BYU freshman Jane Hedengren dominated the NCAA 5000 over the final stages, winning in 15:00.12 and closing the final kilometer in 2:46.24 to break the field and get her first NCAA title and victory over Alabama's Doris Lemngole.
*MB: Jane MF Hedengren. Hedengren takes down Kosgei and Lemngole from the front!! 15:00.11 FTW
*MB: Jane H has NO CHANCE Against Doris… EVER!!!!!!
2026 NCAA Indoors are Fri/Sat.
2026 NCAA Indoors are Fri/Sat.
Wow
Colin Sahlman powered NAU to its first NCAA DMR title, the Oregon woman made up for last year, and Habtom Samuel won the 5000 on Day 1 of the 2026 NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville.
Video of Jane Hedengren's impressive NCAA 5000m win
- Indoor men's preview: Gary Martin, Colin Sahlman, Marco Langon chase first NCAA individual titles Plus can 1:42 man Handal Roban win the 800, and which school wins the DMR? * NCAA Indoor predictions 2026
- Indoor women's preview: Hedengren, Whittaker, Lemngole, & a loaded mile Alabama's Doris Lemngole and BYU's Jane Hedengren will square off twice in 24 hours in Fayetteville while Stanford's Juliette Whittaker looks to return to the top of the NCAA in the 800. Plus can the BYU women win a third straight DMR title?
- Indoor men's sprint preview Auburn's Kayinsola Ajayi (6.45) has tied the NCAA record in the 60 this year, while USC's Garrett Kaalund (20.06) and Samford's Bradley Franklin (7.41) are within touching distance in the 200 and 60 hurdles.
- MB: Official 2026 NCAA Indoors Championships Day 1 thread
- MB: D3 superstar Seth Clevenger is a national champion! Solos 13:35 5000 to shatter DIII meet record The controversial Rowan University runner, who was allowed to compete even though 4 ex-teammates from Iowa State accused him of taking a banned drug in 2025, has destroyed the DIII record.
*LRC A Track Star, Doping Allegations, & The NCAA's Anti-Doping Policy Exposed
On The Boards
On The Boards
Grant's only running a half marathon but he gets two features
Grant's only running a half marathon but he gets two features
Grant Fisher gave his thoughts on his half marathon debut at the NYC Half, explaining his strategy, and how the race could shape his future on the roads.
Fisher will battle ten sub-60 men in his road race debut in Sunday in NYC. "I'm chasing more of a feeling than a time or a place... I'm the rookie now."
Unsponsored. Living in Tokyo. Dropped a 2:07:14. Dreams Do Become Reality.
Oops He Did it Again - WR #15 for Mondo
Competing at the Mondo Classic, Mondo thrilled the hometown fans. Norway’s Sondre Guttormsen, formerly of Princeton was 2nd at 6.0 m.
High School Nationals Are This Week Too
- MB: 2 teams break boys HS 4 x 800 record at NBIN (video) NJ's Union Catholic is your new record holder at 7:35.05. IMG also broke the old mark. There were two lead changes on the last lap.
- MB: Miles Nesmith sets new triple jump national record of 53-0 at NIN0
- Blair Bartlett (15:28.07) tops Averi Lowen (15:32.94) at NIN The two juniors are both top 5 all-time now on the US HS list.
- Thursday NIN recap
- New Balance Nationals Indoor boys preview NXN champ Jackson Spencer highlights the distance action in the 5000m, Quincy Wilson goes for a four-peat in the 400m and 4:00.38 runner Brian Burns leads the sub-4 chase in the mile.
- New Balance Nationals Indoor girls preview Paige Sheppard is going for the 800m/mile double (has the #1 seed in both).
- Boys Nike Indoor Nationals preview Outdoor 100m national record holder (and indoor 200m NR holder) Tate Taylor highlights the sprints.
- Girls Nike Indoor Nationals preview 60m NR holder Mia Maxwell is in the 200m along with her twin sister Mariah.
- DyeStat looks back at what they say is "perhaps the best indoor high school track meet of all-time" Noah Lyles, Sydney McLaughlin, Mondo Duplantis, Grant Holloway and many more future stars all competed at 2016 New Balance Nationals Indoor.
- Jamaican HSer Junior Gallimore followed coach Corey Bennett from Calabar High to Hydel High and is quite happy he did after recent 45.87 400m "I did not want to be experimented on by a new coach in my last year,” he explained.
- GraceKennedy will spend $1.3 million putting on Jamaican Boys & Girls Champs If only GST was that efficient and could draw such large crowds.
More Links approved by a human
- Recommended Listen John Treacy and Eamonn Coghlan remember Ronnie Delaney - Ireland's last Olympic athletics champion Worth 15 minutes of your time. Delaney, Jumbo Elliott's favorite athlete, won Olympic gold in the midst of a 40-race win streak. He closed a 3:41 race with a 53 last lap on a cinder track. We cued it to a great clip.
