*Start Lists *Friday Full Results *Saturday LRC Preview *Friday *Saturday NBC Live 3-4:30pm Eastern *Day 1 Photos
LRC Day 1: Wilson Kiprop Wins in USA, Alysia Montano Dominates, Tirunesh Dibaba and Alan Webb Want More, Alice Schdmit Upsets Jenny Simpson Arguably, the greatest Pre Classic ever kicked off Hollister Night at Hayward. The Kenyan Olympic Trials won by World half marathon champ Wilson Kiprop were the headliner, but Alysia Montano tried to steal the show, Alice Schmidt upset Jenny Simpson, and Alan Webb and Matt Centrowitz ran the mile. Full recap, analysis, post race reaction.
*More Renato Canova Talks About Alan Webb, Wilson Kiprop, and More *RRW Recap *Photos
*Moses Masai Says He Didn't Push Too Hard At The End
*BBC Article On How You Should Choose An Olympic Team "Ultimately selection is a compromise with no perfect solution."
*Oregonian Recap: Alysia Montano 1:57.37, Alice Schmidt Wins 1500m over Jenny Simpson, No One Gets "A" In International Mile
*MB: OFFICIAL THREAD PRE CLASSIC 06/01/12 (LIVE FEED)
Pre Saturday Previews:
LRC Kenenisa Bekele, Mo Farah, Bernard Lagat, and Asbel Kiprop at the 2012 Prefontaine Press Conference Lagat gave advice as to what event Lomong and Torrence should run at the Trials, Farah talked about Rupp doing all the workouts with him, Bekele reveled whether he has enough time to get ready for the Olympics and Kiprop even praised Matt Centrowitz.
*Manager Jos Hermens Says Bekele Has Only "Just Started His Real Training" As His New Softer-Surfaced Track Was Finished 2 Weeks Ago
LRC Pre
Saturday Preview: The Best Pre Ever? (link fixed) If we listed all the matchups in the headline, we'd run out of space. How about Bekele vs. Farah vs. Rupp at 5,000m,
Merritt
vs. James vs. Wariner at 400m, Kiplagat vs. Kiprop vs. Manzano, Wheating, Lagat and Lomong at the mile, Kaki vs. Aman vs. Kszczot vs. Symmonds at 800m, Jeter vs. Felix at 200m and more. That is just on Saturday. *IAAF
- Bernard Lagat Says He Hasn't Been Doing A Lot Of Speed, But Still Ran A 2k Time Trial In Under 5 Minutes
- The Oregonian: Cyrus Hostetler Is The Only American Javelin Thrower With The Olympic "A" Standard, But Struggles To Make It Financially He supports himself as a graphic designer for the TrackTown12 website.
- Q&A With Nick Willis Ahead Of Bowerman Mile Hopes to break his mile PR of 3:50.66.
- Oscar P Still Needs To Under 45.30 "A" Standard Again To Make SA Olympic Team
- The Life Of 110 Hurdler Aires Merritt: Eat, Sleep, Train, And A Ton Of Video Games
- Hurdles Update: Dayron Robles Definitely Out Of Pre Classic He'll still compete at the adidas GP in NYC on June 9.
- 100 & 200 Previews Walter Dix and Justin Gatlin in the 100, Dix & Wallace Spearmon in the 200, and Allyson Felix vs. Carmelita Jeter in the 200.
- Pre Classic Might Not Remain Part Of The Diamond League After 2014
- 400 Has LaShawn Merritt, Jeremy Wariner, Kirani James, Angelo Taylor, And Oscar P
- Aries Merritt Not A Sleeper In The Hurdles www.registerguard.com
- Pre Attendance Record Of 14,221 Could Fall On Saturday
Olympic Stadium Dispute Continues: West Ham Refuse To Discuss Sharing Stadium With Leyton Orient
Prefontaine Friday Previews
Bring Back The 1,500!
