Ready, set, pick. First event closes Friday at 3pm eastern.
Archived Homepage For March 12, 2021
Archived Homepage For March 12, 2021
NCAA Indoors Are Underway / NCAA XC Is Monday
NCAA Indoors Are Underway / NCAA XC Is Monday
At last, the 2020 NCAA xc championships are almost here (in 2021). Will BYU repeat or will NAU win its 4th title in 5 seasons? And can anyone stop Wesley Kiptoo?
Every coach LRC says Oklahoma State's course is the hardest they've seen at an NCAA XC meet. Here's what to expect on Monday.
It has been 13+ years since Stanford won an NCAA XC team title, and no Stanford man or woman has ever won the individual title. Look for Ella Donaghu and this year's Cardinal team to change that.
March Madness kicks off on Friday with NCAA Indoors and this is the ultimate preview. We break down the biggest storylines of the meet, from Athing Mu to the Oregon men and Arkansas women to burgeoning distance stars Courtney Wayment of BYU and Sage Hurta of Colorado.
On The Boards
On The Boards
NCAAs Have Begun
- Multi was on day 1: Tyra Gittens is sensational, breaks NCAA pentathlon record with 4,746 to kickstart A&M's title run Her 6-4 (1.93m) HJ would easily win the individual HJ.
- MB: Tyra Gittens (Texas A&M) sets NCAA, National Indoor Pentathlon (4746 points) & National High Jump (1.93 m ~6' 4")
- Colorado State's Eric Hamer - the #4 seed in the 5k - is ready for NCAAs and thinks the Covid-19 one year delay has been great for him
- DyeStat.com - 10 Storylines to Follow at NCAA Indoors
Pro Distance News
- Marc Scott talks in-depth about his training with the BTC “I wish I could say I did all ‘the little things’ well, but I don’t...If I use NormaTec I think ‘that’s enough’ and I don’t need to bother stretching," says Scott who doesn't reveal if Jerry told him to skip out on Euros to run a time trial.
- Kenyan XC champ Rodger Kwemoi is talking big: "I am confident we will deliver that [10,000] gold medal for Kenya." He recently lost a 5000 race to 18-year old Gideon Rono in where both ran 13:21 at altitude in Nairobi.
- China offers up Covid vaccine for all Olympic and Paralympic athletes across the globe The IOC will also pay for 2 extra vaccines for people in the athlete's countries.
- Japan Running News' Brett Larner remembers 3/11 (Japanese earthquake/tsunami) 10 years later
It's World Athletics Women's Week
- Meet Olympian turned sports photographer Gladys Chai von der Laage: We love the photo she took at 2017 DL final of the men's 5000 (see above).
- Only 15% of journalists at World Champs are women
- World Athletics profiles Sara Hall: Sara Hall, motivated by motherhood and marathons
- Mom and Japanese national record holder in the hurdles, Asuka Terada, hopes to make Japan less sexist in 2021
- Ethiopia's two biggest women's distance stars, Letesenbet Gidey and Gudaf Tsegay, are both from Tigray - the epicenter of Ethiopia's current violence
Previous Outside NCAA News
- Cole Hocker enters his first NCAA track championships at age 19 with a 3:50 mile pb Alan Webb was just a 3:53 guy at the same age. Hocker: "I’m really confident in my abilities and my fitness level at this point in the season.
- Ed Eyestone is still shocked by freshman Lucas Bons' 3:55 mile “I thought maybe he could run close to 4:01."
- Georiga coach raves about Matthew Boling prior to his 1st NCAAs: "Matthew is a coach’s dream so far."
- Montana State's Duncan Hamilton Eager For Mile/XC Double
- List of all men and women who might do NCAA indoor/xc double There are only 20 men and 26 women in contention.
- RRW: Indoors Or Cross? NCAA Coaches Make Tough Choices Many coaches had to choose between indoor or XC because they were the same weekend, but they never should have been put in this position in the first place.
- LRC Archives: Why Are NCAA Indoors and NCAA XC Scheduled For the Same Weekend?
- MB: Not making this up: NCAA reschedules the NCAA XC championships for the same weekend as the 2021 NCAA indoors
Week That Was
This week, we welcome two Americans to the sub-15 club, tell you why Matthew Centrowitz is far from done, worry about Jordan Hasay and rave about the greatest 800 phenom ever?
