August 21, 2020 Homepage Archive

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Archived Homepage For August 21, 2020

Quote Of The Day

“The London Marathon has been so important to me since I was a schoolboy and when they asked me to do this I thought it would be great to help. I am in good shape, I’ll be in London that week and it fits in with my training. I’ve been training here in Font Romeu with some of the British guys who are going for that Olympic qualifying time and they are good lads. I know just how special it is just to compete for your country at an Olympic Games and it would be great to help other athletes achieve this. With the current global situation and lack of races, the Virgin Money London Marathon in October is the best chance for athletes to run the Olympic qualifying time.”

– Mo Farah talking about why he agreed to be a pacer for the 2020 London Marathon where he’ll try to help some fellow Brits get the 2:11:30 Olympic qualifying standard.

Get Hyped For London 2020

2020 London Marathon Elite Fields Released
LRC Breaking Down The 2020 London Marathon Field Which Features 3 of the 4 Fastest Men Ever The 2020 London Marathon field is out and it’s amazing as usual. We tell you who is in, who is out and along the way we wonder when Galen Rupp will next race as he’s not in the race although the London field does include Americans Jared Ward, Molly Seidel and Sara Hall.
*MB: London Marathon elite fields 2020
*Official Press Release

Mid-Week Results From Gyulai Memorial In Hungary *Results

LRC Donavan Brazier Keeps Win Streak Alive, Runs 1:15.07 For 600m In Hungary Brazier had to come from way down in the last 100 to win the race and run down Puerto Rico’s Wesley Vázquez.
*MB: Donny Braz to Take Down a 34 Year Old World’s 600m Best?

World Athletics Gyulai Memorial Recap: Noah Lyles Wins 100/200 Double In 10.05 And 20.13 In the 110H, Orlando Ortega ran 13.21 to beat out Grant Holloway by .01, Hugues Fabrice Zango (17.43m) upset Christian Taylor (17.34m) in the TJ and Daniel Stahl won the discus (67.31m).
Ukraine’s Yuliya Levchenko Clears World Leading 2.00m At The Irena Szewinska Memorial In Poland She won over her teammate and rival Yaroslava Mahuchik.
*WA Recap:Australia’s Matthew Ramsden Wins 2000m In 4:55.44 Over Poland’s Marcin Lewandowski (4:57.09) Benin’s Noelie Yarigo got an upset win in the 800m, running 2:00.11 to beat Sofia Ennaoui (2:0026) and Laura Muir (2:00.34). GB got distance wins from Jemma Reekie in the 1500 (4:09.01) and Eliot Giles in the men’s 800m (1:45.18). Sam Kendricks beat Piotr Lisek on countback in the PV with 5.80m.

LetsThrow.com

Kenyan Olympic Javelin Silver Medalist Julius Yego Says He’s Sceptical Of Competing This Year, But Still Has His Eyes On Tokyo 2020 Success Yego says he hasn’t been able to train well with COVID-19: “For track athletes, it’s easier because they can get a road and run, but for a technical sport like javelin, you need to do more – it has been difficult.”
Jumps/Throws: Former WR Holder Bob Beamon And Olympic Champ Ryan Crouser Headline Induction Class For Texas Track And Field Hall Of Fame
Video Interview With Two-Time Shot Put World Champion Joe Kovacs
GB Shot Putter Sophie McKinna Reconsiders And Accepts British Athletics Funding Offer McKinna originally declined the funding because she wanted to continue working as a custody detention officer at a police investigation center.
RIP Hungary’s Three-Time Olympic Javelin Medalist Gergely Kulcsar, 86

More From Cheptegei

LRC VIP Joshua Cheptegei Video Chat With LetsRun.com Cheptegei spoke to us Tuesday afternoon for 45 minutes about his shocking run. LRC Supporter’s Club members can watch the interview now. Join the LRC Supporters Club to get bonus content, enhanced access, and huge savings on running shoes. We’ll edit the zoom and release it as a podcast next week.

LRC How Joshua Cheptegei Became The World’s Fastest Distance Runner – A Look Back At His Career After 5,000m World Record He first made noise on the senior level by having the biggest blowup we’ve ever seen in a race. Since then he’s won 2 world titles and broken 4 world records.