LRC Pre Friday Preview: An Unreal/Farce Of A Mile With Alan Webb & Centrowitz; Alysia Montaño's 800 Debut For 2012; The Return Of Tirunesh Dibaba For The "De Facto" Ethiopian
Trials; And Of Course The Actual Kenyan Trials Friday night, "Hollister Night" in Eugene, should be something special as the very best (amazing talent) and worst aspects ("A" standards/1,500s/miles) of our beloved sport will be on display. We break it down like only we can. Along the way, we give you the most amazing, "Did you know?" about Galen Rupp and wonder "Where is Wurth-Thomas?" But mainly we say "Bring back the
1,500" as we can't believe that in a matchup with Matt Centrowitz that the American record holder in the mile, Alan Webb, will kick it in for a 1,500 in the middle of a mile but then have to finish? Give us a break. *Discuss
*Good Article From The Register-Guard: In
2009, Julia Lucas Was Close To Quitting The Sport; Now She Has The Fastest American 5,000 This Year (15:08) She's in the 3k at Pre.
*Lauren Fleshman Entered In Her First-Ever Rabbitting 10K At Pre
*Good Article #2 From R-G: Lauren Fleshman Training Diary: Concedes That Due To Injury She Is "Probably Not Going To Be An Olympian"
*Preview Of 10,000 From Kenya
US News
- Joseph Chirlee Posts A Ridiculous 33-Second PR To Get Olympic A Standard In 10k With 27:43 Before his race in the Netherlands Wednesday night, Chirlee had barely even qualified for the Trials as he was ranked 23rd with 28:16.36 (field size is set at 24). But now he is a possible to make the team.
- Ritz Blogs On Missing 10k "A" Standard "I throw my best punches when I'm coming off the ropes and usually when the bell rings I'm still standing."
- RR: RunningTimes On The Army-Navy Dual: Competition At Its Most Pure Army coach Troy Engle: "If you've never been a part of it, you can't understand the importance of it."
- More On Lopez Lomong's Story: Talks About Getting His "Second Chance" In America And What He Wants For Children Back In The Sudan "I am a voice for people who never told their story. I have to tell their stories."
- Good Q&A: RW With Robby Andrews
- State Record In The Snow: Montana Senior Danielle Aragon Runs 800m State Record (2:08:31)
- Paralympic Sprinter Jerome Singleton Claims To Be "Fastest Amputee In The World" He beat Oscar P in the paralympic 100m.
- USA TODAY "100 Olympic Hopefuls In 100 Days" Profiles Jenny Simpson She just created her own website here.
- Allyson Felix IAAF Diary: Still Undecided About What Double She'll Do At The Trials Only thing for certain is the 200m.
UK News
- Profile On UK Up-And-Comer Emma Jackson Who Got 800 "A" Standard At Doha With 1:59.37
- Bannister Closing In As Bettors' Flame Lighter Favorite
- UK's World 1,500 Silver Medallist Hannah England Out With Achilles Injury After Being Spiked At this point, they're not sure if she'll be back in time for the UK Trials on June 22-23.
*UK Facing A Bunch Of Injuries/Illnesses - UK Head Coach Charles Van Commenee Denies He Was The Official Who Called Jessica Ennis "Fat"
*Jessica Ennis Ignoring Media Distractions And Rivals' Mind Games - Episode 6 Of UK Series: The British Miler
Random Mid-D / Distance News
- IAAF Preview Of Saturday's Freihofer's Run In Albany Mamitu Daska, the Bolder Boulder winner, is the favorite. *More
- Japan's Kayoko Fukushi Wants To Double In 5,000 & 10,000 For 3rd Striaght Time This Summer In London
Bolder Boulder Was Monday *Elite Men's Results *Elite Women's Results
Mamitu
Daska (33:06) Wins 3rd Bolder Boulder - Americans Janet Cherobon-Bawcom 2nd (33:23) & Deena Kastor 3rd - Kenya's
Allan Kiprono Wins Men's (29:54) Over Tadese Tola (30:03) Aaron Braun was 4th in 33:09 as the US women were 2nd in the team standings.
*Runner-Up Janet Cherobon-Bawcom Is Winning In Love & Running John Mayer gives insight into how her husband was a teacher in Kenya who fell in love with Janet when returning to the US and delivered a Care package to Janet from her mother.
*50,000 People Run On Picture-Perfect Day The event is much more than a race. It's an event (as shown by picture).