- Michael Johnson was the king of track and field. Now Grand Slam Track’s collapse puts his reputation at stake
- Seoul Marathon is this weekend - Can Sisay Lemma rebound? Five athletes in the men’s field have personal bests faster than the course record (2:04:43) including Sisay Lemma (2:01:48 pb) who will try to get his marathoning career back on track after a disappointing 2025.
- Host Poland's world indoor squad named The team has former Oregon Duck Klaudia Kazimierska in the 1500 . And when they host, they often have a men's 800 medal threat like this year with Maciej Wyderka.
- Kenya will hold combined national trials for both the World Athletics Relays and the Africa Senior Athletics Championships.
More NCAA news
- Where is the Track Capital of the world? Fayetteville, Arkansas Arkansas named itself that around 2000 and for good reason. They've won a combined 51 NCAA titles.
- MB: Someone gave Colin Sahlman really bad advise to scratch the Mile and or the 800m at NCAAs
- Who are the top freshman at this year's NCAA Indoor Champs? Jane Hedengren tops the list.
- List of all the returning champions that will try to defend their titles at NCAA Indoors this weekend
- List of all the DI NCAA records broken so far this year 6 men's and 7 women's records have gone down.
- Bowerman Award men's watch list update Colin Sahlman and Habtom Samuel are the lone distance runners on the list.
- Bowerman Award women's watch list update The list is more than half distance runners with Jane Hedengren, Doris Lemngole, Juliette Whittaker, Pamela Kosgei, Riley Chamberlain and Billah Jepkirui.
- Marian (Ind.) sweeps men's and women's titles at NAIA Indoor Championships
Father Time is undefeated
In addition to his Olympic exploits, he was a 4-time NCAA champion for Villanova, as he the won the Mile in back-to-back years (1957, 1958) to go along with titles in the 1500 meters in 1956 and the 880 yards in 1958.
Odds & Ends
- Eliud Kipchoge's days as a super competitive marathoner appear to be over - This week Kipchoge is busy announcing some of the cities he'll race in his quest to run a marathon on all 7 continents over the next 2 years. He'll run Cape Town on May 24th and then head to southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre for their marathon 7 weeks later on July 12th. “I've been doing a lot… I've been chasing the records, chasing medals, chasing the fastest times all over the world. As far as running is concerned, it would be nice to go and see those fans, that’s why I am going around the world to inspire and run for a purpose,” said the two-time Olympic gold medallist.
- USATF announces 2026 relay program and “One Team” initiative The 2026 program has its foundation in USATF’s “One Team” philosophy, prioritizing relay chemistry, preparation, and shared success across the entire relay squad. USATF’s stated goal in its 2025-2028 High Performance Plan is to win six gold medals in the six relay events at the LA28 Olympic Games.
- World Athletics Continental Tour will feature 280 meets, 11 gold ones in 2026 The two US gold meets are on back-to-back weekends in June.
GST Update
Vendors are seeking court approval to sue Johnson and Winners Alliance (its primary investor) for $25 million. Their filing says, "Shockingly, Mr. Johnson elected to secretly prefer himself over the athletes and other, non-insider creditors" by making a half million dollar payment to himself after the Philly meet, before the LA meet's cancellation was announced. They claim he did this "while at the same time feigning to the public that he was selflessly looking to advance the interests of the athletes."
- MB: Creditors want to sue Michael Johnson & Winners Alliance for $25 million, take issue with GST paying Michael Johnson $500,000
- GST spokesperson responds, says the claim by vendors is "unfounded and false" The statement reads, "Mr. Johnson advanced millions of dollars for GST’s operating expenses, including athlete travel, accommodation and costs, only a portion of which was repaid through the reimbursement. It is unfortunate that the UCC chose to ignore facts and is instead attempting to discredit the company and Mr. Johnson through false statements."
- The Athletic breaks down GST bankruptcy timeline and what each side claims
2 Weeks in a Row - A Lead vehicle snafu costs a runner a victory
By now you've probably seen the viral video clip of the CRAZY close LA Marathon finish. What you probably haven't been seen is the video of what happened a quarter mile earlier that made it all possible. Will the ASICS LA Marathon do the right thing and make Kenya's Michael Kamau financially whole?
Update: The LA Marathon has confirmed that the margin of victory was .18, not .01.
Countries Name Their Squads For World Indoors
- Keely Hodgkinson leads GB medal hopes at world indoors Josh Kerr will go in the 3000m, Georgia Hunter Bell and Jemma Reekie in the 1500m.