World Athletics: “After World 5,000m Record, Joshua Cheptegei Is On Track To Achieve Global Domination” “My ambition is to dominate the track for the next five or six years.”
Joshua Cheptegei:“This record is a special moment for me and I like to thank Kenenisa for his inspiration.” On Instagram, Cheptegei replied to Bekele, saying, “You are forever my all time role model and idol. Your career inspires me the most. I am forever grateful to emulate and follow your footsteps.”

Assorted Distance News

Beers, Bomb Suits And Blue Jeans: The 13 Weirdest Mile Run Records Known To Man Anthony Famiglietti has two of the records, but it isn’t the fastest mile in Death Valley wearing a Darth Vader suit.
AIU Announces Sanction For Ukrainian Olympic Marathoner Vitaliy Shafar Shafar got a ban of 3 years and 7 months for a Athlete Biological Passport violation, but it started back in 2017 so he can compete again at the end of this month.
Paula Radcliffe Looks Back And Reflects On The Athens 2004 Olympic Marathon Radcliffe famously DNFed this race after being the huge favorite, but admits if it hadn’t been the Olympics, she never would have taken the starting line. Includes podcast and written article.
Short Interview Catching Up With Emma Coburn Coburn explains how she ended up as Christian Taylor‘s vice president for the Athletics Association.

Music City Distance Carnival Results Live Stream

16-Year-Old Rheinhardt Harrison Runs 4:01.34 At Music City Distance Carnival He broke Edward Cheserek‘s sophomore class record (Harrison is a rising junior) and finished 7th in the race which was won by Harvard grad Kieran Tuntivate in a Thailand NR of 3:57.87.

MB: Music City Distance Carnival Discussion Thread The best times of the night came in the 1,500m where Aussie Oliver Hoare (3:34.63) and Cory McGee (4:03.64) were the winners. McGee just beat Emma Coburn by .18. Michael Saruni won the 800m in 1:46.13. and Ce’Aira Brown took the women’s race in 2:00.31.

More Monaco Coverage

Jakob Ingebrigtsen Eclipses European 1,500m Record With 3:28.68 In Monaco The 19-year-old (now #8 on the world all-time list) broke Mo Farah’s European record of 3:28.81 which was set in the same stadium seven years ago.
Jake Wightman Storms To UK #2 All-Time With 3:29.47 Mo Farah is the only Brit to have run faster.
GB’s Laura Weightman Impresses With 14:35.44 In Monaco 5,000m (#2 GB All-Time Behind Paula Radcliffe)
Laura Muir Breaks British 1,000m Best With 2:30.82 In Monaco She broke Kelly Holmes‘ record of 2:32.55 from 1997.
Ciara Mageean Smashes Sonia O’Sullivan’s 27-Year-Old 1,000m Irish Record Mageean ran 2:31.06 to break O’Sullivan’s 2:34.66 mark from 1993.
World Athletics Monaco Recap

More Monaco DL News

Good News:BBC Signs Last Minute TV Deal To Get Diamond League Meets Live Streamed In Britain There was outrage after a a report a couple days ago that revealed World Athletics had failed to secure a British broadcaster so Brits wouldn’t be able to watch the meets live. *2nd Article
Joshua Cheptegei’s WR Dream Still Alive After Weeks Of Arguing With The Ugandan Government To Allow International Travel
World Athletics Preview:Global Champions And World Record Holders Head To Monaco As Diamond League Action Resumes Donavan Brazier is excited to be racing international again saying, “I didn’t realize how much I missed coming to Europe and seeing all the athletes – it’s sort of like a mini-world championships.”
The UK Government Issued Elite Athlete Travel Exemptions Preventing Elite Athletes From Having To Quarantine
BBC Preview: Adam Gemili Takes On World Champ Noah Lyles In Monaco

The Shoes Have Ruined The Sport

World Athletics Issues Reminder About Their Amended Shoe Rules Which Went Into Affect Two Weeks Ago The new rules set a maximum sole height limit of 25mm for track events 800m and above. This means that road shoes with a higher sole height like the Nike Vaporfly can’t be worn for track races. However, anyone who ran a time or set a record before the rule came in effect two weeks ago will be grandfathered in.
*2nd Article Cross-Country also has a maximum sole height limit of 25mm.

