Once the pre-meet press event ends, we'll give you the inside scoop live from Kingston.
A New Track League With $30 Million Behind It Launches Friday
A New Track League With $30 Million Behind It Launches Friday
Michael Johnson's quest to reinvent track and field starts on Friday. Some BIG names like Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Gabby Thomas, and Cole Hocker have signed up for the new series, but some of the biggest stars in the sprint world like Noah Lyles, Sha'Carri Richardson, Grant Holloway and even Jamaicans like Kishane Thompson and Shericka Jackson have given it a pass. Some even will be competing elsewhere this weekend. Will the format that focuses on doubling be a hit with the fans?
Olympic 1500 medalists Cole Hocker, Josh Kerr, and Yared Nuguse will face each other and Olympic 800 medalists Emmanuel Wanyonyi & Marco Arop and American record holder Bryce Hoppel twice in the span of less than 24 hours.
On The Boards
On The Boards
GST MB Talk
- So What’s Going On With Grand Slam Track?
- Mr. Kyle MERBER – I am excited for GST but the distance races better not turn into JOGFESTS
- People favoring Hocker in 1500m global race? He’s only won one global race in his career.
- The problem with Grand Slam is already showing at Meet 1
- Grand Slam Track – FREE LIVESTREAM (starting friday)
- Similar Ideas to Grand Slam Track
- GST Kingston Betting Odds Live
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NoN LRC Coverage
- DyeStat Talks To Cole Hocker, Yared Nuguse And Josh Kerr Ahead Of First Grand Slam Track Meet Talking about stepping down in distance, Hocker said, "Who knows? I think I’m capable of a world-class 800-meter time, which now is 1:42."
- Josh Kerr Says One Of The Reasons He's Excited For GST Is Having More Races Without Pacers "I don't think there's the right balance [between races with and without pacers] outdoors. It’s usually four months of time trial after time trial."
- GST Co-Founder Steve Gera: “We are maniacally focused on having the youngest fanbase of any sports league in the world in the next five years. That’s our North Star.”
- AW: Who, what and when guide: Grand Slam Track Kingston
Gjert's Testimony Continues
- Gjert said he greatly misses his daughter: "She is the last thing I think about when I go to bed at night, and the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning. The loss is extreme.”
- Gjert admits he became too invested in being the coach, not the father "The coach was not necessarily a kind man. The way I communicated in my job as a coach was not always appropriate, (it) eventually became extreme (and) spread into our lives, which should have been a different arena." Gjert also says Jakob threatened his mother Tone to divorce Gjert or she'd be estranged from her kids and grandkids.
- Gjert says he was invited to Jakob's wedding under condition he stop coaching Nordas Jakob says that's not true.
- Gjert Ingebrigtsen says he never pressured his daughter to run "I have not pressured my daughter to run. I have not pressured anyone to run. Why would I?"
- Gjert Ingebrigtsen says Henrik looked down upon him and his wife as he didn't have a fancy house and only had Ikea furniture Gjert believes Henrik did not think his parents were good enough for him and was greatly offended when Henrik refused to let him help him with his new house.
Sprint News
- Letsile Tebogo says he'd probably be a criminal right now without track “In the neighborhood where I grew up there were a lot of criminals, it was the only way to survive. But then with sport I knew I had to go to school and with training you are tired. You don’t have time to roam the streets and go into people’s houses.”
- Letsile Tebogo says he & Noah Lyles are on good terms Some incorrectly thought when Tebogo said he wasn't "arrogant" enough to be the face of Athletics, he was dissing Noah Lyles in Paris. Not true.
- TFN's Q&A with Noah Lyles who says track has great potential if everyone could just get on the same page "If all these people who raised all this money came together instead of trying to create their own thing, I mean, we could end up with something that has tens of millions of dollars [behind it] that we could create [together]."
- Ashton Eaton's coach Harry Marra reflects on his 5 weeks coaching with Manchester United Marra enjoyed his time greatly and thinks new coach Ruben Amorim is a keeper.
*MB: Harry Marra on Tom Brady: "Brady is not a great athlete. He’s not fast. He’s not very strong. He’s not very agile." - Amber Anning and Jeremiah Azu reflect on world indoor titles After training the last few years in Italy, Azu big win came after he returned to his roots in Cardiff, where he reunited with his first coach, Helen James.
Distance News
- Geoffrey Kamworor says training has been going well and he's ready to break his pb in Rotterdam His best is 2:04:23 and the Rotterdam CR is Bashir Abdi's 2:03:36.
- 10 Storylines At The Oregon Relays Presented by AthleticNET One of which is Addy Ritzenhein returning to where she was born to race.
- Tokyo Olympic Marathon Trials winner Shogo Nakamura has started grad school in sports management "I'll be balancing competition and academics," Nakamura wrote. "I'm really looking forward to this chance to take on something new."
