October 1, 2020 | LetsRun.com

The Virgin Money London Marathon Is Sunday Men’s Preview Women’s Preview *TV & Streaming

LRC Kenenisa Bekele And Eliud Kipchoge Speak Ahead Of 2020 London Marathon: WRs, Shoes, And Kipchoge’s COVID Message Of Hope For The USA Great news, fans. Bekele says he’s in the same shape as Berlin 2019 and admits it’s “really difficult” to see his track WRs fall. Kipchoge says Covid-19 shows why fans need to accept the new shoe technology.
*LRC Eliud Kipchoge Offers Americans A Covid-19 Pep Talk After doing a one-on-one interview with LetsRun.com, Kipchoge unsolicited gave Americans some words of encouragement. “Americans, please take heart. COVID cannot make you lose self-esteem. Make sure in life, you joke around, make sure in life you keep positive, and all Americans will be great again,” said Kipchoge.

LRC Men’s Preview: What to Expect from Eliud Kipchoge & Kenenisa Bekele in the Race of the Year It’s here. We made it, people. We may have lost Boston, Berlin, Chicago, and New York, but the world’s greatest marathon, London, has found a way to survive the pandemic.

Non-London Distance News

The Stewart McSweyn Interview 3 years ago, McSweyn was a steeplechase also-ran. Now he’s the Aussie record holder at 1,500, 3,000 and 10,000.
*MB: Aussies: If I told you 4 years ago that Steward McSweyn would have the Aussie record at 1,500 (3k and 10k), what would have said?
Sydney Thorvaldson (3rd At NXN) Commits To Arkansas She was the top underclassman at NXN last year.
Canada’s Marco Arop (By Way Of Miss. St. And Sudan) Is Dreaming Big For 2021: “My goal is to win the Olympics.” Arop is still based at Mississippi St. and he talks about how Brandon McBride was reportedly confronted by a racist man with a shotgun on a run.
Long Video Interview With NC State Star (And Wofford Transfer) Hannah Steelman She became an NCAA All-American in the steeple and 5k in the same day in 2019.

**Daily London Debates For Our Members of Our Supporters Club *Join Today**

Non-Distance News

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Instagram Post Sparks Pregnancy Rumors Apparently some fans thought they saw a “baby bump” in a recent Instagram post.
World Athletics Profile: Twenty Years After Her Olympic Hammer Throw Triumph, Kamila Skolimowska’s Legacy Lives On Poland’s Skolimowska won the “most unexpected gold medal of the [2000 Sydney] Games” with a big upset over the two pre-meet favorites.
World Athletics Introduces New Rule For Take-Off Fouls For The Long And Triple Jump The rule has to do with how it is determined if a jumper fouled or not by going over the take-off line.
Double Olympic Champ Elaine Thompson-Herah Calls Her Coach, Stephen Francis, A “Genius”

Doping / Corruption News

World Athletics Give Statement On Belarus Federation Electing Convicted Drug Cheat As President “Member Federations conduct their elections in line with their own constitutions and their own Congresses. … However, no one who has served a doping ban would be able to hold an official position on World Athletics bodies or structures today.”
WADA Welcomes Decision Of French Court In Lamine Diack Case WADA was awarded more than $350,000 in costs and damages as part of the verdict.
French Prosecutors Describe Alleged “Mechanism Of Corruption” Associated With Tokyo 2020 The Diack trial is over, but investigations continue, including one into the former Japanese Olympic Committee president over payments to the consultancy firm Black Tidings.

NCAA News

Oregon Distance Runner Taylor Chiotti Transfers To Washington Last year as a sophomore, Chiotti was the Ducks’ top finisher at NCAA Champs and NCAA West Regionals, placing 79th and 13th, respectively.
Ken Goe: “If you’re [an Oregon] track fan, you might wonder if you ever will see the inside of the new Hayward Field.”
COVID Cancels Multiple Dreams For North Carolina A&T Track & Field
MB: How is the NCAA going to select the NCAA cross country qualifiers – both individual and team – without regionals in 2021?

Sports Scandal / Drama

ESPN Debuting Four-Part “30 For 30” Documentary On Oscar Pistorious The documentary will be about the rise and fall of Pistorius who is currently behind bars on a 13-year sentence for killing his girlfriend seven years ago.
*Yahoo Sports Review
Shameful: Belarus Athletic Federation Continues Policy Of Electing Drug Cheats As President Convicted drugs cheat and former hammer thrower Ivan Tsikhan has been elected as the new president, replacing Vadim Devyatovskiy, who was also a former drug cheating hammer thrower.
Ben Johnson Makes GQ’s List Of The Greatest Sports Scandals In History

More London

LRC Women’s Preview: WR Holder Brigid Kosgei Vs. World Champ Ruth Chepngetich In Clash Of World #1 Vs. World #2 Like the men’s race, the women’s race in London is headlined by an incredible showdown: WR holder Brigid Kosgei against world champ Ruth Chepngetich. Both women have won their last 3 marathons; something’s gotta give in London.

