The three fastest Ethiopian men and two fastest Ethiopian women in history aren't on their Olympic marathon team - so who is? 17-year olds Erriyon Knighton and Jaylen Slade are trying to do their best Usain Bolt comparisons and more.
Archived Homepage For May 04, 2021
Archived Homepage For May 04, 2021
Our Weekly Recap
Knighton became just the third US high schooler to break 10 in the 100 under any conditions, though the +2.7 tailwind means his time won't count for record purposes. Slade followed up his wind-aided 100 with a wind-legal 20.20 200m, good for #5 on the all-time HS list.
On The Boards
On The Boards
Bekele Going To Tokyo?!?
The problem is the Ethiopian Athletics Federation ultimately chooses the team and there is a huge fight going on between the two groups.
More Results From The Weekend
- Tatsuhiko Ito (27:33.38) And Ririka Hironaka (31:11.75) Win Japanese 10,000m Titles To Secure Places On Team For Tokyo Kenya's Rodgers Chumo Kwemoi won the men's race in 27:33.33 while Yuka Ando (31:18.18) was runner-up in the women's race and also secured an Olympic spot.
- Results: Trials Of Miles Kansas City Qualifier Highlights were a 1:44.40 world lead and national record for Mexico's Jesus Lopez in the 800m, a 15:11.35 win for Laura Galvan in the 5000m and 9:32.75 win for Marisa Howard in the steeple. Zouhair Talbi won the men's 5000m in 13:28.97 with Sam Chelanga second in 13:36.39. *Race Replays
- MB: Bahrain's Shumi Dechasa (2:06:59) And Kenya's Maureen Chepkemoi (2:24:19) Win Geneva Marathon
- AW Weekly Round-Up Joe Kovacs' threw a 22.72m shot put world lead at the Jesse Owens Invy, Keni Harrison won the 100H in 12.48 in Austin, and there was a 8:15.77 steeplechase world lead by Algeria's Hichem Bouchicha in Turkey.
- Two Japanese High Jumpers Clear 2.30m At The Shizuoka Athletics Meet Takashi Eto won on countback from Naoto Tobe.
NCAA News
- USC Sweeps UCLA In Return Of Crosstown Rivalry Dual Meet USC's Isaiah Jewett won the 800m in a meet record 1:45.80.
- Top-3 Men's Team Remain Unchanged In Updated NCAA Rankings LSU, BYU and Oregon are 1-3 while Southern California moved up to 4th.
- No Changes To The Top 5 Spots In Latest Women's NCAA Rankings As LSU Remain #1 Arkansas, Texas A&M and Texas are ranked 2-4.
- MB: Jack Salisbury Wins Mile At Virginia Grand Prix In 3:56.22
- Event-By-Event Top-10 NCAA Marks From The Week
Jenner Wants To Protect Women's Sports
Some are surprised that Jenner would take this stance as a transgender woman, but remember that Caitlyn as Bruce was the greatest male athlete in the world and understands basic biology.
- MB: Caitlyn Jenner is against Transgender athletes competing in women’s sports
- TMZ Poll On "Trans Girls In Girls' Sports" Has 77% For "Ban Them" After 47,000 Votes Only 23% voted for "let them play."
Road Results
Find out who will be taking on Galen Rupp in Tokyo.
However, the Norwegian athletics federation said the time may not be ratified as an official WR.
*MB: 30 year old female Norwegian sets new 5k road WR of 14:39. She only runs once a day and skis the rest.
Fast Sprint Action
Behind her, Bershawn “Batman” Jackson's daughter, HS sophomore Shawnti Jackson, ran a prep-leading 11.28 for 5th place. On the men's side, Cejhae Greene edged out Yohan Blake (10.016 to 10.019), but the story was high schoolers Errioyn Knighton and and Jaylen Slade. Kinghton ran a wind aided (2.7 m/s) 9.99 in the prelims while Slade ran a wind-aided (2.2 m/s) 10.04 in the final and won the 200m in 20.20 (#4 HS all-time).
- Trayvon Bromell Blasts 9.88 World Lead In Jacksonville The time was just .04 off his lifetime best and well ahead of Andre De Grasse (10.05). Nigeria's Divine Oduduru won the 200m in 19.88. Blessing Okagbare won the women's 200m in a wind-aided 22.03.
- World Leader Tara Davis Leapt 6.97m At The Texas Invitational
World Athletics Relays
South Africa won the men's 4x100, the Netherlands the men's 4x400 and Cuba the women's 4x400. The German men and Polish women took the 4x200s.
