June 9, 2020 | LetsRun.com

The Impossible Games Are Thursday

LRC Coach Bernard Ouma Talks As The World’s Fastest Milers Timothy Cheruiyot & Elijah Manangoi Prepare for Return to Competition Against The Ingebrigtsen Brothers For the first time in his life, Bernard Ouma, coach of the last two 1500m world champs, says he’s going into a race unprepared. But that doesn’t mean he’s conceding defeat. “I’m not saying [Team Ingebrigtsen] can’t beat us, but they have to dig deep to beat us.” Plus what does he think about breaking Hicham El Guerrouj‘s WR and learn out about the new member of Rongai Athletics Club whom Ouma says is stronger than Manangoi and Cheruiyot right now.
*MB: Official 2020 Impossible Games Discussion Thread – Team Cheruiyot vs Ingebrgigtsen

More Actual Action

Johannes Motschmann (29:11) And Alina Reh (31:26) Win Invitation-Only Secret Road 10k In Berlin The race was not publicly announced in advance so there was no media and almost no spectators on the course. Eight men and seven women started the race.
European Silver Medalist Nikola Ogrodnikova Throws 64.22m In Javelin At Josef Odlozil Memorial Meet In Prague
*World Athletics Recap Jakub Vadlejch threw 83.78m to win the javelin and Radek Juska lept 8.03m to take the LJ. Three-time world indoor 400m champ Pavel Maslak stepped down to win the 200m (20.82).

Other News Of Note

Criminal Trial Of Lamine Diack, Who Headed World Athletics From 1999 To 2015, Starts Monday He supposedly took $1.5 million in bribes from Russians “to help back Macky Sall’s campaign for the 2012 Senegal presidential election – which he won – in exchange for the IAAF’s anti-doping arm covering up or delaying offences by 23 Russians.”
Unbelievable: Salwa Eid Naser Had Already Missed 3 Drug Tests But Was Allowed To Compete When She Won Her WC Gold Last Year Supposedly she was under investigation at Worlds last year but that doesn’t explain why they still hadn’t banned her until she missed a 4th test in January of this year.
Caster Semenya And Her Wife Drop Hints That They Are Expecting A Baby Soon
Remembering The Time When Steve Prefontaine Invited Dave Wottle To Eugene In 1973 To Take A Crack At The Mile WR Wottle, the 1972 Olympic 800 champ, said, “I never trained for the 800 meters, always for the mile” and in 1973 he ran 3:53.30 to beat Pre when the WR was Jim Ryun‘s 3:51.1.
Andy Butchart Says He Wants To Beat Mo Farah If Diamond League Events Happen This Year
Rai Benjamin: “For me it was just like: how do you run 46 and lose?”
The 8th Night Of The 10,000m PBs Would Have Been Held Over The Weekend If Not For Covid-19 – A Look At What Makes The Event Special

LRC Exclusive

LRC Cross-Country In The Age Of COVID-19: What The 2020 NCAA XC Season Will Look Like … If There Is One Will there be a 2020 NCAA XC season? Jonathan Gault spoke to NCAA coaches, medical experts, and members of the NCAA’s coronavirus advisory panel to figure out if a cross-country season is feasible and what it might look like. And there is good news. “I think it is very feasible that there will be a cross-country season,” says Dr. Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security and a member of the NCAA’s coronavirus advisory panel.

This Weekend’s Action

World’s Top 3 Decathletes – Mayer, Kaul, Uibo – Will Battle In Garden Challenge This Weekend The competition will begin with the pole vault where the athletes will attempt to clear 4.00 meters as many times as possible during a 10-minute period. They’ll then move on to the shot put where the challenge is to send the 7.26kg iron ball beyond a 12-meter line as often as possible during a 10-minute period. The triathlon concludes with a shuttle run competition in which two cones are placed 20 meters apart, with the athletes collecting points for each completed back and forth shuttle over the course of five minutes.

Previous George Floyd Reactions

Quarantine Conversations With 800 Star Nia Akins Of Penn Akins described encountering racists yelling profanities on the day of her graduation (May 18th) and talks about the recent killings of Arbery, Floyd and others.
Conference Call Is Held With Team USA Track Members And Tianna T. Bartoletta Was Thrilled With How It Went “Really proud of my @usatf teammates for speaking up on this call tonight. It’s not an easy conversation to have but we’re doing it. And we’re fighting for each other. And I am so proud.”