*Bolder Boulder: Josh Eberly, Nuta Olaru Win Citizens Race
*Former Romanian Olympic Marathoner Nuta Olaru Is Now A US Citizen At Age 41
Hengelo Highlights Sunday *Results *Live Thread
LRC Haile G's Olympic Days Come To An End As Tariku Bekele Wins In 27:11.70 As Geb Gets Smoked On Last Lap,
Ritz Misses "A" Standard updated The Ethiopian selection race came down to a kick on the final lap and there was no way the 39-year-old Gebrselassie was going to outkick his younger rivals. Afterwards, Geb said, "That's life. I am not disappointed." Dathan Ritzenhein missed the "A" standard of 27:45 on a warm day (78 at the start). In other action, Nixon Chepseba won in 3:29.90, Nate Brannen got a PR and an "A"
standard, Janeth Jepkosgei ran
1:57.79,
Hannah England won the 1,500, Adam Kszczot ran 1:43.84 for his second win in 2 days, and 18-year-old Luguelín Santos ran 44.45. *IAAF
*Post-Race Video Interview With Ritz He's not sure if he'll just run the 5k at the or go for the
"A" in the 10k at the Trials. Says the heat was tough.
*Some More Quotes From Haile
*Pre-Race Video With Haile G With this race he became the fastest 39-year-old ever at 10k.
*SA 800m Runner Andre Olivier Hits Olympic Standard In Hengelo With 1:45.20
*Phillips Idowu Won The TJ In 17.31m
OTB: Live play by play of 10k thread
*Chepseba 3'29.90 !!!
*What will Ritz do now?
Toronto: Geoffrey Mutai (27:41), Lindsey Scherf Win Ottawa 10ks It's ridiculous that Mutai, the Kenyan XC Champion and the best runner on the planet in 2011, won't be at the Olympic Trials next week or the Olympics in the 10,000m.
*Results
*Former Harvard Standout Lindsey Scherf Wins Women's Race
*IAAF Article Windy conditions and lack of competition or pacemaker hurt Mutai's time.
*Laban Moiben Defends Ottawa Marathon Title In 2:09:13 For the women, favorite Teyba Erkesso (2:23:53 PR) dropped out with sickness, leaving the victory to Yeshi Esayias in 2:28:46.
On The Boards: I just watched Mutai destroy the field in Ottawa
Canadian High Schooler Runs 1:47.14 To Beat Nick Willis
The Guy In The Fall
LRC The Collegiate Career Of Jake Hojnacki, The Guy In The Epic Steeple Fail, Comes To An End If you're like the other 516,654 people who have seen this video, you know Jake Hojnacki as a guy who took a dive into the steeple pit and pretty much almost drowned. Turns out Employee 1.1 is one of Jake's coaches. Jake's collegiate career came to an end this past weekend in notable fashion. We bring to you his story as runners like Jake represent the heart and soul of LetsRun.com.
Recommended Read: Two Years Ago, Joey Stoltz Almost Died And Today He Is A Marathoner "Less than two years ago, I was at the hospital and the doctors told me I wouldn't run again so those last two miles [of the marathon] were so emotional."
Great Action Sunday In Manchester *Manchester Run Results
BUPA Great Manchester Run
Haile Gebrselassie Wins In 27:39, Thinking Olympic 10,000m The great one turned back the clock in Manchester on Sunday with a comfortable win 27:39 over Tsefaye Kebede, Patrick Makau and Ayele Abshero. After the race, Geb turned his attention to making the Olympic team next weekend in Hengelo at the Ethiopian Olympic Trials, saying, "I am not surprised to run that fast. I wanted to run under 27 minutes."
*BBC Interview With Geb After Race *Top Results *IAAF
On The Boards: Great Manchester 10km - Gebrselassie DOMINATES!
Manchester City Games Street Meet: Wallace Spearmon, Sanya Richards-Ross, Jessica Ennis All Got Wins In Cool Conditions Ennis beat Olympic champ Dawn Harper in a PR but afterwards they found out there were only 9 hurdles instead of 10. She was understandably very annoyed. Spearmon looked great in his 14.87 150m win.
*Dwain Chambers Admits He Was Worried How The Crowd Would Greet Him He got 2nd to Spearmon.
2012 USATF Occidental HP *Results *LRC Photos
LRC Men's Recap: Mo Farah Wins Twice! Galen Rupp 3:34 & Robby Andrews 3:34! Donn Cabral Collegiate AR! Ritz 13:14! What a meet! The men's very entertaining from start to finish. The meet
started
off with an
Evan Jager face plant and American collegiate record in the men's steeple and ended
with a world champion rabbitting and then winning the men's 5,000.
