Archived Homepage For January 16, 2022

US / NCAA Indoor Action Heats Up Quickly

MB: Athing Mu opens season with a 4:37 mile!
MB: UW's Kieran Lumb runs NCAA leading 3:55.53 at UW as 2 Princeton Tigers run 3:57
MB: Texas Tech's Terrence Jones (Bahamas) equals NCAA record in men's 60 with 6.45! Teammate Usoro Ruth is 1st to break 48 ft in TJ!
Ben Blankenship Rips Meet Record 7:45.92 In Washington Indoor Preview 3000m He won in a close race with Sam Prakel who ran 7:46.06 for 2nd. GB Olympian Amy-Eloise Markovc won the women's mile in 4:30.78 while Derek Holdsworth won the 800m in 1:48.85 and Oiselle's Rebecca Mehra won the women's 3000m in 9:0.64.
MB: Texas A&M's Brandon Miller runs 1:47.48 for 800.
MB: Tinman sub elite to ELiTE! Joey Berriatua runs a 7:47 3k!!!
KC Lightfoot (5.91m) And Katie Nageotte (4.60m) Produce World-Leading Clearances At UCS Spirit National Pole Vault Summit Lightfoot, the collegiate indoor record holder, beat out Olympic silver medalist Chris Nilsen who cleared 5.81m.
MB: Matthew Boling opens season with 8.25m (27.75 ft) Georgia school record LJ

High School Indoor Action

Rheinhardt Harrison Runs #2 All-Time 1000m With 2:22.77 At The VA Showcase Only Robby Andrews' 2:22.28 is faster.
Will Sumner Breaks 10-Year-Old High School 500m National Record With 1:01.25
VA Showcase Day 2 Recap: Olympic Trials Qualifier Roisin Willis Runs #4 All-Time HS 500m With 1:10.90 Justin Braun won a competitive 60m in 6.75 to tie his own #2 on the all-time list (2nd and 3rd place were both 6.77).
Eastbay XC Champs 6th Placer Tyrone Gorze Breaks Galen Rupp's Oregon State Indoor 3000m Record With 8:11.38 At The Washington Indoor Preview Rupp ran 8:12.30 in 2003.
Hana Moll Clears 4.47m (14-2) And Her Twin Sister Amanda Moll Clears 4.32m (14-2) At The UCS Spirit PV Summit They became the first high school girls to both clear at least 14-2 in the same meet. Maddox Hamm won the boys competition with 5.23m.
MileSplit VA Showcase Day 1 Recap: Roisin Willis Wins 1000m In 2:43.34
Shawnti Jackson Runs #2 All-Time 300m At The VA Showcase With 36.95 She now sits only behind Sydney McLaughlin's 36.82 from 2017.
~~MB: Rheinhardt Harrison 8:47.43/2 Mile Winner @ Virginia Beach~~ Incorrect result. Harrison ran and won the 1000m. Gary Martin won the 2mile in 9:04.65.

On The Boards

Houston Marathon Weekend

LRC After an Up-and-Down 2021, Keira D'Amato Is Ready to Run Fast at the Houston Marathon

D'Amato, who ran 67:55 for the half in December (T-#4 all-time US), believes she can run under 2:22 on Sunday -- something only six Americans have ever done. Could she possibly break the AR? Read this now as it's going behind our SC paywall after 24 hours.

World Athletics Preview: Defending Champions Kelkile Gezahegn (2:05:56 PB) And Askale Merachi (2:23:29 PB) Will Try To Defend Their Titles Shadrack Korir (59:27) and Vicoty Chepngeno (67:22) lead the half-marathon fields which also include Sara Hall, Patrick Tiernan and Kirubel Erassa.

Rock 'n' Roll AZ

Stephanie Bruce Will Begin The Final Year Of Her Career At The Arizona Rock 'N' Roll Half-Marathon On Sunday After being recently diagnosed with a heard condition, 38-year-old Bruce has decided to make this the last year of her career with “a mixture of bucket list and favorite list” races.

Other News Of Note

Kory Tarpenning, A Former Olympic Pole Vaulter From Portland, Gets 3-Month Federal Prison Sentence For Fraud Tarpenning plead guilty for failing to report about $1.9 million in income and wages over five years while living in Monaco.
MB: Isaiah Harris to Brooks Beasts
WADA Tells Athletes To Be Extremely Cautious When Eating Chinese Meat At Beijing 2022 They are warning athletes about the potential to have contaminated meet as meat in China is known to have low levels of the steroid clenbuterol.

