4 Recommended Reads / 1 Recommend Listen

Podcast Track Is Back, Guest Jim Walmsley On 100k World Record Attempt X 2 Ultra marathon star Jim Walmsley is our featured guest. He talks about trying to break the 100km world record at HOKA Project Carbon X 2 this weekend. Plus Andrew Bumbalough was on. During the regular show we talked about a ton of people, including Athing Mu, Nick Willis, Alexa Efraimson, Brianna Rollins-McNeal, Erriyon Knighton, Mark Wetmore, Imogen Stewart, Brynn Brown, Sydney Thorvaldson, and Joe Biden.

• RIP Ireland’s Athletics Community Is Shocked And Saddened As Sub-4 Miler And 2:12 Marathoner Jerry Kiernan Dies At 67 – “One Of The Greats” – Coghlan Leads Kiernan Tributes Kiernan was 9th in the 1984 Olympic marathon and seemingly beloved by all. *Great Video Tribute
  *Ciara Mageean raves about her former coach: “He had this special ability to meet anybody at their level.”
• A Look Back At How Indoor Track And Field Was Super-Popular In The US 50 Years Ago SI wrote at the time, “There are few spectacles in the world of sport to compare with an indoor track meet for color and movement and excitement.”
• Nic Bideau Talks About How He Trains His Studs And Reveals Stewart McSweyn Didn’t Run A Single 400 Under 60 Before His 3:50 Mile “I am often telling athletes that speed work is overrated but Stewy takes it to a whole new level.”
  *MB: Nic Bideau says Stewart McSweyn didn’t run a single lap under 60 seconds before he ran 3:50 in the mile
• Meet The 33-Year-Old Who Is In Charge Of Coaching New Zealand Shot Put Sars Tom Walsh (29) And Val Adams (36) A great profile of Dale Stevenson.

Olympic News

• Tokyo Olympics “Will Take Place This Summer” Even Without Vaccinations, Organizers Say
• British Olympic Head Says, “It wouldn’t be appropriate to ask athletes to be fast-tracked” For COVID-19 Vaccine. We don’t agree with that. If Japan wants to require vaccinations of all Olympians, we think the 11,000 athletes should get priority as entertaining billions of people is worth it. *Discuss

Women’s Non-Distance News

• After sparingly racing in 2020, Dina Asher-Smith will run indoors for 1st time since 2018 starting with Karlsruhe 60m next weekend
• Olympic HJ Champ Maria Lasitskene Says She’s Not Taking COVID-19 Vaccine Over Side Effect Fears “As an athlete I really worry how the vaccine can affect my body and my physical shape.”
• US PVer Katie Nageotte Talks About Her Struggle Bouncing Back From COVID-19 She says it’s taken about a month to feel more like herself in training and and that she “felt like Bambi” during her first vault session back.
• Allyson Felix and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Talk About Motherhood, Sexism And Tokyo Talking about being a parent and a pro, Felix says, “I can’t even remember a time when I just had to train. It baffles me that there was once a time period where I trained, rested and that was it. That had to be amazing.”
• 6 Minute Mini-Documentary On 2-Time Olympic Champ Sandra Perkovic: “I want to be remembered as the best female discus athlete ever.”

British XC Distance Debate Heats Up

• Paula Radcliffe And Laura Muir Among Those Criticizing UKA’s Pushing To Equalize XC Distances A joint statement stated that they were concerned that longer distances could decrease participation and that they disagreed with the notion that shorter distances mean the races are inferior. Other top women to sign include Charlotte Purdue, Laura Weightman and former NCAA XC champ Kate Avery.
  *Full Letter And List/Credentials Of The 23 British Pros Who Signed
• UK Athletics Chief Joanna Coates Responds To Paula Radcliffe And Laura Muir Over XC Distance Debate “We probably didn’t assume how much noise this would make, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing. This is a sport which isn’t used to be consulted with, but it’s good to have this debate.”
• English Cross-Country Association And Three English Area Associations Issue Statement Criticizing UKA’s Equal Distance Initiative They accused UKA of having a “flawed” survey with “questions skewed to obtain a certain result.”
  *7,500 Respond To Online XC Gender Equality Survey Joanna Coates: “Just the sheer number of people who have replied proves there are a lot of differences of opinion.”

Looking Ahead

• January 31: Osaka Women’s Marathon To Be Run On 2.8km Loop Course Japan Olympic team members Mao Ichiyama and Honami Maeda were planning on chasing the 2:19:12 national record (organizers recruited male pacers to help chase the record), but it’s unclear if the course change will affect those plans.
• February 6: Mondo Duplantis Vs. Renaud Lavillenie Vs. Sam Kendricks Set For Rouen Pole Vault
• February 17: Grant Holloway Leads Solid 60H Field For Copernicus Cup He’ll face world indoor champ Andrew Pozzi and Olympic silver medalist Orlando Ortega.
• March 4: Decathlon WR Holder Kevin Mayer And Olympic Heptathlon Champ Nafissatou Thiam Entrants For Torun Combined Events Meet
• Peachtree Road Race Set To Return In-Person In 2021, But On Two Separate Days Runners will have a choice to race on Saturday, July 3rd or Sunday, July 4th.