- GB Olympic Distance Runner Ben Connor Turns Down Spot For European Running Championships After Being Asked To Pay His Way UK Athletics asked athletes to pay up to $1400 to cover expenses (although the number would likely go down to $650 with contribution from England Athletics). Conner said, "representing GB shouldn't come down to who can or cannot afford to pay for it." While we agree with that, we also agree with a UK statement that said it "feels it is better to give athletes opportunity to compete than opt not to send teams at all." *Athletics Weekly article
- Graham Blanks Gifted His Sweaty Singlet To A Young Fan At The Ten Apparently the fan asked if he could have Blanks chest number sticker, but Blanks just gave him the whole thing saying, “I think that’s my last race in that one. I think New Balance is getting new kits.”
- North Korea's Il Ryong Han (2:11:18) And China's Bing Wu (2:26:01) Wins Asian Marathon Championships In Jiaxing, China *Results
- Japan Names Marathon Teams For Tokyo World Championships The men's team is lead by 2024 Fukuoka Marathon CR breaker Yuya Yoshida (2:05:16) and Osaka runner-up Ryota Kondo (2:05:39). The women's squad has Nagoya Marathon runner-up Sayaka Sato (2:20:59) and last year's Nagoya winner Yuka Ando (2:21:18).
- Burundi’s Rodrigue Kwizera And Italy’s Nadia Battocletti Finish On Top Of The Standings For The 2024-2025 World Athletics XC Tour
Sprint Stuff
- BBC: With Four Golds And A Baby Boy, GB Sprinter Jeremiah Azu's 2025 Is Off To A Good Start This winter he won the 60m at the Welsh, British, European and World champs along with his son being born just days before European Champs.
- RIP: Tributes Paid To Usain Bolt's Father Who Has Passed Away At Age-68 The Jamaican prime minister said, “Mr. Bolt was the father of a global icon, and a strong, quiet force behind one of Jamaica’s greatest sons. His presence, support, and guidance helped to shape a legacy that continues to inspire the world.”
- USATF Names Two-Time Olympic Coach Darrly Woodson As Team USATF Relay Coach
Doping / Ban News
- World Athletics Extends Russia And Belarus Ban Due To War In Ukraine Seb Coe noted that the AIU is still including Russian and Belarusian athletes in its testing pool "in anticipation of eventual peace."
- University Of South Florida Long Jumper Goodness Iredia Banned For Doping The Nigerian national champion (7th at NCAAs last year) tested positive at an indoor meet earlier this year and had his four year ban reduced to three years after admitting to the charge.
- Sprinter Shawnti Jackson Accepts Public Warning From USADA She received a warning for failing to get a TUE before receiving iron infusions from a doctor for a diagnosed medical condition.
- Strained Relationship Between USADA And WADA Causing Financial Concerns For WADA The US withheld its $3.6 million funding to WADA for 2024 because of the Chinese swimmer scandal.
- WADA President Witold Banka To Run Unopposed For Reelection His first term started January 2020.
Olympic News
- April Fools Joke: "IOC To Consider Auctioning Olympic Hosting Rights To Highest Bidder" It's a joke not because it would never happen, but because it would happen behind closed doors.
*LRC If You Missed LetsRun's April Fool's Page, You Can Check It Out Here - Reuters: IOC's Ticketing Rules Hit By EU Antitrust Complaint The complaint is that IOC ticketing rules block rival resale platforms and are anti-competitive.
- Germany Currently Planning Two Olympic Bids One From Berlin and one from North Rhine-Westphalia.
NCAA News
- RIP: Former Oregon Track Coach Frank Morris, 92 Morris was an assistant coach under Bill Bowerman and coached multiple All-Americans including Olympic discus champ Mac Wilkins.
- Texas A&M Men Are #1 In First Outdoor Season NCAA Rankings USC, Minnesota and Texas Tech are ranked 2-4.
- USC Women Start Off Outdoor Season In #1 Ranked Position Texas, Texas A&M and TCU are ranked 2-4.
- Georgia's Lianna Davidson Recorded Two Of The Top-Three Farthest Javelin Throws In NCAA History At The Yellow Jacket Invy Her best of 63.79m puts her #2 on the NCAA all-time list.
- Event-By-Event Top-10 NCAA Marks From The Last Week (March 25-31)
Previous Testimony From Gjert
- Gjert Ingebrigtsen Denies Kicking Jakob And Whipping His Daughter With A Towel; Calls Jakob A "Privileged Boy" Gjert broke down in tears and insisted that he had never hit anyone in his life and had even been discharged from the military because he was so against violence. However, he did admit to once throwing the family PlayStation out a second floor window.
- Gjert Ingebrigtsen Describes Himself As "Overprotective," Says He And His Wife "Never Practiced Any Form Of Punishment At Home"
- MB: Jakob goes from indoor worlds to a Norwegian courtroom where his testimony may send his dad to prison.
Diamond League Q&A
Stastny said moving forward, there could be more match race-type events like the Karsten Warholm-Mondo Duplantis from Zurich last year. And there are "no imminent plans" to eliminate any disciplines.
Diamond League Announcements
- May 3: Stacked 100m Announced For Shanghai DL 100m With Letsile Tebogo, Kishane Thompson And Christian Coleman Also Marcell Jacobs, Akani Simbine and Jeremiah Azu.
- Grant Holloway Announced For Three Diamond League Meets: Xiamen, Shanghai And Silesia The first is Xiamen on April 26.
