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Archived Homepage For December 29, 2024
Archived Homepage For December 29, 2024

Quote Of The Day

Interesting Listens/Reads
End of Year Stuff
On The Boards
On The Boards
There is some stuff going on right now
Previous End-Of-Year Awards/Superlatives
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2024 Recaps
Other News
The day after xmas was a slow news day
End of Year Stuff
Distance News
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Need a Job?

LA2028 is hiring and most of the jobs pay over 100k At this point in 2020, Paris 2024 had 379 employees while LA 2028 is much leaner, with less than 180.

Sprint News
Christmas OTB
This Week's Pod

Jasmines Jones and Nico Young are our guests and before them we break down the latest in the running world.

Doping News
  • NY Times: Questions Emerge About Data Used By China To Defend Against Doping Allegations When 23 elite Chinese swimmers tested positive before the Tokyo Olympics, WADA accepted the explanation that it was due to contamination and didn't take any action against them. The science behind that explanation relied largely on "hastily arranged human trials" that have never been made public, but have been seen by some experts, one of which said, "Their conclusions are not intellectually honest. They make a conclusion that is not backed up by what they found in their study. If you submitted this to a scientific journal worth its salt, that conclusion would be laughed at.”
  • WADA Publishes Data Confirming That Drug Testing Deters Doping We definitely didn't need a study to tell us that. But what was interesting is that as a result of that, most EPO cheats who are caught, are caught in-competition the first time they're ever tested. The reason being that "an athlete who has never been tested before has a much lower perceived risk of being caught than an athlete tested regularly."
  • MB: Hicham El Guerrouj “Interesting” Comments About EPO in Morocco El G says "easily" run 3:23-3:24 for 1500m in modern footwear and that he's "never seen or heard of that EPO problem in Ifrane. No one has ever come to see me to offer me anything."
Distance News
GST

GST signed Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone & Gabby Thomas as Racers, but many of the sport's biggest names such as Noah Lyles and Sha'Carri Richardson have yet to commit to the series.

Sprint Stuff
A Mini Win for Females
High School News
Financial Stuff
Field Eventer News
USATF News
Grand Slam Track
2024 Recaps
Recent Distance Results
Katir's Ban Gets Extended

He was already serving a two-year ban until 2026 for three whereabouts failures, but now his ban will go until 2028 after he was found to falsify travel documents to try to explain away his missed tests.

Seb Coe Meets With The Media For His Year End Review

In what might have been his final annual year-end media call, Coe raved about SML and talked about his love of XC. As for SML, he said he's "only seen one performance in an Olympic stadium to rival that" and that was Rudisha in 2012. Coe's tenure as World Athletics president could end next year if he is elected as IOC president.

Team New Balance Boston News

The other finalists were Maia Ramsden of Harvard and Jaida Ross of Oregon.
*MB: Parker Valby Will Win Bowerman

More NCAA News
News That Passed Our Human Vetting Process
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A legend speaks

Rai Benjamin delivered on all fronts in 2024 and was snubbed in the Athlete of the Year voting, but the things missing on his resume now are the world record and a 42-second relay split.

Non Distance News: 

More Distance News Of Note

The elite-only race that was held in December 2020 during the COVID pandemic is returning in 2025 with room for 500 fast amateurs. Same lightning fast course in Chandler, AZ, but the race will be open to elites and non-elites (a non-elite marathon on Saturday and elites on Sunday). The site says the non-elites will be "treated like pros" and Rosario hopes the pro race is "the deepest, fastest marathon in the United States."
*MB: Return of the Marathon Project.

LRC Podcast

Olympian Hobbs Kessler joins us to discuss his breakout 2024 season and 2025 plans. He's followed by Mr. USA Gold Rai Benjamin as both athletes joined us from the Global Athletics Media Summit.

Meet The Next President Of USATF

Vin Lananna's term as president is up and Clausen beat 1992 Olympic triple jump champion Michael Conley in a vote, 56.7% to 43.3% earlier this month. Although this has not been publicly announced by USATF themselves, possibly because there was a protest filed over the result. Clausen served on the board of directors of USATF from 2014 to 2018 and is currently the general counsel of Tickets.com. Here is an article from before the election where Clausen says he will "hold [Max Siegel] accountable." Let's hope so.