RRW After Trials Disappointment, American Linsday Flanagan Ready For Fast London Marathon On Sunday The American wasn’t confirmed to the field until late August but says she’s ready to PR and also admits to being star-struck by Kipchoge. “I wanted to get my own picture of him like you know, from the bushes, but I didn’t. I was like can I just hide and snap a picture?”
All Elite Athletes Plus 500 Others At London Marathon Are Wearing The Tharsus Device That Will Detect Social Distancing Breaches The bump devices will allow marathon organizers to accurately monitor how often and for how long elite athletes and event staff spend within a pre-defined distance of each other, and if there are any positive tests, it will be able to trace interactions back to specific wearers and inform them accordingly.
Cam Levins Isn’t Allowed To Upload His Runs In London To Strava As Race Organizers Don’t Want People To Know Where The Elites Are Do they really think fans are going to swarm the place?

Free Coaching Advice

Steve Moneghetti Shares Sample Training And Talks About How He Played Mind Game With The Africans The 13:25/2:08 guy won bronze in 1997 at Worlds.
Struggling To Maintain A Certain Pace In A Race? Maybe You Should Speed Up That trick worked well for 1002 Olympic marathon bronze medalist Lorraine Moller. “I was stuck in this negative feedback loop,” Moller says. “To break that loop, I’d run to the front of the pack.”
Joe Rubio, Tom “Tinman” Schwartz And Amy Yoder-Begley Tell You How To Evaluate Your Training Log The coaches explain how to spot red flags when you survey your training log.
Scientific Study: Higher Mileage Runners Less Likely To Have Nagging Achilles Pain One Year After Injury Than Lower Mileage Runners
1 Hour Video Chat With Olympian And Ohio St. Coach Khadevis Robinson

Previous London News

2:19:26 Woman Degitu Azimeraw Withdraws From London After Testing Positive For COVID She and an Ethiopian coach who tested positive prior to the flight did not travel to London.
*BBC Article
Interesting Fact: This Looped London Course Was Originally Created For Eliud Kipchoge’s Sub-2 Hour Marathon Attempt, But Was Ditched In Favor Of Vienna Due To Weather Concerns
Pre-London 2020 11-Minute Documentary On Eliud Kipchoge Vs Kenenisa Bekele
*MB: Bekele: “I never prepared well for records”
Eliud Kipchoge Unveils Kenyan Flag Inspired Shoes For The London Marathon
Race Director Hugh Brasher Thinks World Record Times Could Be Possible If Rain Stays Away
GB 50k Record Holder Dan Nash Got Into The London Elite Only Race With A “Cheeky Tweet” The 2:18 marathoner tweeted at the London Marathon and caught some attention which helped him get an entry. *Video Interview With Nash
Hugh Brasher: “I hope we can be a beacon of light in the darkness …”

Looking Ahead At Future Distance Action

Friday Night: Elite Distance Races Set For The Night Of The 5k Trials Of Miles In NYC Johnny Gregorek vs. Colby Alexander in the mile, Donn Cabral and Libya Olympian Mohamed Hrezi in the men’s 5,000m, Former Foot Locker champ Sydney Masciarelli, Lindsey Scherf, Allie Kieffer in the women’s 5,000m.
MB: Valencia Marathon And Half Elite Fields Announced (December 6) The marathon is led by 2:02:48 man Birhanu Legese and 2:18:34 woman Ruti Aga. The men’s half has Rhonex Kipruto vs. Jacob Kiplimo while the woman’s race is led by Senbere Teferi (65:32) and Emily Sisson.
*MB: Rhonex Kipruto to make HM debut in Valencia.
World Athletics Adding A World Road 5k Championships In 2023 (Possibility Of Eventually Adding The Mile Or Other Road Distances) Another change is that World XC Champs are being moved to even years instead of odd years. The 2021 championships in Australia had already been postponed until early 2022.
Spain Announces Squad For World Half Champs

Good News, Running Fans – Kamworor Will Race Again In 2020

LRCGeoffrey Kamworor Has An Unknown Big Race This Fall. Which One Is It?

