Archived Homepage For September 26, 2024

Quote Of The Day

“Women and money. I love women, and I love making money.”

‒400m runner Shamier Little explaining why she's competing in Thursday's inaugural Athlos meet in NYC (free stream at 7:30 pm ET).

MB: Official Athlos NYC Discussion Thread - Can this women's-only track meet gain traction and transform the sport?

Big $$$ Women's-Only Meet Debuts Thursday Night in NYC

LRC Athlos NYC: What to Know About Alexis Ohanian's New Professional Track Meet Featuring Rapper Megan Thee Stallion

The inaugural women's-only meet is on Thursday in New York and features four Olympic champions from Paris (Gabby Thomas, Faith Kipyegon, Masai Russell, Marileidy Paulino) in its six events as well walk-out songs and a performance by rapper Megan Thee Stallion.

NCAA XC Previews

LRC 2024 NCAA XC: Previewing the Women’s Top 10, from #5 Notre Dame to #1 NAU

Can the NAU women overcome last year's disappointment and send coach Mike Smith out as a champion in his final year? Plus a loaded BYU team looks to put a bad day in '23 behind them, and does NC State have any chance at a four-peat?

How about some love for Lipscomb and coach Nick Polk? They were 11th at NCAAs with no transfers and no foreigners.
Ok State's Dave Smith: "There are five teams that can potentially win...but I wouldn’t say we’re a 50% chance to win."
Easy fix for the foreign recruiting issue in the NCAA
Iowa St adds an 8:22 steepler Joash Ruto. Does this make them a threat for NCAA XC team title?
I have little respect for NCAA teams that assemble foreign XC Teams
T&F News' Men's XC Preview: Top-10 Men's Individual Predictions Defending champ Graham Blanks is ranked #1 and Parker Wolfe is #7.
2024 Women's NCAA XC

Previous: LRC Men's Preview #1-5, #6-10

LRC 2024 NCAA XC: Previewing the Women’s Top 10, from #10 Oregon to #6 Tennessee, Plus Individual Contenders

Oregon finished in the top 10 a year ago under Shalane Flanagan and Jerry Schumacher and will look to improve in '24. Plus meet the new NCAA superstar, who earned bronze in the U20 race at World XC and is the sister of a former WR holder. And how about some love for Lipscomb - which was top 10 last year with no transfers and no foreigners?

On The Boards

This Week's Podcast

LRC Athlos Meet Is Here, NCAA XC Preview, Foreign Imports

Athlos, the women's-only track meet with $100k in prize money per event, and Megan Thee Stallion as the feature entertainer is Thursday in NYC. We break it down and also preview the NCAA XC season.

Julien Alfred Returns Home As The Fastest Woman In The World / Odds & Ends

100m Olympic champion and 200m Olympic silver medalist Julien Alfred's return to Saint Lucia is EPIC. 🇱🇨 🥇 🥈

Just look at how her country is celebrating her!

So well deserved. pic.twitter.com/GEbF5YOJp1
— Chris Chavez (@ChrisChavez) September 24, 2024

Thousands greet Julien Alfred in rapturous homecoming to St. Lucia
Prime minister greeted her and then there was a motorcade around the island
Man who bit Julien Alfred's gold medal responds to criticism Talk about disgusting. *Photo
Video of Alfred's homecoming
MB: Film critic slams Ingebrigtsen amazon video series: "What we get to see are three nouveau riche bastards" "Here we are offered no context. None of the people are presented properly. None of the sports presentations are put into context. What we get to see are three nouveau riche bastards who have each built themselves a house of the smooth funky bird box type."
MB: Elisabeth Ingebrigtsen responds to social media criticism of how Jakob treats her: "I can stand up for myself just fine." She also tells viewers not to judge them by the video which is designed to create extreme engagement and says that things can look very different on screen compared to how it is in real life.
London Marathon runners in 2024 raised a world record £73.5m for charity
2014 NCAA xc champ Kate Avery has become a trail runner “I have been a New Balance athlete for the past eight years in events from track, cross and country,” she says, “so when I heard the brand was forming a new trail and mountain running focused team, I immediately agreed to be part of it.”
Arkansas HS XC girls team with triplets is hoping to be 1st Arkansas team to qualify for NXN

