LetsRun.com: The Home of Distance Running and Track and Field

Hallelujah!!! Our Dreams Have Become Reality

LRC FANTASTIC NEWS: US Olympic Marathon Trials Granted Gold Label Status; Top 3 Finishers Will Go To Olympics On February 29th, the 2020 Olympic year will kick off with huge drama as the first three across the line will be going to the Olympics, just as it should be. Thank you IAAF. Thank you USATF. And thank you LRC nation.
*MB: Great job everyone and USATF! US Olympic Marathon Trials get Gold Label status so top 3 will go to Olympics

Our Weekly Recap WTW King Ches Breaks His PR (Finally), Fake News Coming From Kenya and Laura Muir Makes History? There was a lot of really good stuff last week – from Laura Muir to Matthew Boling and from the Ethiopian trials to Pan Am Jrs – and we break it down for you.

The IAAF Needs To Take A Stance On Shoe Tech

Rojo Speaks Track And Field’s Shoe Rule Makes No Sense – Might Sifan Hassan’s WR Need To Be Invalidated? The fairness of the 2016 Olympic marathon was jeopardized because some athletes were wearing shoes way better than what anyone else was wearing. We can’t afford for history to repeat itself in 2020. The IAAF’s shoe rules need a re-write.
*MB: Track and field’s shoe rule needs to be rewritten

Non-London Weekend Results

Timothy Cheruiyot And Celliphine Chespol Highlight At Kenya Prisons Service Championships World 1,500 silver medalist Cheruiyot set a PR to win the 800m in 1:44.60 while Chespol won the 1,500/5,000 double with 4:12.08 and 15:50.7. Rosemary Monica Wanjiru got a surprise win over former Africa 10,000m champion Alice Aprot to win the women’s 10,000. Charles Mneria won the men’s 5,000 in 13:43.4 over 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Thomas Longosiwa.
MB: Dathan Ritzenhein wins Chicago RnR Half in 64:22
Razini Lemeteki (63:25) And Nanami Aoki (75:12) Win Suffokland Shibetsu Half Marathon In Japan
MB: Edward Cheserek Runs 13:04.44 FTW In Heusden Cheserek beat out Kenya’s Waithaka Stanley (13:05.21).
*Full Meet Results Former Olympic champ Toufik Makloufi raced again with second place in the 800m (1:45.33), which was won by Alfred Kipketer (1:45.05). Other winners included Ejgayehu Taye in the 5,000m (14:53.16), Abdelaati Iguider in the 1,500 (3:36.54), Aisha Praught-Leer in the 1,500 (4:06.25) and Halimah Nakaayi in the 800 (1:59.96).
Vanuatu Runner, Margaret Kuras, Wins Pacific Games Half Marathon Running In Socks Kuras explained the choice, saying, “Wearing socks is a personal decision that I made because I had never run with shoes on before.”
Britain’s Andrew Douglas And Ireland’s Sarah McCormack Win Snowdon International Mountain Race In The UK
Friday Night Action: MB: 2019 Stumptown Twlight Results: Elise Cranny runs big 4:06 pb, Centrowitz cruises in 1500. Rowbury (15:19) gets the standard

Euro Under-20 Champs *Results

17-Year-Old Sprint Star Amy Hunt Leads Team GB To Three Golds On Saturday At Euro U20 Champs Hunt won the 200 in 22.94 as Isabelle Boffey took the 800m (2:02.92) and Josh Zeller won the 110H (13.39).
Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh Clears 1.92m To Win Euro U20 High Jump She also took three “credible attempts” at a world U20 record of 2.02m. Switzerland’s Simon Ehammer dominated the decathlon with a national U20 reord of 7851 points.
Sweden’s Tilde Johansson On Track For Double Gold On Home Soil After 100H Win At Euro U20 Champs She’s also in the final of the LJ, which is her main event.
Spain’s Maria Vicente Wins Euro U20 Champs Heptathlon With A National Record Of 6115 Points
Ukraine’s Myhaylo Kokhan Breaks European U20 Record Twice To Win Euro U20 Champs With 84.73m

