February 25, 2020 | LetsRun.com

The US Olympic Marathon Trials Are Saturday

LRC Turning Down a Contract to Race in the Vaporflys? Vaporfly > Alphafly? How Shoes Will Affect the US Olympic Marathon Trials If you’d like to pretend footwear isn’t going to be an important topic of discussion at this weekend’s US Olympic Trials, enjoy your time in Candy Land.

LRC 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials Preview: The Men’s Underdogs – From Bernard Lagat To Jim Walmsley The odds are the Olympic team will consist of 3 of the “Big 4” of Rupp, Korir, Fauble and Ward, but here are 26 underdogs with a chance if 2 of the 4 falter. From 45-year-old Bernard Lagat to 24-year-old Jerrell Mock, meet those with “a chance.”

Trials Question Of The Day: Which Woman Is Most Likely To Make The US Olympic Marathon Team? Des Linden, Emily Sisson, Jordan Hasay, Sara Hall, Molly Huddle, Kellyn Taylor, Sally Kipyego, Emma Bates, Aliphine Tuliamuk, Stephanie Bruce: Who is most likely to make the Olympic team?
*MB: Which woman is most likely to make the team? Des, Sisson, Hasay, Huddle, Hall?

HOKA ONE ONE Takes On The Marathon Trials (Sponsored By HOKA ONE ONE) – Meet The Full-Time HOKA Pros

LRC Scott Fauble: Does HOKA’s Fastest American Pro Get To The Top of American Distance Running At the Trials? Scott Fauble is arguable America’s best male long distance runner who hasn’t been on an Olympic team. Can he change that?

New Salazar News

BBC Panorama: Alberto Salazar’s Spectacular Fall From Grace Some new allegations against Salazar, including from former Stanford runner Ari Lambie who says Salazar changed her birth control, had her take thyroid meds she didn’t need and gave her an unknown supplement followed by a drug test.
More BBC On Mo Farah: Details On UK Athletics Involvement In Helping Farah Get L-Carnitine And Farah’s Initial Denial To USADA That He Took It Before London Marathon
*MB: Ariana Lambie speaks about her time in NOP, says she was given a supplement by Salazar & told to take a drug test after it
*MB: Goucher says Salazar “was obsessed with the size of my breasts”

Mo Farah Speaks

Mo Farah Admits To Lying About His Link To Jama Aden Farah says that when he was asked about it years ago and said Aden was just a fan that asked for a “selfie,” he was lying and in reality he’s “known Jama for many years.”
Athletics Weekly: Mo Farah Tackles Tough Topics Farah says he’s suffered “financially and emotionally” due to his links with Alberto Salazar. He his coach Gary Lough also say they were “blindsided” by the news when Salazar’s ban was announced.
Former UK Athletics Chairman Ed Warner Says He Advised Mo Farah To Leave Alberto Salazar In 2015 Warner: “I would have loved Mo to walk away. … I personally tried to persuade him to change coach. … He was adamant he wasn’t going to change his coach.”

US Mid-D News

Quick Catch-Up With Former NOP Assistant Coach Pete Julian Asked if his group of former NOPers has a new club name yet, he said no, but they are “considering several names.”
Theo Quax And Dick Quax The Latest To Join The Father-Son Sub-4 Club NAU’s Theo Quax ran 3:57.13 last week at the Husky Classic to join his father in the sub-4 club. They are only the 12th father-son pair to achieve the feat.
*List Of All Father-Son Sub-4 Combos
Good Read: World Athletics Profile On Elinor Purrier Purrier talks about gaining strength from doing hard work growing up on a dairy farm in Vermont.
*AP: “Cream Rises – Purrier’s Track Feats Paved By Dairy Farm Work”
USATF Announces One Mile Road Championships Are Returning To The Grand Blue Mile At The Drake Relays They will be there through 2023. Early entrants for this year’s race (April 21st) include Heather Kampf and Emily Lipari.
Race Video Of Craig Engel’s 3:56 Mile Win At Boston Terrier Earlier This Winter

World Record!!! 2020 RAK Half *Results

LRC Ethiopia’s Ababel Yeshaneh Upsets Brigid Kosgei And Smashes Half Marathon World Record At 2020 RAK Half Marathon Yeshaneh, who lost to Kosgei by nearly 7 minutes in Chicago, took 20 seconds off the old word record and won in 64:31 as Kosgei also broke the old WR. In the men’s race, Kibiwott Kandie got the win in 58:58 after beating Geoffrey Kamworor last week in Kenya in controversial fashion.
*World Athletics Recap
*MB: 2020 RAK Half Discussion Thread
*MB: Kosgei breaks Half Marathon World Record and Loses race!