Monaco Diamond League Is Friday

Monaco Provisional Entry Lists There is a solid women’s 5,000m with Sifan Hassan, Hellen Obiri, Letesenbet Gidey, Shannon Rowbury and Konstanze Klosterhalfen. The men’s 1,500m should also be good with Timothy Cheruiyot, Jakob and Filip Ingebrigsten and Craig Engels. The men’s 5,000 has Joshua Cheptegei, Julien Wanders and Henrik Ingebrigsten; Soufiane El Bakkali in the steeple. Brits Laura Muir and Jemma Reekie are in the 1,000m with Raevyn Rogers and Faith Kipyegon.
*MB: DL Monaco entries are up

World Athletics Fail:British Viewers Won’t Be Able To Watch The Diamond League Live This Year Eurosport opted not to extend its contract when it expired last year and World Athletics hasn’t secured a new British broadcaster. (The BBC can show meet highlights only.)
NBC Sports’ Five Events To Watch At The Monaco DL Three of the five on their list are distance races.
Meet Director Jean-Pierre Schoebel Talks About Putting On The Monaco DL Through The Covid-19 Pandemic “We’ve never worked as hard as this year. I can’t tell you how difficult the situation has been.”

OAC Full Team Revealed – Monson & Hoare Added To The Mix

LRC Full On Athletics Club Roster Announced, Led By NCAA Champs Geordie Beamish & Alicia Monson On has announced more NCAA signings this summer than every other shoe company combined. We reveal the full squad and analyze the roster, which is made up of 6 NCAA champs (4 DI) and led by Joe Klecker, Ollie Hoare, and Alicia Monson.

Weekend Action

LRC 2020 Stockholm DL Preview: Cheruiyot-Ingebrigtsen Rematch, Brazier vs. Burgin in 800, & Obiriv v Muir Women’s 1500 and Warholm in 400m H Another great Diamond League match-up. Meet is Sunday 10- noon eastern.

Matt Centrowitz Headlines Final “Big Friendly” Meet On Friday Night Centro is in the 800m against Josh Kerr and Drew Windle while Hassan Mead and Ben Blankenship are in the 3000m. *Free Live Stream At 11PM ET

Saturday Night: Under Armour Sunset Tour Pop Up Event Set For August 22 Edward Cheserek, Joe Klecker and Oliver Hoare lead the men’s 5000 while the women’s race has Dani Jones, Alicia Monson, Stephanie Bruce, Kellyn Taylor, and Kim Conley. Emma Coburn, Cory McGee and Brenda Martinez will face off in the 800m.

US Distance News

Podcast Interview With Kara Goucher In this hour long interview Goucher talks about the ups and downs through her entire career from high school to pro and the Alberto Salazar doping scandal.
MB:Former NXN Champ Brie Oakley Shares Her Story In this video blog, Oakley talks about struggling with an eating disorder and stress reaction in college.
MB:Julie Culley has resigned as Georgetown Director of Track and Field/XC
Podcast Interview With World Mountain Running Champion Joseph Gray Talking about the kneeling debate, Gray said he thinks, “We should all kneel in disrespect of [the national anthem] …because the guy who wrote our anthem was a bigot.”
Peachtree Road Race Cancelled; Will Be Run Virtually It was initially moved from its July 4th date to Thanksgiving.

Admin News

Jamaican Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) President Warren Blake Stepping Down At The End Of His Second Term Blake said he believes in term limits and so will not seek re-election for the position he has held since 2011.
Former Olympic Cyclist Sara Symington Appointed British Athletics Performance Director Symington held coaching roles within British Cycling and British Triathlon before working as a performance advisor at UK Sport.
Source Claims Irish Sports Politician Was A “High Profile Fall Guy” At Rio 2016 Hickey remains on self suspension as an IOC member. He was cleared of wrongdoing in a Rio 2016 ticket scandal by the Irish government, but his case in Brazil remains in limbo.