Doping News

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MB: 29:50 Kenyan 10k Runner Faith Chepkoech Gets 3-Year Doping Ban For EPO
USADA Head Travis Tygart Tricked Into Recorded Conversation With Russian "Pranksters" We're not sure what exactly the prank is, but in the interview Tygart said that any athletes who compete in Russia's "Friendship Games" in 2025, could be banned from the Olympics.
2:04 Marathoner Joshua Belet And 67:17 Half-Marathoner Paskalia Chepkorir Kipkoech Are Among 8 More Kenyans To Get Doping Bans
*MB: Another 8 Kenyans busted
WADA Publishes Updated Technical Guide Which Comes Into Force On January 1, 2025

Non-Distance News

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Grand Slam Track Signs All Three Women's Olympic 100H Medalists - Masai Russell, Cyréna Samba-Mayela And Jasmine Camacho-Quinn
Italian HJer Gianmarco Tamberi Contemplating Future After Disappointing Paris Olympics The 32-year-old isn't sure if he wants to continue to the 2028 Olympics. In Paris his performance suffered because he was dealing with intense pain from kidney stones. He couldn't take medication to dissolve the stones because it could be considered doping.
Japan 110H NR Holder Shunsuke Izumiya Jumps 8.14m To Win National Corporate Championships Long Jump
Japan Under-20 400H Record Goes Down Twice At National University Championships The previous record was 28-years-old, but Shota Fuchigami ran 48.78 in his semi to break it before Hayato Shimoda ran 48.59 in his semi to break it again.

Ultra Running News

Ultrarunner Tara Dower Breaks Appalachian Trail Speed Record, Running 2,189 Miles In 40 Days Dower's daily schedule was getting up at 3AM and running for about 17 hours with only short breaks for meals and 90-second "dirt naps." She broke the previous record from 2018 by 13 hours.
Canadian Running Magazine: Ultrarunner Camille Herron And Her Husband Accused Of Removing Accolades From Other Athletes' Wikipedia Pages And "Fluffing" Her Own Herron's husband, Conor Holt, emailed LetsRun admitting to making the edits and apologizing while adding that "Camille had nothing to do with this."
*MB: Email from Conor Holt (Camille Herron's husband) taking responsibility for Wikipedia edits
*MB: Camille Herron and hubby are deleting Courtney and Killian's accomplishments on Wikipedia and pumping herself instead
British Ultrarunner James Norbury Sets Record For Summiting 30 Of Britain’s Highest Peaks In Three Days

World Marathon Majors News

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2025 Boston Marathon Cut-Off Ends Up 6:51 Faster Than The Qualifying Time More than 12,000 runners were denied entry despite running the qualifying standard for their sex/age category.
*MB: Boston Marathon Cutoff: 6:51
Boston Marathon Lowers Qualifying Times For 2026 Race By Five Minutes Now men in the 18 to 34 age category will have to run 2:55 and the women (and the men who declare they're not men) will need to run 3:25.
Chicago Marathon Receives World Athletics Heritage Plaque The World Athletics Heritage Plaque is a "location-based recognition, awarded for an outstanding contribution to the worldwide history and development of the sport."
London Marathon Raises Record $98.28 Million For Charity This breaks their previous record as the world's largest annual one-day fundraising event of $88.63 million from 2019.

XC Season Is Here

LRC 2024 NCAA XC: Previewing the Men's Top 10, from #5 NAU to #1 Oklahoma State

Oklahoma State was historically great in 2023, can they repeat in 2024? How will NAU fare in Mike Smith's final year as coach? Is this Arkansas' best team since the glory years? Plus BYU is super deep thanks in part to an 8th-year senior.

MB: Ok State's Dave Smith: "There are five teams that can potentially win...but I wouldn’t say we’re a 50% chance to win."

LRC 2024 NCAA XC: Previewing the Men's Top 10, from #10 Harvard to #6 New Mexico

It's time to get back into cross country mode. With young American stars Graham Blanks and Parker Wolfe returning to the NCAA, the 2024 XC season should be a great one.