Junior News Pan Am Results Euro U20 Results

Spain’s Maria Vicente wins heptathlon with 6115 NR at Euro U20s
Pan-Am Jr. Meet Has Started And Matthew Boling Is Ready to Go Not making it in the LJ may help his sprints. “With not long jumping twice a week now, I’ve been using those days to really focus on my drive phase and my block starts, both on the curve and off the curve for the 100 and 200.”
European U20 Champs Have Started: Who, What And When?
European Under-20 Day 1 Recap To be honest, nothing much of note happened on day 1.
Ireland Is Sending Its Strongest-Ever U-20 Team It will be the last track race ever for 20.69 200 man Aaron Sexton, who is going to rugby full time.
Sonia O’Sullivan: Medals Aren’t The Only Tell-Tale Signs Of Success
1.2 Million US High Schoolers Do Track Every Year – The Most Of Any Sport This graphic shows you how track has risen in popularity since the 1970s.

This Week’s Action *Ethiopian 10,000 Trials Results & Race Replay

LRC Analyzing The Ethiopian 10,000 Trials: Last Night, Would Hagos G Have Beaten Mo Farah In His Prime? We compare the splits from Hagos G‘s 26:48 race last night to Mo Farah‘s 26:49 race from 2017 Worlds and the stats look pretty good for Hagos. *IAAF Recap
*MB: Would Hagos G have beaten Mo Farah in his prime last night? Closed 26:48 race in 54.4, Farah closed 26:49 race in 55.6
*MB: Official 2019 Ethiopian 10,000 Trials Discussion Thread
*MB: Shouldn’t all of the 10k times recorded from Hengelo be disallowed due to illegal pacing? A computer paced the race!!! (video)

MB: Former Olympic 1,500m Champ Taoufik Makhloufi Runs 1:46.33 For Second Place In Sotteville les Rouen, France It was Makhloufi’s first race since 2016. Kenya’s Alfred Kipketer won the race in 1:45.59.
*IAAF Full Meet Recap: Cuba’s Yaimé Perez Throws World Leading 69.39m In The Discus Abdelaati Iguider got a dominating win in the 3,000m in 7:40.71. *Full Results

Nijel Amos Smashes His 400m PR With 44.99 In Padua, Italy Amos won his heat, but Nigeria’s Emmanuel Bamidele ran faster in the other heat with 44.78. Kenya’s former world 800m champ Eunice Sum ran 2:00.99 to hold off Ukraine’s Olha Lyakhova (2:01.16). Other winners included Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (11.00) in the 100m and Yulimar Rojas (14.87m) in the TJ.
Friday: Matt Centrowitz, Shannon Rowbury, Grant Fisher And Jessica Hull Among Top Entries For The Stumptown Twilight Track Meet In Oregon
*Meet Schedule

Sprint Stuff

Aries Merritt, LaShawn Merritt, Tyson Gay And Lolo All To Miss USAs This will be the first championship year USAs Gay has missed since 2004 and Aries Merritt since 2005.
Noah Lyles Says He Was Really Tempted To Go For The 100m At USAs But He And His Coached Decided To Stick To The 200m Only He says he definitely plans to double next year at the Olympic rials though.
Dutee Chand Says World University 100m Gold Is The “Highlight Of Her Career So Far” But That She “Isn’t Done Yet” Chand is able to compete as the IAAF’s XY rules only apply for the 400-1500. Her current goal is to qualify for worlds as she still needs the standard.

USAs Start Thursday – Get Your Picks In Schedule & Entries TV & Streaming

LRC 200,019 LRC Running Warehouse USA Outdoor Track And Field Prediction Contest: Get Your Picks In And Make USAs More Entertaining Give us your top 3 in each event from our guide and you could win.