Random News That Passsed Our Vetting Process
- AP: Thomas Bach re-elected as IOC head through 2025 in near unaminous vote (93-1) He was running unopposed. *Olympic.org
- Sunday's Nagoya Women’s Marathon 2021 is First Mass-Participation Race Held in Japan During Covid-19 Pandemic The event is known for the exclusive Tiffany & Co. finisher pendant presented to each runner who crossed the finish line.
- Study: Female athletes with a regular menstrual cycle perform better are less likely to get injured
- Meet Jamaica's best HS distance runner - Calabar High's Kevroy Venson The 3:56/14:55 is expected to DOMINATE the Champs.
800m Stars In The News
Thankfully Hodgkinson is coached by veteran Jenny Meadows who knows what she's talking about as she said, "We would love her to go because you don’t know what’s going to happen in the future.”
- Ajee Wilson's High School Track Named After Her Wilson said, "It’s a huge honor. I literally grew up on that track. I lived maybe a mile or so away.”
Sprint Stuff
Despite coming back from his devastating ACL injury, van Niekerk still thinks he can break his own 400m WR and dip under 43-seconds.
- T&F News: "Remember, Sydney McLaughlin Is Still Just A Youngster" McLaughlin talks about her decision to switch coaches from former Olympic 100H champ Joanna Hayes to Bobby Kersee's group with Allyson Felix.
- Four-Time Olympic Champ Sanya Richards-Ross Joins Oregon22 Board Of Directors
- Darren Campbell And Tim Benjamin Named Head Of British Sprints And Relays British Athletics is still yet to name a new head of endurance.
Field Event (Mostly PV) News
- Poland's Hammer WR And Two-Time Olympic Champ Holder Anita Włodarczyk Turned Into A Barbie Doll
- Sandi Morris: "You have to pretend like the Olympics is going forward." Morris talks about the effect of COVID on the sport, Nike dropping tons of athletes from sponsorship and how Americans are at a disadvantage with lockdowns and restrictions.
- Injured Renaud Lavillenie Hopes To Be Back Jumping Again In Six Weeks He says he has a small muscle lesion in his calf.
- World Athletics Looks Back At US's Stacy Dragila Who Won The Very First Global Women's Pole Vault Title At The 1997 World Indoor Champs She also won the first Olympic women's pole vault in 2000.
More Post-Euros News
They have to self-isolate for 10 days.
- AW Analysis: Euro Indoors - Predictions Vs Reality Did Euro Indoors go to form or were there upsets galore?
- Video: All Of The Gold-Medal Performances From The Euro Indoors
Marathon+ News
The record is 3:07:20 set by GB's Aly Dixon in 2019. (That's 6:01 pace for 31.1 miles.)
- Meet The 62-Year-Old Japanese Woman Who Ran A 2:52 Marathon The first woman over 60-years-old to break the 3-hour barrier is planning on going for her own record at this weekend's Nagoya Women's Marathon.
- Olympic Marathon And Race Walk Test Event To Go Ahead On May 5th There will be an elite half-marathon with 80 men and women from Japan and abroad as well as a mass participation 10k.
Other Distance Stuff
- Drake Road Races to be Held In-Person Ahead of 2021 Drake Relays 1,225 will be allowed to race the 5k and 775 the half-marathon.
- Sound Running Invite Was Sponsored By USATF Foundation
- London Marathon Providing Funding For 29 British Distance Runners Who Don't Qualify For British Athletics' World Class Program Among the runners supported are Euro 3000m champ Amy-Eloise Markovc and BTC's Marc Scott.
- Former Temple 4:36 miler Millie Howard is training in London and enjoying support from the London Marathon hub
Olympic Updates
- Number Of COVID-19 Tests For Athletes Could Be Increased At Tokyo 2020 The current plan was to test athletes once every four days.
- India Shifts Focus To Bidding For 2048 Olympics As Apparently 2032 Going To Brisbane, Australia Is Close To A Done Deal
- Dick Pound Says Thomas Bach's Re-Election As IOC President Will Come As A Relief To IOC Members Pound analyzes and evaluates Bach's first term.