Field Event / Sprint News

Amazing: Californians Built An Entire Pole Vault-Only Facility In Six Weeks During Covid-19 And It’s Hosting A Meet This Weekend The 1st Vaulter Magazine Vaulter Club Big Red Barn Meet is Saturday.
Former Jamaican LJ Record Holder James Beckford Says He Was “Very, Very, Very Happy” To See Tajay Gayle Break His NR “I was like yes, there it is, world champion. I was excited. I was very, very, very happy to see my record broken, absolutely. I was very happy,” said the 45-year-old Beckford, who has won several world masters LJ titles in recent years.
June 4, 1998 – UCLA Men’s 4 X 400 Team Became The 1st NCAA Team To Break 3:00 The team was studly as it contained two Olympic gold medalists and a bronze medalist.
Doper Amantle Montsho Was Planning On Medaling This Year In 400, But May Quit Sport Instead As She’ll Be 38 In 2021

Administrative News

Japanese Government Considering Scaling Back Of The Opening And Closing Ceremonies There also may be a reduction in the number of spectators at the Games if Covid-19 is still a problem. “Athletes may also have restrictions on the number of times they can leave the Athletes’ Village, with testing mandatory for athletes, staff and spectators.”
Paris 2024 Often Scaling Back The number of beds required in the Olympic and Paralympic Village had been reduced from over 17,000 down to 14,000.
Bolder Boulder Cancels 2020 Race After Initially Postponing It From Memorial Day To Labor Day
Investigation Reveals That International Weightlifting Federation Hid 40 Positive Tests Fom WADA And $10.4 Million Dollars Is Missing The head of the organization, who has now resigned, would routinely accept hundreds of thousands of dollars for doping ‘fines’ for positives test – in cash.
*BBC: “Corrupt At Highest Level”

The Latest Distance News

Alberto Salazar’s And Jeffrey Brown’s CAS Appeal Will Be Heard November 8-16
Timothy Cheruiyot Talks Up Super-Fast Time For Next Week’s 2,000m Race
*MB: Really? Timothy Cheruiyot says he’s hoping someone on his team can break 2000 WR of 4:44 in Impossible Games
Recommended Read Abdi Nageeye, Dutch Record Holder In Half And Full (60:24/2:06:17), Has Many Fascinating Observations To Share He shares the best advice his training partner Eliud Kipchoge has given him, reveals why doping isn’t going away anytime soon in Kenya or Ethiopia and talks about how people in the Netherlands are a bit spoiled. “It’s one of the best countries in the world, yet you see so many people complaining, and you think, come on, half the world are struggling.”
Eilish McColgan: “There are people cheating and that is just the way our sport is.” – AW
Neil Gourley: Getting Snubbed For 2018 Euros Led To Him Making Worlds Final In 2019 11th in the world is pretty good for someone who was just 7th at NCAAs for Va. Tech in 2018.
A Quarantine Conversation With Sir Mo Farah, Who Has Been Doing A Ton Of Treadmill Running

Brown Track Is Back!

MB: Brown University Reinstates Men’s Cross Country And Track And Field Teams A letter from the university president to the Brown community stated that they realized their original decision to cut the teams would “have real and lasting implications for efforts to build and sustain diverse and inclusive communities for our students at Brown, and particularly our community of black students and alumni.”

More Black Athlete News:

GB Olympic Sprinter Chris Lambert Says Track And Field Is “As Close To A Meritocracy As Any Other Profession” He Knows, Where “Athletes Are Paid According To Their Station, Regardless Of” Race Or Gender Lambert also says though that success of black athletes in sports is “used to whitewash the discrimination they face” outside sports.
USOPC Chief Executive Sarah Hirshland Creating An “Athlete-Led Group” To Challenge Rules Preventing Athletes From Protesting Last year a fencer and US hammer thrower Gwen Berry were both placed on a one-year probation after staging separate podium protests at the Pan American Games.

Diack Trial Begins In Paris

Lamine Diack Trial Begins; Prosecutors Say He “Solicited $3.9 Million) In Bribes” Diack’s lawyer claimed, “The fact financial exchanges took place is not enough on its own to prove corruption.” He faces 10 years in jail if convicted.
Former IAAF Anti-Doping Chief Gabriel Dolle Tells Court That Lamine Diack Urged Him To Bend The Rules On Russian Doping Cases To Avoid A Scandal That Would Scare Off Sponsors Dolle is on trial alongside Diack for accepting bribes to cover up Russian doping.
AP Article Charged anti-doping chief Gabriel Dolle claims he was “betrayed” by Diack as he had agreed to let Russians serve suspensions “discreetly,” not for them to be allowed to compete.
Court Rejects Postponement Request As Diack Trial Starts In Paris Papa Massata‘s legal team requested a delay since they weren’t able to travel due to coronavirus restrictions.