Five-time global champ Geoffrey Kamworor won't be running next month's World Half, but his agent Valentijn Trouw says he will race in 2020. What will his "secret" race be? *Discuss

More From The Weekend

LRC It’s Here: The 1:59:40 GOAT Shirt Get the premium shirt that signals and celebrates greatness. Order today.

Sprint / Field Event News

Recommended Read Track And Field News‘ Garry Hill Has Some Radical Ideas To Make The Field Events More Popular We think his ideas are certainly worth debating.
*MB: Garry Hill has some interesting ideas to make the field events more popular. Should the shot and long jump be run like the HJ?
Japan Is Holding Its National Track Championships This Weekend (At Least Part Of It): Meet Preview The distance portion will be held in December so the marks count for Tokyo 2021 but the sprints, middle distance, hurdles, jumps and throws are this weekend.
Javelin Star Yego Withdraws From Kip Keino Classic “I have been training in Eldoret since March but I have not yet trained on track. … Going into a competition without training will be risky because you can get injured and be out for a longer period of time.”

More Distance News

Recommended Read: World Athletics Talks To Joshua Cheptegei’s Coach Addy Ruiter About His 5,000m WR, Training, World Half Champs And More Ruiter says Cheptegei ran a workout that told him he was in 12:30 shape. “Knowing he was that much further ahead of the world record was important because we knew the likely hot conditions he would face in Monaco would slow him down a little.”
*MB: Addy Ruiter on Joshua Cheptegei : “He is much fitter than Bekele ever was. He proved me he is in 12:30/26:00 shape.”
Good Read: BBC: Meet British 800m Champ Daniel Rowden – 2020’s Comeback Star On Faith, Fast Times And Vomiting Pizza Rowden talks about his religion, coming back from a very painful stomach surgery and how he uses Donavan Brazier as a benchmark.
*MB: BBC article on Daniel Rowden
World Athletics Profile: Hellen Obiri: “I’ve won a lot but I’m not yet there,” She Says. “Olympic gold is the only medal that’s missing from my collection.” Obiri says she considered quitting the sport after the 2012 Olympics (where she came in as one of the favorites, but finished 12th), but bounced back in 2016 to win Olympic silver 15 months after giving birth.
The Roar: Is Australia Experiencing A Distance Running Renaissance? Stewart McSweyn and Jessica Hull are among those having a great year.
Kosuke Ishida Breaks His Own Japan 5,000m High School National Record With 13:34.53 He finished 3rd just behind the top-2 fastest Japanese 5,000m runners ever Tetsuya Yoroizaka (won in 13:33.53) and Suguru Osako (13:33.83).

Admin News

Study Estimates There Has Been An Over $6.7 Billion Loss From Cancellation Of Japanese Marathons The study is estimating losses for fall 2020 through spring 2021, but doesn’t even include all the races cancelled between February and September this year.
Porscha Dobson Named New Dartmouth Director Of Track And Field And Cross Country Dobson is the first African-American woman in the Ivy League to lead both men’s and women’s programs. She previously served as associate head coach at Penn.
Tokyo 2020 President Yoshirō Mori Claims The Olympics Will Take Place “No Matter What Happens”
Helsinki Olympic Stadium Officially Opens Again With A New Mondo Track It was shut down in 2016 for refurbishment and renovation which reportedly cost around $410 million.
Possible Joint Bid From South Korea And North Korea For The 2032 Olympics
Athletics Weekly (AW) Relaunches Under New Ownership The magazine will now be published monthly by 21six.

London Marathon Updates

London Marathon Race Director Hugh Brasher Says Sunday’s Race Could Be “Most Unpredictable Ever” With the pandemic preventing athletes from racing for months, there will be a lot of unknowns going into this race.
*MB: London race director already making excuses for Bekele: “Kenenisa has not always been able to train in the way he would normally.” Brasher mentioned the political unrest in Ethiopia.
Some Ethiopian Athletes Missed Their Flight To London For “Personal Issues” No word on which athletes missed the flight, but thankfully Kenenisa Bekele wasn’t one of them.
Elite Athletes Start To Arrive In London Eliud Kipchoge, Kenenisa Bekele, Brigid Kosgei and Ruth Chepngetich were among the first group of athletes to arrive at the “biosecure hotel bubble” on Monday.
List Of Random London Marathon Facts You Might Not Know The hottest London Marathon was 75.56F (24.2C) in 2018 while the coldest was 41.54F (5.3C) in 2004.
The Guardian‘s Sean Ingle: “London Marathon Goes Virtual, But Its Unrivaled Ability To Unite Never More Vital Ingle writes, “Sunday’s 40th edition of the race will be like no other but that it is being staged at all is cause for celebration in troubled times.”