- Olympic 100m silver medalist Kishane Thompson, world indoor 60m bronze medalist Ackeem Blake and world 200m bronze medalist Bryan Levell lead Jamaica's World Indoor team
- World heptathlon silver medalist Kate O'Connor, national champ Nick Griggs and 800m NR holder Mark English lead Ireland's team for World Indoors
- Three European indoor champions headline Dutch team for World Indoors
Recreational Road Running News
- The LA Marathon gave "finisher" medals to runners who stopped at mile 18 They gave this option because of the warm conditions, but many online mocked the decision.
*2nd article: “The most California thing I’ve heard all day.” - RW: It was harder than ever to qualify for the NYC Marathon You had to run 22 minutes and 52 seconds faster than NYRR’s qualifying standard to get into the this year's race.
- MB: Road runners rejoice - you can run in Parker Valby shoes soon too! New Balance is releasing a Parker Valby-inspired New Balance Ellipse that has her signature on one insole with her logo on the other.
- MB: North Korea cancels Pyongyang Marathon for "some reasons" The British-owned tour company that partners with the marathon said the decision was final and had been taken "at a level above the organizers of the event itself" with no official reason given.
Festus Lagat Update
Lagat is the only Kenyan man with the 2026 World Indoors standard, but was not part of the initial team named by Athletics Kenya last week because he was provisionally suspended. Will he be allowed to compete.
Kiplimo Gets Back His World Record
This takes 10 seconds off Yomif Kejelcha’s official world record from 2024, but falls short of the 56:42 Kiplimo ran in Barcelona last year, but was not ratified. Ethiopia’s Tsige Gebreselama defended her title in the women’s race with 64:48
- MB: Official 2026 Lison Half Marathon Live Discussion Thread - Jacob Kiplimo goes for the WR (5:30 am ET) The race starts at 9:30 am in Lisbon.
- MB: WR alert. Jacob Kiplimo is racing the Lisbon Half this weekend. "He is hungry and angry at the same time!" Make your time predicitons here.
More Road Action
- American Nathan Martin surges from way back to win the LA Marathon in 2:11:17 Approaching the finish line, Kenya's Michael Kimani Kamau was way ahead, but Martin had a monster kick to come back and finish .01 ahead. Unfortunately, this came after Kamau was lead slightly off course at mile 26. Kenya's Priscah Cherono won the women's race in 2:25:19 at 45-years-old. Kellyn Taylor was runner-up in 2:27:36.
*MB: LA MARATHON -- WILD FINISH in MEN'S RACE
- Morocco's Mohammed El Youssfi (43:26), Belgium's Chloé Herbiet (47:58), win 49th Gate River Run 15k Olympic Marathon Trials winner Fiona O'Keeffe was runner-up in 48:22.
- Olympic marathon silver medalist Bashir Abdi breaks Belgian half-marathon record with 59:28 in Gent The race in his hometown has been renamed after him, the Runner's Lab Bashir's Run. Bahrain’s Mimi Belete won the women’s race in 70:08.
- Kenya's Sheila Chepkirui beats out Japan's Sayaka Sato by 2 seconds with 2:21:54 to win the Nagoya Women's Marathon This was a repeat of the finish from last year, except the race was a lot closer (2 seconds as opposed to 19 seconds). *Results
Weekend Track Results
- MB: Sam Ruthe dominates 1500m at New Zealand National Champs He ran 3:41.43 to win by over 6 seconds. *Results
- MB: Nathan Green & Luke Houser (3:34.91) / Sean Dolan (1:45.41 pb) get World qualifiers at Penn Congrats to all three. We'll see them in Poland in two weeks time.
- Greece's World silver medalist Emmanouil Karalis and Norway's 2023 European Indoor champ Sondre Guttormsen both clear 6.06m at the Perche Elite Tour PV meet in France Karalis won on countback while Guttormsen improved his Norwegian record by 6cm. This sets the record for the best mark for second place. GB's 2024 world indoor champ Molly Caudery won the women's competition with 4.70m.
- Poland's Jakub Szymański (7.37, 60H) and Dutch world shot put champ Jessica Schilder (20.69m) set world leads at Berlin ISTAF Indoor meet Szymański's time ties him for #7 on the world all-time list and extends his winning streak this season to 11 races.
Fred Kerley Updates
- Fred Kerley gets 2-year doping ban for whereabouts failures A tribunal said Kerley was "negligent and, to a certain extent, reckless" in not following to anti-doping regulations. (He actually had a fourth missed test within a one-year period and you only need three to be banned.) He is banned until August 2027.
*MB: Fred Kerley banned two years for whereabouts failures - MB: Fred Kerley posts Instagram video claiming he ran 9.60 Did he time it with an alarm clock?
Congrats To These Fast Women!
- MB: Femke Bol ties the knot Last month she married her longtime boyfriend, Belgian pole vaulter Ben Broeders.
- MB: Emma Bates is pregnant Her Instagram announcement says she is due this summer.