Along the way, Galen Rupp showed speed he's never shown before that made us think he might be a medal contender and Robby Andrews PRed by 5.99 seconds as both ran 3:34, David Torrence got the "A" and a whole lot more, including an Andrew Wheating loss to a guy you've probably never heard of. Oh yeah, so much happened we almost forgot Alan Webb ran 3:37.
*Dathan Ritzenhein Visibly Happy And Excited In Interview After 5k
LRC Women's Recap: Morgan Uceny Loses, Anna Pierce Almost Wins & Deena Kastor Does All The Work The women's action at the 2012 USATF Occidental High Performance meet
confirmed what we already knew - the US women's 1,500 team is going to be
very hard to make (world #1 Morgan Uceny was beaten and world champion Jenny Simpson ran 2 seconds slower than she did last year), Deena Kastor is very tough and still motivated at age 39, and Bridget Franek, Lisa Uhl and Jackie Areson are all in good form even if Uhl and Areson did zero work and let Kastor do it all. Plus Shannon Rowbury wins.
Occidental On The Boards:
- Jager - Face Plant on Final Water Jump!
- Mo Farah: 3:34 1500/13:12 5000 in 90 minutes
- WEBB 3:37.26
- Robby Andrews!!! New American Collegiate Record 3:34.78
- Could Rupp get down to 3:31 or even 3:30 for the 1500 if he trained for it?
- AJ Acosta Unattached 3:36.41
- Can Donn Cabral get some love?
Samsung Diamond League Doha *Results *LRC Recap *MB: Discussion *IAAF Recap
Doha: LRC LetsRun.com's Recap Of Doha 2012: The Samsung Diamond League Starts Off In Style If all the meets this year are as good as this one, we're going to have an incredible Olympics. Asbel Kiprop went sub-3:30 for the first time ever and lost to Silas Kiplagat, a race was perfectly designed for Vivian Cheruiyot to lose and she won, Kenenisa Bekele looked average, Paul Koech tore up the steeple, and Pamela Jelimo may have a new challenger. American stalwarts LaShawn Merritt and Allyson Felix impressed, and Americans Russell Brown and Molly Beckwith did what they wanted in the distances.
Get Excited for Saturday's Pre Action
LRC Breakfast with Farah, Lagat, Kiprop and Bekele Those four were center stage at Friday's press conference and we talked to each of them. If you've got some time to kill Saturday morning take a listen. Bekele took a shot at all of you GPS, alter-G lovers: "Sometimes you don't need a lot of technology for training. If you are talented, if you are gifted from god you don't need many technologies. Of course technology will help you if you are not so talented...."
Diamond League Rome *Results
Rome: LRC Recap Of Rome 2012: Bolt Returns In Style, Men's Steeple WR Almost Goes Down, Dibaba & Jelimo Do Go Down In Defeat, And A Thrilling Women's 5,000 Usain Bolt returned to form with a world leader in the men's 100, but this race from a LetsRun.com perspective was led by the women's mid-d and distance action. There were two mid-d stunners on the women's side, as two heavy favorites in Pamela Jelimo and Genzebe Dibaba were soundly beaten as US world #1 Morgan Uceny impressed but was nowhere close to winning. The women's 5,000 produced a thrilling finish between Vivian Cheruiyot and Meseret Defar that reminded us of Haile G/Paul Tergat and Paul Kipsiele Koech nearly got the WR in the steeple. All of that and a whole lot more.
- More Post-Rome News: Bolt Says He's Focused On Winning, Not Times But then he mentioned becoming a "legend" by running "9.4 and 18 something" so which is it? Also mentioned a possible 400 at the end of the year.
- 2013 Baby For Cheruiyot? Where Will Vivian Cheruiyot Be After 2012... Maybe A Marathon, Maybe Having A Baby?
- The Usain Bolt Of The HJ? Recent WLer Robbie Grabarz Talks About Partying And Posing Naked For A Magazine Says he would "quite like a gay following" and that he might send copies of the magazine to Charles van Commenee.
*Grabarz had "no money in my account" before this season. - Usain Bolt Not Completely Satisfied With Victory Asafa Powell was not happy as said he didn't hear the gun and was "all over the track".