Sunday’s Interesting Links

The Veil On World Athletics’ Finances Is Lifted For 1st Time Ever As Financial Data Are Leaked in 2018, World Athletics had $45 million in the bank. That’s the good news. The bad news is they were spending $20 million more per year than what they were bringing in.
*MB: World Athletics financial info leaked for 1st time ever. They’ve got $45 million in bank, but are running a $20 mil deficit
Interesting Thought: What If All The Olympics Had Been Held One Year Earlier Than They Actually Were? Would Jim Ryun, Marty Liquori, Mary Decker, Sonia O’Sullivan, Tyson Gay and Mike Powell be Olympic legends?
Catching Up With Pat Tyson, Steve Prefontaine’s Roommate And Coaching Legend, During Covid-19
RIP: 1964 Olympian Ron Larrieu, The 1st American Under 28:00 For 6 Miles And Also A Former US 3-Mile Record Holder, Has Died At 83 Larrieu, who was the older brother of 5-time Olympian Francie Larrieu-Smith, also broke the a 31-year-old US HS 3,200 record by running 9:39.
Scottish Running Legend Don Macgregor, Who Was A Surprising 7th In The 1972 Olympic Marathon, Has Died
Former World Athletics Chief Papa Diack Requests Trial Postponement As Lawyers Are Unable To Travel To Trial Due To Covid-19

The Latest Distance News

3:55/13:32 Guy Cooper Teare Of Oregon Runs 1:49 800 PR In Eugene Time Trial
Kiwi And UW Sub-4 Miler Sam Tanner Beats Rugby Record For Endurance Challenge In a test of shuttles of 20 meters, 40 meters, and 60 meters run five times, he ran 4:01 to beat the old record of 4:12 but said it wasn’t easy.
Athletics Kenya Says It May Change Its 2020 Olympic Marathon Team We hope so. Since it was selected, they should be reevaluated based on 2020-21 results.
3-Time WMM Major Champ Florence Kiplagat Is Frustrated With Lack Of Races Due To Covid-19 As She’s Finally Over A “Nagging Injury” The 2009 World XC champ has only finished 1 marathon each of the last 3 years. Her 2:19:44 PR stems from her 1st marathon.

Distance News

9-Time All-American, 4-Time PAC-12 Champ Nicole Freitag (Née Blood) Is Loving Being A Distance Coach At UVA At Age 32 After her pro career didn’t amount to much as a runner, she struggled finding a new passion but loves being at UVA. “Coach Vin wants to build a nationally competitive track and field and cross-country program. We’ve got a ways to go.”
Kipchoge Says He Was At “Peak Fitness” Prior To London Being Postponed And That He “Took two weeks to be sad, and then I went back to training. This is life.”

Brown Is Getting Heat For Cutting One Of Its Most Diverse Teams Supposedly In The Name Of Diversity

Brown University, If You Were Actually Serious About Racial Justice, You Would Not Be Cutting The Men’s Track Team Russell Dinkins, the 800 leg of the Princeton DMR team that won NCAAs in 2013, rips Brown after discovering that Brown’s track and field team has more black men on its roster than Brown’s lacrosse, baseball, hockey, and crew teams combined!
*Check out Savebrowntrack.org
*Video: Brown athletes describe how they were blindsided & devastated by the news, alums offer support
*MB: Brown University, with a $4.2 billion endowment, cancels men’s track and field and men’s cross country
*MB: The more I think about the way the Brown sports decision went down, the more OUTRAGED I become

Administrative News Of Note

Jamaica Opens Stadiums To Allow Pros To Train In Groups Once Again Meanwhile, the millionaires in the NBA and MLB can’t figure out how to get back to action.
NCAA Responds To Lawsuit Filed By High Jumpers Who Were Allegedly Sexually Abused 20 Years Ago By Coach John Rembao And Says Their Lawsuit Is Legally Flawed “This case is not about whether the NCAA opposes sexual abuse and works to support its member institutions in eradicating it – it does. This case is about what the NCAA’s legal duty is to take action with respect to sexual abuse on campuses nationwide and, more specifically, what the NCAA’s legal responsibility is for the alleged sexual abuse (all outside California) by one track coach twenty years ago. The NCAA respectfully submits the Complaint is flawed as a matter of law and that all claims against the NCAA and its Board be dismissed and/or stricken.”

We’ve Brought John Kellogg Out Of Retirement – Our Summer Training Program Is Back

LRC High Schoolers And College Runners- Train Smarter This Summer With The LetsRun.com Summer Training Program If you aren’t sure what you should be doing for summer training and want to be your best this fall, sign up for our summer training program. Get a daily training schedule, interact with our team, and be your best this fall.