Week That Was

LRC WTW: USA Indoors By The Numbers, Cheptegei Is Sublime, Kamworor’s Mysterious Loss, Praise For Nia Akins And Shoes Jam-packed action on the roads, the turf, and the indoor oval.

The HOKA Pros Take On The Marathon Trials (Sponsored By HOKA ONE ONE)

LRC HOKA Trials Athlete Of The Day: Scott Smith: Can He Get Top 3 Like His Dog At The Dog World Championships? We now turn our attention to the full-time pros trying to make the Olympic team in Atlanta and start with Scott Smith.

Week That Was

LRC WTW: Bernard Lagat’s Sister Is Fast, False Starts In The Half Marathon, And More Vaporfly Talk? Bernard Lagat‘s sister may have found a new distance, the NCAA DMR heated up, there was a false start in the world record in the half marathon, and of course Rojo has some Vaporfly talk.

More International Results From The Weekend

Mondo Duplantis Concludes His Indoor Season With 6.01m Victory In France Duplantis made another attempt at 6.19m to try and break his own WR, but failed his three attempts. He did become the first PVer since Sergey Bubka in 1991 to clear six meters in five consecutive competitions. Former WR Renaud Lavillenie was runner-up with 5.94m.
Yaroslava Mahuchikh Clears 2.01m At Ukraine Indoor Champs
Zimbabwe’s Sasha Zhoya Runs World Indoor U20 60H Record With 7.34 In Miramas He broke the record by .06 which had belonged to US’s Trey Cunningham.
Tamari Davis Wins Her Pro Debut At The USC Indoor Open With 7.20 Seconds In The Women’s 60m

Weekend Road Results

Ethiopia’s Mekuant Ayenew (2:04:46) And Uganda Juliet Chekwel (2:23:13) Win With Course Records At The Seville Marathon Both races had strong depth as seven men finished sub-2:07 and 14 broke 2:08 while seven women went sub-2:28.
*MB: Kevin Seaward – Fastest teacher in the world?
*MB: Spanish Javier Guerra (36 yo) ran 2:07:24 in Sevilla Marathon
MB: Bernard Lagat’s sister and FSU GRAD Violah Lagat 66:47 in Half Marathon Debut She won the Napoli City Half Marathon. Henry Rono (60:04) won the men’s race.

British Indoor Champs *Results

BBC Day 2 Recap: Guy Learmonth Leapfrogs His Way To PR And British 800m Title With 1:46.89 Learmonth avoided a collision and jumped over a fallen runner on the final lap, managing to come back and catch former NCAA champ Josh Kerr (finished 4th) and hold off Andrew Osagie (1:46.98). *Race Video *Video Interview With Learmonth
17-Year-Old Amy Hunt Wins 60m National Title At British Indoor Champs With the bigger names absent, Hunt won easily in 7.39. On the men’s side, Andrew Robertson won in 6.66 while 41-year-old Dwain Chambers competed, but didn’t make the final, saying, “This is a chance to have a little bit more fun before the wheels fall off.”
BBC Day 1 Recap: Sophie Cook Wins GB Pole Vault Title With 4.50m David King (7.78) and Yasmin Miller (8.29) took the 60H titles.

The TJ WR Goes Down In Madrid

Venezuela’s Yulimar Rojas Breaks Indoor Triple Jump Record With 15.43m In Madrid The two-time world champ broke the 16-year-old record by 7cm on her final jump. Ethiopia’s Getnet Wale set a MR and secured the World Athletics Indoor Tour title by winning the 3,000m in 7:39.96 over Bethwel Birgen (7:40.23) and Selemon Barega (7:40.30). Gudaf Tsegay won her third consecutive 1500m. Christina Clemons (7.82) beat out Nia Ali with a MR in the 60H and Ronnie Baker set one in the 60m (6.44).
*GB’s Andrew Pozzi Remains Unbeaten With A Season’s Best 7.48 In The Madrid 60H
*Croatian Shot Putter Filip Mihaljevic Wins Madrid And The World Athletics Tour With A National Record 21.74m

Will This Current HS Phenom Ever Make The Olympics?