- Hosts Poland Crowned The First Winners At The World Athletics Relays The team of European Indoor 800m champ Patryk Dobek and European Indoor 800m silver medalist Joanna Jozwik won the 2x2x400m in 3:40.92 over Kenya (3:41.79).
- AW Recap: Thrills And Spills On Final Day Of World Relays
- BBC: GB Women Win 4x400m Bronze At World Relays
- Ireland's Chris O’Donnell After World Relays: "We're on the map now."
- Olympic Relay Fields Take Shape At World Athletics Relays 23 teams have secured their places in relay events at the Tokyo Olympics by making the finals at the World Relays. For more in-depth recap of the 4x100, 4x400 and mixed 4x400 rounds, go here. Finals are Sunday.
- Germany Holds Off Poland To Win The Shuttle Hurdles Relay Because there were only three teams entered, Kenya got an automatic bronze even though they were over three seconds behind second place.
More Weekend Distance Action
The 800m was on day 1 and 400m on day 2 of the meet.
- MB: Miss St 800. Marco Arop goes 1:44 Ole Miss with 5 under 1:49
- USTFCCCA Weekend Round-Up: NC State's Elly Henes And BYU's Courtney Wayment Move Into Top Ten Lists Henes won the West Coast Relays 5000m in 15:18.75 (#10 all-time NCAA) and Wayment took the steeple in 9:31.37 (#5 all-time NCAA). Pro Sam Prakel won the 1500m in 3:36.86 while 9 collegians behind him broke 3:40. *Results
*MB: BYU men PREPOSTEROUS 1500 in Fresno - NAU Finish Strong At West Coast Relays Luis Grijalva won the 5000m in 13:29.02.
- MB: NAU Abdihamid Nur 27:47 Blaise Ferro 27:56 at WCR at 7:30 am. Wow. Nico paced.
- MB: Katelyn Tuohy 4:14 1500m Tuohy placed 9th in the race won by Arkansas' Krissy Gear in 4:09.00.
- Canada's Madeleine Kelly Wins 800m At OSU High Performance Meet In 2:00.59; Makena Morley Wins 5000m In 15:33.81
- Charlotte Bednar Breaks New Jersey High School 3200m Record With 9:59.34
Assorted Distance News
- Outside Interview With Des Linden Linden talks about her recent experience with ultra running, getting ready to race Boston and the possibility of continuing racing major marathons in a few years when she's a Master.
- Cool Story: NY Times Tribute To Arlene Pieper Stine, The First Woman To Finish A Marathon Who Passed Away This Winter At Age-90 Pieper Stine ran the Pikes Peak Marathon in 1959, but didn't find out that she had made history until 50-years later. The race organizers actually hired a private detective and paid a reward to track her down.
- Lengthy Interview With 1987 World 1500m Champion Abdi Bile Bile was the first Somali athlete to win a gold medal at a global championship and still holds nine Somalian national records.
- Canadian Running Magazine Review New Alberto Salazar Documentary The documentary on Salazar's doping suspension features interview with Alex Hutchinson, Malcolm Gladwell and LRC's own Weldon Johnson and Jon Gault.
Tokyo 2020 News
- Athlete Interviews In The Mixed Zone At The Olympics Will Be Restricted To Only 90 Seconds
- Tokyo 2020 Torch Relay "In Disarray" After Six More Positive Coronavirus Tests Connected To The Event
- Tokyo 2020 President Seiko Hashimoto Acknowledges The Olympics May Be Held Behind Closed Doors A decision on spectator limits won't come until June.
- COVID-19 Countermeasures Under Spotlight At Two Tokyo Olympic Test Event (Volleyball And Diving)
- Media At Tokyo 2020 Will Be Allowed To Use Public Transport After All But not until they've already been in Japan for 14-days.
High Schoolers Keep Missing Out Due To COVID
- New Balance Cancels The 2021 New Balance Nationals Outdoor Championship
*MB: New Balance Nationals Cancelled - California Cancels State Track And Field Championships For Second Straight Year The meet was scheduled for June 25-26.
*MB: Since the California State Meet was canceled should someone host a State Meet invite? - MileSplit Runs Down Some Options For High Schoolers Who Want To Compete After Their State Meet Want To Keep Their Season Going After Their State Meet
This Is Exciting To Hear
Are you ready for 10 track meets in America live on ESPN? We hope so. The ratings for the ATL indoor series were strong and now all 10 meets of the outdoor series will be on ESPN. "Streaming is great for our spot," says ATL founder Paul Doyle, "but I don't think it's reaching new fans. Whereas if we're on ESPN, we're in every sports bar in America."
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