PUMA Returns To Running
Back around the turn of the century, Puma sponsored some of the biggest names in distance running: Noah Ngeny, Wilson Kipketer, Daniel Komen, Moses Kiptanui, and Bernard Lagat. Then they went AWOL. Puma is now returning to running and has started its own pro group in the US featuring Taylor Werner and former Stanford stars Steven Fahy and Fiona O'Keeffe. Join the LRC Supporters Club to get access to this article today.
COVID Stuff
Llano also talks about joining the Under Armour-sponsored Dark Sky Distance group and reveals he's racing USATF 15k Champs next weekend.
Monday Was International Women's Day
- World Athletics Makes New Equality Pledges To Mark International Women's Day One of their promises is to end the Oregon 2022 World Championships with a women's race instead of the tradition of ending with the men's 4x400. *World Athletics article
- Irish Distance Great Sonia O'Sullivan Is Happy Women Today Have So Many Different Sporting Opportunities Available To Them
"Athletics was just what I did because it was one of the few sports that women were able to do and available to us at that time." - Seb Coe Says He Wants More Women In Leadership Positions, Even World Athletics President
- Women Athletes Have Accounted For About 25% Of Kenya's Olympic Medals
- Tokyo 2020, IOC, And IPC Reiterate Commitment To Gender Equality On International Women's Day
Post-Euro Indoor News
- Belgian Eline Berings Criticizes COVID-19 Testing System After False Positive Forced Her Out Of 60H Semi-Final Someone is going to miss the Olympics because of a COVID test
- Cathal Dennehy Says Euro Indoors Will Be An "Eye-Opener" For Some Irish Athletes After Ireland Went Without Any Medals "Some fell way below expectations, most levelled off right around them, and a select few surpassed them." *2nd article
- GB Head Coach Christian Malcolm Applauds "Fearless" Brits At Euro Indoor Champs He said he wasn't concerned with the medal tally, although it's worth noting the UK did win the overall team score (where events are scored 1-8), beating Poland by 22.5 points.
- AW: 12 Magic Moments From The European Indoors Keely Hodgkinson and DQ controversies top their list.
- Ireland's Phil Healy After Dreaded 4th Place Finish In Euro Indoors 400m: "I said I'd go out fighting and that's what I did" She ran a PB of 51.94, but missed the medals by .21.
- The Guardian: 19-Year-Old Keely Hodginson Tipped To Lead New Wave Of British Athletics
Olympic News
It also says the opening ceremony will have no spectators at all. An official announcement is expected by the end of the month.
- IOC President Thomas Bach To Be Re-Elected Unopposed At Virtual Session On Wednesday Bach was elected for his first term in 2013.
- InsideTheGames' David Owen Evaluates The Positve And Negatives Of Thomas Bach's Time As IOC President So Far Owen says Bach has been "unlucky" in the sense he may not get to "preside over a truly unblemished Games" until Paris 2024.
- Qatar Still Committed To Bidding For 2032 Olympics Despite Brisbane, Australia Being the IOC's Preferred Choice
- Budapest Considering Bidding For 2032 Games
Your latest American stars share their insights.
American Record Holders
American Record Holders
Keira D'Amato, the new American record holder in the marathon, was joined by Deena Kastor, who held the record for 15 years.
Sisson was the guest on the LetsRun.com Track Talk podcast after she became the first American to go sub 67 in the half marathon on a record-eligible course. Podcast highlights above. Full pod here.
Woody Kincaid joined us after he broke the American record indoors at 5000. He talks above why he left the Bowerman Track Club. Podcast highlights and link to full podcast here.
Coogan's New Balance Boston team had 3 Olympians in 2021 and 2022 could be the biggest year yet for the program with 2 new additions and the TRACK at New Balance coming on March 1st.
Danny Mackey has taken the Brooks Beasts from an unproven club to the Olympic podium in its first decade.
Dathan Ritzenhein is the first of the top pro coaches to sit down and talk about his club heading into the 2022 campaign.
Best of Jon Gault
Best of Jon Gault
Take Your Love of LetsRun to the Next Level
Take Your Love of LetsRun to the Next Level
LetsRun Classics
LetsRun Classics
Asuka Terada, Japanese 100mh national record holder and mom talking about how she wants to battle sexism this year.