Kenyan Anti-Doping News
Lagat, an Iowa State alum who trains in Flagstaff with Dark Sky Distance, is appealing to CAS and hoping to have his provisional suspension lifted so he can compete for Kenya at World Indoors from March 20-22.
USATF Half Update
USATF said it considered naming Jess McClain, Emma Grace Hurley, and Ednah Kurgat to the Worlds team but has "serious concerns" about the long-term precedent it would set by ignoring its selection procedures. It has sent an alternate proposal to World Athletics but said the proposal is contingent on a vote by the World Athletics Council on March 18-19.
Grand Slam update
The Grand Slam Track bankruptcy just heated up. A new filing claims Bill Ackman's Winners Alliance wasn't just backing the league but was effectively acting as GST's de facto CFO, and is "one of, if not the, primary reason the Debtor has failed." The creditors committee is asking a judge to reject the plan outright, which would have seen athletes paid 85% of what they are owed while other vendors received just 1.5%. Winners Alliance told The Athletic the claims are "an invention with no basis in the record."
- Recommended Read When Harry Met Haruki: Styles and Murakami talk about the beauty / mystery of running and the creative process The 32-year-old pop icon Harry Styles (2:59:13 marathon pb) recently sat down with the 77-year-old Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami, whose book What I Talk About When I Talk About Running inspired Styles to take up marathons. The duo discusses the intersection of endurance and art, with Styles revealing that Murakami’s freed him from the "tortured artist" trope and turned him into a serious student of the sport. “When you’re training for a marathon, which is the loneliest part, you just kind of set out for a run, and three hours later you come back. But there’s a real synergy between that and electronic music. It’s kind of hypnotic and becomes like a mantra almost.”
- MB: Berlin Marathon runner whose Nike Vaporfly fell apart mid-race was flown to Tokyo by Asics and ran a 2:38 pb in their shoes In Berlin, a random spectator handed him an Asics shoe to replace his Nike and Asics capitalized on the marketing opportunity by flying both men out.
- Everyone is doing a profile on Sam Ruthe - this time The Guardian
- NCAA 800m record holder Colin Sahlman opts out of 800 & mile at NCAAs, will do DMR / 3k at NCAAs Random fact, the Oregon men qualified 5 guys in the 3000.
- GB announces Word Relays squad The meet is May 2-3 in Botswana.
More news from Africa
- MB: World Jr 5000 WR holder and two-time gold medallist Medina Eisa appears to have been an age cheat She won world jr gold in 2022 and 2024 and allegedly ran 14:16 when she was allegedly just 18. In reality, she was aleady 21 and shouldn't have been eligible for either world jr competition. WA has refused to ratify 5 different world junior records set by 3 different Ethiopians (Birke Haylom, Melknat Wudu and Medina Eisa) as they appear to all have been age cheats
- MB: Kenya embarrasses itself with World Indoor entries. They have entered a total of 4 runner in the men's 800, 1500 and 3000s.
*After winning silver in 2022, Noah Kibet is back at World Indoors Apparently, he's still a member of the Union Athletics Club in the US. - Two Oceans 1st place prize money increased by 52% for 2026 The winners purse has been increased to over $22,000 this year. Gerda Steyn will be racing.
- Kenya's Sports Cabinet Secretary Salim Mvurya is happy Kenya's anti-doping agency is no longer considered non-compliant
Rojo personally approved these links on a slow Wednesday
- Youngsters, meet Carlos Lopes - Portugal's 1st Olympic gold medallist and an inspiration for a bit on The Simpsons Lopes won World XC gold in 1976, 1984, and 1985. He also won Olympic gold in the marathon in 1984. You can watch the Simpsons video here.
- 2026 Maurie Plant Meet on March 28 will feature Gout Gout vs Lachlan Kennedy in 200m rematch But the guy with the fastest pb in the field is 22-year-old Benjamin Richardson (19.99 pb) of Ireland via South Africa.
- Keely Hodgkinson hoping to run 4x400m & 800 at World Indoors If only the US's 800m WR holder had wanted to run World Indoors.
- NYC Marathon lottery results came out Wednesday - 1% were accepted
- 90-year-old shatters Canadian age-group 1,500m record Roger Davies ran 8:41.27 and broke the old mark by more than 2 minutes.
- 34 academics have now sharply criticized genetic testing for track and field eligibility Where can we counter it with the hundreds of thousands of fans who are so thankful for it?
- Warholm to open DL season with 300mh in Shanghai/Keqiao on May 16
Why things went haywire in Atlanta
We now why there was chaos on the streets in Atlanta on Sunday. Just five minutes before the first runners came by, a police officer was struck by a vehicle a block away from the intersection in which athletes made the wrong turn. Atlanta TC said that caused other officers to leave their posts to attend to him -- and as a result, cones which were meant to direct runners straight were never laid out so that emergency vehicles could come through. Thankfully, the officer is ok and the Atlanta Track Club is going to pay out $39,500 in extra prize money to make the impacted racers whole.
