Distance News – Podcast w/ Meb Tonight @ 7PM ET

• Sweden’s European XC Champ Robel Fsiha Fails Doping Test Fsiha failed the test in November in Ethiopia.
• Listen To A Live Podcast With Meb Keflezighi Tonight At 7PM ET You can submit your questions for Meb by 5PM ET to get a chance to win a prize. *Stream Link
• Conseslus Kipruto Disappointed He Won’t Have The Chance To Defend His Olympic Steeplechase Title And Chase The WR In 2020 Kipruto says it’s frustrating as his training was going very well. Now he’s cut it down to just training 3-4 days a week.

British News

• Paula Radcliffe Pays Heartfelt Tribute To Her Father, Who Passed Away On Wednesday She posted, “Yesterday I lost the best dad anyone could ever wish for. The kindest, wisest, most patient and brave man who leaves behind so many people who loved him so much and whose lives he enriched.”
• Eilidh Doyle’s Mailman Brother Delivers Her Upgraded 2013 World 4 X 400 Silver Medal “My brother Jamie is the postman where we live now so it was a nice surprise when he came to the door with a package and said: ‘I think this one might be a medal.'”
• GB Ultra-Runner Ben Smith Still Training For US 50 State Capital Challenge The plan is a 104-day, 114,000-mile run-and-cycle around all 50 US state capitals.
• Former GB Olympian Iwan Thomas Hopes The UK Will Have Two Gold Medals In Dina Asher-Smith And Katarina Johnson-Thompson They’re the current world champions so on paper are the favorites right now, but the Games are over a year away.
• British Championships Moved To August 8-9 Due To Coronavirus They were originally scheduled for June 20-21.

Tokyo / IOC News

• Tokyo 2020 CEO Hints Games Could Be In Doubt In 2021 Toshiro Muto: “I don’t think anyone would be able to say if it is going to be possible to get it under control by next July or not. We’re certainly are not in a position to give you a clear answer.”
• Many Doping Cheats Banned From The 2020 Olympics Will Be Free To Compete At The Games In 2021 This seems like common sense to us, but for anyone who needs an explanation, a WADA spokesperson said, “There is no provision in the Code for Anti-Doping Organisations to cherry-pick periods of time in which the athlete would have more or fewer events to compete in.”
• Olympic Flame Taken Off Display And Tokyo 2020 Staff Working From Home As Japan Declares State Of Emergency Over Coronavirus
• Thomas Bach’s Planned Visit To Japan Next Month Cancelled Due To Coroanvirus Travel Restrictions
• IOC President Thomas Bach Calls For People To Stay Strong And Active And Celebrate A “Festival Of Resilience” At The Tokyo Games Next Year

Sport 100History

• Embed from Getty Images

  Francie Larrieu Smith’s 10,000m American Record Earns Her USATF Throwback Athlete Of The Week Honors Larrieu Smith made it through to the round of 32 in our American Distance GOAT bracket. She’s up against Joan Benoit Samuelson. Vote here.

• AP: 40 Years Later, Edwin Moses Still Says The Decision To Boycott The 1980 Moscow Olympics Was “Horrible” Publicly, President Jimmy Carter said it was “one of my most difficult decisions,” but reportedly, in private conversation with an Olympic wrestler he apologized and called it a “bad decision.”
• European Athletics Looks Back At Some Running History, When Greece’s Spiridon Louis Won Olympic Marathon Gold At The First Modern Games In 1896 Louis ran 2:58:50 to become Europe’s first Olympic track and field champion.
• European Athletics Highlights “Eight Outstanding Sibling Acts” Includes the Ingebrigsten and Borlee brothers.
• A Look Back At Linford Christie’s Career The Brit won Olympic 100m gold at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics with 9.96 seconds.
• Paula Radcliffe’s Legacy Lies On As London Marathon Celebrates 39th Anniversary
• Top Highlights From The History Of The London Marathon

A Must Read If You Care About Doping Or Justice

LRC The Amazing Story Of How Jarrion Lawson Cleared His Name: He Showed That The Head Of A WADA Lab Provided False Testimony Against Him Jarrion Lawson is free to compete once again after his legal team was able to show that Christiane Ayotte, the head of the WADA-accredited doping control lab at the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique in Laval, Quebec, lied while testifying during his case.
*MB: The amazing story of how Jarrion Lawson cleared himself: He showed the head of a WADA lab provided false testimony against him.