Last Weekend’s Action – Yes, Action

LRC Chaski Challenge: Treadmill WRs Fall Like Dominoes As Sara Hall Runs 69:03 8 world treadmill bests went down and they were led by Sara Hall, who ran 69:03 for the half (her PR is 68:58). Tyler Andrews (2:42:56) and Max King (2:45:56) both broke the treadmill 50k WR with Andrews breaking the all-surface record as well. Andrews also broke the marathon WR with a 2:17:56. Renee Metivier got the marathon (2:42:07) and 50k (3:51:25) WRs. *Results

The World’s Best 400m Runner Got Popped On Friday

Salwa Eid Naser Downplays Her Drug Suspension, Says Missing Three Drug Tests In A Year “Is Normal”

LRC 2019 World 400m Champion Salwa Eid Naser Is Busted For Missing Three Drug Tests – Her Agent Says He Had No Idea She Was Popped Until LetsRun.com Told Him Eid Naser, who last year ran the fastest 400m time since 1985, is the latest athlete represented by Juan Pineda to be suspended for a doping violation following in the footsteps of Abraham Kiptum, Robel Fsiha and Sadik Mikhou.

MB: Bahrain’s world 400m champion Salwa Eid Naser (48.14 pb) suspended for whereabouts failures

From The Archives
2020: MB: Juan Pineda – one athlete dead at 22, one athlete busted for doping, both within 48 hours
2019: MB: On what kind of stuff is Salwa Eid Naser?
2019: MB: Juan Pineda group: Kiptum again with sub 60
2018: MB: Juan Pineda “handler” in Spain- Is Jama Aden really still coaching his athletes?

Sprint / Field News

Florida HS Vaulter Laine Roberts Is Still Focused On Breaking The 13’3″ Florida HS Mark She set the state record in middle school and has won two states but hasn’t gotten her long-sought HS state record. During Covid-19, she built a pole vault runway in her back yard.
Catching Up With Reigning Olympic 100, 200m Champ Elaine Thompson During COvid-19

The Latest George Floyd-Related News

US Indoor 400m Champ Rashard Clark Has An Interesting Perspective To Share He’s black and his mom was an LAPD cop for 40 years but he also was handcuffed and thrown on the ground as a freshman in college by cops when he didn’t do anything. His mom experienced the Rodney King riots and is disappointed not all that much has changed nearly 30 years later.
Gwen Berry Writes An Open Letter To Share Her “… opinion on the relationship between protests, sport, the Olympics and the role that athletes can play in advocacy for civil rights.”
Runner’s World: How To Be An Ally To The Black Running Community
Olympic Civil Rights Icon John Carlos Turns 75
Jasmine Todd Talks About The Injustice Of Growing Up Black In America
Police Brutality Exists All Over The World Kenyan Police Have Killed 15 People During Covid-19 Lockdowns

Previous LRC Exclusives

LRC I Was Bored, So I Watched Joan Benoit Samuelson Win The 1984 Olympic Marathon After a runner that was “considerably heavier than the other marathoners” took an early lead, Benoit won the inaugural women’s Olympic marathon thanks to a daring early breakaway, clocking the #3 time ever (at the time) and demolishing a field of studs (Grete Waitz, Ingrid Kristiansen, Rosa Mota) to cement her status as a legend.
*MB: How hot was it really during the 1984 Olympic women’s marathon? The NY Times report on the race says it got up to “near 90” but the weather data doesn’t show that.

LRC’s Weekly Podcast 2020 Boston Marathon Cancelled, Brown Track And Field Cancelled + Guest Tyler Andrews Goes For Treadmill World Record At Chaski Challenge And HSer Joe Fast Joins The Show Listen to the best track and field running podcast on the planet and learn about the guy who may dominate the NCAA men’s 800 for years to come.

The Latest News That We Found Interesting

World Athletics Headquarters Have Opened; They Immediately Release 4-Year Strategic Plan As Well As 2021 Olympic Qualifying Procedures “Our head office may have been closed for 11 weeks but we have not been idle,” said Seb Coe. As for the Olympics, nothing changes except the qualifying window has been extended into next year.
*Olympic Qualifying Procedures
*WA Unveils 4-Year Strategic Plan
*World Athletics’s New Strategic Plan Includes Support Campaign After Research Shows 88 Per Cent Exercise Boom In Lockdown
Q&A With Atlanta Track Club Head And 1997 WC Bronze Medalist Rich Kenah Kenah has doubled the ATC budget in six years but unlike Max Siegel, he’s not pulling in 7 figures a year.
New Book Is Published On Whether Genetics Explains Certain Groups’ Dominance In Certain Sports – How To Argue With A Sport-Loving Racist People of East African descent seem to dominate distance and people of West Africans seem to dominate the sprints. Is that genetic?
Alexa Efraimson Runs 4:27 1,600 Time Trial She had missed the full indoor season.