LRC LRC Q&A: NXN Champ Nico Young On His Favorite Race, Toughest Workout, & Why He Chose NAU Nico also shares who his favorite pros are – Galen Rupp and Justyn Knight.

DyeStat Video Interview

March / April Road Race News

Chicago Marathon Champ Lawrence Cherono Will Replace Mo Farah At The London Half Marathon On March 1st Farah pulled out with injury, so now Cherono will be the one to go up against Kenenisa Bekele.
Nagoya Women’s Marathon In Japan Limited To Elite Runners Because Of Coronavirus Fears Like Tokyo, next month’s Nagoya Marathon has cancelled the mass participation race.
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh Says Coronavirus Should Not Affect The Boston Marathon There has been one case of coronavirus in Boston and Walsh says, “I think we have to be very careful in overreacting to a situation that isn’t there.”
After Setting 5k WR, Joshua Cheptegei Turns His Attention To His Half Marathon Debut At The World Half Marathon Championships Next Month In Poland

The Jemma Reekie Show

GB’s Jemma Reekie Gets Her Biggest Scalp Yet As She Beats 800m World Champ Halimah Nakaayi In France Reekie ran 2:00.34 to beat Nakaayi (2:01.96) by over a second and a half.
Laura Muir: “The faster Jemma’s got, the closer we’ve got.” Despite the fact that Reekie has been beating Muir and breaking her records, Muir says “sorry to disappoint you, but it’s not a big rivalry.”
Jemma Reekie Dismisses Link Between Her Nike Spikes And Recent Record-Breaking Form “It doesn’t happen overnight and there’s a lot of hard work. … I will just let my legs do the talking.”
Laura Muir Happy With Her Form Despite Being Outshone By Her Training Partner Jemma Reekie Muir missed a lot of training this winter when she tore her calf and hurt her Achilles.
The Telegraph: “Jemma Reekie’s Coach Andy Young says 2020 Olympics Is En ‘Exciting Opportunity’ As Her Rapid Rise Continues”
Jemma Reekie’s Coach Andy Young Thinks Her “Special Kick” Could Take Her To Olympic Glory Reekie has set three British records this month and closed her last lap in 30.1 seconds during her 4:04 win in Glasgow.
Sean Ingle: “Record-breaking middle-distance duo staying on message in Olympic year”
The Telegraph: “The incredible rise of Jemma Reekie: How Britain’s overnight middle-distance sensation stepped up to rival Laura Muir”

General Olympic / Hosting News

Asian XC Championships In Hong Kong Postponed Over Coronavirus The event was supposed to be held March 29th.
Miracle On Ice” Gold Medal Sells For Nearly $320,000 At Auction The gold medal won by Steve Christoff at the 1990 Lake Placid Games sold for $319,800. His jersey from the gold medal winning game sold for $116,850.
President Trump To Be Briefed On LA 2028 Preparations During California Visit
LA Places Largest Order For Electric Buses In US History For 2028 Olympics They’re trying to become more eco-friendly, ordering 155 buses hoping that the city’s buses will produce zero emissions by 2028.
Data Suggests There Could Be “Dangerous Levels” Of Air Pollution At The 2020 Commonwealth Games In Birmingham
Japanese Emperor Naruhito Excited For Tokyo 2020 Despite Coronavirus Outbreak The 60-year-old talked about his memories watching the 1964 Tokyo Games.
Tokyo 2020 Drops Indigenous Ainu Dance From Opening Ceremony It’s a controversial decision as the Ainu people have been subjected to discrimination in Japan.
Tokyo 2020 Online Ticket Sales Will Launch Worldwide In May

