In this week's weekly recap, we give unsolicited career advice to CJ Albertson and Jim Walmsley, wonder if Letesenbet Gidey is the second coming of Paula Radcliffe/Eliud Kipchoge, and say goodbye to two track stars who died way too young.
Archived Homepage For October 27, 2021
Archived Homepage For October 27, 2021
Week That Was
800m Royalty
Rogers' 2021 ended with a PB, an Olympic bronze medal, and the 4th fastest time ever by an American, not to mention a 25th birthday bash/ medal party (where Ajee' Wilson was in attendance) and being honored at the Houston Texans game. We talked to Ajee' and Raevyn separately. Listen on your favorite podcast app at the link above or in the player above.
On The Boards
On The Boards
Trouble At Oregon?
(link fixed) Six women who recently left Oregon say they felt devalued as individuals and at risk for eating disorders because of the data-driven approach to their weight and body fat percentages. Head coach, Robert Johnson, defended the program's scientific approach and use of DEXA scans (medical imaging tests using X-rays to measure bone density and body fat percentage).
More From The Weekend
If you take out the time spent drinking, Bellmore's 400m splits were a sub-4 mile.
- AW Extensive Weekly Round-Up: GB Olympic Marathoner Jess Piasecki Runs 31:19 (#4 On UK All-Time List) To Win The Aged UK Leeds Abbey Dash 10k She beat out Charlotte Arter (31:30) and Jess Judd (31:38). Kadar Omar (28:46) won the men's race. 2:12:21 and 2:29:12 won the Venice Marathon and 2:09:43 and 2:30:27 won the Linz Marathon in Austria.
- Eritrea’s Awet Habte And Burundi’s Francine Niyomukunzi Win World Athletics XC Meet In Zornotza, Spain
- Providence's Abdel Laadjel And Central Connecticut's Angie Rafter Are NCAA DI XC Athletes Of The Week After Winning The CCSU Mini Meet
Recruiting News
- 2:00.78 High Schooler Roisin Willis Chooses Stanford Willis qualified for the Olympic Trials last summer and made it to the 800m semis.
- MileSplit: Current Class of 2022 NCAA Track And Field Commitments
China Cancels Marathon Season
- The Wuhan Marathon Was Cancelled At The Last Minute Due To Concerns Over Rising Covid Cases In China Organizers cancelled it only two days before it was scheduled to go off last Sunday.
- Beijing Marathon Cancelled Due To Rising Number Of Covid Cases In China
2021 In Review
- Eliud Kipchoge Crowned Best Male Athlete Of Tokyo 2020 At The Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) Canadian swimmer Maggie Mac Neil received the award for best female athlete of Tokyo 2020 after winning three medals (a gold, silver and bronze).
- World Athletics Announces Nominees For Male World Athlete of The Year Eliud Kipchoge, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Joshua Cheptegei are the distance men to make the list of 10. You can cast your vote on World Athletics' social media pages.
- World Athletics Announces Nominees For Female World Athlete of The Year Sifan Hassan, Athing Mu, Fiath Kipyegon are the distance women on the list of 10. You can cast your vote on World Athletics' social media pages.
- Video Of Every Diamond League Record In 2021 Includes Karsten Warholm's 46.70 (400H), Yomif Kejelcha's 7:26.25 (3000m) and Elaine Thompson-Herah's 10.54 (100m).
- Best Photographs Of 2021 To Be Honored At World Athletics Awards
- Track Gets Three Finalists For 2021 NCAA Woman Of The Year Award Mikayla Bisignani of Johns Hopkins, Anna Cockrell of Southern California and Eka Jose of Washington (Mo.).
Hall Of Fame Additions
- Shalane Flanagan Highlights Highlights New York Road Runners Hall Of Fame Class Of 2021 Eliud Kipchoge will receive the Abebe Bikila award.
- Former Olympic LJ Champ Greg Rutherford Enters England Athletics Hall Of Fame
Valencia Half
Valencia Half
The 5000 and 10,000m WR holder ran 62:52 today in her half-marathon debut. Wow.
Jonathan Gault tries to put Letesenbet Gidey's amazing WR in perspective for you. Is she the greatest women's distance talent ever? Or was it the shoes? Or something more sinister?
- Official thread: Set your alarm clocks now (2:30 am ET Sunday). The women are going for the WR in Valencia.
- Gidey just ran the single greatest female running performance ever... Give her the black page! Letesenbet MF Gidey 1:02:52
- Valencia Half Marathon, quick visual, top 10 men, and Gidey, 1:02:52.
