The Only Thing Immune To Covid-19 Appears To Be Depressing Anti-Doping News

LRC US Sprinters Gabby Thomas & Deajah Stevens, Kenyan 58:51 Half Marathoner Alex Korio Oloitiptip All Provisionally Suspended for Whereabouts Failures Thomas was the 2018 NCAA indoor 200 champ for Harvard, while Stevens was the 2017 US 200 champ and took 5th at the 2017 Worlds. Oloitiptip finished 11th in the 10,000 at the 2019 Worlds. Thomas is appealing and says she’s “confident” she’ll be “completely cleared” as she says phone data plus the testimony of multiple witnesses will show that the anti-doping officer didn’t knock on her door for the third test.
*MB: Should we just give up and find a new sport? Gabby Thomas – formerly of Harvard – receives doping ban for missing 3 tests

Please Don’t Let Them Show Up At The Olympics More Doping Charges Likely To Come For Russian Athletes As WADA Completes Its Investigation Of A Vast Backlog Of Evidence Of the 298 athletes investigated, WADA said it found signs of manipulation in files relating to 145 of them.

Random COVID-19 Related News

• 2019 NCAA 1,500 Champ Sinclaire Johnson Is Training As Normal And Running Time Trials During COVID-19 She recently ran 2:03 for 800 and is hoping to break 2:00 soon as she trains under the eye of Dave Smith with training partner Hannah Fields and boyfriend (and sub-4 miler) Craig Nowak as her pacer.
• Denver Post: Running Industry Walloped By COVID-19, And It May Take Years To Recover – Or Maybe Not “We saw this in the late 2000s. People gave up their country club memberships and returned to simpler sports like running. You saw a downturn in golf, you saw a downturn in skiing – things that are more expensive. Runners turned to the sport, or returned to the sport, to relieve stress. And, to get and remain healthy.”
• Australian Manager Thomas Krejci Of A Training Camp In Kenya Is Giving His Runners $93 Per Month During COVID-19 Crisis And They Are Thrilled Considering that GDP per capita is just over $100 a month in Kenya, we can see why the athletes are thrilled.
• IOC Official Says Coronavirus Vaccine Not Necessarily Needed For Tokyo To Host The 2021 Olympics
• British Athletes Jazmin Sawyers And Guy Learmonth Are Dating But Locking Down Hundreds Of Miles Apart
• Mondo Is Sending Top ItalianTrack Athletes Some Of Its Rolled-Up Track Surfaces To Their Homes So They Can Unfurl It And Train
• Anita Wlodarczyk, Greatest Hammer Thrower In History, Postpones Retirement Until 2022 Because Of COVID-19

The World Is Desperate For Sports

• Good News UTMB Organizers Vow It Will Be Held In 2020 Even Though France Has Banned Major Sporting Events Until SeptemberWhy don’t they just move it back a week (it’s scheduled for August 24-30)? Instead, they are hoping that reducing the field size from 10,000 to 5,000 will placate the French government. The race takes place in France, Italy and Switzerland.
• More Good News Czech Athletics Season Will Restart With A Bang On June 1 With 100 Meets They are holding six elite “micro-meetings” the first of which will be on June 1st – the same day they’ll hold 100 different meets for kids around the country.
• Bad News Road Races Continue To Be Cancelled – Beach To Beacon (August 1) And Falmouth (August 16) Bite The Dust For 2020 Technically Falmouth will be held “at home.”
• UK Athletics Ban On All Track Meets Is Extended Another Month Until June 30 The good news is they haven’t also extended their ban on formal club activities and running groups but those activities are under review.
• adidas Boost Boston Games Are Cancelled Until 2021 For some reason, they are saying the 2020 version is postponed until 2021.
• MB: Japanese idiot , I mean trail runner, runs 100 miles by doing a 15m loop around a tree on a riverbank (link includes video) And the week before he ran the height of Mount Everest up the stairs of your apartment building.
• Rory Linkletter Tops Lauren Paquette In NAZ Elite Virtual 5K Showdown Sponsored By NYRR They ran at different times of the day on Lake Mary Rd but Paquette was given a 2-minute handicapp. Linkletter won by running 15:02 to Paquette’s 17:09. We’re not sure why fellow HOKA NAZ Elite Stephanie Bruce wasn’t also racing them but she crushed Paquette and ran 16:36 and donated $500 to a Covid-19 charity.
• Bored? Want To Do A Virtual Shot Put Competition This Weekend? You Are In Luck Anyone can enter the Valhalla Virtual Shot Put Competition and British champions Scott Lincoln and Sophie McKinna are already entered.
• Bored? You Can Now Run The Super-Difficult Inca Trail Marathon Virtually