Looking Ahead To Early 2025 Indoor
NCAA / HS News
BBC Sports Awards
Indoor Track News
UK News
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American Distance Results
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International Distance Results
Foot Locker Saturday

She ran 17:31.1 to hold off a challenge from Victoria Garces (17:39.90) and become the first since Claudia Lane in 2017 to win back-to-back titles. *DyeStat Recap

Gavenas, the top returner from last year, ran 15:23.90 to Gonzalez's 15:27.40. *DyeStat Recap

Fisher Speaks

After earning his first global medals in 2024, Fisher is not content to rest on his laurels. "There were two guys better than me in both events," Fisher says. "So there's still a carrot out in front of me." Plus his coach Mike Scannell explains how they will attack the 2025 season, including Grand Slam Track.

More Distance News
Non-Distance News
US Distance News
News from UK
Get Your Millrose Tickets Now

America's best miler will race America's best long-distance runner at 3,000 meters in one of the crown jewels of the 2025 indoor season.

LRC Podcast

Double Olympic medalist and American record holder at 3000, 5000, 10,000m Grant Fisher joins us to announce he's running the Millrose Games 3000 vs Olympic gold medallist Cole Hocker and then to discuss his 2024 campaign and plans for the future.

Week That Was

The last super busy weekend of the year was full of action from all over the globe and we break it down for you.

Distance News
Field Event News
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Sprint Stuff
Some More Year-End Awards
Distance News

Blanks previously had a NIL deal with New Balance.

Madness at BU

Strand (7:30.15) and Wolfe (7:30.23) are now #4 and #6 on the all-time US list (including outdoor times) as the top four finishers all broke the NCAA record. *Race finish

    Euro XC Champs

    Ingebrigtsen broke away from the pack with less than a kilometer to go and won comfortably by 8 seconds over Italy's Yemaneberhan Crippa. Spain won the team title with just 18 points.

    Battocletti came in 11 seconds ahead of Germany's Konstanze Klosterhalfen to become the first woman to win European XC titles at the U20, U23 and senior level. Battocletti also lead Italy to their first women's team title.

    NXN

    Hedengren broke Tuohy’s previous course record of 16:37.8 and came in well ahead of Victoria Garces (17:13.4) and Elizabeth Leachman (17:13.7). Last year's winner Addy Ritzenhein was 5th (17:15.3). Denver won the team competition after finishing 3rd last year.

    More Weekend Distance Action
    Kalakaua Merrie Mile in Hawaii

    For the 1st time, an entrant in the women's division won the  overall race where the biological females started 32-seconds ahead of the men but Hiltz downplayed the fact they made history. "Fun fact. I actually don't identify as a woman. I'm nonbinary... so a woman still hasn't won this race," said Hiltz.

    It's Outdoor Track Season in Australia

    Gout Gout is now #2 all-time on the World U18 list behind Erriyon Knighton's 19.84.

    Podcasts

    We made the Friday 15 available to everyone as part of our Cyber Week sale. (And PSA Grand Slam Tickets are now on sale).

    Blanks = NCAA XC x 2

    Just before Blanks chases a 5,000m pb and collegiate record in what is likely his final NCAA race at Boston University on Saturday, he told LetsRun about the key session of his 2024 XC season -- one he described as "probably the best workout I've had so far in my career."

    Links We Found Interesting
    Big Changes at HOKA NAZ Elite

    Almost 11 years after founding NAZ Elite, Rosario is leaving for a new venture. A number of athletes are also leaving the team, including Aliphine Tuliamuk, Krissy Gear, and Kellyn Taylor.

    Interesting Administrative News
    Olympic/Admin News
    Week That Was

    Our weekly recap is back with a vengeance. In it, we rave about how much better Africa is at the marathon than the mighty USA, wonder if it's bad that AOY awards are now nothing more than popularity contests and rave about 40+ runners.

      Valencia Marathon
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      The 2023 world half marathon champ missed Kelvin Kiptum's debut record by just 12 seconds. Ethiopia's Megertu Alemu, who was 2nd in London last year and 3rd in Chicago (4th in London this year), won the women's race. Kenenisa Bekele was with the leaders through halfway and in the top 10 at 30k but ended up a DNF.

        Graham Blanks Podcast

        Hear from the repeat NCAA XC champ.

