Mid-D and Distance News

LRC Crazy: The NCAA May Not Accept Christian Noble’s 13:37 Division II 5K Record As He Was Helped By Pacing LightsPacing lights are safer than having a real pacer during the Covid-19 and specifically allowed under USATF rules and one can qualify for USATF at a USATF meet, but that may not be enough for Christian Noble.
*MB: In midst of global pandemic, NCAA may not allow Christian Noble’s 13:37 DII record as it was aided by pacing lights

• The guy who is credited with GameStop’s skyrocketing stock price was a superstar runner at Stonehill and at one point this week had a $47 million position in the stock Keith Gill ran 2:24 for the 1k and 4:03 in the mile, he was an All-American in xc, indoor and outdoor. *College Bio
  *MB: Former 4:03 miler is Roaring Kitty. Makes $13+ million on GameStop stock
  *MB: The GameStop stock fiasco transparently shows you who runs things
• Night of 10,000m PBs scheduled for June 5th is cancelled due to Covid-19 It was supposed to serve as the British Olympic Trials.
• TFN: 8 American men have won Olympic gold in the 800 but none in 49 years, who might do it besides Brazier in 2021?

Administrative News

• IOC chief admits fans may be barred from Tokyo Olympics
• A look at the top track athletes who were impacted by the Holocaust/Nazi Germany
• Edwin Allen High School track and field head coach is “skeptical” Jamaicans will be able to make it to Penn Relays in 2021 We’ll be shocked if the risk-averse Ivy League holds it at all.
• Even if Olympic are cancelled. no sports federations are likely to face bankruptcy

Free Coaching/Training Advice

• How to treat shin splints
• Why every athlete should make getting 8 hours of sleep a priority
• How to create an at-home gym – Here are 13 exercises you can do without any equipment

Olympic / Administrative News

• Fantastic News: All 33 Sports “Unanimously” Want Tokyo Games
• Australia Plans To Vaccinate Its Olympic Athletes Before Tokyo They are likely to be vaccinated by then anyway. Meanwhile, Israel has already vaccinated 50% of its Olympic delegation.
• Insurers Face “Mind-Blowingly” $2-3 Billion Loss If Games Are Cancelled Apparently the IOC has $800 million in insurance, the local organizers are insured for $650 million with the broadcasters having some as well.
• Athletics Kenya Says It Has Developed A Foolproof System To Prevent Age Cheating “We do not want a situation where a 25-year-old is competing in an under-20 competition. … Age cheating is treated like doping,” said Barnabas Korir.
• LA Marathon Postponed Once Again It was originally going to be on March 21 but then was pushed to May 23rd and is now TBD in Fall 2021.
• Scottish Athletics: 35-Year-Old Colin Hutchison Is Being Promoted From Head Of Development To CEO

LetsVault.com

• Sandi Morris Talks About Training And Competing During The Pandemic And Recently Recovering From A Mild Case Of COVID-19 She’s hoping to compete in Europe in February, but is going to have to borrow poles from Renaud Lavillenie because it’s so hard to get to travel with poles right now.
• World Athletics:The Six-Meter Vault Is A Universal Yet Elusive Achievement The 6m club has 24 members, including seven of the past eight Olympic champions.
• Collegiate Record Setter KC Lightfoot Says He’s Already Gone Over 6 Meters In Practice
• New Zealand’s 2016 Olympic PV Bronze Medalist Eliza McCartney Delays Her Comeback McCartney hasn’t competed since August 2019 due to Achilles issues. She got as far as doing warmups at the Potts Classic in NZ, but decided she wasn’t ready.

Kenyan News

• February 19:Geoffrey Kamworor And Hellen Obiri Added To RAK Half Marathon Field The men’s race also has WR holder Kibiwott Kandie and London Marathon champ Shura Kitata. This will be Kamworor’s first race in just over a year.
  *Geoffrey Kamworor Is Back From Injury After Months Layoff Kamworor was hurt in a freak accident in June last year when a speeding motorcycle hit him from behind.
• Sammy Wanjiru Case Still Ongoing Ten Years Later?Two Government Pathologists Say Wanjiru Was Hit With Blunt Object According to them, Wanjiru died from the hit to the head rather than the fall from the balcony of his one-story building.
• Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed Confident About Kenya’s Bid For The 2025 World Championships

Florida 2020?

Florida Offers To Host Olympics If Tokyo Backs Out A letter from Florida’s chief financial officer to IOC president Thomas Bach cited the strength of Florida’s vaccination roll-out, its economic re-opening and sports events it has hosted during the pandemic. *Full Letter *Discuss

More Olympic News:

• Tokyo 2020 Concerns Continue As COVID Vaccinations Yet To Get Underway In Japan Vaccine rollout in Japan isn’t expected to start until late February. The delay is due to Japan requiring domestic trials before the vaccine can be approved.
• The Telegraph: “Why Cancelling The Olympics Would Be ‘Catastrophic’ For Sport” From athletes to governing bodies to fans to the city of Tokyo, many people would be negatively impacted.
• The Telegraph Reports That The IOC Is Working With The World Health Organization To Get All Athletes Vaccinated Ahead Of Tokyo Games However, athletes would not skip ahead of vulnerable groups.
  *IOC And WHO Pledge To Help NOCs With Vaccine Access Prior To Tokyo
• World Health Organization Says Olympic Athletes Should Not Cut Line For COVID Vaccine They said the focus should be on “populations that are most at risk” like elderly and health care workers.
• Tokyo 2020 Torch Relay May Be Forced To Divert Away From Public Roads In Japan