July 25, 2020 Homepage Archive

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Archived Homepage For July 25, 2020

Quote Of The Day

Three legendary American milers. pic.twitter.com/2JcVFpw5Iu
— Ned Ryun (@nedryun) July 24, 2020

– Jim Ryun, after becoming the 2nd American track and field athlete (Jesse Owens is the other) to receive the highest civilian honor in the country, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. US mile record holder Alan Webb and 2016 Rio Olympic 1,500 gold medalist Matthew Centrowitz were in attendance.

LRC Archives: Jim Ryun Named LetsRun’s Greatest American Distance Runner Of All Time
*Jim Ryun Podcast

Fast Sprinting In Clermont, FL *Live Results

Shaunae Miller-Uibo Dips Under 11 Seconds As Trayvon Bromell Beats Noah Lyles In Prelims With 9.90 (Lyles Wins Final In 9.93) Bromell ran 9.90 to in the heats (Lyles ran 10.04), but Bromell skipped the final, leaving Lyles to win over Andre De Grasse (9.97). Miller-Uibo won the final in 10.98 after running 11.03 in the heats. Akeem Bloomfield won the 400m in 45.07.
*MB: Clermont Track Meet #2: Noah Lyles, Michael Norman, and more. Live updates

Depressing News

Another Major Kenyan Doping Ban 2017 World 1,500m Champ Elijah Manangoi Provisionally Suspended For Whereabouts Failures

The New York Road Runners Fire/Furlough Nearly 40% Of Its Work Force 11% were laid off and 28% were furloughed.

Doping News

Deajah Stevens Ban Was Reduced From 2 Years To 18 Months Because Of Phone Issues Caused By Harassment She had changed her phone number and testers were not able to get a hold of her for her test.
Kara Goucher Dismayed After Revelations Of GB London 2012 Drug Trial “I heard [US athletes] were drinking some drinks that were to do with ketones and they had got it from British athletics. Then right before the 2016 Olympics I got an email from a manufacturer who makes ketones products saying: ‘This is why the British athletes performed so well in 2012. Do you know anyone on Team USA who would want this?'”

Shelby Houlihan Speaks To LRC

LRC Shelby Houlihan’s Big Talk With LetsRun.com: “I do feel like that world record is in reach.” Highlights of Shelby’s Big Talk with the LetsRun.com Track Talk Podcast after her 14:23.02 American record run.

European Athlete News

GB Hurdler Eilidh Doyle Claims Caster Semenya Is Treated Worse Than Drug Cheats While we would say Semenya’s case was handled horribly back in 2009, the current rules are a fair compromise. She is free to compete in whatever event if she takes hormone treatments. Drug cheats don’t get that option.
GB Gay Racewalker Tom Bosworth Wants To Fight Against Online Abuse Bosworth says he’s been the target of homophobic messages online.
GB’s Eilidh Doyle Says Tokyo Olympics Delay Could Be A Blessing For Her As She Can Re-target The 400H Doyle was only going to try and make GB’s 4 x 400 relay for Tokyo because she gave birth in January. But now that she has an extra year, she has time to make a comeback in the 400H.
World Decathlon Champ Niklas Kaul Will Miss The Rest Of The 2020 Season After Undergoing Surgery On His Throwing Arm Kaul said that the surgery was to “restore the stability of the elbow” and that the “operation went without any incident.”

Tokyo 2020 / IOC News

IOC Posts $74 Million Surplus For The Year Before COVID-19 Struck This was way up from the $325.8 million deficit they posted in 2015, the equivalent year in the prior Olympic cycle.
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike Says Holding The Tokyo Games Next Year Would Be A “Symbol” Of The World Overcoming The Pandemic
Health Officials In Japan Express Concerns Tokyo 2020 Could Increase Coronavirus Cases One said that even if there is a vaccine before the Games, it will be “near impossible for it to go around the world.”
Survey Says Just One In Four Japanese In Favor Of Holding The Olympics In 2021 Only 23.9% supported having the games in 2021 while 36.4% thought the Games should be further postponed and another 33.7% want them cancelled completely.
IOC Athletes’ Commission To Launch Survey On Olympic Protests
IOC Confirms Revised Qualification Process For Tokyo 2020 Finalized The IOC said the qualification period would end on June 29, 2021 (the Games open July 23rd). Track and field is one of the sport to have made “major adjustments to their qualification system.”