- Valerie Adams Wins SP Comfortably In Rome
- Reuters: "Hooker Feeling Good After Lift-Off" You can't make up headlines like that.
- IAAF: Koech Says He Was Targeting WR; Admits To Having Trouble With Altitude
- Bolt: "I feel slightly relieved but I knew I could do it." Said has been going to bed earlier and felt "extremely great."
- PV Domination: "Steve Hooker is 40cm and a truckload of confidence away from the level he will need to reach to be competitive at the London Olympics" France's Renaud Lavillenie came in at the same height Hooker went out.
*400m Hurdles World Champ Dai Greene Pulled Out Of Rome DL With A Virus - Who Needs Funding? UK's HJ Winner Robbie Grabarz Was Actually Cut From Funding 7 Months Ago Article also mentions Dwain Chambers ran in the non-Diamond League 4 x 100m where the UK was 2nd to Canada.
- Kaliese Spencer Wins Rome Diamond League 400m Hurdles Over World Champ Lashinda Demus
- SA's Khotso Mokoena Secures Olympic Qualification On Last Jump To Get 2nd LJ Van Zyl was a disappointment as he finished 2nd-to-last in the 400H. Caster Semenya was also getting 8th in the 800 (2:00.07).
- MB: Abeba Aregawi- ETH - 3:56.54 WL,MR,NR !!! REALLY? *Bolt wins in world leading 9.76 (Rome) *Morgan Uceny medal chances takes a hit *Live Rome Thread
Young Studs
- NY High Schooler Mary Cain Blazes 14:16.52 1500 US#3 All-Time only behind Jordan Hasay (4:14.50) and Christine Babcock (4:16.42). Gets her the Trials "B" standard (4:17.00).
- 14-Year Old Runs 8:21.22 3k To Break Japan Junior High NR And he wasn't even completely happy as he said, "High school guys were pulling me along this time, so half of this was due to them, not my own ability. I want to run this kind of time again running alone."
Non-Diamond League News Worth A Look
- NY Times Article On World 400m Champ Amantle Montsho Training In Isolation Chasing Her Olympic Dream
- Local Profile On IU's Andy Bayer Who'll Be Shooting For A NCAA 1500 Title Next Week Bayer is a great teammate as he tripled up mile/3K/5K at the indoor Big Ten meet, 2 weeks ahead of NCAA's and ran the DMR the night before the mile final.
- IAAF Afraid US Sports Market Will Cost Them An Usain Bolt IAAF communications manager on 10.19/20.14 sensation Tyreek Hill: "Here he is playing football for Coffee High School...We are afraid that he will choose American football because of the money, and if he does that the United States may lose their Usain Bolt." Also includes some quotes from LRC's Wejo.
- Advertising Police Crack Down On London Shops Trying To Use The Word "Olympic" One shop has had their name for over 10 years, but still has to change it.
- A Look Back At US Sprinter Wilma Rudolph Overcoming Polio To Win Triple Gold In 1960 *Photos
Drug News:
*2nd Training Partner Of Abdi Abdirahman Tests Positive For EPO *MB Thread #1: Ezkyas Sisay busted for EPO *Thread #2: So...is ABDI dirty too?
*NYC Marathon 9th Placer, Ethiopian Ezkyas Sisay Banned For 2-Yrs After Testing Positive For EPO
Upcoming Action This Weekend And Beyond
- Sunday: Ryan Hall Running His Last Pre-London Race At San Diego Half
*Music City Distance Carnival Mile Anthony Whiteman trying to be first masters runner to go sub-4 outdoors. Eamonn Coghlan did it indoors with 3:58.15. - June 9th: Desiree Davila, Edna Kiplagat, And Firehiwot Dado Lead Field For NYRR New York Mini 10k In Central Park Davila says she's cranking up her mileage, so this won't be ideal timing for a "stellar race."
*Desiree Davila: 5 Things You Should Know About Me She says growing up she wanted to be a pilot, but gave it up for running. - June 24th: Geoffrey Mutai To Defend Boston AA 10K Title Defending champ Caroline Kilel will race reigning Boston Marathon champ Sharon Cherop for the women.