More Recent Results

World Athletics Weekly Round-Up:Sam Kendricks Clears 5.81m In Germany Kendricks didn’t get to vault in Monaco as his poles hadn’t arrived. There was also a world lead in the mile from Katharina Trost (4:29.35). Elsewhere in Minsk, Belarusian HJer Maksim Nedasekau cleared a world leading 2.33m.
AW Weekly Round-Up GB’s Holly Bradshaw cleared 4.70m in the PV before attempting and failing at a UK outdoor record of 4.82m. Competing as a guest at the Austrian Championships, Christian Taylor jumped 17.13m for victory in the TJ.
75-Year-Old Breaks 6 Minutes For The Mile, Breaking Age Group American Record Lynn Rathjen ran 5:59.18, breaking the previous record by more than 17 seconds.
Ukraine’s Alina Shukh Scores A World Heptathlon Lead Of 6386 Points

Event Comebacks And Cancellations

Props To Them: Athletics Ireland Agrees To Stage National Championships Over Two Successive Weekends This Month The championships were at risk of losing their 147-year streak, but the streak will remain unbroken.
*Previously: Government Covid Restrictions Threaten Irish National Championships’ 147-Year Streak Apparently Ireland has the longest unbroken run of track championships anywhere in the world, not even missing a year during WWI and WWII.
The Rescheduled Paris Marathon Cancelled Due To Coronavirus The race had been postponed until November, but now it’s completely cancelled.
Parkrun Is Planning On Returning In The UK With A Ban On High Fives And Spitting And Potentially Longer Courses The weekly worldwide mass participation race series is hoping on returning soon.

Monaco Lived Up To The Hype TV & StreamingResults

LRC Joshua Cheptegei Runs 12:35.36 To Break 5,000-Meter World Record In Monaco Move over, Kenenisa Bekele. The world record now belongs to Joshua Cheptegei.

LRC Full Meet Recap Rest Of Monaco: A Crazy Fast 1,500, Brazier & Hoppel 1-2 In 800, Kipyegon Scares WR, & Hassan Drops Out What a meet. A European record for Jakob Ingebrigtsen in the 1,500, a near world record for Faith Kipyegon in the women’s 1k, a 1-2 finish by Americans Donavan Brazier and Bryce Hoppel in the 800, and much more.

VIP OnlyMonaco Joshua Cheptegei 12:35.36 Video Recap ShowWhat a track meet!

Monaco On The Boards:

RIP NCAA Fall Sports

MB:It’s Official: There Will Be No NCAA Championships This Fall This was pretty much already a given for XC as more than 50% of the teams had cancelled the fall season and the NCAA was requiring at least that to hold NCAA Championships.
Big Sky Postpones All Fall Sports Until Spring 2021
Big 10 Cancels Fall Sports
*MB: Big Ten cancels football season
MB: NCAA DI Cancellation threshold
MB: Is NCAA fall XC going to be totally wiped out? B1G just cancelled football and P5 will follow

More Upcoming Action

August 23:Strong Cast Of World And Olympic Champions Confirmed For Stockholm DL Highlights will include all three 800m medalists from 2019 worlds, Donavan Brazier, Amel Tuka and Ferguson Rotich.
August 19:World 110H Champ Grant Holloway Will Take On Pascal Martinot-Lagarde At The Gyulai Memorial In Hungary The 200m is also good with Kenny Bednarek (who recently ran 19.80), US indoor record holder Elijah Hall and African 100m champ Akani Simbine.
August 25:Five European Champions Confirmed For Janusz Kusocinski Memorial In Poland Polish rivals Marcin Lewandowski and Adam Kszczot are in the 800m along with Kenya’s world bronze medalist Ferguson Cheruiyot Rotich.