- MB: 2026 USATF Half Marathon Championships - LIVE! CHAOS. Lead women taken off course, McClain loses win and $20k!!!!
- Recommended Read What the keyboard warriors bot wrong about the U.S. half marathon champs fiasco This excellent piece by Allison Mercer was written before the ATC investigation was even public.
- MB: Carrie Ellwood and Annie Rodenfels offer to give up spots on US team for World Athletics Road Running Champs Unfortunately this doesn't actually solve the problem because if they decline the spots, rules say USATF has to offer the spot to the next highest placing individual that finished in the top-5.
LRC Exclusive
Since he stopped racing in the middle of the 2025 cross country season for Iowa State, Seth Clevenger has taken DIII by storm. The Rowan University athlete is the DIII leader in three events. But following the release of a video of an alleged EPO order, multiple former teammates told LetsRun.com that Clevenger said he took banned substances in 2025 while at Iowa State and admitted as such to the coaching staff. The situation raises questions about a potential hole in the NCAA’s anti-doping policy. We investigate how a star could allegedly admit to banned drug use and remain eligible to compete.
NCAA News - Qualifiers Posted for NCAA Indoor Champs
- Colorado distance runner James Overberg developed new custom sauna to help athletes recover The 13:31 5000m runner and mechanical engineering major first constructed a sauna in his backyard at home and then was asked by CU coach Sean Carlson to design one for the team's practice facility.
- Qualifiers posted for next weekend's NCAA Indoor Championships
*MB: NCAA D1 Championship declarations
*#1 Arkansas men have most qualifiers (17) Illinois leads the women with 14. - After going pro and winning an Olympic 4x100 medal with team GB in Paris, Louie Hinchliffe is back at Houston He'll once again be coached by Carl Lewis who said he wouldn't coach anyone who isn't either in school or already graduated. Lewis said, "I simply won’t do it You go to school to graduate and get your degree. You don’t go to school just to run track."
- MB: Sean Brosnan loses his appeal, NCAA confirms serious violations happened The hearing panel said that based on the timing and frequency of calls between Brosnan and prospective student-athletes’ families, they feel recruiting rules were broken.
- No changes to top three men's ranked teams as Arkansas stays #1 ahead of NCAA Indoor Champs Oregon and Tennessee are ranked 2-3 while Florida jumped six spots to #4.
- Top five women's teams stay the same in latest NCAA rankings with Illinois #1 Georgia, BYU and Arkansas are 2-4.
- MB: NCAA Indoor predictions 2026
More Track Admin News
- World champions Mondo Duplantis, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Faith Kipyegon and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden all nominated for Laureus World Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year Awards Triple jump WR holder Yulimar Rojas is nominated for World Comeback of the Year Award after winning World bronze in her first competition in two years and mountain runner Kilian Jornet is nominated for the World Action Sportsperson of the Year Award.
- Grand Slam Track spent $617,935 in January while in bankruptcy Most of the money ($440,000) went to lawyers and $90,000 was for payroll and medical insurance.
- The favorite to replace Seb Coe as World Athletics president might be current vice president and former Colombian 400m runner Ximena Restrepo She won bronze at the 1992 Olympics and has a 49.64 PB.
Sprint Stuff
- Sha'Carri Richardson and Christian Coleman to run famous Stawell Gift race in Australia Gout Gout ran last year, but is skipping this year, likely because it's only a few days before the Australian National Championships.
- Gout Gout, Letsile Tebogo and Kenneth Bednarek announced for Pre Classic 200m
Olympic News / Politics
- Silver medal from the first modern Olympic Games (Athens 1896) sells for $181,000 This was four times its expected price.
- IOC make statement after US and Israel strike Iran They didn't say whether the strikes broke the Olympic Truce and emphasized that the IOC needs to remain politically neutral.
- Ukraine and some other countries are boycotting Paralympics opening ceremony in Italy due to Russia and Belarus being allowed to compete under their own flag This will be the first time since 2014 Russia has competed at the Paralympics under their own flag.
How about some uplifting news?
On Friday, Jakob—who was still in California—showed up at Gunn High School and ran 8k with the high schoolers at track practice.
Admin / Olympic News
- Seb Coe's term as World Athletics president will end in 2027 Coe has reached his term limit after being elected in 2015 and re-elected in 2019 and 2023. A new president will be elected next year.
- The IOC hasn't said "yes", but hasn't said "no" to Seb Coe suggesting XC at the Winter Olympics A decision on the sports for the 2030 Winter Olympics will be made at an IOC meeting in June.