- Oslo: World Champ Sally Pearson Up Against Tough Field In Oslo Next Week Field has Worlds silver medallist Danielle Carruthers, fourth placer Tiffany Porter, and Lolo Jones. Pearson also competing in Brisbane 100m & 100m hurdles today. *Olympic Champ Cathy Freeman Thinks Pearson Has The "Head & Shoulders" To Deal With Olympic Pressure
- 2013? Tirunesh Dibaba Plans To Turn To The Marathon After 2012 Games
Doping News
- Unbelievable!!! KGB arrests head coach of the Belarus national track and field team for possibly asking for bribes to cover up positive doping tests "An unnamed individual within the athletics setup had attempted to extort bribes of up to $2,000 from Belarus' leading athletes." *More On KGB Arrest
- German TV Vindication? 2:11 Kenyan Marathoner Given 2-Year Ban
Reminder - Rule #1 For Pole Vault - Don't Forget Your Poles
- Interesting Read: After Official Misplaced A Pole At 2008 Olympics, World Champ Fabiana Murer Is Taking No Chances This Year
- DII Athlete Had To Compete Without Poles & Coach At D2 Nats The coach went to the airport to try to get the poles but got stuck in traffic.
Coming To America - June 9th
LRC David Rudisha Q&A: World Record Holder Is Excited To Be Coming To NY And Excited To Take On Challenge Of Being 1st 800 WR Man To Win Gold In 36 Years
A confident Rudisha spoke to the media on Tuesday morning and revealed himself to be a true student of the
sport, one who is familiar with the history of the sport, and one who
doesn't seem fazed by trying to be the first 800 world record holder to
win the Olympic 800 title since 1976. Considering Rudisha runs the
majority of his races in rabbitted time trials in Europe, we asked him
if he feared the championship style racing
that
is found at the Olympics and Rudisha sounded very confident when he said
he did not.
*AP On Rudisha
Haile G Goes To Jail???
News From Ethiopia: As Part Of Business Dispute, Haile Gebrselassie Faces Criminal Charges & Will Be Arrested Haile will face a simple imprisonment of one year or less.
High School
Golden South: Tyreek Hill Runs 20.14 To Miss Roy Martin's High School Record By .01 In one day, Hill dropped his PRs from 20.94 fo 20.14 and from 10.44 to 10.19. Crazy. And Hill probably didn't know it, but he paid homage to Roy Martin by saying in
this
interview when he goes to New York for the adidas 100m, he hopes to see tall buildings and a bunch of McDonald's.
*Video Of 200m Race *100m Race Video & Interview He
credits
his new adidas spikes.
PA: MileSplit Weekend HS Coverage: Angel Piccirillo Wins PA State Meet 1600 In 4:39; Doubles Back To Win 800 In 2:09 After being wrongfully disqualified and then reinstated,
Eric Futch won the 200m, the 300H, and ran a leg for his team's winning
4 x 4.
Washington: Izaic Yorks 1:50.56, 4:04.77 Double
Delaware: Hailey Pierce 4:41, 10:24 Double
*WV: 1:54, 4:08, 8:57 Triple
Lolo Jones Virginity Update
- Lolo Jones Update: Tim Tebow Comes Into The Locker Room And Teammates Chant "Lolo, Lolo"
- Phil Hersh: Lolo Jones Marketer Extraordinaire And you all agree: "Lolo Jones is a marketing genius."
- Joke From The Message Boards: Now we know why she biffed the final hurdle in Beijing. She couldn't go "all the way."
*Shanghai Diamond League #2: Saturday *Results *Yahoo Photos
LRC: Shanghai In The Books: Liu Xiang And Genzebe Dibaba Impress, Bekele's 5,000m, 17-Year-Olds Go 1-2 In Tthe 800, And More Liu Xiang's 12.97 in the rain was incredible, as was Genzebe Dibaba's 3:57.77 world leader in the 1,500. There wasn't a sub-4:00 all last year
and now there was one in the first DL race of the year. In other action, two "17"-year-olds went 1-2 in the 800, VCB and Carmelita Jeter battled in the women's 200 in a driving rain, and of course Kenenisa Bekele's return to
5,000. Recap, analysis and results.
*Race Videos In Recap
LRC: Women's 1,500 And Men's 5,000: Genzebe Dibaba Runs Brilliant 3:57.77! And Kenenisa Bekele 5th In 13:13.89 We break down the two most important distance races of the night. The full recap of the meet above has this story as well.
