World Champs Start Friday

LRC $200,019 Running Warehouse World Outdoor Track And Field Prediction Contest Is OPEN Ready, set, pick. First event closes Friday Sept. 27 at 9:35 AM Eastern. Winners of contest win RW gift certificate and HOKA ONE ONE Rincon shoe.

Sprint / Field News

• Sad News: US Discus Olympian Jarred Rome Dies At 42 Rome was back in his hometown in Washington for induction into the county sports hall of fame earlier in the week.
  *MB: Jarred Rome, USA National Champion, Olympian passes away
• BBC: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Talks About Motherhood, Hair And Medals After a year of motherhood, Fraser-Pryce says, “My son is exhausting but it’s something I wouldn’t trade for anything else because he’s actually made me better at what I do…”
• Will The 27-Year-Old 400 Hurdles Record Go Down In Doha? The WR is 46.78 and Karsten Warholm (46.92), Rai Benjamin (46.98) and Abderrahman Samba (46.98) all have PBs under 47-seconds.
• Grant Holloway Is Honorary “Mr. Two-Bits” At Gator Football Game It was Holloway’s job to get the crowd hyped before the game. (Includes video.)

Extend The Ban Now

Unbelievable: Source Tells AP Russia May Have Altered Doping Data Before They Turned It Over A decade-long suspension would be just fine by us.

Previous Pre-Doha News

• Good Read: Mark English Calls For Transparency After Omission From Worlds “We don’t know anything and that’s the problem with this whole system. It’s not clear enough … The IAAF had all the information of those unqualified athletes since August 26 and they didn’t decide to share it with anyone …”
• Double Amputee Sprinter Blake Leeper Won’t Be Allowed To Compete At Worlds Leeper qualified for the US 4 x 400 squad (he was 5th in the 400m at USAs), but the IAAF says he has to prove his blades don’t give him an advantage.
• Seb Coe Won’t “Gag The Voices” Of Athletes Who Want To Protest In Doha About Homosexuality Being Illegal Coe says he hopes having Worlds there could “flick the dial both socially, culturally and politically in a very positive way.” Gay racewalker Tom Bosworth said “I’m not going to start running down the road with rainbow flags and demanding equality but it is certainly a stage where we can be ourselves. … hopefully countries might learn by hosting competitions like this and develop from it.”
• Bahamas Ministry Responds To Criticism Regarding Its Low Contribution To Team Bahamas There was uncertainty if the Bahamas would have enough funding to go to Doha Worlds, but it looks like they will be there.
• Mondo Duplantis Is The Youngest Pole Vaulter To Ever Go Over 6 Meters, But Says He’s Still A Student Of The Sport “You can learn from everybody … there is always room to get better.”
• IAAF Profile On US Shot Put Champion Chase Ealey Ahead Of Her First World Championships Some interesting insights like how she was sprinted in high school and almost did the multis in college and how her coach, two-time world indoor champ Ryan Whiting, helped “change the course of her career.”
• Q&A With Sam Kendricks Ahead Of Worlds Kendricks talks about winning worlds in 2017 and preparing to defend his title in Doha.
• Brief Q&A With Defending 400H World Champ Karsten Warholm Ahead Of Doha
• USTFCCCA: 25 Athletes With Ties To The Bowerman Award Are Competing In Doha This includes nine past winners and five current finalists.
• 1928 Athletes From 209 Countries Will Compete In Doha

Olympic/IAAF News

• Seb Coe Praises Tokyo 2020 Marathon Route After Test Event Coe said they want courses that “show off the best of cities and are challenging for athletes and fan-friendly.”
• Snow Machines Given First Outing At Tokyo 2020 Canoe Sprint Test Event Snow making machines threw snow on volunteer spectators to try and keep them cool. Reports suggested the first trial wasn’t a complete success as the ice was coarse and the snowfall made conditions slippery.
• Dates Confirmed For 2020 IAAF World Indoor Tour And 2019-2020 IAAF XC Permit Meets
• Olympic Channel Promise Best-Ever Digital Experience At Tokyo 2020

(Mostly Russian) Doping News

• Don’t Expect The Russian Track Federation To Be Reinstated Too Soon According To Seb Coe Coe explains that the analysis of the Moscow lab data still needs to be completed. “It has been a long process. … the biggest piece of that is the work the AIU is doing around the data. My techy colleagues tell me it is the equivalent of trying to wade your way through 51,000 CDs. It’s a massive amount of work.”
• RUSADA Head Yuri Ganus Attacks Russia’s Athletic Federation And Calls For Directors To Resign Over The Current Ban He also claims that the “backlog [of investigations] is crazy” and that “there is proof of intervention from a higher body.”
• Eleven Athletes (Ten Male, One Female) Were Identified By WADA IN The Operation Puerto Doping Scandal However, because of the 10-year statute of limitations having passed (thanks to the Spanish courts), the names can’t be made public.
• Track And Field Athletes Are The Most Drug Tested Russians 766 track athletes were tested between January and August, while weightlifting is a distant second with 225 athletes tested.
• WADA Claims 2018 Was A “Breakthrough Year” In The Russia Anti-Doping Crisis They say reinstating RUSADA even though they hadn’t met all the reinstatement criteria let them move forward with things like gaining access to the Moscow lab.
• Alysia Montano Will Receive Bronze Medals She Was Cheated Out Of At 2011 And 2013 World Champs After the official disqualification of Russia’s Mariya Savinova, Montano was invited to accept her medals in a ceremony at worlds in Doha.
  *Montano On Instagram: “These athletes who were doping stole precious moments and money from clean athletes including me, who never got the outdoor podium moment that I earned.”
  *Brenda Martinez Will Also Receive An Upgraded Medal In Doha Martinez moves from 2013 Worlds bronze to silver.

Week That Was

LRC Weekly Recap: Geoffrey Kamworor Gets His World Record (And Emotional), Woody Kincaid, USA Vs. Kenya Vs. Ethiopia Kamworor ran fast, Jordan Hasay didn’t. Shannon Osika and Elise Cranny keep improving and, yes, Woody MF Kincaid.

Find A Better Pair Of Running Shoes

LRC Want A Running Shoe That Lasts? The 10 Most Durable Running Shoes As Rated By You The most durable running shoes as rated by you.