July 29, 2020 Homepage Archive

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Archived Homepage For July 29, 2020

Putting America's Problems In Context

“‘We need justice and security from the government. We need affirmation from the government that similar attacks will not occur,’ said Haile, who demanded the government to bring the attackers before justice and hold them accountable.”

– Haile Gebrselassie talking after two of his hotels were burned down in Ethiopia as part of an ethnic uprising. According to Ezega.com, “Properties belonging to non-Oromo ethnic groups were attacked and businesses vandalized, burned, and looted by organized mobs in Shashemene, Arsi Negele, Robe, Adaba, Asasa, Ziway, and other towns of Oromia region. According to a police report, more than 200 people were killed in the protracted attacks following the death of a popular Oromo singer Hachalu Hundessa.”

MB: Haile G’s Hotels Are Burned Down as More Than 200 Are Killed in Ethnic Uprising in Ethiopia

The Olympics Neeeds A MVP

LRC The Olympic Track & Field MVPs, Part I: 1896-1960 The 2020 Olympic track and field action was supposed to begin this week and we’re feeling nostalgic. Football has a Super Bowl MVP. Baseball has a World Series MVP. We need to have an Olympic MVP. Today, we name an Olympic MVP for every Olympics from 1896 to 1960.
*MB: Let the debate begin. Here are our Olympic MVPs from 1896 to 2016.

Fast Sprinting In Clermont, FL *Live Results

Noah Lyles Runs 19.94 To Beat World 400m Champ Steven Gardiner’s 19.96 (Running In Different Heats) On Day 2 In Clermont In the women’s race, Shaunae Miller-Uibo dropped a world-leading 21.98. Grant Holloway ran 13.35 to beat Devon Allen in the 110H prelims by .01 (Holloway won the final in 13.46; Allen skipped).

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

European Non-Distance Stars

Kind Of Cool: Ivona Dadic Smashes The 6,000-Point Barrier In One-Hour Heptathlon In Amstetten Afterwards she said, “A normal heptathlon in two days is exhausting, a one-hour heptathlon hurts incredibly. But when I see my performance, the pain is gone in one fell swoop.”
The Netherlands’ World U20 Champ Femke Bol Runs European-Leading 51.13 In The 400m
World 400H Champ Karsten Warholm Eying The Long Standing European 400m Record When He Races In Stockholm Next Month The record is 44.33 (by East Germany’s Thomas Schonlebe from 1987) and Warholm’s best is 44.87 from 2017.

Distance News

MB: Elle Purrier Runs 4:01 1,500m 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 3,000m Time Trial Before Monaco
MB:Al Carius Steps Down As North Central College Coach

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

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.

London Is Still The Last Major Left Standing

Are They Delaying The Inevitable Or Do We Dare To Dream? London Marathon Decision Due By August 7 The decision was supposed to be made July 28th, but an announcement has been delayed another 10 days. Race director Hugh Brasher said they are coming up with “innovative ways” to socially distance the event.
London Marathon Organizers Hopeful Of Staging Elite Race For Olympic Qualification In October With Boston, Berlin, New York and Chicago all cancelled, London could be one of the few opportunities elites will have this fall to qualify for Tokyo.

World Athletics Amends Shoe Rules; Opens Olympic Road Qualifying Early

World Athletics Updates Shoe Rules; Extends Maximum Height Limits To Track Spikes The 30mm maximum sole height for track spikes has been reduced to 25mm for 800m and above and 20mm for events under 800m. The new rules also add an “Athletic Shoe Availability Scheme” for unsponsored athletes, giving more specific requirements on shoes being reasonably available to athletes.
RRW:World Athletics Announces Olympic Qualification Window Reopens For Road Athletes September 1 This is three months earlier than the December 1 date originally announced. However the suspension on qualification for track events until December 1 remains.
World Athletics Statement One rule change stated that manufactures must “commit to making the new shoe available via a scheme to provide shoes to unsponsored elite athletes for free and/or for purchase…”

Irish Distance News

Ciara Mageean Becomes First Irish Woman To Break The 2-Minute Barrier In The 800m She broke her PR by over a second with 1.59.69 to win her race in Bern, Switzerland to break the 7-year-old 2:00.58 national record.
Top Irish Marathoner Stephen Scullion Says Nike Vaporfly Shoes Have “Ruined The Sport” “But if you don’t wear them, don’t expect to be competitive or you have to be three minutes fitter than everybody else and that’s impossible.”