Athletics Calendar Revamp

LRC 3 Thoughts On The World Athletics Championships In Eugene Being Rescheduled To July 15-24, 2022 The first track World Championships in the US will be the earliest Worlds in history. What does it all mean?

LRC World Athletics Says Forget About Qualifying For Olympics Until December And Some Athletes Aren’t Happy “This takes away the last bit of hope of making 2020 a productive, meaningful year in our career” said 2017 steeplechase world champion Emma Coburn. But others, including Olympic pole vault champ Katerina Stefanidi, support the move.

• Delayed World Track And Field Championships Set For July 15-24, 2022 Eugene 2021 has been postponed so it doesn’t clash with the Olympics and it was moved up to July from August so it didn’t clash with Euro Champs and the Commonwealth Games.
• World Athletics Suspends All Olympic Qualification Until December 1 They are trying to make it fair for different countries which will open up later than others, but we think an ‘A’ standard should count no matter when it happens.
  *MB: Overreaction or justified? World Athletics pauses all Olympic qualification until December 1
• TrackTown USA’s Organizing Committee Is Back At Work On Postponed Olympic Trials New dates have not been set, but the assumption is they will be scheduled for late June again.
• TCS World 10k Bengaluru 2020 Rescheduled From May 17th To September 13th

Quarantine Race Results

• Washington Post: “Michael Wardian Set Out For A Virtual Ultra Marathon. He Kept Running For 2½ Days.” It was part of the Quarantine Backyard Ultra and unfortunately for all involved, Wardian ended up winning the race ended with a controversial DQ.
  *MB: Coolest or weakest thing ever? Quarantine Backyard Ultra ends with controversial DQ after 250+ miles
  *MB: 2020 Quarantine Backyard Ultra Race! Official Race Discussion Thread.
• High Schooler Matt Strangio Runs 4:03.57 1,600m Time Trial Strangio’s senior track season is cancelled, but he still is chasing sub-4. He ran in this in breezy conditions, solo for the second half.
  *MB: HSer Matt Strangio runs 1600 in 4:03.57 in CA
• MB: Farah bombs 6 mile tempo on IG live?
• MB: Isaiah Harris time trialed 5,000m PR…. 15:02.

Pole Vault Stuff

• France’s Former Olympic PV Champ Renaud Lavillenie Claims “International Home Containment” Title Lavillenie has a pole vault setup in his backyard and used it to clear 5.61m on Saturday. *Video
• Mondo Duplantis Auctioning Off His World Record Bib From Torun To Raise Money To Help Fight The Coronavirus Pandemic The current bid is about $1,500.

Tokyo News

• Japan Businessman Admits To Giving Gifts For Successful Tokyo Olympic Bid Haruyuki Takahasi admits to giving gifts (including digital cameras and Seiko watches) to lobby IOC officials including Lamine Diack. Takahasi was paid $8.2 million by the Tokyo bid committee to “wine and dine” people who could help Tokyo win the Olympics.
• Tokyo Olympics Expects To Secure Athletes Villages And All Competition Venues For 2021 Games The athletes village was scheduled to be sold off in autumn, but organizers are hoping to re-secure it and all 41 competition venues again for 2021.
• IOC Confirm Revised Qualification Deadline For Tokyo 2020 Games The qualification period will end June 29, 2021.
• Tokyo Government Considering Use Of Olympic Facilities To House People With Coronavirus Symptoms
• Daily Rise In Tokyo Coronavirus Cases Passes 100 For First Time
• IOC Considering Postponement Of Athletes’ Commission Elections After Tokyo 2020 Delayed To 2021 The current members’ terms would have expired at this year’s Olympics.

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