LRC 2019 USAs Women’s 800, 1500, and Steeple Preview: Wilson, Houlihan, & Coburn Favored For Repeats; What Event Will Kate Grace Run? Plenty of drama here. Who grabs the third spot in the 1500 behind Houlihan & Jenny Simpson: Grace, Nikki Hiltz, Dani Jones, NCAA champ Sinclaire Johnson, or someone else? Can Allie O grab the fourth spot on the steeple team?

LRC 2019 USAs Men’s 800, 1,500 And Steeple Preview: NOP Stars Brazier & Murphy Battle In 8; Engels Tries To Topple Centro In 15 & Jager Is MIA In Steeple Which stud wins the 800 – Murphy or Engels or does Hoppel stay undefeated? Can Engels take down Centro in the 1,500? And who replaced Jager in the steeplechase?

LRC 2019 USAs Men’s 5000 and 10,000 Preview: Aside From Chelimo, There Are Plenty of Spots Up For Grabs 4 guys have the 10,000 standard and 7 have the 5,000 standard. Which 3 of them will make it Doha?

The Rest Of Pan Am U20 Champs *Results

Sunday: Matthew Boling Grabs A Fourth Gold As Americans Break Both World U20 4 X 400 Records At Pan American U20 Champs Team USA got the record with 2:59.30 for the men and 3:24.04 for the women. Boling becomes just the second athlete in the history of the meet to ever win the 100, 200, 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 in the same year. Villanova freshman Lydia Olivere won gold in the steeple with 10:12.16 and Villanova signee Maggie Smith won the women’s 1,500 (4:25.47).
*IAAF Pan Am U20 Champs Recap
Saturday: Matthew Boling Wins 200 And Anchors USA To Men’s World U20 4 X 100 Record At Pan Am U20 Champs Boling won the 200m in 20.31 and anchored the 4 x 100 to a 38.62 to break the 2004 record set by a relay that included Trell Kimmons and LaShawn Merritt. Athing Mu won 800m gold with 2:05.50, dominating the race by over 2 seconds.
Friday: MB: Matthew Boling runs 10.11 pb (+.5) to win Pan Ams U20 100 Gold
*DyeStat: Eric Edwards Jr. Makes Hurdling History Leading US To Eight Golds On Opening Day Of Pan Am U20 Champs Edwards ran a wind-aided 13.11 to defend his title to become the first in the history of the meet to win two 110H titles.
*Briana Williams Wins The Women’s Race By .01 In 11.38 (-1.4)
Canada’s Brogan MacDougal Wins 3k Over USA’s Marlee Starliper In 9:23

Assorted US News

DyeStat: Shannon Rowbury Hoping Small Steps Get Her Back To Where She Wants To Be In 2020 Rowbury got the IAAF Worlds standard with 15:19 at Stumptown Twilight and said, “Between a summer ’18 baby and a winter ’19 stress fracture, this year’s been really tough. I’m healthy, which I’m thankful for. And each race is getting better. I’m way far from my PR, but I’m thankful for each small, little victory.”
Matt Centrowitz Says His Stumptown Win Wasn’t As Easy As It Looked “Around 600 to go, about 10 guys went by me it felt like. That kind of woke me up a little bit and made me realize I can’t put myself in that kind of position at USAs.”
NCAA Champ Morgan McDonald Signs With Under Armour
*MB: Morgan McDonald Goes UA
Q&A With Elinor Purrier On Her First Year As A Pro Purrier talks about joining New Balance Boston, her first Diamond League meet and more.
Video: Sydney McLaughlin Stars In New Balance Commercial
Tickets Go On Sale Thursday: 2020 Olympic Trials Ticket Prices Are Higher Than 2016 All-session tickets along the backstretch will cost $680 where the were $525 during the 2016 trials. Homestretch tickets will cost $795 this time around whereas they were just $585 in 2016.
Sean Carlson Named New Men’s Head XC Coach At Notre Dame
Bob Larsen Chosen As 2019 USATF Legend Coach Larsen has put together an impressive coaching career highlighted by coaching Meb Keflezighi to his many marathon titles.