Jim Ryun – The LRC American GOAT

LRC Jim Ryun Named LetsRun’s Greatest American Distance Runner Of All Time Ryun, who set multiple middle-distance world records in the 1960s, won Olympic silver, appeared on 7 Sports Illustrated covers, and later served in the US House of Representatives, defeated women’s champion Deena Kastor handily in the final, 62.1% to 37.9%.
*In Light Of LRC Voting, Toni Reavis Says Jim Ryun Is America’s Greatest Mid-D Runner But Views Meb And Frank Shorter As America’s Greatest Distance Runners Toni, we think Galen Rupp has to be viewed higher than Meb and Rupp actually took out Meb in our contest by more than a 2-1 ratio (70% to 30%).

LetsVault.com

• Good Read: Renaud Lavillenie Says He Wants To Move To Motorcycle Racing After He Finishes His Track Career Lavillenie talks about not being ready to retire yet, his relationship with Mondo Duplantis and how he felt when Duplantis broke his WR.
• Mondo Duplantis Admits He’s Struggling A Bit With Motivation With The No Competitions To Train For “There are many mornings when I wake up and I have difficulty motivating myself. What am I fighting for? What do I try to achieve with my training?”
• Sandi Morris Shares How She Warms Up For Her Heavy Lifting Workouts Morris shared the video of her thorough warm-up on Instagram.
• Video Interview With New Zealand Pole Vaulter Eliza McCartney The Olympic bronze medalist talks about training during lockdown and recovering from injury.
• Meet Helena Duplantis, Mondo Duplantis’ Mom She was a former pro heptathlete. Duplantis’ father was a former pro vaulter.

Non-Distance News

• Blessing Okagbare’s Ex-Husband And Former NFL Player Jude Ighoteguonor Denies Reports Saying He Was Seeking A Huge Amount Of Money From Her He said, “I don’t need a dime from her. She filed for a divorce with so many allegations and my lawyers, in turn, replied her lawyer. … Women are fragile and sometimes they just want to be let loose and fly only to regret later. She knows me and she knows the truth.”
• Aries Merritt Planning On Retiring After Eugene 2022 He says he’d like to be a coach and/or motivational speaker after retiring.
• Funny Video: Italian Decathlete Simone Cairoli Did A Decathlon In One Room
• Olympic Shot Put Champ Michelle Carter Says She Was Disappointed, But Relieved When Tokyo 2020 Was Postponed
• Q&A With US Discus Olympian Mason Finley
• Obituary For Former British Racewalking Great Ann Sayer, Age 83

London Marathon News

• The London Marathon May Move To An Elite Only Race Race director Hugh Brasher said that a decision will be made by the end of August at the latest.
• Hugh Brasher: “Nothing Is Off The Table”
• London Marathon Seeking Clarification From World Athletics Over Whether Results From The Re-Scheduled Race In October Will Count Towards Olympic Qualification World Athletics has suspended all Olympic qualification until December 1st, but London organizers want clarification if that was for just track or marathon too. (We don’t see why the marathon would be an exception).
• Athletics Weekly: Top 10 London Marathon Moments
• Fundraising Continues Despite London Marathon’s Postponement More than $6.2 million has been raised for the 2.6 Challenge so far with some pros including Jo Pavey and Steph Twell taking part.

The Penn Relays Aren’t This Weekend But Here Are Two Recommended Reads

• Sports Illustrated: Over 125 Years, The Penn Relays Have Endured Everything. That Streak Just Ended. A look back at some of the amazing history behind the meet that has endured through wars and national emergencies.
• A Look Back At Usain Bolt’s 2010 Historic Return To The Penn Relays Ten years ago Bolt lead the Jamaican team to victory in the USA vs the World 4 x 100 in a meet record 37.90. Looking back on that day, commentator Ato Boldon said, “The volume got to a point where it ceased to become noise and it was just a deafening roar. That’s not supposed to happen when you have headsets on.”