Weekend NCAA / HS Action *All NCAA Coverage

South Dakota’s Chris Nilsen Breaks Mondo Duplantis’ Collegiate Pole Vault Record With 5.93m At The Nebraska Tune-Up (includes video) Duplantis’ 5.92m record was exactly one day short of one year old.
USTFCCCA NCAA Weekend In Review There was fast DMR action this weekend lead by Notre Dame men (9:25.80) over Wisconsin (9:25.84) and the Notre Dame women (11:04.27) over Michigan (11:05.89).
*MB: Alex Wilson DMR – Notre Dame 9:25.80
MB: Ct HS sophomore goes sub-9:00 indoors wearing VAPORFLYS

Coronavirus News

Tokyo Governor Criticizes “Inappropriate” Offer From London To Host Olympics Because Of Coronavirus Crisis The offer came from London mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey who said London may need to “step up” to host the games instead of Tokyo.
Japanese Virologist Says That If The Tokyo Games Were Tomorrow, They’d Need To Be Cancelled Due To The Current Coronavirus Climate Dr. Hitoshi Oshitani, a former advisor during the SARS pandemic in the early 2000s, said “Right now we don’t have an effective strategy …but by the end of July we may be in a different situation.”
Beggars Must Not Be Choosers: Minister Of Sport Says Russia Is Ready To Host Any Sporting Events That Need Relocating Due To Coronavirus
Chinese Anti-Doping Agency To Resume Testing In China After Temporary Suspension Due To Coronavirus
Tokyo 2020 President Yoshiro Mori: “I pray to God every day that the coronavirus will just vanish.” Organizers have said there is no chance the Games will be cancelled or postponed, but Japan is one of the riskiest places in the world for the spread of the virus.
Tokyo 2020 Postpones Volunteer Training Due To Coronavirus Outbreak

Trials Question Of The Day

LRC Which “Old Guy” – Ritz (37), Abdi (43), Or Lagat (45), Has Best Shot At Marathon Trials? Ritz (37) will be Lagat’s age (45) in LA 2028, which is nuts.
*Yesterday: Trials Question of the Day: Will Jordan Hasay Make the Olympic Team?

RRW: Just Back From Training In Kenya, Bernard Lagat Eyes Record Sixth Olympic Team
Large Panel Of Marathon Experts (Which Included LRC’s Jon Gault) Predicts Olympic Trials Top 3 For the men, they chose Jared Ward, Leonard Korir and Galen Rupp. Emily Sisson, Molly Huddle and Sara Hall for the women.
Interesting: Runner’s World Chooses Their “Best Moments At The Olympic Marathon Trials”
Carrie Tollefson Interviews Tierney Wolfgram, The Youngest Competitor In The Olympic Marathon Trials Wolfgram ran 2:40:03 as a 15-year-old to qualify.

The Trials Are February 29th

Breaking: LRC Defending Champion Amy Cragg Withdraws From 2020 US Olympic Marathon Trials A source close to Cragg said her withdrawal is the result of adrenal fatigue as a result of the Epstein-Barr virus.
*MB Amy Cragg – 2:21:42 marathoner – pulls out of Trials with illness

LRC Olympic Marathon Trials Question Of Day: Which Man Has The Best Shot To Make The Team (Other Than Galen Rupp)? Fauble. Ward. Korir. Who’s the odd man out in Atlanta?

LRC Podcast: Jim Walmsley Ready For His Marathon Debut At Trials Walmsley talks for nearly 1 hour about his marathon debut, being in 2:10 shape, shoes, and more. Sponsored by HOKA ONE ONE.

Mid-Week Action: Duplantis Just Misses WR Again

Mondo Duplantis Falls Short Of His Third Consecutive WR As He Tops 6.07m And Narrowly Misses 6.19m In Lievin, France On the women’s side, Sandi Morris also attempted to equal the PV indoor world record (5.03m held by Jen Suhr), but also had a close miss and settled for a 4.83m win. In the 3,000m, Ethiopia’s Getnet Wale ran the fastest time indoors for 7 years with 7:32.80, beating out Selemon Barega‘s 7:33.19. 1,500m wins went to Samuel Tefera (3:35.54) and Gudaf Tsegay (4:00.60) as Collins Kipruto won the 800m in 1:46.34. Ronnie Baker won the men’s 60m in 6.44 while Gambia’s Gina Bass got an upset win over Murielle Ahoure in the women’s race with 7.11.
*France’s Pascal Martinot-Lagarde Runs European-Leading 7.47 To Win 60H In Lievin