Good Distance Features

INCREDIBLE Maine’s James Olivier Went From 2:05 In The Boys 800 to 1:50 And The US-U20 Champ In 1 Year And he’s not done yet as on Friday he made the final for Pan Ams.
*MB: Insane Progression! James Olivier(USA U20 800m Champ) had a pr of 2:05 last year
Recommended Read Winnie Nanyondo, Who Has Gone From 4:06 To 3:59 This Year, Talks About The Importance Of Belief A very interesting read. Our suggestion for Winnie: move back to 800 for Worlds as she’s undefeated at 800 this year.
He’s Not Racing London Charlie Grice Talks About How He Knocked 3+ Seconds Off His PR And Ran 3:30.62 In Monaco Despite Being In A Boot For 2 Months This Year “I’ve had a lot of messages from people wanting to know what training I’ve done in the past few weeks but it’s not about that. It’s about the months and years leading up to a race. It’s quite funny how people always think there’s some kind of magic session or a magic camp where you can go away on one altitude camp and then you’ll run amazingly.”

Training Corner

RW: How To Handle Running In The Heat This Summer
Carbon Monoxide As Altitude Simulator? Seriously?
*MB: Can’t get to altitude? Study says if you inhale CO2 (which could kill you), you may get altitude effect
Multiple Studies Show That You Don’t Need To Only Increase Your Mileage By 10% Per Week
*MB: The myth of the 10% rule. People who increased the mileage by 50% per week had same injury rate as those that did it 10%.
Amby Burfoot: Is It Time To Add Glucosamine In To Your Diet? A new study in the British Medical Journal has determined that glucosamine sulfate may lower risk of heart disease and stroke by 15 percent + it may help you not have joint pain.

LRC Exclusives

Podcast: Podcast: Sifan Hassan World Record In Mile, Rojo Eats Crow, Nijel Amos Back In 1:41s, Will Jager Ever Break 8? NOP / Bowerman Talk Subscribe today on itunes.

WTW Shelby Houlihan Is An 800 Runner (Again), Anna-Emilie Møller Breaks 41-Year-Old Record, + Is Muktar Edris Getting Into Shape? Monaco lived up to its hype but we go beyond the headlines and also look at the state of affairs with the Japanese men’s 1,500 and listen to Lance Armstrong‘s latest justification excuse of you better bring guns to a gun fight.

LRC Evan Jager, Robby Andrews And Eric Jenkins Definitely Are Out Of USAs Three World Championships team members from 2017 likely will be MIA at USAs later this month. Wed. AM Update: Jager is definitely out as well.
*MB: 2019 USATF Outdoor Entries/Robby Andrews and Eric Jenkins Definitely Are Out of USAs; Evan Jager May Be As Well

Field Event News

Retired Former Olympic LJ Champ Greg Rutherford Says He’s Fine With His “Dad Bod” Rutherford caught some flak after he posted a picture of him preparing to swim the English Channel. His response: “I very much realize I’m not in the shape I was as a professional athlete. I’m fine with that, I love cake and beer…”
August 1: Sam Kendricks And Sandi Morris Lead Fields For Street Pole Vault In Omaha
Poland’s Olympic And World Hammer Champ Anita Włodarczyk Will Miss Doha With Knee Injury And Surgery
Sweden’s World Silver Medalist Daniel Stahl Produces Four Consecutive Throws Over The 70m Barrier, With A Best Of 70.89m

London DL Full Results TV & Streaming

LRC Day 2 Hellen Obiri Stops Hassan, Tefera Goes Sub-3:50 To Defeat Ingebrigtsen, Catriona Bisset Gets 43-Year-Old Australian 800 Record, SAFP Goes Fast, Asian Record In 200 Day 2 saw some great sprint and distance action in London.

