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

Live 2:15 am ET MB: Official 2020 London Marathon Women’s Race Live Discussion Thread

Kenenisa Bekele Withdraws From Virgin Money London Marathon “I was in good shape but then I picked up a niggle in my left calf after two fast training sessions close together in the last weeks of preparation,” said Bekele. “I have been having treatment every day since then and I truly believed I would be ready, but today it is worse and I now know I cannot race on it.”

• LRC How Many Americans Will Get Lapped At The 2020 London Marathon? A Scientific Exploration The bad news: an American is almost certain to get lapped in Sunday’s London Marathon. The good news: you can get lapped in London and still run really, really fast. We preview the chances of Jared Ward, Sara Hall, Molly Seidel and Lindsay Flanagan. Could Sara Hall possibly break Deena Kastor‘s 2:19:36 AR?
• LRC London Women’s Press Conference Highlights: Brigid Kosgei Sounds Less Confident Than She Did A Year Ago, Could Ruth Chepngetich Spring The Upset? Who sounded confident at Thursday’s pre-race press conference? Find out here.

Other Results

• Night of the 5k Results – Colby Alexander runs 3:57 mile, 16-year old Aidan Puffer runs 14:25, Allie Kieffer runs 15:41, Donn Cabral runs 14:11 That link also takes you to a video replay. *Discuss
• Japan National Track and Field Championships Day Three Highlights
  *Day Two Highlights

Non-London Distance News

• Day One Highlights from Japanese National Track and Field Champs The biggest shocker came in the men’s 1500 where #1 seed Hideyuki Tanaka collapsed with 50m left in his heat.
• 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.
• Start lists for Kip Keino classic Hellen Obiri and 12:51 man Nicholas Kimeli is on them.

Previous London News

• 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?

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.”

Kenyan News