Women's Mid-D News

Video Interview With Shannon Rowbury On Being Elevated To Bronze 12 Years After The London Olympics Rowbury was emotional talking about finding out the news she was being elevated to 2012 Olympic 1500m bronze after three women who finished ahead of her have been banned for doping.
WA Profile: World Under-20 800m Champ Sarah Moraa Aims To Continue In Cousin's Footsteps Like her cousin and training partner, world 800m champ Mary Moraa, Sarah started off as a sprinter and only moved to the 800m in 2023. Now she's world U20 and African champ with a 1:59.39 PB.
T&F News Talks To Addy Wiley About Her Rookie Pro Season Wiley says a hamstring injury three weeks before the Olympic Trials kept her from making the team so she instead put her focus into breaking the American 1000m record which she did last month in Poland.

Other Distance News

German Fernandez's Sister, Giselle Fernandez, Wins Her Race At Woodbridge XC Classic The younger sister of the former NCAA champ ran 17:27 to win her race by 14 seconds. (For comparison, Rylee Blade had the fastest girls' time of the day with a course record 15:20).
*MB: German Fernandez's Sister
Daniel Kinyanjui (27:08) And Loice Chemnung (30:13) Win tRUNsylvania International 10K
Boston Man Charged For Flying Drone Near Boston Marathon Finish Line He was charged with "unlawfully flying a drone in restricted National Defense Airspace" and agreed to pay a $5000 fine and forfeit his drone (valued at $4000).
Sad News: Wesleyan XC Runner Dies During Race Nefertari Holston collapsed and went into cardiac arrest during the race in Georgia.

More US Tracks Named For Olympic Medalists

Grant Fisher To Have Hometown Indoor Track Named In His Honor The indoor track in Grand Blanc Township, MI will be named for Fisher in a special ceremony on Friday.
Sha’Carri Richardson Has Track Named After Her In Dallas Richardson, who is from Dallas, attended a ceremony at the John Kincaide Stadium where the track has been renamed the Sha'Carri Richardson Track.

International Road Results

Former Two-Time World 5000m Champ Muktar Edris Gets Dominant Win Over Joshua Cheptegei At Dam Tot Damloop 10 Mile

Edris won in 44:51 putting him tied for #8 on the world all-time list and 27 seconds clear of three-time world 10,000m champion Cheptegei. Ethiopia's Asayech Ayichew won the women's race in 51:15.

USATF 10k Champs

RRW: Jessica McClain And Biya Simbassa Capture USATF Road Titles At Great Cow Harbor 10k

Marathon Trials 4th placer McClain won in 31:40 over Natosha Rogers (32:00) while Simbassa ran 28:18 to beat out Hillary Bor (28:24).

MB: USATF Road 10k champs are Saturday - D'Amato, Rogers, McLain, Simbassa, Bor, Estrada and many more. Official discussion thread.

XC/Trail Action

Ali Wimer Leads Minnesota Women To Roy Griak Team Title; Utah Valley's Mohamed Guled Wins Men's Gold Race, Wyoming Claims Team Victory At Roy Griak Weimer won the 6k in 21:08, 5 seconds ahead of her teammate as Minnesota beat #25 ranked Utah Valley by 6 points. Guled won the men's race in 24:55 with Wyoming taking the team title 8 points ahead of Navy. *Results
*MB: Wyoming wins Roy Griak. Sleeper team for top 5 @ NCAAs?
MB: Allie Ostrander 9th at Headlands 27k in 2:27:04! Wins went to Morocco's Elhousine Elazzaoui and Kenya's Joyce Muthoni Njeru.
Woodbridge Cross Country Classic Boys Recap Herriman UT won their third straight team title as Owen Powell edged Josiah Tostenson for the individual win (13:30.3 to 13:30.5).
*MB: Woodbridge is not a full 3 mile bruh
Woodbridge Cross Country Classic Girls Recap Rylee Blade runs dominant 15:20 meet record, Flower Mound TX wins team title. Olympic Trials qualifier Sadie Engelhardt was 5th in 15:40.
*MB: Blade wins Woodbridge!
*Woodbridge Friday Recap
MB: Pikes Peak Ascent: Joe Gray 1st, Seth DeMoor 2nd Allie McLaughlin won the women's race.

Olympic News

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InsideTheGames: With IOC Presidency In Sigh, Seb Coe Hits The Campaign Trail The article suggests that Coe could abolish the age limits on IOC president as he did with World Athletics.
Advertising Company Dentsu Fined $2.1 Million For Tokyo Olympics Bid-Rigging Scandal
India Wants To Host The 2036 Olympics And Finish Top 10 In The Medal Tally They only finished 71st in the 2024 medal tally with one silver and five bronze medals.