North American Sprint Action

US’s Kenny Bednarek Blazes 19.80 200m World Lead In Florida Less than an hour before he took third in the 100m (10.02, wind assisted) which was won by Trayvon Bromell in 9.87 over Justin Gatlin (10.02). Sha’Carri Richardson won the women’s 100m in a slightly wind-assisted 10.83 after running a wind-legal 10.95 in the prelims. She went on to win the 200m in the #2 time this year with 22.00. *Results
Elaine Thompson Runs Season’s Best 200m With 22.19 In Kingston Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce also won her section in 22.57. This followed their 10.87 (SAFP) and 10.88 (Thompson) from the day before and once again, it’s pretty lame that these two aren’t being put head-to-head.
After Weekend Sprint Double, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Optimistic About 2021

European Results

Johannes Vetter Highlights German Championships With European-Leading 87.36m Javelin Win
Sweden’s World Champ Daniel Stahl Throws 71.37m World Leading Discus
Switzerland’s Simon Ehammer Sets World Decathlon Lead Of 8231 Points
AW Weekly Round-Up British indoor 400m champ Jessie Knight moved to 10th on the UK all-time 400H list with 55.27 at the Brussels Grand Prix.

We Wish Them A Speedy Recovery

400m World Record Holder Wayde Van Niekerk Tests Positive For Coronavirus Van Niekerk was supposed to run the 100m and 400m at a meet in Italy, but will have to sit out and quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19. *MB: Van Niekerk Covid positive

Flagstaff Running Community Launches Run With Rivs Fundraiser For Local Legend Tommy Rivers Puzey, Who Is Battling A Rare Form Of Cancer You can participate by logging (or donating to) an endurance challenge anytime through August 9. All funds go to the Puzey family.

Upcoming

August 23: Stockholm DL Entries: Muir Kipyegon, Obiri in W1500, Brazier VS Burgin in M800, Ungebritsens in M1500
August 29: More Details On The Drake Blue Oval Showcase Full fields haven’t been released, but Dawn Harper-Nelson and 2017 world 200m champ Shakima Wimbley have been announced. The meet will include the USATF Road 1 Mile Championship.
*Original Release: Drake to Host Blue Oval Showcase Presented by Mediacom
August 23:Japan’s Best Throwers Set To Star In Tokyo’s Golden Grand Prix
September 13:German Javelin Champ Johannes Vetter Poised To Challenge Meet Record At The ISTAF Berlin Meet Vetter has the current world lead at 91.49m and the meet record is 91.30m.

GB Mid-D News

GB’s Jake Wightman Reflects On His 3:29.47 In Monaco; Wants To Start Coming “Home With Some Silverware” From Major Championships “To be able to run under 3:30 is just mind blowing. To see a two rather than a three after the three minutes was just mad.”
Laura Muir Says She’s Enjoying A Year Without The Weight Of Chasing Medals “It’s quite nice in a way that we don’t have a major championships looming over us. We can just go out and stay relaxed and try different things in races. And just enjoy it, and run well.”
Laura Muir On Training Partner (And Now Housemate) Jemma Reekie: “We are creepily similar.”
Laura Muir After 1000m National Record In Monaco: “It’s Great To Be Back”

The 1995 Weltklasse Zürich Was Special

LRC 25 Years Later: A Look Back At One Of The Greatest Nights In Distance Running History At the 1995 Weltklasse Zürich meet, Moses Kiptanui became the first man under 8:00 in the steeplechase and Haile Gebrselassie took over 10 seconds off the 5,000m world record. It was the Golden Age of one of Europe’s finest meets. A quarter century later, those who were there reflect on the famous night.
*MB: Sub-8 and 12:44.39 at 1995 Weltklasse Zürich: A look back at one of the greatest nights in distance running history 25 yrs later

World Athletics: On Its 25th Anniversary, Remembering Kiptanui’s Historic Sub-Eight-Minute Steeplechase