- The 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics are still $116-232 million short of breaking even
- Ukraine Paralympics team banned from wearing a uniform featuring the map of Ukraine as the IPC deemed it "political"
More Doping News
- MB: Breaking: Rita Jeptoo, who lost Chicago and Boston marathon wins due to drug ban, is banned again!!! Steroids this time. Jeptoo was banned in 2014 for EPO, returned to competition in 2022 and now has been banned again. So was Kenyan 400 hurdles champ Wiseman Were.
- 2012 4x400 Olympic silver medalist and now bobsled athlete Manteo Mitchell accepts public warning for violating period of ineligibility Mitchell got a 2-year ban last year after failing a drug test and technically broke the terms of that ban by participating in a virtual USATF committee meeting.
Hocker Speaks
Cole Hocker is ready for the Millrose 2-mile showdown, a fast mile in 2 weeks, and world indoors. Plus he responds to Jakob Ingebrigtsen's comments about Paris.
Richardson Arrest Video
Video of Sha'Carri Richardson pleading not to be taken to jail for excessive speeding has been released.
Grant Fisher talks
Fisher was the guest on the LetsRun.com Track Talk podcast.
Rewriting The Record Book
From 600m to 5,000m, there have now been six world indoor records by four separate American men over the last 12 months. Jonathan Gault asks, "What explains it?"
The 2026 NBIGP was fantastic
The 2026 NBIGP was fantastic
St. Pierre won her first track race since the Paris Olympics by outkicking Linden Hall in the 3,000. Myers looked incredible in the men's 3,000. And Lyles got the pre-race attention but lost the 300 to Jereem Richards.
Hoey called his own shot before the race and then backed it up, breaking Wilson Kipketer's 1:42.67 that had stood since 1997. And he was paced by his brother Jaxson.
- Discuss: JOSH MF HOEY 1:42.51 i800 WR
Kesler exploded past Grant Fisher in the final 125 and got the WR thanks to a 26.31 final 200 and 13.02 final 100.
Getting ready for Millrose
Cooper Lutkenhaus started 2026 in fine form with a 1:45 win in New York. Meghan Hunter went sub 2 in the 800 (Ajee Wilson 2:00.92), Wilma Nielsen won the mile at Katelyn Tuohy faded. *Race video
Discuss: UPDATE: Cooper Lutkenhaus DESTROYS pro field. Opens in 1:45.23!!!
2k Shot #1 Fired on Friday
Cole Hocker opened his indoor season in stunning fashion at the Hokie Invitational, running 4:52.92 to break the American 2,000m record of Bernard Lagat, which Cooper Teare tied in 2nd place, as George Couttie smashed the collegiate record in 3rd. The Olympic champion now turns his attention to a loaded Millrose Games 2 mile featuring Grant Fisher, Josh Kerr, Jake Wightman, Parker Wolfe, and more.
Age Group Mile WR
He finished runner-up to Sam Tanner (3:53.36), breaking Cam Myers' previous record. *Race Video
Grant is Moving Up
Grant is Moving Up
In an exclusive with the NY Times, Fisher says he wants to run 13.1 to see if he might run 26.2 in LA.
The Latest Jonathan Gault Feature
Midway through 2024, Brazier had begun to accept he may never race again; in 2025, the former world champ returned faster than ever. Hear from Brazier and coach Mike Smith about how he pulled off one of the sport's greatest comebacks.
Boston 2026
The 2026 Boston Marathon elite fields are out and we break it down for you. From a US perspective, the fields are sensational, but what top pros from Africa are entered? Benson Kipruto vs John Korir leads the way for the men. Does American Fiona O'Keeffe have a shot for the win? *Full fields
The 1980 and 1981 World XC champ gives a passionate defense of cross country. He also admits he is concerned about the state of World XC given the lack of support from several federations and the three-year gap until the next championships in 2029 but is hopeful it can be added to the Winter Olympics: "If they can have breakdancing in the Summer Olympics, then we can certainly have cross country in the Winter Olympics."
A final look at the fantastic 2026 World XC Champs
A final look at the fantastic 2026 World XC Champs
World XC in the USA was amazingly fun to attend. How do we transform World’s Greatest Footrace into a spectacle / event that tens of thousands want to attend? How can we make it our sport's version of the Kentucky Derby - or maybe the grass version of the London Marathon?
XC legends Kenenisa Bekele & Beatrice Chebet were in Tallahassee as was Cooper Lutkenhaus, who left with the LetsRun.com flag.
More World XC News
- The Cheptegei-Kiplimo effect? A look at how Uganda has risen over the last decade to become an XC power A Ugandan man has now won the last 4 senior titles. At under-20 level in Tallahassee, Uganda’s women claimed a historic team gold – the first time any nation other than Kenya or Ethiopia had won that title.
