Sara Hall Sets Half Marathon PR

Sara Hall Runs 68:17 Half Marathon PR (6th On The US All-Time List) Hall ran the race on a bike path in Oregon with just her and two male pacers. She says she’s really encouraged by the PR as she prepares for a fall marathon (which she couldn’t name, but is likely London). *Discuss

Track Results – Last BTC Time Trial

• MB: BTC Time Trial – Mo Ahmed Runs 5:00.72 For 2,000m; Shelby Houlihan Runs 2:01.08 For 800m Over Karissa Schweizer’s 2:02.77 This one was much more tame than BTC’s previous time trials.
  *Full Results You’ll notice some bizarre results like Matt Centrowitz running 3:03 for 800m. These results are athletes fulfilling contract obligations. For more of an explanation on that, read our article here: Why Did Michael Norman Run 9.86 – And Then Races Four More Times? A Look At How COVID-19 Is Affecting Elite Track & Field Contracts
• Sondre Moen Breaks 44-Year-Old European 1 Hour Record Moen ran 21,131m (4:34 per mile) to break Jos Hermens‘ European record from 1976. *Discuss
• Finland’s Aaron Kangas Throws PR And European-Leading 79.05m In The Hammer

Doping News

• WADA To Downgrade Bans For Out-Of-Competition Recreational Drug Use Athletes can now get a ban as short as one month. We agree; it didn’t make sense to ban someone for two years for a drug that wasn’t performance enhancing.
• Ukraine’s Two-Time European 800m Champion Gets 20-Month Ban; Will Miss Tokyo Games She tested positive for a banned diuretic, but her ban was reduced as the AIU accepted her violation had not been intentional.
• Interesting: Florence Griffith Joyner’s Husband Had Doctors Test Her Body For Steroid Use After She Died To Try To Prove Critics Wrong The article glosses over doping suspicions with “she never failed a test,” but we thought this was interesting. For the record, 89.67% of the LetsRun audience polled in 2014 thought FloJo was dirty.

Olympic Champs That Win Multiple Golds Become Legends – World Athletics Should Make It As Easy As Possible

LRC What Track And Field Doubles Are Doable At The 2021 Olympics? We know the 100/200 will be doable, but what about the 200/400? The 1,500/5,000? The (gulp) … 100/400? We break them all down and propose a few easy solutions. World Athletics, are you paying attention? A few tweaks could make the schedule much more athlete-friendly.
*MB: What doubles are doable in Tokyo? LRC tells you and offers some simple changes

(Mostly) European Distance News

• Pete Julian’s Group Will Spend August Training And Racing In Europe Julian said, “We’re doing the very best we can to stay safe and healthy. There are concerns, obviously. We’re in a pandemic. But this is their job. They seem up for it. They’re really responsible athletes.”
• Few Results We Missed: European Leads From Sweden’s Andreas Kramer (1:45.86 In The 800m), Germany’s Alina Reh (15:27.46 In The 5,000m) And Sweden’s Kim Amb (86.49m In The Javelin)
  *British Milers’ Club Holds Socially Distanced 800m Using Alternate Lanes
  *GB’s Jo Zakrzewski Breaks Four National Ultra Running Records In One Race She ran 236k in 24 hours on the track.
• Israeli Marathoner Bracha Deutsch Pleading With The IOC To Change The Day Of The Olympic Marathon So She Can Race The 2:32 marathoner is an Orthodox Jew and can’t race on Shabbat, a day of rest for Jewish people.
• GB Ultra Runner Carla Molinaro Breaks The Land’s End To John O’Groats (LEJOG) Record She ran the length of Britain (874 miles) in 12 days, 30 minutes and 14 seconds.
• 2021 European 10,000m Cup Will Return To London On June 5 You probably know the race better as “the Night of the 10,000m PBs.”

Upcoming Stuff

• Doha Diamond League Rescheduled For September 25 This is moved up about two weeks from the original rescheduled date on October 9.
• Laura Muir, Renaud Lavillenie And World Silver Medalist Hjer Yaroslava Mahuchikh Announced For LOTTO Kamila Skolimowska Memorial In Poland On September 6 Polish social distancing rules will require the stadium be limited to 50% capacity, which means they can still have 27,000 spectators watch live.
• USATF.TV Replaying The 2016 Olympic Trials For Free Each day is free to watch for 48 hours.
• We Wish USATF Had Done The Same: One Month To Go Until The British Athletics Championships The championships are being held behind closed doors September 4-5.
• European Athletics: Eleven Meets To Follow In Early August Must be nice.

On – The Swiss Running Brand – Gets Into Pro Running In A Big Way

LRC On Establishes Pro Group In Boulder To Be Coached by Dathan Ritzenhein; Joe Klecker Is Group’s First Signing The group will be called the On Athletics Club and features eight athletes (the remainder will be announced soon) led by Joe Klecker, who was signed before Ritz and given veto power over the coach of the group. Klecker will make his pro debut at the Music City Distance Carnival on August 15 and Ritz says he’s in incredible shape. “I did that exact workout at sea level a month before I ran 12:56 and broke the American record … He’s doing the kind of quality work that I was doing at my best.”
*MB: Breaking: On is starting a new training group in Boulder coached by Dathan Ritzenhein and headlined by Joe Klecker
*MB: Joe Klecker Sub 4 at altitude?! 3:58.4

Weekend Recap

Full World Athletics Weekend Recap

• MB: Bob Beamon move over. Valarie Allman PRs by almost 10 feet to shatter US discus record by more than 3 feet!! She PRed by nearly 10 feet – 9 feet 11 inches to be exact – to set a new US record of 70.15 (230′ 2″).
• MB: Jemma Reekie runs 1:59.52 to edge Laura Muir (1:59.54) in Italy as four break 2:00 in Italy
  *Athletics Weekly Recap
• MB: 1:44.81 Edose Ibadin – District Track Club
• Katie Nageotte vaults 4.92, takes a few good cracks at AR
• Germany’s Johannes Vetter Wins Javelin At The Kuortane Games With A European-Leading 86.94m
• 18-Year-Old Elina Tzengko Of Greece Breaks U20 Javelin Record With 63.96m.

The Olympics Needs An MVP

LRC The Olympic Track & Field MVPs, Part II: 1964-2016 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 1964 to 2016.
*MB: Let the debate begin. Here are our Olympic MVPs from 1896 to 2016.

LRC The Olympic Track & Field MVPs, Part I: 1896-1960

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.