US Distance Action: The Big Friendly 2 ResultsBroadcast

MB:Shannon Rowbury 8:40 3k, Josh Kerr 2:17 1k, Nijel Amos 1:15 600 And More In Portland Other results: Konstanze Klosterhalfen 2:37 for 1,000m, Nia Akins 1:27.20 for 600m and Craig Engels 7:53 for 3,000m.
*Ken Goe’s Recap: “Portland Track Makes Magic Happen In Popup Meet Alongside The McKenzie River” There was a mixed 4 x 400 (two legs per runner) where Donavan Brazier and Raevyn Rogers defeated the teams of Nijel Amos and Chanelle Price and Craig Engels and Konstanze Klosterhalfen.
MB:MVMNT Race near Boston July 18 ft. Molly Seidel Keira D’Amato won the 10,000m in 32:33 in very hot conditions. Olivia Pratt was runner-up and Abbey Cooper third. Molly Seidel was a DNF.
*ResultsAbdi Abdisamed won the men’s 10,000m in 28:59.47 and Dana Giordano won the 1500m in 4:10.79.
*Race Broadcast
*Pre-Race: RRW: Elite Track Returns To Boston Area On Saturday
MB:High School Sophomore Jenna Hutchins Runs 10:05 In Solo 3200m Time Trial
Shadrack Kipchirchir (30:46) Beats Training Partner Girma Mecheso (30:51) At The 2020 USATF Colorado 10k Championships Ivy Kibet won the women’s race in 34:03.
*Pre-Race: Colorado To Hold State 10K Road Running Championships On Sunday

Distance News

MB: Elle Purrier Runs 4:01 1500m Time Trial
Billy Mills Reflects On His Epic Victory At The 1964 Tokyo Olympics Mills talks about overcoming being an orphan from a young age, type 2 diabetes, suicidal thoughts and racism to win Olympic gold.
MB:Joshua Cheptegei Runs Solo 7:41 3000m Time Trial Before Monaco
MB:Al Carius Steps Down As North Central College Coach

Trail / Ultra News

Praying For Him And His Family:Pro Trail Runner And Marathoner Tommy Rivers Puzey Battling A Rare Form Of Lung Cancer Puzey has been hospitalized since early July as doctors struggled at first to figure out what the source of respiratory problems were. There is a GoFundMe page to help him and his family with medical costs.
*MB: Tommy Rivs in ICU?
MB:Jim Walmsley going for Kilian Jornet’s Hardrock 100 Record, by himself July 22nd An unconfirmed report says Walmsley dropped out of the attempt.
Kyle Curtin Sets The Unsupported FKT For The Tahoe Rim Trail He ran the 165-mile route in 41 hours and 9 minutes, the unsupported record and second fastest time ever on the trail. The women’s FKT was also broken twice with Candice Burt ending up with the unsupported record with two days, 12 hours and 47 minutes.
British Ultra Runner James Stewart Runs FKT (Fastest Known Time) For The John Muir Way (134 Mile Coast-To-Coast Route Across Scotland) He ran 21:53:22, beating the previous record of 29:29:00.

Free Financial Education From LetsRun.com

LRC Why Did Michael Norman Run 9.86 – And Then Race Four More Times? A Look At How COVID-19 Is Affecting Elite Track & Field Contracts Did up to 25 Nike track athletes feel compelled to fly across the country to jog in meaningless races during Covid-19 to insure their contracts weren’t reduced? While reduction clauses exist in almost every Nike contract, they are not always enforced. Multiple industry sources said they believe the decisions about whether to reduce athletes at the end of 2020 in an attempt to save money would come from elsewhere within Nike – not the individuals usually charged with handling track & field sponsorships.

Assorted Distance News

Jim Ryun To Be Honored With The Presidential Medal Of Freedom Ryun, a former Kansas Congressman, will be awarded the nation’s highest civilian honor on Friday by President Trump at the White House.
*Second Article With Video Interview With Jim Ryun
Podcast Interview With Elise Cranny Cranny talks about her recent 14:48 5,000m, her first pro injury and more.
Lornah Kiplagat’s Training Facility In Iten, Kenya Is Empty Because Of Coronavirus Restrictions
Japan Running News Breaks Down The Top Performances At The 2020 Hokuren Distance Challenge Series Rosemary Wanjiru‘s 30:38.18 was the highest rated performance.
MB:Next BTC race Tuesday night Colleen Quigley announced she was racing on Instagram.