- Frank Lara going for Ryan Hall's American record in Valencia
Rest In Peace
- Agnes Tirop's Funeral Attended By Over 4000 Mourners Attendees included Faith Kipyegon, Hellen Obiri and Joshua Cheptegei as Tirop was burred at her parents' house on what would have been her 26th birthday. *2nd article
- Ecuador Soccer Stadium Hosts A Burning Chapel To Receive Sprinter Alex Quiñónez's Coffin
*Alex Quiñónez Was Killed Alongside His Friend, Ecuadorian Singer Jojairo Arcalla Outside A Shopping Center - World Athletics: RIP Prolific Track Photographer Jean-Pierre Durand, 66
Rotterdam Marathon
Kenya's Marius Kipserem lead early, but ended up losing to Abdi by 28-seconds. Kenya's Stella Barsosio won the women's race in 2:22:08. *Discuss
More Weekend Action
The men's side was a nail biter as Simbassa finished with the same time as runner-up Futsum Zienasellassie while Sam Chelanga was 1-second back in third. Morley won the women's race by a good margin over Erika Kemp (1:24:00).
- MB: Jordan Hasay Wins Santa Barbara Wine County Half Marathon In 1:20:05 *Results
- Harvey Lewis Breaks the Big’s Backyard Ultra Record The 45-year-old ran a 4.1667-mile loop every hour for 85 hours, totaling 354.169 miles.
- Japan Corporate Team Shiseido Breaks Princess Ekiden Course Record
- Meiji University Wins Hakone Ekiden Qualifier Half Marathon
- USTFCCCA College XC Weekend Recap No big NCAA results this weekend.
Farah Update
- Mo Farah Says He Thinks He'll "Be Long Gone By [Paris 2024]" He says you could see him there as a coach though.
- Mo Farah Says Listening To Lionel Richie's Music Helped Inspire Him To Comeback From His Foot Stress Fracture Farah is healthy now, but says it will be months before he’s 100% fit.
Tragic News
Quiñonez's death comes during a state of emergency in Ecuador which was announced by the president to try and stop a surge in crime. Quiñonez had a 19.87 PB and held national records from 100m to 400m. He missed the Tokyo Games this year as he was provisionally suspended for whereabouts failures.
Short Course
Yehualaw's 63:44 at the Antrim Coast Half Marathon in August came on a course that was 54m short, meaning the WR is now Ruth Chepngetich's 64:02.
Friday's Updates from Valencia
Frank Lara is hoping to go sub 60 minutes in the Valencia half marathon on Sunday.
UKA In A Bad Spot
Performance director Sara Symington has also left. *The Times *Independent
*MB: UK Athletics in turmoil after CEO Joanna Coates resigns after 20 months on the job
Interesting Reads
- US Olympic Trials qualifier Meghan Roth had a heart attack between miles 7 and 8 at 2021 Boston Marathon, but a fellow runner gave her CPR and she's doing well now
- Dad accidentally runs Manchester Marathon... yes really He signed up for the half but got there at the wrong time when the marathon was starting so he decided to do that.
- #30 Montana State men's cross country team is ranked for 1st time in 17 years They were 12th at Prenats.
Free Tax & Training Advice
- An inside look at how Nike founder Phil Knight is giving a fortune to his family while avoiding billions in U.S. taxes. Part of Bloomberg's look at the "hidden ways the ultrarich pass wealth to their heirs tax-free."
- Have a Disappointing Marathon? The NY Times says you need to learn to "reframe it" like Ryan & Sara Hall, Reed Fischer and Scott Fauble
- Former British summer and winter Olympian Craig Pickering writes about how coaching with so much data can be good (and bad) "We can often manipulate the numbers to support whichever message we desire."
Distance News
Link fixed. A fascinating piece by Jeff Benjamin. *Race video
- MB: Shannon Osika joins Pete Julian’s group The 4th placer at the US Trials in the 1500 (4:00 pb) was in search of training partners and has left long-time coach Mike McGuire.
- After failing to make the Olympics on the track, Ben Flanagan thinks he'll be focusing more to the roads soon
- Harvey Lewis broke WR at last week's 2021 Big Dog's Backyard Ultra with 85 laps (353.5 miles)
- MB: Big Dog's Backyard Ultra - 3 left, have gone 325 miles, running for 78 hours - can someone run until they die
- 10 Storylines to Follow at Mt. SAC Cross Country Invitational 2021
- Jury selection resumes slowly in Ahmaud Arbery slaying trial
- Senators pay glowing tribute to Agnes Tiropo
Kipchoge Update
Cathal Dennehy is in Kenya and watched Kipchoge do 8 x 1600 + 8 x 400.
Recent LetsRun Videos
Recent LetsRun Videos
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
‒Oregon head coach Robert Johnson defending his program's scientific approach and use of DEXA scans with athletes. (DEXA scans are medical imaging tests that use X-rays to measure precise bone density and body fat percentage.)