirus (the largest concentration of the illness outside China).
The Guardian: “IOC Insists Tokyo Olympics Will Go Ahead Despite Coronavirus”

Mid-Week Action In Ireland *Full Results

Phil Healy Breaks Irish 200m Record With 23.10 At The AIT International GP In Athlone Ethiopia’s Samuel Tefera won the mile in 3:55.86 while Ireland’s Ciara Mageean took the 3,000m in 8:48.27. *European Athletics Recap

2020 USA Indoors Schedule, Entries & Results TV & Streaming Women’s Preview Men’s Preview

LRC Shelby Houlihan & Josh Thompson Complete Bowerman TC Sweep Of 1,500s At 2020 USATF Indoors Houlihan used a sub-30 final lap to win her 13th US title while Thompson held off defending champ Craig Engels and unheralded (and unsponsored) Nick Harris to earn his first US title.

LRC Ajee’ Wilson And Bryce Hoppel Comfortably Win 2020 USATF Indoor 800-Meter Titles (As Expected) The 800s went very much according to form as Wilson and Hoppel earned wins as expected.

MB LRC Day 2 Thread
Online rivalry: MB: Shots fired: Paul Chelimo calls out Lopez Lomong for ducking him at USAs
Christian Coleman Comes Close 60 60m WR With 6.37 To Win USAs The time is #2 in history behind his own 6.34 WR.
USATF Recap: World Leads Dominate Final Day Of USAs Ryan Crouser threw the second farthest indoor shot put in history with 22.60m. Sandi Morris beat out Jenn Suhur in the PV with 4.90m. Vashti Cunningham became the first woman to win 5 straight US indoor titles in the HJ with a 1.97m victory.
*Day 1: Tori Franklin Reclaims The American TJ Record And US Title From Keturah Orji With 14.64m 2019 winner Orji had just broken the record moments earlier with a 14.60m jump.
Coach Pete Julian On Why Donavan Brazier Scratched From USAs “[Brazier] accomplished the things we wanted to accomplish indoors. We sharpened the blade a little bit. It’s time to keep our eyes on the big prize.”

Non-USAs Action: The Pros Don’t Care About USA Champs *All NCAA Results

MB: Jenny Simpson runs 14:58.67 5k (#3 US all-time indoors) Simpson won the BU Valentine 5,000m. Colorado’s Dani Jones was a distant second in 15:17.11. *Full Results
Husky Classic Results: Lopez Lomong (7:45.82) And Emily Infeld (8:48.73) Lead Fast 3,000s For BTC BTC went 1-2-3 with Marc Scott (7:46.11) and Evan Jager (7:46.24) behind Lomong.
*MB: Bowerman Track Club men and Jerry Schumacher- Skip USAs to run in Washington
Cruz Culpepper Just Misses Sub-4 With A 4:00.10 Mile At The Husky Classic Culpepper placed 6th in the race won by Oregon’s James West in 3:57.43. He would have become just the third high schooler to go sub-4 indoors; it’s the 4th fastest all-time, but won’t count in the record books as it’s an oversized track.
Marlee Starliper Runs US High School #3 All-Time 3,000m With 9:07.14 At BU Valentine She finished 7th in the race against pros and collegians. Only Katelyn Tuohy and Mary Cain have run faster on a standard 200m track.
MB: Transgender Runner June Eastwood runs 4:45 mile Eastwood won the third section and was 19th in the merge at the Husky Classic.

HOKA ONE ONE Takes On The Marathon Trials (Sponsored by HOKA ONE ONE)

LRC HOKA Trials Runner Of The Day #7: Brandon Johnson: From Famous Steeple Fall To The Marathon Trials This HOKA field rep recruited by Pete Julian in college first made national news by face planting in a steeple pit, but has been climbing up the distance ranks since.

LetsSprint.com

Niger Sprinter Aminatou Seyni The Latest Athlete In The Hormone Debate Last year Seyni was the 3rd fastest in the world over 400m (49.19), but didn’t race the 400m in Doha because she refuses to take testosterone suppressing medication. (She failed to make the final in the 200m.)
Yohan Blake Says He’ll Contest The 200m This Year After Previously Saying He Was Only Going To Run The 100m Blake says things are going well under his new coach, Gregory Little. He opened his season last weekend with a 48.24 400m.
*Yohan Blake Targeting “9.8 And 9.7” As He Prepares For His Last Olympics Blake’s best time since he ran his 9.69 PB in 2012 is a 9.90 he ran in 2017.
The Guardian: Meet Amy Hunt, The British Teenage Sprinter Tearing Up The Record Books The world U18 200m record holder talks about juggling school and sports, Olympic hopes and racing Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce at this weekend’s Glasgow Indoor GP.
Norway’s World 400H Champ Karsten Warholm Confirms Plans To Do The 400H/400m Double At 2020 Euro Champs In Paris He tried it in 2018 and finished 8th in the 400m final after winning the 400H.
GB Sprinter Perri Shakes-Drayton Retires At Age 31 Shakes-Drayton has multiple world medals to her as part of GB’s 4 x 400 team.