Upcoming Indoor Action

Noah Lyles, Ronnie Baker And Erriyon Knighton To Clash Over 60m At New Balance Indoor GP On Staten Island February 6 Also announced for the meet is Elle Purrier vs Emma Coburn, Gabriela Debues-Stafford and Amy-Eloise Markovc in the 3000m.
#2 All-Time Indoor 800m Runner Elliot Giles Will Face Swedish Record Holder Andreas Kramer In Karlsruhe On January 28
World Indoor Record Holder Grant Holloway Vs World Indoor Champ Andrew Pozzi In The 60H At The Muller Indoor GP On February 19
USTFCCCA: Will The 2022 Indoor Season Alter Collegiate History Even More? There's been one indoor collegiate record so far this season (Abby Steiner over 300m); how many more might fall?

Friday 15

SC Friday 15: Cinderella Keira D'Amato Ready for Houston, Craig Engels Gets 9-Year Contract, But Will He Even Make an Olympic Team?

For Supporters Club members.

Links We Found Interesting

Craig Engels contemplated quitting the sport, but he's now reinvigorated and just signed a reported 9-year deal with Nike And he's got a plan for life after running as the theatre major just completed his MBA.
*MB: After Trials devastation, Craig Engels thought about quitting....... Reinvigorated, he just signed a long-term contract with ...
Over 100,000 tickets already sold for World Athletics Championships Oregon22 in Eugene We're not sure why that is viewed as a big number for a Worlds. In comparison, 705,000 tickets were sold overall for the 2017 World Championships in London.
American-born and raised World U20 200m champion Udodi Onwuzurike of Nigeria will make his collegiate debut this weekend for Stanford His sensational breakout 2021 campaign means his 100 and 200 HS pbs are better than the Stanford school records.
*Milesplit: Behind Udodi Onwuzurike's Road To Success At World U20s

Major Doping Story

LRC "Is It Safe to Take a Test This Morning?": FBI Investigation Reveals Text Messages From Olympic Doper

The FBI appears to have gained access to Blessing Okagbare's WhatsApp messages and we have now have an inside look at doping in the elite sprint world as a result of the Rodchenkov Act, which makes it a crime to affect the outcome of major international sporting events via the use of performance-enhancing drugs. There are some starting revelations, leaving us to what to know who is 'Athlete 2' who was struggling with a hamstring injury this summer?

Podcast

Want to Know How Boston So Loaded this Year? Listen to Our Pod with BAA Elite Athlete Coordinator Mary Kate Shea

She joined the LRC crew for a special LetsRun.com Track Talk podcast in conjunction with the release of the men's Boston field and gave a behind the scenes look at how pro fields are assembled.

Re-Ranking Seidel

Upon Further Review, Molly Seidel should be the 10th ranked marathoner in the world

We originally had Seidlel outside our world top 10 but upon analyzing it during Wednesday's podcast, we bump her up to #10.

Boston Men's Field

LRC Kenenisa Bekele vs Geoffrey Kamworor at 2022 Boston Marathon - Men's Elite Fields Announced - 5 Thoughts On The Stellar Field

Bekele vs Kamworor vs Lawrence Cherono and the defending champ and NY champ. 4 of the top 10 in the world plus Jake Riley, Scott Fauble, Collin Bennie, Elkanah Kibet and more. Updated with analysis.
MB: It's on! Bekele vs Kamworor in Boston

2021 Awards / Rankings

LRC 2021 LetsRun Awards: Best Athlete, Best Comeback, Best WTF Performance, Biggest Heartbreak, & More

With the full year in the books, it's time to finally turn the page on 2021 and hand out some awards. Sifan Hassan, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Courtney Freirichs, Erriyon Knighton, Shelby Houlihan, Sha'Carri Richardson, Francine Niyonsaba, Elly and Laurie Henes and others all get some hardware.

LRC 2021 Race of the Year: The Men's Olympic 400-Meter Hurdles Final Was Unforgettable

45.94 is no longer a pretty good 400 time. It's the 400h WR.

LRC 2021 LetsRun.com Women's World and American Rankings: Mu, Kipyegon, Hassan, & Jepchirchir Post Epic Seasons

Did you know that Athing Mu accomplished something this year that David Rudisha never did? Do you know the one event in our rankings where the Olympic champ wasn't also our world #1?

LRC 2021 LetsRun.com Men's World and American Rankings: Kipchoge, Ingebrigtsen, & Cheptegei Lead the Way

No American men cracked the top 3 in any event.

News That Passed Our Vetting Process For Thursday

John Walker turned 70 on Wednesday - Here are his 5 greatest races

John Walker turned 70 on Wednesday - Here are his 5 greatest races The 1976 Olympic 1500 champ was also the first human to break 3:50 and first to break 4:00 100 times.