- Daniel Ebenyo's first World XC medal at age 30 and after two sub-par marathons was special “Winning the bronze medal was more than standing on a podium; it was the echo of every early morning, every lonely road, every silent prayer answered in God’s perfect time,” said Ebenyo who failed to finish higher than 10th in any of his 2 marathons in 2025.
- Did you know Jacob Kiplimo ran his final 2k in 5:22? That’s 4:19 mile pace.
- Meet the Scottish duo that has been to every World XC since 1999 Niall Walker and David John Condra are super fans.
2028 OT
USATF confirmed that St. Louis (who hosted the women's Trials in 2004) and Phoenix (who have never hosted) are the only two bidders for the 2028 Trials.
World XC Was Saturday
World XC Was Saturday
Jacob Kiplimo put on a show and won his third title by 18 seconds as Ethiopia took the team title. The US led by Parker Wolfe (12th) was 4th.
- Men: Kiplimo 3 peats as Aregawi silver for 3rd straight time Deja vu.
- Women: Agnes Ngetich DOMINATES, Wins by 42 seconds Ethiopia took the team title with the US a distance 4th.
- Relay: Jess Hull anchors Australia to World XC mixed relay victory Australia won ahead of France and Ethiopia. Team USA finished 5th.
- Jr Girls: Marta Alemayo repeats with master class performance She won the 6k race by 26 seconds. HS. Jr Blair Bartlett finished off her first xc season with a 16th place finish.
- Jr Boys: Frankline Kibet leads Kenya to 1-2-3-4 performance. Tyler Daillak was 16th and Jackson Spencer 18th.
World XC Video Analysis + Discussion
A big thank you to the big crowd that turned out for the LetsRun party to celebrate the American running community at World XC.
- 2026 World Cross Country Championships - OFFICIAL THREAD (+ live reaction show @ 2:30 pm ET)
- Biggest winners & losers from World XC
- Confirmed: Rocky Hansen OUT of World XC, US will only run 5 guys
- Strand had the fastest 2k split of anyone in the world today
- World Cross - what an adorable, cute course.
- Nico Young + Swoosh TC, Brand Mismatch or Bad Idea
This is Disgraceful
The NCAA has done a lot of stupid things over the years but this has to to appear near the top of the list. They have stripped all remaining eligibility for NCAA D3 XC runner-up (and 2:12 marathoner) Mohammed Bati, who works a full-time job 5 days a week at an assisted living facility from 11 pm to 7 am while attending school and running track/XC. His sin? The local community came together and raised $6k for him.
Another controversial ban
Art and Linda Kranick built a dynasty at Saratoga Springs as they won 3 national titles and 28 NY state federation titles. Many runners RAVED about them. Many also HATED them. Banning them for life even though one of them is dead seems the definition of administrative over reach. SafeSpot has a policy not to ban dead people. Does USATF even know Art Kranick is dead?
Two LRC Exclusives On The 2021 Olympic 800m Champions
After three years with Kersee that included an American record in 2023, a devastating injury in 2024, and a failure to make the US final in 2025, Mu-Nikolayev has left Kersee and moved from LA to Dallas.
The Kenyan 800m star has largely disappeared since winning Olympic and world titles in 2021 & 2022. And the physiotherapist who treated him twice a day, every day for 6 months leading up to the Olympics is worried for him. "We’ve been trying to help him, but he hasn’t been willing to receive the help."
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Jager Q&A for Supporters Club Members
Evan Jager retired this week and then sat down with LetsRun.com for his most candid interview ever. He opened up about the Paris fall, the Olympic silver, the Fancy Bears leak, and the tension between Alberto and Jerry that shaped parts of his career.
- World Athletics' article on Evan Jager's retirement A good rundown of the highlights of his long career.
Message Board Q&A
Atlantic CEO Nicholas Thompson, runner, best-selling author, and host of “The Most Interesting Thing in A.I.", just ran over three hours in the marathon for the first time in 20 years. He joins LetsRun Friday to talk running, life, and his new book The Running Ground. If you'd like a book for free, just join our Supporters Club. Click for more info.
Josh Hoey parts ways with yet another coach
Somehow Justin Rinaldi transformed Josh Hoey, who couldn't break 1:47 for 6+ years, to a 1:42.01 world indoor champ and DL winner. How has he been rewarded? With a pink slip. Rojo thinks it's hard to think of a dumber decision than this but then again Jerry Jones once did fire Jimmy Johnson.
After disagreements on training philosophy, Justin Rinaldi will no longer be coaching Hoey despite engineering one of the greatest turnarounds in American middle distance running history, taking Hoey from 1:47 to 1:42 and World Indoor champion in two years. Plus get the inside scoop on a key workout Hoey overcooked before USAs.