IAAF Day 2 Recap: Hellen Obiri And Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Shine In London Fraser-Pryce blazed 10.78 while Dina Asher-Smith was a distant second in 10.92.
GB’s Goldie Sayers Receives Her 2008 Olympic Javelin Bronze 11-Years Late At The Anniversary Games Sayers was elevated to bronze when Russian Mariya Abakumova was caught doping in a re-test.

Day 2 MB Talk

LRC 2019 London DL Day 1: Hagos G Holds Off Jakob Ingebrigtsen In Thriller, Laura Muir Crushes It, And Nijel Amos Goes Down The mid-d and distance on Day 1 of London was fantastic. It featured big wins for Laura Muir and Hagos Gebrhiwet, another amazing performance by Norwegian wunderkind Jakob Ingebrigtsen, and disaster for Nijel Amos. Plus a Canadian record in the women’s 1,500.

LRC Nijel Amos Pulls Up Lame In London One Week After Running 1:41 In Monaco He’s got 70 days to try to be ready for Worlds.

IAAF Full Day 1 Recap: Jamaica’s Danielle Williams Runs 12.32 100 Hurdles, Breaks Jamaican NR
GB’s James Ellington Finishes Last In His 100m Heat With 10.93 In His First Race Back Since His 2016 Motorcycle Accident Ellington was having some pelvis pain in the warm-up area, but said, “After everything I’ve been through, there was no way on this planet I wouldn’t make the start line.”
Gabriela DeBues-Stafford Breaks Canadian 1,500 Record By .01
South Africa’s Akani Simbine Wins 100m In 9.93 As GB’s Zharnel Hughes Gets “Sluggish” Start And Finishes Second (9.95)
Not Sure Why? The JAAA Says Their Is No Guarantee They’ll Select Danielle Williams For Worlds Even If She Gets A Wild Card Entry By Winning The DL
Karsten Warholm Sets European Record At 47.12 He also moves to #6 on the all-time list.

London MB Talk

MB: Official 2019 London DL Discussion Thread
MB: Holy Moly!! A legit 18 year old just ran 13:02!! J. Ingebrigtsen 53 last 400m.
MB: Disaster in London. Nijel Amos PULLS UP injured.
MB: Unreal. Laura Muir runs 3:58 off of 2:11 first 800!! 57 last lap!! Jenny S. please move to the steeple now –
MB: Lewandowski 1:43!! Whaat?
MB: WAAAARHOLM!!! 47:13!!!

*LRC Preview Of Meet *IAAF Preview

Justice Is Served

LRC USATF Ordered To Re-Pick Entire 2019 Pan Am Games Team Based On 2019 Comprehensive List LetsRun.com put up the $2,000 for this arbitration case to be held and with the help of pro bono lawyer David Greifinger prevailed. Those of you who wanted to contribute can now do so here.
*MB: USATF completely botches selection of 2019 Pan American Games team

International News

An Idiot’s GuideTo The IAAF Ranking System
Scottish Athletics Announces Formation Of “Marathon Project” – Robert Hawkins Is Coach His two sons are already Olympians and the goal is to have a powerhouse team for the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Really? With Conseslus Kipruto Out Until August, Kenya Is Worried About Maintaining Its 28-Year Grip On The Men’s Steeple Title And Might Bring Ezekiel Kemboi Or Brimin Kipruto Out Of Retirement A Kenyan-born man has won every men’s world title since 1991 but we think this article is track and field’s version of fake news.
Timothy Cheruiyot Will Refine Speed, Run 800 At This Weekend’s Kenya’s Prison Champs “I just want to thank God for the good health and form that I am enjoying at the moment. I want to run faster this season and I believe the two-lap race will enhance that course.”
Japan’s World Junior Champ Miscounts Laps, Ends Up Just Missing National Record In 3,000 Nozomi Tanaka went for the Japanese 3,000 NR of 8:44.40. She looked to be have it but then faded on the last lap and came up 3.98 seconds short in 8:48.38.
Japan’s Yoshihiko Ishikawa Breaks Badwater 135 Course Record By 23 Minutes, Then Drops On A Knee And Gets Engaged Patrycja Bereznowska of Poland took 90+ minutes off the women’s CR.
Just 5 Days After Running 1:50, Australia’s Peter Bol Qualifies For Worlds With A 1:45