Outside How Aleksandr Sorokin Ran 100 Miles at a 6:31-Mile Pace And he wasn't done yet as he kept going and managed 110.23 miles in 12 hours, besting his own previous world record of 105.82 miles (averaging a pace of 6:48 or 2:51:10 marathon pace for 4+ marathons). *MB: Rojo - Black screen this accomplishment ASAP.
Eliud Kipchoge says he's motivated to go for an unprecedented 3rd Olympic marathon title
*Kipchoge's agent says they have “a beautiful plan” for a March/April race this year.
Hellen Obiri wins 5th Kenya Defence Forces XC Championship, 2:05 marathoner Eric Kiptanui wins men's title Former 13.1 half marathon WR holder Kibiwott Kandie was just 7th 18 seconds back of Kiptanui, who was 3rd in Chicago this year behind Galen Rupp.

Upcoming Indoor Action

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RRW: Olympic Bronze Medalist Josh Kerr Leads Men's Wanamaker Mile Field Against Ollie Hoare, Nick Willis And Hobbs Kessler Also Clayton Murphy and Craig Engels.
Ollie Hoare Ahead Of Millrose: "Coach (Dathan Ritzenhein) and I are happy with where I am right now and I'm confident that I can take on whatever comes at me. Don't be surprised if you see some very fast mile times come out of New York.”
Jakob Ingebrigtsen Announced For Lievin 1500m On February 17th Ingebrigsten opened his season here last year, breaking the European 1500m record with 3:31.80. His brother Filip is also in the field.

Non-Distance News

Mondo Duplantis Recently Underwent Laser Eye Surgery To Correct His Vision Up until now Duplantis wore contacts, but always worried that he'd have a problem with them in the middle of an important competition.
vWhat makes the BYU women’s athletic teams so successful? They root for each other "Our locker rooms are kinda right next to each other, so we have that interaction with each other every day. That creates a nice sense of community and a good sense of excellence.”
Tributes continue to pour in for Deone Lendore, even from Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister
Athletics Weekly Does Some Quick Book Reviews Including One Looking Back At GB's 2004 Olympic Men's 4x100m Gold The team of Jason Gardener, Darren Campbell, Marlon Devonish and Mark Lewis-Francis beat out the US team of Justin Gatlin, Shawn Crawford, Coby Miller and Maurice Greene by just .01.
South Carolina's Anthony Greenhow Jr. And UConn's Taylor Woods Are NCAA Athletes Of The Week At the Clemson invy, Greenhow ran the US's 4th fastest 200m mark of the year so far with 21.18 and also was runner-up in the 60m and 4x400. Woods won the LJ at the Beantown Challenge with 6.26m, #2 in the NCAA this season.

A Great Miler Hangs 'Em Up

MB: Former NCAA indoor mile record holder Chris O'Hare retires at 31 The 2012 NCAA indoor mile champ was a two-time Worlds finalist, 2016 Olympian and 2-time Wanamaker mile champion. 1500 PB of 3:32.11.
Chris O'Hare: Retiring is never an easy decision for an athlete to make but I am relieved to say that although I will miss everything about training and racing, I am happy to be a retired athlete."

Health News

UK Government May Remove "Elite Sport Exemptions" For Athletes Who Aren't Vaccinated Currently elite athletes are exempted from strict lockdown rules which force people to quarantine for 5-10 days after returning to the UK from a foreign country.
Q&A With Health Expert And Former Elite Rower About Training And Menopause

Boston 2022

LRC The 2022 Boston Marathon Women's Field Is Out & It's INCREDIBLE - Best in Race's History

Since 2022 marks 50 years since Boston officially began accepting female entrants, it's appropriate that year's women's field will be the greatest in race history with a staggering 7 sub-2:20 women.

MB: Boston Women's field is out and it's LOADED - Jepchirchir vs Jepkosgei vs Seidel.