World Athletics Headquarters Have Opened; They Immediately Release 4-Year Strategic Plan As Well As 2021 Olympic Qualifying Procedures “Our head office may have been closed for 11 weeks but we have not been idle,” said Seb Coe. As for the Olympics, nothing changes except the qualifying window has been extended into next year. *Olympic Qualifying Procedures *WA Unveils 4-Year Strategic Plan *World Athletics’s New Strategic Plan Includes Support Campaign After Research Shows 88 Per Cent Exercise Boom In Lockdown
Q&A With Atlanta Track Club Head And 1997 WC Bronze Medalist Rich Kenah Kenah has doubled the ATC budget in six years but unlike Max Siegel, he’s not pulling in 7 figures a year.
New Book Is Published On Whether Genetics Explains Certain Groups’ Dominance In Certain Sports – How To Argue With A Sport-Loving Racist People of East African descent seem to dominate distance and people of West Africans seem to dominate the sprints. Is that genetic?
Alexa Efraimson Runs 4:27 1,600 Time Trial She had missed the full indoor season.

World Athletics Headquarters Have Opened; They Immediately Release 4-Year Strategic Plan As Well As 2021 Olympic Qualifying Procedures “Our head office may have been closed for 11 weeks but we have not been idle,” said Seb Coe. As for the Olympics, nothing changes except the qualifying window has been extended into next year. *Olympic Qualifying Procedures *WA Unveils 4-Year Strategic Plan *World Athletics’s New Strategic Plan Includes Support Campaign After Research Shows 88 Per Cent Exercise Boom In Lockdown
Q&A With Atlanta Track Club Head And 1997 WC Bronze Medalist Rich Kenah Kenah has doubled the ATC budget in six years but unlike Max Siegel, he’s not pulling in 7 figures a year.
New Book Is Published On Whether Genetics Explains Certain Groups’ Dominance In Certain Sports – How To Argue With A Sport-Loving Racist People of East African descent seem to dominate distance and people of West Africans seem to dominate the sprints. Is that genetic?
Alexa Efraimson Runs 4:27 1,600 Time Trial She had missed the full indoor season.

Athletes Speak Out After George Floyd’s Murder

Marielle Hall On Her Upbringing And Life Right Now As A Black Distance Runner Hall says that some of her high school friends said people only asked her out “because they were curious about what a ‘black girl would be like.'” She chose to attend the University of Texas because it was a more diverse, inclusive environment.
Gwen Berry Demands The USOPC Send Her A Written Public Apology For Putting Her On Probation For Her Awards Stand Protest At Pan-Ams Last Year “I want an apology letter … mailed … just like you and the IOC (International Olympic Committee) MAILED ME WHEN YOU PUT ME ON PROBATION. Stop playing with me.”
American Hammer Throw Record Holder Gwen Berry Says She Doesn’t Regret Her Protest At The Pan Am Games Last Year Even Though It Cost Her $50k “I just felt something. I don’t know what it was. When I was up there, I just felt something come over me. I can’t describe it,” Berry told CBC Sports from Houston. “It was like a spirit. I felt different. It was indescribable but I’ll never forget it or regret it.” *Discuss
Welsh Sprinter Sam Gordon Says Racism Is A Daily Issue In The UK
World Athletics And Many Track Stars Tweet Out Support For #BlackLivesMatter
Former GB Olympian And Harvard Sprinter Chris Lamber Pens “A letter to my white friends.” “We don’t inherit our oppression from our parents, we inherit it from your silence.”
Noah Lyles And Other US Pros Post On Social Media After George Floyd’s Death Jasmine Todd: “We put the three letters … U S A … on our chest SO PROUDLY … for a country that doesn’t even like or respect US because of OUR skin. A country that statistically sets blacks up for failure. A country that kills us because of our skin color …”
Michael Johnson Changes His Opinion And Says Prominent Athletes Need To Speak Out After George Floyd’s Death “If you have a platform you owe it to those people, you owe it to those whose lives have been lost, you owe it to our ancestors who fought through the civil rights movement back in the sixties. You owe it to all of them. If you have this position, like I did, you have a prominent position and you’ve benefited from the hard work of all of those people to have what you have, you owe it to all of them to not be silent.”