*5,000m Winner Hagos Gebhriwet Only Started Running 2 Years Ago
On The Boards: *Bekele's
Done!
*Shanghai Live Thread
LRC Rojo Speaks: Is Kenenisa Bekele Done? Rojo
says everyone who is predicting Kenenisa Bekele's demise is jumping the gun. He compares Bekele's run to Dathan Ritzenhein's the night before.
Sammy Wanjiru RIP: Nov 10, 1986 To May 15, 2011
- Wanjiru's "Recognized" Wife, Fellow Athletes, Former Coaches Painfully Remember The Fallen Hero "He always took care of his children and was always there to support them and make them happy."
- Wanjiru's Widow, Fellow Runners Mark His Death With Low-Key Ceremony In Nyahururu - Mother Conspicuously Absent
4 Really Great Recommended Reads *Also Look For A Great Wanjiru Article In Print Version Of The New Yorker
#1 - Journalism Still Exists: ESPN The Magazine's Shaun Assael Writes 5,122 Word Epic On Sammy Wanjiru's Life And Death From his start as a schoolboy to details as to why his mother claims he was murdered, Assael leaves no stone unturned.
He also
points out that many other successful Kenyans before Wanjiru
have also struggled with fame, including Paul Kipkoech, Richard Chelimo and Benson Masya, who all died young. Sadly, Wanjiru was going to train in San Diego to get away from it all but couldn't because of a gun charge. *Interview Of Author On Right Column
#2 - 50 Stunning Olympic Moments No. 30: Zola Budd In 1984 Do most people remember Budd
was just 17 when she set the WR in the 5,000 at 15:01 and when she
collided with Mary Slaney? The article reveals that Budd's family disintegrated after she left South Africa to compete for GBR and it also reveals Mary Slaney to have been unbelievably rude to rip a 17-year-old. *Zola Budd - In Pictures
#3 - Wall St. Journal Profile Nails Abdi Abdirahman's Personality Perfectly!!! "Going for Gold - or Whatever The Secret to an Aging Olympian's Endurance: Don't Let Training Get in the Way of Fun" Is Abdi's love of life (ohers might say laziness) an asset?
#4 - What Really Happened At 1st Olympic Women's 800 In 1928? Despite what was reported, 5 of the 11 runners didn't drop out with another 5 collapsing at the finish. The only person collapsing at the finish that year was Paavo Nurmi, but women's mid-d and distance running would be banned for years nonetheless.
Kenyan News
One Year Later, The New Yorker Looks At Sammy Wanjiru's Death & Says He Looked Into Running For Qatar
We imagine
that
piece of info was included to get people to read it, as he wasn't hurting for money. *New Yorker Article On Wanjiru Subscription needed for whole article.
A Brief Chat With "Running With the Kenyans" Author Adharananand Finn The subtitle is "Discovering the secrets of the fastest people on earth."
Alberto's Book On Sale Now, Buy It From Our Partner Amazon And Support LRC
Great Read If You Didn't Read It Yesterday: Alberto Salazar Unplugged - Part II This interview with Amby Burfoot is
great.
From Ritz's struggle in the marathon, to Ritz's form change, to Alberto's competitive relationship with Jerry Schumacher, to Galen Rupp's marathon future and, to Alberto's biggest
regrets, Amby Burfoot leaves no question unasked and Alberto doesn't shy away from any of them and talks about Rupp running 12:45 and in the 26:20s.
*Part I: Alberto's Book & The "Duel In The Sun"
MB: An Incredible Amby Burfoot Interview With Alberto Salazar
Non-London Marathon News
Meet Glenn Randall
LRC The Story Behind Glenn Randall (The Guy Who Led Boston) Who was that dude leading the first 10k of the Boston Marathon? Believe it or not, he's an NCAA champion (in another sport). LetsRun.com talks to the guy who made the first 10k of the marathon
entertaining. His frontrunning was no stunt and has paid off big time in the past. This time it resulted in a 2:37:13 61st place finish.
Pro Distance News
Korir Running Chicago
LRC Wesley Korir: From #T248 To #1 At Chicago The first time Wesley ran Chicago (photo here),
he paid his entry fee like
everyone else and started with the masses. Now 4 years
later he's returning as the Boston Marathon champ. Learn more about Wesley (he hopes to be a US citizen soon) and how the late Sammy Wanjiru inspired Wesley to be a champion.