Sprint Stuff

GB Sprint Legend Linford Christie Talks About Coaching, Not Feeling Welcome In The Sport Today And The Netflix Sprint Documentary Some interesting quotes from Christie who says he wouldn't have wanted to be part of the Netflix documentary when he was competing. “It makes you say things you shouldn’t say. “You never upset your opponents because you give them 10 per cent more adrenaline to beat you. There’s a lot of hype now and people saying they’re champions before they are champions."
Olympic 100m Bronze Medalist Melissa Jefferson Joins Grand Slam Track She is the seventh athlete to sign with Michael Johnson's new league.

Get Your Votes In

LRC Who Is the NCAA Cross Country Athlete of the Week?

We're introducing the NCAA performer of week and since September is all about getting your feet wet in XC we're combining the "preseason" action so far which has been highlighted by performances by some new Kenyan men in the NCAA ranks.

More Fan Voting

Vote For Men's European Athlete Of The Year Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Mondon Duplantis head the list of ten nominees.
Vote For Women's European Athlete Of The Year The ten woman list includes Sifan Hassan, Keely Hodgkinson and Femke Bol.

Can Nike Get Its Mojo Back?

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MB: Nike CEO John Donahoe steps down In June, Nike shares had their biggest one-day drop in history - 20% - and now the embattled former eBay CEO is out. A 32-year Nike employee Elliott Hill will come out of retirement and take over.
MB: 2:16 marathoner Rosemary Wanjiru has withdrawn from Berlin due to injury meaning there will be zero Kenyan women in Berlin
MB: Noah Lyles appears on SportsCenter LA and reiterates he wants to see a TV provider before he signs with Grand Slam Track Does this mean ESPN will be the provider?
Spanish triple jumper Ana Peleteiro dumps Ivan Pedroso as coach After winning bronze in Tokyo, she failed to medal in Paris this year and now will be coached by her partner, French triple jumper Benjamin Compaoré.

CBA's Win Streak Is 50 Years & Counting

MB: 50 years of greatness - CBA NJ is at 400 dual meet wins in a row and 50 years long!!!

The CBA boys' win streak turns 50 years old today. They haven't lost a dual meet since 1973.

More Distance News

MB: Japanese equivalent of NCAAs have started & run through Sunday Japan Running News' Brett Larner has the top seeds and the link also takes you to a free stream and live results.
Q&A with New Mexico coach Darren Gauson, who explains how he's transforming the New Mexico XC program Recruiting and NIL are huge and the Scot is not a afraid to admit it. "As a whole program, we did 150 official visits in our track & field program and we brought in 47 athletes to our team this year." *MB: I have little respect for NCAA teams that assemble foreign XC Cross Teams
Famed HS XC coach Doug Soles releases album of 20 XC-related songs Soles coaches the defending NXN champs - the Herriman boys - who are #1 again this year.
You can now use Marriott Points for a spot in the Abbott World Marathon Majors It's an auction and the Tokyo spot already is 152,000 points with 26 days to go.

LRC Podcast

LRC NCAA Star Parker Wolfe (Guest), Diamond League Wrap, Ingebrigtsen's Half Marathon

The 2024 Diamond League season came to an end. Jakob got the win in the 1500, but we're more interested in breaking down his half marathon debut. Sydney McLaughlin made a rare Diamond League appearance. And we delve into the crazy fast times on the track in 2024.

When Meets Compete, The Athletes Win

Diamond League Prize Money To Skyrocket in 2025 - Regular Meet Prize Money To Increase By 43% in 2025 The total prize pool will be over $9 million for the 2025 season (and roughly $18 million if you count appearance fees). Each regular season meet will feature $500k in prize money in 2025 versus $350k in 2024.
Which Kenyans racked up the most $$ on the DL circuit in 2024? Faith Kipyegon won 100k, Mary Moraa 66k, and Emmanuel Wanyonyi won 52k.
Athlos NYC VS Grand Slam Track - Huge Prize Money Rewards For Track's New Leagues The Athlos meet has a prize pool of $500,000 with $60k for the winner of each race while Michael Johnson's Grand Slam has an overall prize pool of $12.6 million with $100,000 going to the winner of each race at each meet.

