The Olympics Are Officially Postponed Until 2021

LRC 6 Big Questions In The Wake Of IOC’s Decision To Postpone Olympics To 2021 What happens to Eugene 2021? What happens to people with Olympic qualifiers from 2019? Which athletes gain from the postponement and which ones are hurt by it? And a proposal for what to do with the 2020 US Champs.
*MB: Olympics are officially delayed for up to one year

• World Athletics Was Already In Discussion With Oregon21 About Rescheduling The 2021 Championships In Eugene
• No Plan To Change Olympic Marathon Location From Sapporo, Even With Delay Of Games
• The Tokyo Games Will Still Be Called “Tokyo 2020”
• World Athletics Welcomes Olympic Postponement – Says It Will Continue To Do Whatever It Can To Preserve And Create A 2020 Outdoor Season of One-Day Meeting Starting And Ending Later Than Usual Also considering Eugene 2022.
• The Telegraph: What does this mean for the Olympic Games and what happens now? The IOC has about $824 million in reserves in case a Games is lost and had spent about $23 million on insurance to cover most of the investment.
• The Telegraph: “Olympics Postponement Is No Disaster, It Is Delayed Pleasure”

Update On LRC Coronavirus Patient’s Condition

LRC Update: LetsRun.com Visitor With COVID-19 Continues To Recover Good news as “justthefacts” condition continued to improve over the weekend and his fever is gone.

LRC What’s It Like For A Runner To Have COVID-19? A Long-Time LetsRun.com Visitor Shares His Story Of Being Infected With The Coronavirus A long-term visitor to LetsRun.com wants to share his story of what it is like to have the coronavirus. He also wants a LetsRun.com singlet when he gets better.
Discussion: I tested Positive for COVID here is my story

Other Assorted Coronavirus News

• NY Times: “With The Boston Marathon Postponed, Des Linden Hits The Couch” Two weeks after the Olympic Trials, Linden already put in a 100-mile week and was recovering well in her bid to run Boston 52 days after the Trials. But coronavirus has messed up those plans and Linden says she is “hunkering down” with “a pile of books and a cord of wood.”
• Runner’s World: Everything You Need To Know About Spitting During The Coronavirus Outbreak Yes, spit can transfer the disease. Yes, keeping a six-foot buffer on a run can help. If you are hit with spit, wash with soap and water.
• MB: Covid quarantine – some french guy ran a marathon on his 7m balcony…. impossible??? Elisha Nochomovitz said, “It was about launching a bit of a crazy challenge and bringing a bit of humour, to de-dramatise the confinement situation.” It took him 6 hours and 48 minutes.
• Quarantined? Milesplit Gives Their Favorite Movies Featuring Runners Without Limits and Prefontaine top the list.
• Ken Goe: Coronavirus Pandemic Is Causing College Coaches To Operate Without A Road Map Some coaches are starting to worry that even the beginning of the XC season could be affected.
• European Athletics Board To Decide Next Steps On Coronavirus Response They will discuss the impact on various European Athletics events scheduled for 2020 and beyond.
• IOC Member Prince Albert Tests Positive For Coronavirus

Oregon Meet Hosting

• Ken Goe: It’s Unclear How Soon Hayward Field Will Be Ready For Competition The PAC-12 meet was cancelled and they moved the Oregon HS champs (set for May 28-30) as they weren’t sure the stadium would be ready. Now the question is, assuming the meet happens,  will Hayward be ready for the June 6-7 Pre Classic?
• Organizers Makes Statement That The 2020 Portland Track Festival And Stumptown Twilight Remain On The Schedule The Portland Track Festival starts May 30th, Stumptown is June 12th.
• University Of Oregon Decides Not To Host Oregon High School Championships At Hayward Field If the championships scheduled for the end of May even still happen, they’ll be moved to Mt. Hood Community College and Western Oregon University.
• With Qualifying Meets Disappearing, Portland Track Will Step Into The Void If Needed Portland Track president Michael Bergmann says they are ready to add more meets to the schedule if people need them to hit the standards for the Olympics Trials.

Mike Smith Lifts The Veil On Galen Rupp’s Training

LRC Mike Smith Q&A Part II: On Choosing To Coach Galen Rupp, “Defending The Process,” & Rupp’s Human Side Smith said that he was careful not to let preconceived notions cloud his judgment when deciding whether to work with Rupp. “The second we abandon our critical thinking or our process with this stuff … I worry about that.”
*MB: Mike Smith Part II: Smith explains why he agreed to work with Galen Rupp

LRC Mike Smith Q&A, Part I: On Galen Rupp’s Commitment, Restructuring His Training & That 24 X 400 Workout 
*MB: Mike Smith lifts the veil on Galen Rupp’s training and talks about what makes him great

More LRC Exclusives

Our Weekly Podcast LRC Coronavirus Shuts Down Racing, But Not The Running World Podcast Listen to the best track and field running podcast on the planet and find out how much Wejo got paid to pace Paula R to her WR, who will do better under their new coach – Tom Brady or Galen Rupp, and learn how Covid-19 will impact the marathons. Could it actually result in Scott Fauble or Jared Ward winning a major?

Our Weekly Recap WTW The 2020 Boston Marathon Is Going To Be HOT, Caster Semenya Vs. Luke Wilson, And Will The Coronavirus Result In Eliud Kipchoge Debuting In New York This Fall? This week we take a look at Covid-19’s impact on the running world and wonder how hot it will be Boston and wonder if it might actually result in Eliud Kipchoge debuting in New York this fall. Plus what do actor Luke Wilson‘s HS track exploits tell us about Caster Semenya‘s Olympic 200 dreams?

More Races Cancelled/Postponed

• Drake Relays Postponed Indefinitely Due To Coronavirus Pandemic They say that they are going to work to reschedule the event, but there is no timetable for that decision. Just last week, they had made a statement saying the meet was still on.
• No Finisher At The Barkley Marathons Again This Year (Also, No Race) The notoriously difficult ultramarathon in Tennessee was cancelled due to the coronavirus. A runner hasn’t finished the race since 2017.
• 2020 Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Cancelled; Free Virtual Race Planned The event will be offering free refunds (unlike some other races), but encourages runners to donate their entry to the race charity.
• UK Race Organizer Ask Runners To Compete Virtually In Bid To Save Business They have called off 19 races and people aren’t signing up for their Junes or later races either.
• USATF’s Latest Coronavirus Statement All USATF Championships are cancelled for the next 30 days as well as the 2020 USATF Masters 10 km Championships set for April 26th.
• Parkruns Cancelled Across UK Through The End Of March
  *Their Headline From Two Days Earlier: Parkrun Numbers Stay Healthy As Runners Remain Undeterred By Coronavirus
• CNN: They’ve Trained For Months, Then Their Marathons Got Cancelled Runners not only lose months of hard training, but take a financial hit via the lost money spent on travel and entry fees when the race refuses to refund them.