Kenyan Doping News

Elijah Manangoi Speaks: Says His Missed Tests Were All In 2019 And Had “Nothing To Do With Prohibited Substances” “Last year was the worst period of my career when I was upset through injury which impacted everything on and off the track. I know I’ve let people down, in particular my coach and fellow athletes, and I also know that no matter what I say here I’ll be criticized.”
Separately From Manangoi, The AIU Also Suspended Kenyan Marathoners Kenneth Kiprop Kipkemoi And Mercy Jerotich Kibarus

Sprint / Field News

Wayde Van Niekerk Wants To Set An “Untouchable” 400m World Record As His Legacy Talking about his injury from rugby, he says it was a big mistake to play as his body was “conditioned for running straight – not zig-zags.”
MB:Allyson Felix and Usain Bolt are featured in a commercial for Sam’s Club. What do you think?
Video Interview: Russian LJer Daria Klishina Says She’s Received Escort Offers Via Instagram
Hungary’s Bence Halasz Throws World-Leading 78.86m In The Hammer

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.”

Distance Action

LRC Rhode Island High Schooler Darius Kipyego Runs U.S. #3 800 (1:48.82) Kipyego, a rising junior at St. Raphael Academy in Pawtucket, earned Pan Am U20 silver last year by running 1:49.46.

Cory McGee, Dani Jones And Emma Coburn Become First American Trio To Run Sub-4:24 In The Same Race At Team Boss Indiana Mile McGee won in a world-leading 4:21.81 (#8 US all-time outdoors) while Tripp Hurt won the men’s race in 3:56.18 over Nick Harris (3:57.11) and Mason Ferlic (3:58.87). *Discuss *Results
MB:Jessica Hull Runs 8:41 For 3000m In Terrible Conditions

More Dates To Cross Off Your Calendar

Shanghai Diamond League Cancelled After Chinese Government Suspends All International Sporting Events For The Rest Of The Year Shanghai was originally rescheduled for September 19th. It is now the sixth DL meet to be completely cancelled.
RRW: Drake Relays Officially Cancelled Drake was originally scheduled for April 22-25 and postponed without a new date when coronavirus hit. Now it’s been completely cancelled.
RRW: Marine Corps Marathon Forced To Cancel The race was scheduled for October 25th. Runners can defer their entry to request a refund.
Gateshead Grand Prix Cancelled Because Stadium Renovations Won’t Be Complete The meet was rescheduled for September because of coronavirus, but now it’s been cancelled all together after coronavirus restrictions delayed renovations.
Nanjing World Athletics Continental Tour Meeting Cancelled

Olympics-Related News

Tokyo 2020 President Yoshiro Mori Says Fans Are Essential For The Olympics Thomas Bach suggested reducing the number of fans at the Games, but Mori sais Bach’s comments were a “worst case scenario.”
AP:From Zeus To Athens, How The Modern Olympics Came To Be The Associated Press takes a look back at some highlights from the first modern Olympics in Athens in 1896.
Japan Airlines To Give Away 100,000 Free Domestic Tickets During Postponed Tokyo 2020 Games The goal is to encourage tourism in other areas of Japan. the same incentive was offered before the Games were delayed.
Former Assistant US Attorney Appointed USOPC Chief Ethics And Compliance Officer Holly Shick is the first to take on this new position created in response to abuse scandals.
US Olympic And Paralympic Museum To Open On July 30th In Colorado Springs

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