Sad News - RIP

Trinidad and Tobago’s Olympic And World 4x400m Medallist Deon Lendore Killed In Car Crash

The 29-year-old was the third fastest Trinidadian of all-time with a 44.36 PB and was an NCAA champion for Texas A&M as well as a Bowerman award winner.
*Police Report Gives Details Of Car Accident Which Killed Deon Lendore Troopers say Lendore drifted into on-coming traffic on FM 485 near Cameron and side-swiped one vehicle before hitting a second vehicle head-on.
*World Athletics Tribute
*USTFCCCA: The 2914 Bowerman Winner Deon Lendore Passes Away

Assorted Distance News

Steeplechase WR Holder Beatrice Chepkoech Explains Her Disappointing Performance At The Olympics Last Year She says she started dealing with an injury issue before the Kenyan trials which got worse as time went. Her advice to other athletes: "Even if it is a slight injury, do not ignore it in the hope it will go away. ...Sometimes the opportunity to compete in a big competition may seem irresistible but at the end of the day, your health matters the most."
Newbury Park XC Coach Sean Bronson Talks A Bit About His Team's Training And His Coaching Philosophy Bronson says no one on the team ran more than 64 miles in a week and that he is constantly adapting training on the fly for each athlete.
Lithuanian Ultra Runner Aleksandr Sorokin Breaks 100-Mile And 12-Hour World Records The 40-year-old ran 10hr 51min 39seconds for 100 miles and kept going to complete 110.24 miles in 12 hours.
Indoor 1500m WR Holder And Olympic 5000m Bronze Medalist Gudaf Tsegay Announced For Lievin Indoor Mile On February 17 At this meet last year she set the world indoor 1500m record with 3:53.09.
MB: Brittany Charboneau wins 5k, 10k, half and full marathon at 2022 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend
Local UK XC Results From The Weekend

Athletes Of The Year

200m Olympic Champ Christine Mboma Named BBC African Sports Personality Of The Year The article mentions how recently Mboma wasin a car crash where her car's windshield was smashed by a flock of guinea fowl. Thankfully she wasn't seriously hurt. although she had shards of glass stuck in her face.
USC's 2021 NCAA 100H And 400H Champion Anna Cockrell Named An NCAA Today's Top 10 Award Winner (All Sports)
Karsten Warholm Named Norwegian Sportsman Of The Year (Across All Sports)

Best of the LetsRun.com Track Talk Podcast

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LRC After an Up-and-Down 2021, Keira D'Amato Is Ready to Run Fast at the Houston Marathon

SC Friday 15: Cinderella Keira D'Amato Ready for Houston, Craig Engels Gets 9-Year Contract, But Will He Even Make an Olympic Team?

LRC "Is It Safe to Take a Test This Morning?": FBI Investigation Reveals Text Messages From Olympic Doper

Want to Know How Boston So Loaded this Year? Listen to Our Pod with BAA Elite Athlete Coordinator Mary Kate Shea

Upon Further Review, Molly Seidel should be the 10th ranked marathoner in the world

LRC Kenenisa Bekele vs Geoffrey Kamworor at 2022 Boston Marathon - Men's Elite Fields Announced - 5 Thoughts On The Stellar Field

LRC 2021 LetsRun Awards: Best Athlete, Best Comeback, Best WTF Performance, Biggest Heartbreak, & More

LRC 2021 Race of the Year: The Men's Olympic 400-Meter Hurdles Final Was Unforgettable

LRC 2021 LetsRun.com Women's World and American Rankings: Mu, Kipyegon, Hassan, & Jepchirchir Post Epic Seasons

LRC 2021 LetsRun.com Men's World and American Rankings: Kipchoge, Ingebrigtsen, & Cheptegei Lead the Way

John Walker turned 70 on Wednesday - Here are his 5 greatest races

LRC The 2022 Boston Marathon Women's Field Is Out & It's INCREDIBLE - Best in Race's History

Trinidad and Tobago’s Olympic And World 4x400m Medallist Deon Lendore Killed In Car Crash

American Record Pod: Yared Nuguse and Wood Kincaid Open Up

Webb, Ritz, and Hall

Madeline Manning Mims

Frank Shorter

LRC American Marathon Record Podcast: Keira D'Amato and Deena Kastor

LRC Emily Sisson - The Next US Marathon Superstar?

LRC Woody Kincaid - On His American Record and Leaving Bowerman

LRC New Balance Boston's Mark Coogan

LRC Brooks Beasts' Danny Mackey

LRC OAC's Dathan Ritzenhein

The Rise of Syracuse: How a Cross Country Powerhouse Was Built From Scratch in 10 Years

26:59: The Story of Chris Solinsky's American Record and Upset of Galen Rupp

The Summer of Webb: An Inside Look at Alan Webb’s Magical 2007 Season

Dreams Become Reality: Jake Wightman Stuns Jakob Ingebrigtsen to Win World 1500m Title

Wejo Speaks: Why I Sucked in College

Escorting Paula - How LRC Co-Founder Weldon Johnson Paced Radcliffe To Her 1st World Record

American Strong: How American Teamwork Helped Meb Keflezighi Win Boston

LRC's Robert and Weldon Johnson Named as Two of “The 50 Most Influential People in Running”

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