- MB: Breaking: Josh Hoey has parted with Justin Rinaldi, the man who took him from 1:47 also-ran to 1:42 World Champ!!
- LRC How Josh Hoey Went from Also-Ran to World Indoor Champion, Part I: A Coaching Odyssey
- LRC How Josh Hoey Went from Also-Ran to World Indoor Champion, Part I: Going All-In With Justin Rinaldi & The Fast 8 Track Club
Great listen/read
Nick Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic, joins the LetsRun.com Podcast to talk about his new book The Running Ground, how he ran 2:29 at 44, his late father, and why he still checks LetsRun every day.
LRC Q&A
The US achieved its most successful relay medal haul since the introduction of the mixed 4x400 with four golds and a silver at the 2025 Worlds. We asked Woodson about Team USA's performance in Tokyo. Plus we asked USATF about what really happened with Rai Benjamin, who said he went out on the town the night before the men's 4x400 final.
Paywall lifted
After five coaches, six states, and hundreds of hours of listening to the LetsRun.com Track Talk Podcast, steepler Dan Michalski will make his World Championship debut in Tokyo. He dedicated his runner-up finish at USAs to the grinders who keep going without a big shoe contract. "They know the grind, they know what it’s like to fight through injuries, what it’s like to feel like you have the talent to make a team and keep coming up short," Michalski says. "This is for them, in a sense."
IF you are going to play a video game, play this one
XC Racing 2 is now out and free to play on ios and android and in this version you get to race the famed Detweiller Park course in Illinois.
Random Links A Human Found Interesting
- Melissa Jefferson-Wooden goes on CNN after triple gold and says she's not satisified “There are so many things out there that I’ve accomplished this year. But there’s so many more things that I do want to accomplish.”
- Former Yale swimmer, who had her leg bitten off by a shark, is running NYC marathon She quickly joined the Paralympic ranks and won Paralympic silver.
- Former Queen's Park Rangers star Don Shanks, 73, will run the New York marathon on November 2 to raise money for Alzheimers
- NYC is experiencing a 2nd running boom & some are unhappy about it In 2019, it took an average of 121 days for an N.Y.R.R. race to sell out. This year, races have sold out in an average of four days.
- NYRR claims running boom $934 million for the local economy in the fiscal year through March That’s up 58% from the comparable period five years earlier and they say last year’s marathon alone generated $692 million.
Sean Brosnan & Chris Lear & Andrew Greif's book is here
In Beyond Fast, Sean Brosnan, with Chris Lear and Andrew Greif, traces the unlikely rise of Newbury Park High School from an overlooked program to a distance-running powerhouse. Packed with behind-the-scenes stories, training insights, and cultural shifts, the book shows how Brosnan and his athletes rewrote the high school record books.
Sean Brosnan Podcast
From BMX to building the greatest HS team ever, Sean Brosnan tells us how he did it at Newbury Park, plus what really went on at UCLA, and what’s next. Don’t miss this one.
Data doesn't lie
We've run the numbers by comparing Lutkenhaus's run against every other age-16 world record, and the data is clear.
Who?
Jonah Koech wasn't even supposed to be in Sunday's 1500. As they approached the bell, he was in 13th out of 17. A lap later, he was the champion. He is just the third American man to win a Diamond League 1500/mile and the first runner sponsored by Under Armour to win a DL race. His 3:37.27 pre-race pb is also the slowest of any man to win a DL 1500/mile.
How Josh Hoey Rose To The Top Of The World
For five years, Hoey cylced through coach after coach but barely improved from his 1:47.67 high school 800m pb. Learn why he moved around so often -- and why he never gave up. Part I of JG's 7,000+ word feature.
*MB: Josh Hoey profile by JG
- Part II: SC How Josh Hoey Went from Also-Ran to World Indoor Champion, Part II: Going All-In With Justin Rinaldi & The Fast 8 Track Club Hoey's career had stagnated until connecting with Rinaldi in 2023. Within minutes of seeing him train in-person, Rinaldi knew he was special: "I said, if I can’t get this guy to run 1:44, there’s something wrong with me."
Stop Obsessing Over Your Diet
The US indoor 1500m/3000m champion overhauled his fueling in workouts before the 2024 season. Now he swears by his routine.
The Record Books Are Getting Rewritten In 2025
In the span of one week in February, runners broke five world indoor records and every American men's middle-distance record from 800m to 5000m. Jonathan Gault spoke to some of America's top athletes and coaches to find the reasons behind all of the fast times.
One More Look at a Legendary Race
From novice fans to running diehards, there was something for everyone (except perhaps Brits and Norwegians) to enjoy about one of the greatest middle distance races ever run.
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."
Your latest American stars share their insights.
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.
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
Take Your Love of LetsRun to the Next Level
Take Your Love of LetsRun to the Next Level
LetsRun Classics
LetsRun Classics
