June 13, 2020 | LetsRun.com

The Impossible Games Are Thursday *Results

LRC Jakob Ingebrigtsen Gets European 2,000m Record, Team Norway Crushes Team Kenya, Karsten Warholm Gets Record @ Impossible Games It wasn’t the track & field we’re used to, but Ingebrigtsen (Euro 2,000m record of 4:50.04), Warholm (300m hurdles world best of 33.78), and Mondo Duplantis (5.86m PV) still entertained the track world on Thursday afternoon.
*MB: Official 2020 Impossible Games Discussion Thread – Team Cheruiyot vs Ingebrigtsen
*MB: Sondre Moen 25,000 meters at Bislet
*MB: Why is World Athletics naming an event after a convicted drug cheat

Team Cheruiyot Wants A Rematch With Team Ingebrigsten At The Kip Keino Classic In September Timothy Cheruiyot: “The track was windy and that made it difficult to move. Jakob and his teammates had good weather and their track was pretty fast and conducive.”
Sondre Moen Makes A Statement In Oslo With European 25,000m Record He ran 1:12:46.5, only a little of the world record of 1:12:25.4. He said, “In retrospect, perhaps I should have run a more evenly-paced race and maybe I could have got the world record. But my goal from the start was the area record.”
European Athletics: Karsten Warholm And Jakob Ingebrigtsen Smash Records At The Impossible Games Warholm: “It was a little funny because Leif Olav (his coach) said ‘maybe you can beat the record in half a second?’ and I said “no, are you sick to the head!” But I trained well and when he said that I had some faith and it began to sink in. It’s so beautiful.”
World Athletics Impossible Games Recap

Protest News

Politico: Sport Bends Rules For Black Lives Matter Protests Although the IOC has caught flack for saying they might not allow political protests at the Olympics.
Athletes Will Not Be Punished For Activism At The 2022 Commonwealth Games
Allyson Felix Talks About Her Decision And Experience With Protesting “It’s so important for me to use my voice and I am hopeful [for change].”
GB Olympian Colin Jackson Says IOC Has ‘Big Opportunity’ To Make Anti-Racism Statement Jackson also talked about how it’s going to be “literally hell” for athletes in the “twilight” of their career to hold one for one extra year for Tokyo 2021.
Gwen Berry Accuses IOC Of Hypocrisy For Celebrating Tommi Smith And John Carlos, But Punishing Her For Protesting

Coronavirus Comeback?

Vin Lananna Doesn’t Know When They’ll Be Able To Host Track Meets Again; Says The Format Could Change So All The Events Aren’t At The Same Time “We’re going to have to consider not having all the events at one time. I feel we should compartmentalize track meets so they won’t be so long. If we’re interested in the jumps, you can watch the jumps. If you’re interested in the distances, you can watch the distances.”
The Oregonian Takes A “Sport-By-Sport” Look At “How Much Coronavirus Risk Is Involved In Playing” Each Sport According to some experts, contact sports (like football) and indoors sports (like basketball) were rated with a higher risk, while XC and T&F were rated to have a lower risk.
The Collegiate Fall Sports Season Is Cancelled In Canada An interesting note on eligibility. Apparently, Canadian universities count XC and track eligibility together. So even though XC is cancelled, if an athlete competes in indoor or outdoor track, they still use a year of XC eligibility.
Parkrun To Resume In New Zealand At The Beginning Of July All social distancing requirements have been removed in NZ.

Protest / Race News

Meb Keflezighi Shares His Thoughts On The Recent Protests And On Being Black In America Keflezighi says the Ahmaud Arbery story made him ask himself if he’s “really safe” when he goes out running.
Oregon Coach Robert Johnson Speaks Out About Racial Injustice Johnson encouraged his athletes to speak out on social media, talked about how he feels getting pulled over by a cop as a black man, and said if you are “being silent, you’re for this injustice.”
Sprinter Jasmine Todd Says “The overall system in the United States was created to keep black people as slaves.”
Sports Illustrated: 14 Black Track Athletes Share Their Encounters With Racism In America Raevyn Rogers talks about how she had a gun pointed at her by a police officer when there was an intruder in her building earlier this year.
IOC Athletes’ Commission To Consult With Athletes On Olympic Protests IOC president Thomas Bach said a rule banning athletes from protesting at the Olympics could be reviewed.
Seb Coe Backs Athletes’ Right To Protest Despite IOC Rules Banning Political Protests, Including Taking A Knee Coe said, “I am reluctant to discourage athletes from expressing their views and I sense that the current generation is more willing to speak out than some previous generations were.”
The Telegraph: “Black Power Pioneers Paid Dearly – They Raised A Fist And The System Punched Them Back” The writer claims that because of sponsorships, the IOC “fears a 21st-century equivalent of the Black Power protests” from 1968.

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:

IOC Confirm Athletes Face Bans For Taking Knee At Tokyo 2021 Olympics IOC says disciplinary action “will be taken on a case-by-case basis” but current guidelines are “still in place.”
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.”

