Archived Homepage For May 16, 2020
Archived Homepage For May 16, 2020

Today’s Live Action

Olympic pole vault champ Katerina Stefanidi wins Garden Pole Vault Challenge with 34 clearances over 4.00 m in 30 minutes And she did it in over 100F temps (39c). Katie Nageotte of the USA had 30 clearances while Canadian Alysha Newman had 21.
*MB: Official Watch/Discussion Thread

Ongoing: RRW Zach Bitter’s 100 Mile Treadmill World Record Attempt Has Begun – Watch It Live He needs to run 100 miles in under 12:32:26, so slightly faster than 7:32 per mile (4:41 per kilometer).
*MB: Official Zach Bitter 100 mile treadmill WR discussion thread

Sprint News

Administrative News

US News Of Note

LRC Q&A: Nick Willis On Signing With Tracksmith, Skateboarding, & Why The Olympic Standard Freeze Helps Him Nick reveals that he only got his new contract after successfully acing his first job interview in more than 20 years. “[My last job interview was when I was] 15, applying for a job as a dishwasher and salad and food prep person at a restaurant, like TGI Fridays. … It’s not a traditional nine-to-five. It’s project-based and they’ll give myself flexibility to also focus on my training. But I want to prove myself. I want to show that I’m worthy of this…It’s fun starting at the bottom again.”

News From Europe

It’s My Life, Not A Soap Opera, Bemoans French Athlete Claude-Boxberger Well, when your mother’s partner says he doped you with EPO while you were sleeping and you say he once raped you and it comes out your dating the national team’s much older doctor who had complained you were being drug tested too much, it’s hard not to note the similarities between your life and a soap opera.
*Sweden Won’t Bar Athletes From Training In Ethiopia Or Kenya But They Will Put Them Under Extra Scrutiny As They Don’t Think The Drug Testing In Those Two Countries Is Advanced Enough

Yet Another LRC Exclusive

LRC Q&A: Anti-Doping Expert Sergei Iljukov Discusses Doping In Kenya & Russia, What World Athletics Is Doing Right – And How The Global Anti-Doping System Can Still Improve Iljukov recently conducted a study that indirectly suggested the effects of doping were between 2.0% and 3.4% in distance events and points out that 68% of the Russian 1,500 women that ran an elite time at the Russian champs were eventually banned.

Free Coaching Tips

10 Years Ago, Chris Solinsky Ran 26:59.60 To SHOCK THE WORLD

LRC 26:59! How Chris Solinsky Transformed A “Glorified Tempo” Into An All-Time Upset And Performance 10 years ago today, Chris Solinsky shocked the world by running 26:59 in his 10,000-meter debut. Get the inside story from Jonathan Gault and learn how the date of Solinsky’s wedding played a key role in his preparations and why his victory led to a decade-long feud between coaches Alberto Salazar and Jerry Schumacher.
*MB:Chris Solinsky’s 26:59 turns 10 years old today. Share your memories here.z
*MB:  Jonathan Gault’s new story makes Alberto Salazar look totally cringe
*MB: Does anyone have access to a recording of the live broadcast by Stanford of Chris Solinksy’s 26:59?

Speaking of Anniversaries

This Debate Will Never End

LRC Ritz Vs. Webb Vs. Hall – Who Was Better? A Pseudo-Scientific Breakdown It’s one of the great running debates: which one of the Big Three had the best career? With Dathan RitzenheinAlan Webb and Ryan Hall all retired, Jonathan Gault breaks it down and picks a winner.
*MB: Now that they are all retired, who had the better career – Dathan Ritz, Alan Webb or Ryan Hall?

Distance News

Links We Highly Recommend

Throwback Thursday #6

LRC I Was Bored, So I Watched The Men’s Steeple Final At The 2003 World Championships One week before the 2003 Worlds, the planet’s best runner, Stephen Cherono, changed his name to Saif Saaeed Shaheen and switched nationality from Kenya to Qatar. The steeplechase final pit Shaheen against his brother Abraham (still angry over the move) and a young Ezekiel Kemboi and culminated with a thrilling home-straight duel.
*TBT #1: 1998 NCAA XC*TBT #2: 2000 Foot Locker XC*TBT #3: 2007 World XC*TBT #4: 2003 Foot Locker XC*TBT #5: 1983 World XC

Virtual News

Is The Fog Lifting – Just Over 90 Days To Monaco?

RRW World Athletics Releases New Revised Wanda Diamond League Schedule Announced For 2020 Good news track fans, World Athletics has released a new Diamond League schedule for 2020. While there will be no DL points race or DL final, World Athletics is still hoping to have a pro track season in 2020 – starting in Monaco on August 14th and ending in China on October 17.
*Continental Tour Dates Also Rescheduled – 1st One Is August 11th
*MB: Track may be coming back!!! World Athletics releases revised 2020 Diamond League schedule. Season to start in Monaco on Aug. 14

UK Athletics Might Take A £2m Hit As The London Diamond League Meet Is Canceled The meet brings in a lot of $$ for the organization who has “seen its reserves drop from £4.5m in 2016 to £2.8m.” Another big problem is its TV deal with the BBC is up this year and the BBC doesn’t want to pay £3m-a-year anymore.

Previous Covid-19 Related Running Links

He Will Be Missed

LRC Dathan Ritzenhein Hangs ‘Em Up: We Pick Our 5 Favorite Moments From His Career Between a 12:56 American record in Zurich, bronze at World Half and World Jr. XC, two dominant Foot Locker wins, and an NCAA XC title over Ryan Hall, there were plenty of highlights during Ritz’s lengthy career.
*MB: Breaking: Dathan Ritzenhein Retires at 37

 

Seb Coe Making News

US News

Depressing NCAA News

Our Normal Podcast Returns

LRC Podcast: Who Had The Better Career – Ritz, Webb Or Hall? Our normal podcast returns but this was far from a normal podcast as podcasting history was made as for the first time in world history a six-day-old baby appeared on a podcast. Once we adjusted to our new female co-host, we spent most of the show debating who had the better career – Dathan Ritzenhein, Alan Webb or Ryan Hall? Along the way, Rojo ranted about the need for colleges to open up this fall, Tedd Ginn Jr. was exposed as a liar, we wondered if World Athletics deserves more props for its anti-doping effectiveness, and much more.

Bonus Podcast LRC The Deena Kastor Podcast LRC visitors recently voted Kastor, the US marathon record holder at 2:19:36, as the greatest women’s US distance runner in history. Kastor talks about her amazing career that saw her go from being a pro on a gear-only contract, to one thrilled to be making $12,000 a year, to an Olympic medalist and US record holder.

Willis And Cain Get Signed

MB: Nick Willis And Mary Cain Sign With Tracksmith The high-end apparel company founded by Wejo‘s old Yale teammate Matt Taylor is getting into the sponsorship game in a brilliant way as they got the NY Times to break the story with Cain. “The company is exploring a new kind of sponsorship in which professional athletes are treated like full-time employees. In addition to competing as a professional runner as soon as it is safe to do so, Cain will take on a role as community manager for Tracksmith in New York City, where she will be tasked with building the brand’s presence in a city chock-full of running clubs.”

Covid-19 Related News

News From Kenya

The American GOATs Answered Your Questions Right Here On LetsRun.com

MB: Got a question for our American GOATs Jim Ryun & Deena Kastor? Deena Kastor and Jim Ryun have been answering them this week on LRC.