Tonight "Road to London" at Randall's Island The Women's 1500 is a qualifier for the 5000m at the adidas Track Classic and the 400 is a qualifier as well.
Tomorrow
2010 Boston Marathon Champion Robert Cheruiyot Leads Field At San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon London Olympians Meb Keflezighi, Ryan Hall and Kim Smith are in the half.
Usain Bolt 9.76 Over Asafa Powell (US Only)
Last Lap Of Defar's And Cheruiyot's Great 5,000m
The Week That Was
LRC Weekly Recap: US Mid-D Fans, It's Time To Get Nervous; Hope For Bekele; Meet Ayanleh Souleiman; Fast 800 Juniors; A Look Back At Jim Ryun; & Bolt Struggles - Or Does He? Last week, the world and even Usain Bolt himself panicked when he ran 10.04, but we start things off by telling Bolt there is likely little to worry about. However, there is plenty for fans of Nick Symmonds to worry about, as well as fans of Robby Andrews, Matt Centrowitz, Leo Manzano, Alan Webb, Andrew Wheating and Nick Willis. Along the way, we tell Pamela Jelimo she can't quite start celebrating yet. Plus hope for Kenenisa Bekele fans, a geography lesson on Djibouti, the world is confirmed to be round, and we introduce you to Ayanleh Souleiman - the world's new mid-d star? And we take a look at some fast junior times at 800 and before you can call them age cheats, we remind you what Jim Ryun did some 46 years ago.
Cashing In
Robby Andrews Signs With adidas The mid-d star Andrews will run a low key 800m this weekend and then race David Rudisha, Kaki & crew at the adidas Grand Prix next week in NYC.
On The Boards: ROBBY ANDREWS SIGNS WITH ADIDAS!!!
The Great One Says Goodbye To The Track (Hengelo Photos)
Ostrava Photos (Usain Bolt 10.04)
The Wait Is Over
LRC LetsRun.com T-Shirt Design Contest The Empire State Building was built in a year, Hoover Dam took 5, so we figured 12 years is long enough for LetsRun.com T-Shirts. We pay homage to the 99%, and you let your LRC faithful come up with the design.
Oxy High Performance Photos *Men's Recap *Women's Recap *Results
Doha Photos Now Up
Shanghai Photos
Drug Corner
Big Story? Doping widespread in Kenya? Fresh allegations by German journalist
Unbelievable: Convicted Drug Cheat Dennis Mitchell Coaching Justin Gatlin This isn't new news and has been the case all spring, we just didn't realize it. 6 years ago, little LRC pointed out Mitchell, the guy who claimed he tested positive because he had five beers and sex four times with his wife (maybe Dennis
can give his advice here), an excuse USATF accepted, was coaching a USATF international team. USATF then tried to claim a different Dennis Mitchell, the University of Akron coach, was the actual coach. Mitchell is free to coach whomever he wants. You'd think Gatlin might be concerned about public perception.
UAE Healthy Kidney 10k Photos
Another Steeple Fail (Getting Picked Up By USA Today Blogger)
Interesting Read
Bekoji, Ethiopia: Town Of Runners By now many of you have heard of Iten, Kenya - the tiny town where many Kenyan stars train. The Ethiopian town of Bekoji may be even more impressive,
as
it is where Kenenisa Bekele (3 Olympic golds), Tirunesh Dibaba (2 Olympic golds), Derartu Tulu (2 Olympic golds), and Fatuma Roba (1 Olympic gold) were all born. Lengthy Guardian profile on the town and its unheralded coach Sentayehu Eshetu. A movie on the town - "Town of Runners" - comes out later this month.
*Bekoji Photo Gallery
Virgin London Marathon Photos
More London
Employee #1 Goes To Kenya
LRC
Meet Mary Keitany The half marathon world record holder destroyed the best women's field in the world last year in London. Then on the hilly New York course, she went out faster than Paula Radcliffe during her world
record before falling apart miserably. Now she has to qualify for the Olympics in London. Get to know Mary Keitany.
*Keitany Photo Gallery *Getty Images Photos From Kenya
LRC The Electrifying
Abel Kirui The two-time World Champion has dominated non-rabbited races. Learn all about him.