NCAA Updates

Recommended Read: Sports Illustrated: “A Collegiate Model In Crisis: The Crippling Impact Of Schools Cutting Sports” A look at how the coronavirus is impacting college sport programs, with 30 DI teams already being discontinued. Includes insights from Clayton Murphy on Akron’s men’s XC team being cut.
RR #2: Blog Post: Collegiate Spending On Track And Field Props Up The Sport Our sport relies almost exclusively on the collegiate system to develop the professional track athletes of tomorrow. Most NCAA schools support track at a financial loss. So if more and more schools start cutting track, that’s a problem for the sport as a whole.
Carl Lewis Says The Houston University Track Program Is Preparing Its Athletes For Not Coming Back Until 2021 “Every sport will be different forever. College sports will be different forever.”
Florida Governor Signs Bill That Will Allow College Athletes To Earn Money From Endorsement Deals As Soon As Next Summer California and Colorado have passed similar laws, but Florida’s will go into effect a year and a half before theirs.

Tokyo / Commonwealth Games News

Tokyo 2020 Says 80% Of Its Olympics Venues Are Secured For 2021 Although negotiations are still ongoing for the Athletes’ Village.
*A More Pessimistic Way Of Saying It: Tokyo Olympic Organizers Have No Agreement With 20% Of Games Venues
Two-Thirds Of Tokyo Olympic Sponsors Undecided If They’ll Extend Their Contracts Past December
Tokyo Lifts Coronavirus Warning And Enters Third Stage Of Reopening
Commonwealth Games Trying To Adjust THe Schedule To Make It Easier For Athletes Also Competing At Worlds And Euro Champs The track schedule has moved from seven days to five days which might mean less rest between heats and finals or for athletes doubling.
Birmingham MP Warns Funding For Commonwealth Games “In Danger” He said that the city’s council may not be able to provide the promised funding because of financial problems caused by coronavirus. The pandemic has reportedly cost the city council $205 million.

General Track News

Athletes Including Christian Taylor And Emma Coburn Demand Answers After World Athletics Leaked Financial Info Shows They’re Losing Millions Of Dollars Each Year It’s worth noting that the same athletes who ripped World Athletics for cutting less popular events from the Diamond League are now ripping World Athletics for not making changes.
Seb Coe Set To Become An IOC Member After Being Proposed By The Executive Board Coe has committed to addressing a conflict of interest (his position at CSM Sport Entertainment) which had previously prevented him from joining.
The Start Date For The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Pushed Back 24 Hours To Give Athletes Competing At Worlds An Extra Day Of Recovery Eugene 2022 Worlds finishes on July 24th and the CWG will start July 28th.
Mid-D Runner Guy Learmonth Hopes Scottish Athletes Should “Prioritize” Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games

Today Is Impossible, Next Month We Have Inspiration

Cancelled Zurich DL Will Hold “Inspiration Games” Instead On July 9 The “meet” will see 30 stars compete against eight events at seven stadiums on three different continents. The three stadiums will be broadcast simultaneously for each event.
Zurich’s “Inspiration Games” Will Include A 150m Race Between Shaunae Miller-Uibo, Allyson Felix And Sweden’s Mujinga Kambundji Miller-Uibo will race in Florida, Felix in California and Kambundji in Zurich.

Doping News

2010 European Champion Russian HJer Alexander Shustov Gets 4-Year Doping Ban His results from July 2013 to July 2017 have been voided.
Michael Johnson Speaks Out Over Salwa Eid Naser’s Missed Tests Johnson said she should be banned through 2022 and also advocated for increasing the ban for three missed tests to 4 years.
RUSADA Investigating 27 Possible Rule Violations In May Includes three cases where athletes may have broken conditions of their current bans.

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.”

Bizarre

US Pole Vaulter Cole Walsh Handed 3-Month Ban For Eating A Chocolate Bar With THC In It Can we stop wasting resources on testing for recreational drugs that don’t help performance?
Ultrarunner Alyssa Amos Clark Has Broken The Women’s Word Record For Most Consecutive Marathons She’s completed a marathon on her treadmill for 64 straight days and is aiming for 75. The world record was 60. The men’s record is 607. Yes, 607.

Free Training Tips

Throwback Thursday

LRC I Was Bored, So I Watched Eliud Kipchoge & Kenenisa Bekele’s Duel At 2005 World XC A duel between legends was the headliner, but did you know the future greatest marathoner in history ended up making a classic beginning runner’s mistake? 2005 World XC also featured an impressive double from Tirunesh Dibaba, an appearance from 15-year-old Aliphine Tuliamuk, and the last World XC appearances for Galen Rupp, Jenny Simpson and Dathan Ritzenhein.

Sprint Stuff

A Look Back At Michael Johnson’s Historic Double Gold At The 1996 Olympics In Golden Spikes Johnson became the first man to win the 200m and 400m at a single Olympics.
HS Sprint Star Michah Williams Commits To Oregon Williams set the Oregon state championship meet records in the 100m and 200m his sophomore year.

Previous Impossible Games News

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 1,500m 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

Mondo Duplantis Ahead Of The Impossible Games: “I’m just glad to be back competing.” Includes quotes from Duplantis and Renaud Lavillenie talking about the unique competition as well as Timothy Cheruiyot, Filip Ingebrigsten and more.
Two-Time World 400H Champ Karsten Warholm Shooting For The 300m Hurdle WR At The Impossible Games The record for the rarely run event was set by GB’s Chris Rawlinson in 2002.
Watch The Impossible Games Press Conference

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.”