Week That Was

LRC WTW: America’s Newest Star Elle Purrier [Vs. Shelby Houlihan], Galen Rupp & Chris Derrick Are Back, Nico Young Vs. Drew Hunter, & Jenny Simpson’s WR Elle Purrier became a new American star on the week American stars Donavan Brazier, Ajee Wilson and Galen Rupp all excelled.

This Week’s Podcast: Elle Purrier American Star, Donavan Brazier & Millrose Sizzle, Guest Joe Rubio (HOKA Aggies’ Coach), Bad News From Canada Elle Purrier has arrived and we break Millrose down and look ahead to USAs and the Olympic Trials.

HOKA ONE ONE Takes On The Marathon Trials (Sponsored)

LRC HOKA ONE ONE Trials Athlete Of The Day: Cancer Rearcher Liza Reichert HOKA ONE ONE Trials Athlete Of The Day #6 Who says you can’t be an Olympic Marathon Trails qualifier and have a very important job? Meet Liza Reichert.

#5 Hoka Trials Runner Of The Day: Texan And US Mountain Team Member David Fuentes Not only does he work a full-time job, he also has a cool side hustle.

Day 1 At USAs

LRC Day 1 Recap: Shelby Houlihan, Paul Chelimo Earn Dominant 3K Wins Thanks To Big Last Laps The best distance runners in the US the last three years, Shelby Houlihan and Paul Chelimo were on display. Houlihan led the BTC women to 1-2-3 finish (and 5 of the top 6), and Chelimo led the Scott Simmons group to a 1-2-3 finish as well. Christian Coleman (6.48) looks like he can break the WR in the 60 and the TJ record fell twice (Keturah Orji (14.60m), Tori Franklin (14.64m)).

LRC 800 Prelims: Ajee’ Wilson And Bryce Hoppel Cruise As Athing Mu Struggles; Raevyn Rogers Is A DNS The biggest surprise may have been Kaela Edwards as the former NCAA mile champ showed the form she flashed in 2018 when she broke 2:00.

Not Every US Distance Star Ran USAs
MB: Jenny Simpson runs 14:58 5k She wanted to bang out an Olympic qualifier in the 5000 in case disaster strikes in the 1500.
MB: Bowerman Track Club men and Jerry Schumacher- Skip USAs to run on illegal track in Washington Lopez Lomong (7:45), Evan Jager (7:46), Sean McGorty (7:46).
MB: LRC Day 1 Thread

UKA Athletics Gets Some Bad Press

UK Sport Commissions An Independent Review Into UK Athletics Over “Major Concerns” Raised In Recent Months There was the fallout from the Alberto Salazar/NOP scandal which saw performance director Neil Black resign and then the backlash UKA received for almost hiring Zara Hyde-Peters as CEO despite allegations about her husband. *2nd Article
Setback For UKA Athletics As BBC Balks At Renewing $4 Million TV Rights Deal Insiders think the BBC is only willing to pay a fraction of what it currently pays for the rights to broadcast elite track in the UK (the current deal was set in 2013) because of the declining popularity of the sport and recent UKA controversies.
Joanna Adams Appointed New UKA Athletics Chief Executive As Chris Clark Stands Down As Chairman Clark will become an adviser while interim CEO Nic Coward will take over as chair.
*The Telegraph: More Upheaval For UKA As Chairman Chris Clark Quits
Sean Ingle: Top Coach Says “Dreadful Neglect” Of British Athletics Has Squandered 2012 Legacy Former head coach and UKA’s first performance director Malcolm Arnold says this is “the most worried” he’s ever been about the state of the sport and that UKA has failed in supporting UK athletes and coaches.

Learn About One Of America’s Iconic Clubs (Sponsored By HOKA ONE ONE)

LRC Head Coach Joe Rubio Explains The HOKA ONE ONE Aggies To The World The Aggies are known for having a good time and running fast. Joe Rubio (founder of Running Warehouse and a 2 time OT qualifier himself) gives some insight about the Aggies, how they good hooked up with HOKA, and their athletes running the Olympic Trials.