RIP Rebecca Cheptegei

Thousands Mourn Rebecca Cheptegei At Her Funeral In Uganda She was buried in her father's homestead in eastern Uganda. As a member of Uganda's armed forces, soldiers carried the coffin and she was given a three-volley salute. Mourners included her mother, father and two daughters.

David Rudisha's 800m Record on Borrowed Time?

SC Inside "Project 99": Why the 800m Is Faster Than Ever and the Race for the First Sub-1:40

At the start of 2024, only five men had ever broken 1:42. Five have done it in 2024 alone, and David Rudisha's 1:40.91 world record looks poised to fall. What is going on? Jonathan Gault interviews coaches and scientists from all over the world and unveils Project 99 - the quest for the first sub-1:40 800 in history.

MB: Inside "Project 99": Why the 800m Is Faster Than Ever and the Race for the First Sub-1:40.

Two Final LetsRun.com Pieces On The Paris Olympics

LRC The 5 Biggest Winners & Losers From The Paris Olympics

The Olympics produce the most incredible highs and lows. Which athletes overachieved and overachieved in the Paris track and field action?

MB: My 5 biggest overachievers and underachievers in Athletics at the Paris Olympics

LRC Repechage at the 2024 Olympics: How Many Repechage Athletes Actually Made the Final?

Almost no one who emerged from the repechage made the final in Paris. World Athletics president Seb Coe admits, "It was an IOC creation. It wasn’t something that we chose ourselves."

Supporters Club podcast

LRC Usain Bolt's 100m World Record is 15, Tyreek Hill vs Noah Lyles?

One final look back at Paris, a look ahead to LA and we pay respects to Usain Bolt's 100m world record and ponder how Tyreek Hill could do in a race vs Noah Lyles.

LRC Exclusives

LRC Jonathan Gault's 9 Final Thoughts on the 2024 Paris Olympics

Was this the best Olympic track & field competition ever? Why did the US men run so well? Plus the greatest unanswered questions from Paris 2024 and why Jakob Ingebrigtsen should not abandon the 1500m.

LRC POD Olympic Recap Show - Who Are Olympic MVPs? Sifan Hassan OMG + Will Jakob Break The 1500m WR This Year?

A lot to talk about on this week's LRC podcast. We couldn't get to it all so join the Supporters Club to get Friday's bonus podcast.

Best of the LetsRun.com Track Talk Podcast

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Quote Of The Day

LRC Athlos NYC: What to Know About Alexis Ohanian's New Professional Track Meet Featuring Rapper Megan Thee Stallion

LRC 2024 NCAA XC: Previewing the Women’s Top 10, from #5 Notre Dame to #1 NAU

LRC 2024 NCAA XC: Previewing the Women’s Top 10, from #10 Oregon to #6 Tennessee, Plus Individual Contenders

LRC Athlos Meet Is Here, NCAA XC Preview, Foreign Imports

XC Season Is Here

LRC 2024 NCAA XC: Previewing the Men's Top 10, from #5 NAU to #1 Oklahoma State

LRC 2024 NCAA XC: Previewing the Men's Top 10, from #10 Harvard to #6 New Mexico

Former Two-Time World 5000m Champ Muktar Edris Gets Dominant Win Over Joshua Cheptegei At Dam Tot Damloop 10 Mile

RRW: Jessica McClain And Biya Simbassa Capture USATF Road Titles At Great Cow Harbor 10k

LRC Who Is the NCAA Cross Country Athlete of the Week?

MB: 50 years of greatness - CBA NJ is at 400 dual meet wins in a row and 50 years long!!!

LRC NCAA Star Parker Wolfe (Guest), Diamond League Wrap, Ingebrigtsen's Half Marathon

SC Inside "Project 99": Why the 800m Is Faster Than Ever and the Race for the First Sub-1:40

LRC The 5 Biggest Winners & Losers From The Paris Olympics

LRC Repechage at the 2024 Olympics: How Many Repechage Athletes Actually Made the Final?

LRC Usain Bolt's 100m World Record is 15, Tyreek Hill vs Noah Lyles?

LRC Jonathan Gault's 9 Final Thoughts on the 2024 Paris Olympics

LRC POD Olympic Recap Show - Who Are Olympic MVPs? Sifan Hassan OMG + Will Jakob Break The 1500m WR This Year?

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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