RIP

• Former Japanese Olympian And 1953 Boston Marathon Champion Keizo Yamada Passes Away At Age 92
• Germany’s Former Olympic Racewalking Champ Hartwig Gauder Dies From Heart Attack At Age 65

Throwback Thursday

LRC I Was Bored, So I Watched The Insane 2007 World Cross-Country Championships In Kenya The 2007 World XC meet was one of the most memorable in history. The UNBEATABLE Kenenisa Bekele was not only beaten – he quit mid-race while in medal position with only 800 meters to go. A truly insane day of racing in the heat of Mombasa, Kenya, that featured future Olympic champions Asbel Kiprop, Mo Farah, Stephen Kiprotich, Taoufik Makhloufi, Vivian Cheruiyot, and Tirunesh Dibaba.
*MB: Throwback Thursday: I Was Bored, So I Watched the Insane 2007 World XC Champs in Kenya

From The LRC Archives LRC 2007 World Cross-Country Championships Recap From Mombasa, Kenya: Controlled Chaos With people climbing into trees to watch, Wejo wrote, “The atmosphere was crazy. A party, a sporting event, a carnival, a once in a lifetime event with tremendous national pride associated with it all rolled into one.”

*TBT#2: I Was Bored, So I Went Back and Watched Ritz, Webb, & Hall Battle at the 2000 Foot Locker Cross Country Championships
*TBT#1: I Was Bored, So I Went Back and Watched the 1998 NCAA Cross Country Championships

Bored Because Of Covid-19? Read This Free Book Excerpt

LRC When Henry Rono Went From 15:40 To A 13:06 World Record In Two Months This excerpt from Richard Amery‘s new book, The Five and Ten Men, about the 10 men who have held the 5 and 10,000 WRs is a fascinating read.

LRC Book Review: “The Five And Ten Men” By Richard Amery Need to brush up on your distance running history? Richard Amery‘s book offers a comprehensive history of the sport from Paavo Nurmi to Kenenisa Bekele, told through the 10 men to hold both the 5,000- and 10,000-meter world records. *Purchase here.

Previous Free Book Excerpts From Craig Virgin – Purchase Your Autographed Book From Craig Virgin Now

• LRC “Virgin Territory” Chapter 1: Playing It Risky – Craig Virgin’s 1980 World Cross-Country Win
• LRC “Virgin Territory” Chapter 17: Front Runner Inc: When Pro Runners Had To Pretend They Weren’t Pro 

RIP Neil Black

• Former UK Athletics Performance Director Neil Black Dies At Age 60 A UKA statement said Black died over the weekend, but did not give a cause of death. He stepped down from his role as performance director after Alberto Salazar was banned.
• Mo Farah Pays Emotional Tribute To Neil Black “I have lost a good friend! Known him since I was 14 years old. Neil supported me all the way in my career since I was kid!! My heart is broken … I wouldn’t be where I am today without Neil Black … no one knew me like he did!! We lost a great man.”
• Dina Asher-Smith, Hannah England And Others Pay Tribute To Neil Black
• PA Media: Neil Black, The Physiotherapist Who Rose To The Top Of UK Athletics
• MB: Former UK Athletics director Neil Black DEAD at 60

Doping News

• Track Agent Robert Wagner Caught On Tape Saying He Could Supply PEDs Gets Backdated 2-Year Drug Ban Wagner was caught on tape by undercover reports, saying he could get them testosterone and HGH for an actor they said was training for a film. Wagner had connections to Justin Gatlin and the scandal led to Gatlin firing his coach Dennis Mitchell, who was also implicated.
  *Robert Wagner Free To Work In Athletics Again As His Ban Was Backdated To April 2018 When He Was Provisionally Suspended
  *MB Archives: Justin Gatlin embroiled in new doping scandal
• iNADO Chief Claims There Are Misconceptions That The Coronavirus Has Opened The Door For Doping He says even if there is less testing, anti-doping agencies do much more than that to combat cheaters.
• Opinion Piece: Kenya And Russia Keep On Doping

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.