Pre-Meet London News

The Lastest From London + Press Conference Highlights: Faith Kipyegon Is Out With An Adductor Injury Plus hear from Karsten Warholm, Andre De Grasse, Omar McLeod and Dina Asher-Smith.
Five Questions For London DL
British Discus Record Holder Lawrence Okoye Has Given Up His NFL Dreams And Will Return To Action In London Okoye was famously cut by the Arizona Cardinals for parking in the head coach’s parking spot and never played in a regular-season NFL game although he did play in the CFL.
Laura Muir Says She’s In The Best “Form Of Her Life” “I feel like I’m probably PB shape. I feel like I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in … I certainly feel like I’m in my PB shape of 3:55.”
Canada’s Gabriela DeBues-Stafford Has Been Setting National Record After Record This Year, And The 32-Year-Old 1,500 Record Appears Likely To Be Next In London
Nice Feature On Andre de Grasse: “We’re not completely back to where we need to be.” His injuries are gone but his first 30 meters is a problem, says Rana Reider.
Adam Gemili And Andre De Grasse Interview: How Sprinting’s Forgotten Men Are Trying To Come Back From Hamstring Injuries
Zharnel Hughes Has Sights Set On Doha Double He ran 9.91 last year to win Euros but has only managed 9.97 this year.
James Ellington Is Also Returning To Action In London He nearly died in a motorbike accident in 2017. His latest setback was an allergic reaction to a bee sting this week.
Athletics Weekly: Ones To Watch At The Anniversary Games
Dina Asher-Smith (Who Is Running London) Is Only Track Athlete To Make Sports Illustrated’s Fashionable 50 List How anyone thinks the picture on the right is fashionable is beyond us.
Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake Aims To Peak To Perfection

North American News

2019 Initial Sir Walter Miler Elite Fields Are Out *Men’s Field Announced *Women’s Field
Vancouver’s John Gay Becomes 3rd Canadian To Hit Worlds Standard In Steeple, Runs 8:28.96 In Belgium And there is a 4th within .10 of it.
Eric Edwards Jr., Who Won The PAC-12 110H Title As A Freshman, Is Transferring To LSU
Sixty Years Ago, 54,000+ Showed Up In Philly (Over Two Days) To Watch The U.S.-Soviet Union Track Meet
Alysha Newman Breaks Own Canadian Pole Vault Record 15-7.75 (4.77m) In Germany

Distance News

Amy Cragg Talks About Her Preparation For This Year’s Chicago Marathon After Having To Withdraw With Injury In 2018 Cragg says after she pulled out of Chicago she started doing some focus on shorter distances and was just “hanging on” during workouts at BTC practices. She says everything is now focused on “protecting the goal of the [Olympic] qualifying standard” in Chicago.
Jessica Ennis-Hill’s Former Coach Toni Minichiello Criticizes Kyle Langford’s Fine For Pushing An Official As Too Lienient “I’m gobsmacked at how lenient this is. It is a massive error of judgment by the disciplinary panel … I would have kicked them out of my training group.”
*Former UKA Performance Director Dave Collins: “If Kyle had done this in a bar, such behavior could have got him nicked. Yes, it’s on a sporting field but what really is different here? The fine is derisory.”
Outside: “Can The Oregon Project Change Its Image?” Many would consider Sifan Hassan‘s 8:18.49 the clean outdoor 3,000 WR since the only faster times were run by the Chinese women in 1993. But some still have questions on anyone associated with Alberto Salazar and NOP.