An Important Look Into A Key Part of The Anti-Doping Movement

LRC VIP 2020 Has Been the Year of Whereabouts Failures. Why? Nine athletes — including recent world champions Christian Coleman, Salwa Eid Naser, and Elijah Manangoi — have been suspended for whereabouts failures in 2020, compared to two in all of 2018 and 2019 combined. What’s going on? Subscription required for early access. The paywall will be lifted on Monday.

World Half Champs Are Saturday

• Coach Patrick Makau (Former Marathon WR Holder) Confident Team Kenya Will Dominate At World Half Champs Makau commented on a few individuals and said the team as a whole is “aware and preparing psychologically” for the possible colder weather.
• Daily Nation: Confident Kenya Squad Off To World Half Champs Some positive words from the athletes who flew out of Eldoret on Tuesday.
• World Athletics: How World Half Organizers Have Adapted To Ensure Event Can Go Ahead In 2020 With COVID, a lot of races just get cancelled, but organizers put in a lot of effort to make sure the rescheduled World Half Champs could go ahead.
• World Half Marathon Champs Course, Scoring And Prize Money Details $30,000 for the individual win and $15,000 to the top team (team scoring based on aggregate time of top 3 athletes).

Technology Debate

• InsideTheGames: Should Track World Records Undergo A Javelin-Like Reset Because Of New Shoe Technology? An interesting history lesson about the rule changes behind the javelin WR and questions over whether the new shoe tech is of similar significance.
• Sports Scientist Yannis Pitsiladis Shoe Technology Is Undermining The Integrity Of The Sport “…The level of improvement can also vary significantly from one athlete to the next. So while one athlete might get a four or six per cent improvement, another might only get one per cent or none at all. Which means it is leading to distorted results.”
• Joshua Cheptegei’s Agent Jos Hermens Defends Use Of New Tech In Breaking World Records “It’s not like we stand on the track, put on the lights and we break a world record. The athletes just have to run. We have to get our sport more interesting.”
• Independent: “Joshua Cheptegei, Nike And The Rise Of Technology In Running” GB middle distance runner Jake Wightman said, “So if you go in with the mindset that it’s unfair, you’re already putting yourself at a disadvantage. I think it’s different on the roads, but I don’t think in my events it makes that big of an impact.”

Distance Results

• Japan Weekend Recap: Bedan Karoki Runs 27:08.91 At The Chubu Corporate Track and Field Championships At The Nagasaki Nighter Time Trials, Bernard Koech won the men’s 10,000m in 27:31.13 and Rika Kaseda took the women’s race in 32:04.99.
• AW Weekly Round-Up Filip Ingebrigtsen won the Norwegian XC Championships.
• MB: Chris Robertson Breaks American Beer Mile Record With 4:37
• Frank Lara Named The New USATF 15k Champion After Initial Winner Ridouane Harroufi’s Doping Ban

More On University Of Minnesota Decision

FBK After Summer Competition In Hengelo *Full Results + Video Replay

LRC Sifan Hassan Runs 29:36 To Shatter Paula Radcliffe’s 30:01 European Record On a cool and rainy night, Sifan Hassan attacked Almaz Ayana‘s 29:17.45 world record as she went out in 14:37 before fading to a European record time of 29:36.67. In the other races, Kipyegon, Kejelcha and McSweyn struggled in the conditions.
*MB: Official Hengelo Discussion Thread: Kipyegon WR attempt, Hassan ER attempt, McSweyn NR attempt + Kejelcha & more!
*MB: Hassan #4 All-Time 10000m – 29:36.67 in rainy conditions in Hengelo
*World Athletics Recap

Road News

Yes, Kipchoge Really Lost A Marathon Last Sunday

• Eliud Kipchoge Gives Video Interview After London “The first lesson is to know that I am also human and can be beaten. The second is I’m now able to implement what disappointment is.”
• Patrick Sang Reacts To Kipchoge’s Loss And Says Weather Cost Kipchoge “We went to the competition prepared, but the weather conditions were a bit too much.”

Be Inspired By Two Great Coaches

• Nice Profile Of Caryl Smith Gilbert On How She Has Risen To The Tops Of The NCAA Ranks Her USC team won the NCAA title in 2018.
• Great Profile Of Former Grant (Oregon) HS Coach Mark Cotton, Who Recently Turned 90 “He didn’t coach for the elite athlete,” Binder says. “He coached for the 100th kid on the team.”

NN World Record Day Delivered *Free Race Replay *Results

Race Recap Joshua Cheptegei (26:11:00) And Letesenbet Gidey (14:06.62) Break Men’s 10,000 And Women’s 5,000 World Records In Valencia It was a special day for distance fans as a 12-year-old women’s world record and a 16-year-old men’s world record fell in Valencia.

• Interesting Read: How Long Will It Be Before Cheptegei Rocks The Marathon? Toni Reavis does some research and compares the amount of time that passed between 10,000 PR and marathon PR for former track greats Paul Tergat, Kenenisa Bekele, Haile G and Eliud Kipchoge. It was anywhere from 6 to 14 years.
• Toni Reavis: Watching A Kenyan WR Holder Help Pace And Then Embrace An Ethiopian WR Holder Made My Day The fact that Chepkoech rabbited this race was amazing. Her attitude about doing it was even more amazing.
• The Telegraph: New world records raise “further questions about legitimacy of shoe technology”
• The Guardian: Cheptegei And Gidey Smash World Records Using Controversial Spikes “Both records will inspire controversy,” writes Sean Ingle.
• Some Of Kenya’s World Half Team Talk Sh** About Cheptegei’s Chances At World Half “Cheptegei and his colleagues are more of track athletes than road racing. We shall teach him a few tips in road racing. We are ready for him,” said one member. The #1 Kenyan, Kibiwott Kandie, who recently ran 58:38, was more respectful but admitted he wanted to win for Geoffrey Kamworor. “I feel honored and happy to represent my country for the first time.”
• Kandie: “I have trained hard.”

London Leftovers

• Recommended Read: World Athletics Profile: Inspired And Advised By Legends, Shura Kitata’s Rise Continues With London Marathon Triumph Read how Kitata’s coach hid his posit
• ive COVID test from him so he wasn’t emotionally affected before London, what advice Kitata got from Kenenisa Bekele and how Kitata explains why “[Kipchoge] is always the king to us, even when he is beaten.”BBC: New British Marathon Champion Natasha Cockram Now Targeting Tokyo Games After 13th Place (2:33:19) In London Cockram shares some interesting insights from the athlete “bubble” where everyone wore a “bump-around” device which would beep incessantly if you got too close to someone else.
• After 2:09:49 In London Stephen Scullion Is The Fastest Irishman Of All Time On A Record-Eligible Course, But He Doesn’t Have The Irish Record John Treacy ran 2:09:15 in Boston in 1988 and that is currently the record even though Boston isn’t record-eligible. Apparently Athletics Ireland is going to review the issue in the “near future.”
• People: Prince Harry Makes Surprise Visit To Couple Running The London Marathon In L.A.

The Slippery Slope To The End Of College Track And Field May Start On Friday When The UMinn Trustees Vote

Guest Op-Ed College Track And Field (And Women’s Sports) Is Under Attack At The University Of Minnesota NCAA track and field and women’s sport’s future may be decided on Friday in Minnesota. If the men’s track, gymnastics and tennis teams are cut, then Minnesota will need to ax 77 women’s participants to be in compliance with Title IX. That would mark a total reduction of women’s opportunities by more than 29% in less than five years.

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