Sprints And Jumps

Three-Time Olympic Medalist Carmelita Jeter Joins Coach Staff At The University Of Alabama She has coached the last two years at Missouri State University.
GB Sprinter Dina Asher-Smith Might Not Race At All In 2020 As She Doesn’t Want To Risk Getting Coronavirus “I’m not in the mood for racing for racing’s sake this year. The stakes are a bit too high.”
Retired GB LJer Greg Rutherford Found A Lump On His Testicle During Lockdown It was just a cyst, but he is encouraging men to check themselves: “If you’re a bloke, grab them and make sure nothing’s wrong.”
Kevin Young Selected As USATF Throwback Athlete Of The Week For His Still-Standing 46.78 400H WR From The 1992 Olympics
GB Sprinter Adam Gemili Says Watching His Grandmother Battle Dementia Before She Died Puts Olympic Goals In Perspective
*Adam Gemili Hopes Athletes Are Allowed To Take A Knee At Next Year’s Olympics
1983 World TJ Silver Medalist Willie Banks Donates The Singlet And Bib He Wore When Breaking The WR In 1985 To The World Athletics Heritage Collection

NCAA Cancellation News

Oklahoma State Coach Dave Smith Discusses The Loss Of NCAA Cross-Country Championships OSU was supposed to host this year, but Smith said they will still hold some kind of meet on November 21st as planned and there is apparently talk of trying to hold a XC Championship race in the winter or spring.
Ken Goe:“Even If Reluctantly In Some Cases, The Pac-12 Closes Ranks On The Decision To Postpone Fall Sports”
*Ken Goe: “Knowing There Would Be Blowback, The PAC-12 Made The Right Decision For The Right Reasons”
*Register-Guard: Oregon Football Not The Only Fall Sport To Fade Away
Mountain West Conference Cancels Fall Sports; Could Move Football To Spring
Missouri Valley Conference Cancels All Fall Sports Seasons

Pre-Meet Monaco Coverage

LRC 2020 Monaco DL Preview: The 2020 Olympics Is Happening On Friday In Monaco What a meet! Sifan Hassan, Donavan Brazier, Noah Lyles, Joshua Cheptegei and many more stars will all compete in the best track meet of 2020 – in front of real live fans – on Friday in Monaco.
LRC World Champions Donavan Brazier & Noah Lyles Speak Ahead Of Monaco Diamond League Find out which double Brazier wants to attempt (hint: it’s not the 800/1,500), why he’d like to stay in Europe for a while, and what Lyles has been doing to get closer to Usain Bolt‘s 200m WR.
LRC Joshua Cheptegei Is Going For The 5,000 WR In Monaco – Can He Break It? Kenenisa Bekele‘s 12:37.35 WR has stood for 16+ years. the longest time for the men’s 5k record in history, but Cheptegei, the 10k & XC world champ, is 100% committed to trying to break it in Monaco on Friday. Can he do it? We break down his chances for you.
Podcast: Monaco Diamond League Preview + Guest Ok State Coach Dave Smith on NCAA XC 2020 Believe it or not NCAA XC practice is underway and the biggest one day track meet of 2020 is here.

Monaco MB Talk

Mid-Week Action

18-Year-Old Max Burgin Runs British Under-20 Record With 1:44.75 At British Milers’ Club Meet Burgin improved his own age group record of 1:45.36 which he ran last year.
*MB: Max Burgin 18year Old 1:44.75 800m…WOW
MB:Elle Purrier 4:00.77, Heather MacLean 2:00.29 in time trials
Andrew Pozzi Sets 110H World Lead And Breaks Meet Record At Paavo Nurmi Games With 13.17 GB’s Melissa Courtney-Bryant won the women’s 1,500m in 4.03.69 as Finland’s Topi Raitanen won the men’s steeple in 8:22.45.
Germany’s Johannes Vetter Throws 91.49m Javelin World Lead At The Paavo Nurmi Games

USATF News

USATF Foundation Celebrates $6.7 Million In Elite Grants Awarded To Athletes Since 2006 Over 14 years they’ve given $6.7 million to 406 athletes (so average of about $16,600 per athlete).
USATF Announces Partnership Renewal With Hershey’s

2020 London Is Set – Will It Be Great?

LRC Now That Kipchoge Vs. Bekele Is Set, The Question Is – Are They In Shape? How have the greatest marathoner and greatest distance runner in history been training during the pandemic? Where is their fitness two months before London? Superagent Jos Hermens gives us the inside scoop.
*MB: Bekele vs Kipchoge is on!! But will either one of them be in shape?

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.