        End-Of-Year Awards
        Cool Story From NCAA XC

        The story of what happened to Habtom Samuel's shoe shows the best of the running community.

          Podcast

          LRC Podcast NCAA Recap + World Treadmill Champs?, Grand Slam & Ultimate Athletics champs updates

          A Final Look at NCAA XC

          But before we switch over to indoor track, we had a few final thoughts to share about the 2024 NCAA XC championships, including explaining why track is not the same as cross country, revealing the top-20 finisher who called his shot on the LetsRun messageboard, letting you know about two runners who did something on Saturday that hasn’t been done since Matthew Centrowitz, before we give you a way-too-early look ahead to 2025 NCAAs. 

          Noah Lyles Speaks to LRC

          The Tyreek Hill race may be coming together. Lyles has interesting comments on Grand Slam Track, the 100 vs the 200 and whether the sport of track and field wants to change. *Podcast here

          2024 NCAA XC
          2024 NCAA XC
          NCAA Women
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          BYU won its second title in the Diljeet Taylor era as Alabama's Doris Lemngole moved up one spot from last year to win the crown.

          NCAA Men
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          Graham Blanks joined the Gerry Lindgren, Steve Prefontaine and Conner Mantz club of repeat American winners as the year of Ed Eyestone continued with a BYU victory.

          NCAA Talk
          NCAA Videos (More here)
          NCAA Videos (More here)
          Graham Blanks after repeating at 2024 NCAA cross country championships
          Graham Blanks after repeating at 2024 NCAA cross country championships
          Ed Eyestone talks after leading BYU to 2024 NCAA Cross Country title
          Ed Eyestone talks after leading BYU to 2024 NCAA Cross Country title
          Diljeet Taylor after coaching BYU women to 2024 NCAA XC title
          Diljeet Taylor after coaching BYU women to 2024 NCAA XC title
          A disappointed Shalane Flanagan talks after Oregon women finish 5th at 2024 NCAA XC Champs
          A disappointed Shalane Flanagan talks after Oregon women finish 5th at 2024 NCAA XC Champs
          Paywalls Lifted

          Last year, nine Kenyan men and a record seven Kenyan women earned All-American honors at the NCAA XC champs. The total could be even higher at this year's meet. We explain the reason behind the trend and wonder if there should be an age limit. Is it fair to have a 28-year-old freshman join the team who has a PR faster than the American record?

          NCAA track and field/XC is about to be radically changed. Roster caps are coming -- are you ready for a max of 10 people on a men's SEC roster? But the opportunity to give out way more scholarships is also coming. Will the net change be great or catastrophic, leading to the "the slow death of men's track & field" as one SEC coach worries.

          More Distance Results

          (link updated) He broke the previous record of 41:05 which was set by Joshua Cheptegei at this same course in 2018 and then tied by Kiplimo here last year.
          *MB: Jacob MF Kiplimo!

          Jonathan Gault pays tribute to two legends

          Simpson and Centrowitz, who both 1st medalled in 2011 and retired in 2024, leave the sport as two of the faces on the Mt. Rushmore of American 1500m running after piling up a combined eight medals at global championships. And despite not ever finishing in the top 3 on the yearly 1500 list (Simpson's best was 4th, Centro's 9th), they will be remembered as two of the better milers of their generation.

          Tim Rowberry Interview Highlights

          Rowberry began as a pacer and errand boy at the Nike Oregon Project but has since coached Hassan to six medals across the last two Olympics. He dives into their relationship and why he's looking to expand his training group -- and land a coaching contract from a shoe brand.

          World Marathon Majors Soon Will Be Dead....... Unless

          Expanding the number of world marathon majors to nine is an absurd idea unless the majors make one simple change that will instantly keep them being compelling, elite sporting events.

          Best of the LetsRun.com Track Talk Podcast
          Best of the LetsRun.com Track Talk Podcast

          Your latest American stars share their insights.

          Three legends of the sport.

          One of the greatest US runners ever.

          We chatted with Frank on the 50th anniversary of his Olympic Marathon gold

          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.

          LetsRun.com Pro Coaches Tour
          LetsRun.com Pro Coaches Tour

          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
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          Take Your Love of LetsRun to the Next Level
          Take Your Love of LetsRun to the Next Level
          LetsRun Classics
          LetsRun Classics

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