You Should Have Plenty Of Time To Read During Covid-19

LRC Q&A Sam Chelanga On Life In The Army, His Running Comeback, & His New Book, “With The Wind” Chelanga’s new book is out today. He reveals he thinks life in the US and Kenya is actually quite similar. “A problem is a problem. It doesn’t matter where it is, it’s gonna hurt either way. Because pain, it’s the same pain.” He says he was motivated to write a book because “I just couldn’t explain to myself how I was the way I was. I lived a life that I could have never predicted.” *Purchase Here

Other US News

The 2020 Fittest Cities In America Arlington, VA is first for the third year in a row.
Evelyn Ashford’s 10.79 100m WR From 1983 Named USATF Throwback Of The Week
RIP Former USC Pole Vaulter And US Indoor Record Holder Mel Hein Jr., 79

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

LRCHigh 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.

Olympic Protest Updates

Significant Number Of Athletes Against Taking A Knee At Tokyo Olympics Due To Fears Of Other Protests Former gold medal swimmer and chair of the IOC Athletes’ Commission Kirsty Coventry said, “It’s supposed to be your Olympic moment when you’ve won a medal. What if we have three athletes all wanting to stand up and have three different protests or fight for three different things? Even the most vocal athletes have said that’s not what they want.”
British Olympic Association Says British Athletes Will Be Allowed To Take A Knee At Tokyo 2020 If They Want

Bowerman Track Club In The News

LRC Canadian Record Holder Gabriela DeBues-Stafford Joins Bowerman Track Club After a breakout 2019 season, DeBues-Stafford is relocating permanently on this side of the Atlantic and will eventually move to Portland. *MB: Gabriela DeBues-Stafford (3:56/14:44) leaves Laura Muir/Andy Young’s training group for BTC

Another Bowerman Track Club Time Trial

MB:Mo Ahmed (3:34.89) And Karissa Schweizer (4:00.02) Lead The Way In The Latest BTC Time Trial Ahmed won over Marc Scott (3:35.93) and Grant Fisher (3:36.23) while Colleen Quigley was second for the women in 4:03.98.

Good News And Bad News

The Good Michael Norman Runs 9.86 For 100 Meters, Joins Wayde Van Niekerk As Only Members Of Sub-10/20/44 Club Norman’s PRs of 9.86/19.70/43.45 place him in the discussion of history’s most versatile sprinter with van Niekerk, Usain Bolt, and Michael Johnson.
*MB: MICHAEL NORMAN 9.86!!!! (1.6).

ISTAF Berlin Will Be Held On Sept 13th With 3,500 Fans In Stands! (link fixed) And if you can’t wait that long, there is a meet in Italy August 1st with Laura Muir, Wayde van Niekerk and Jemma Reekie.

The Bad US Track & Field Championships Cancelled For The First Time In 145 Years The last time there was no US national track & field championship, Ulysses S. Grant was president and there were only 37 states.
*MB: 2020 USAs Cancelled: For the first time since Ulysses S Grant was president, there will be no US Track Champs

It’s The 40th Anniversary Of The 1980 Moscow Olympic Boycott

Good Read: Interesting Report On How Britain Almost Boycotted The 1980 Olympics The Government didn’t want to send a team, but the British Olympic Association got the final say and sent a team, although only one representative was at the opening ceremony and the UK flag/anthem were not seen/heard. Includes quotes from Seb Coe and Daley Thompson.
Creator Of 1980 Moscow Olympic Mascot Dies At 84 The mascot was a brown bear named Misha. The bear was the national animal for the Soviet Union. Communism aside, we’ll say it was a way better mascot than some recent years, like the London 2012 2 “walking alien penis creatures” or “terror sperm.”
Thomas Bach Says The 1980 Moscow Olympic Boycott Was “Completely Unsuccessful” Bach was an Olympic fencer, but missed out when West Germany boycotted.
USOPC Chief Says 1980 Olympic Team Deserved Better As Moscow Boycott 40th Anniversary Marked