- The Prefontaine Classic to Host Women’s Long Jump Olympic Podium Rematch Tara Davis-Woodhall vs Malaika Mihambo and Jasmine Moore.
US Results
Ishmael Kipkurui is the newest NCAA superstar, Graham Blanks got the Tokyo standad, but the performance of the night might have been from Telahun Haile Bekele who missed the start but still ran 26:52 despite running an extra 90 meters.
- Discussion: The TEN -- Again (3/29) - Official Discussion Thread
- Performance of night Telahun Haile Bekele 26:52 despite being 80-90 meters behind at start
- Elise Cranny will smash the 10,000 AR tonight False. Running behind the rabbit Shelby Houlihan, she went out in 15:01 with Kelati but faded.
- DyeStat Full Meet Recap: HSer Josiah Tostenson Runs 3:40.06 In 1500m He finished 5th place in the race won by Oklahoma State’s Fouad Messaoudi in 3:35.55. HSer Tayvon Kitchen finished 9th in 3:41.62. HOKA NAZ Elite's Abby Nichols won the women's race in 4:11.91.
*MB: Hs runner Josiah Tostensen 3:40 1500
2025 Maurie Plant Classic - A Sold Out Crowd Showed Up in Melbourne
On an cool windy night, Cam Myers came through as the favorite and got the win in a deep 1500 in 3:34.98 over Aussie Olympian Adam Spencer (3:35.52) but the biggest names in the sprints were beaten. World indoor 60m silver medallist Lachlan Kennedy (20.26) upset Gout Gout (20.30) in the 200 while Botswana's Bayapo Ndori (45.14) took down 200m Olympic champ Letsile Tebogo (45.26) in the 400. Ky Robinson won the the men's 5000m (13:13.17). In women's action, Claudia Hollingsworth took the 1500m (4:05.97) and Ethiopia’s Fantaye Belayneh the 3000m (8:34.30).
*MB: Official 2025 Maurie Plant Discussion Thread
- Lachlan Kennedy stuns Gout Gout in 200: “I’m absolutely gassed as you can see,” The 21-year-old Kennedy, who won World indoor 60m silver last week, also won the 100m (10.17, -1.1) in the pre-programme.
- WA full meet recap: On cool windy night, Cam Myers Front-Runs His Way To Victory With 3:34.98
- The Guardian: "Gout v Kennedy Was Like Bolt V The T-1000 – And No One Could Look Away"
- 10,000+ stadium was sold-out for 1st time since 2001 And the author seemingly gives all the credit to Gout Gout.
The Champs Are In The Books
- Kingston College Boys And Hydel High School Girls Win Jamaica Boys’ And Girls’ Athletics Champs It was Kingston College’s 36th title and the second girls' title for Hydel High. Coming back from her 11.08 victory in the 100m, Sabrina Dockery lost the 200m to Jody-Ann Daley (22.53 to 23.63) who was doubling back after winning the 100H (13.40) less than two hours earlier. Tajh-Marques White (who is coached by Usain Bolt's former coach, Glen Mills) won the boys’ 16-19 400m title in 45.84. In the 15-16 category, Shanoya Douglas won the 100/200 double in 11.32/23.30
- The Gleaner: "One-Horse Race For Boys' Title" They outscored their nearest rivals Calabar by more than 63.75 points.
- The Gleaner: "Edwin Allen Suffered Major Mishaps But Hydel Were Brilliant" Hydel High regains the title they first won two years ago. Last year they lost to Edwin Allen by nine and a half points and this year they won by 11.
- Hydel High Head Coach Admits Coming In He Didn't Think His Team Could Challenge For The Overall Title
- Edwin Allen Heptathlete Hospitalized After Collapsing During 800m She was leading the heptathlon and on her way to winning when she collapsed and had to be taken to the medical area. Despite not scoring in the 800m she still finished 4th overall.
- Jamaica Observer Recap: "KC, Hydel Triumph!
More Weekend Results
- Salwa Eid Naser Runs 48.94 Fastest time ever in March.
- Two Collegiate Records Go Down At The Texas Relays In The Pole Vault And The 4x800 Arkansas broke the women's 4x800 record with 8:16.12 and D2 athlete Brynn King broke the overall collegiate outdoor PV record with 4.75m (Amanda and Hana Moll have both cleared higher indoors). A bunch of Olympic sprinters competed in relays, with Gabby Thomas running a leg on the US 4x100 which ran 41.74 (.04 faster than the US team that won Olympic gold in Paris) and Fred Kerley anchored the men's 4x100 to 38.43.
- Tommy Latham Becomes First Georgia High Schooler To Break 4 Minutes In The Mile The Nike Indoor 2 mile national champion ran 3:59.79 for the win to become the 27th high schooler to go sub-4.
*MB: TOMMY LATHAM SOLO 3:59.79 - China’s 16-year-old Yan Ziyi Breaks Her Own World U20 Javelin Record With 64.83
This Weekend's US Action
Pacing lights and an NCAA record in MARCH!
*Post-race interview with Murphy and Langon
- MB: NC State's Grace Hartman runs 31:20 at Raleigh Relays That's the #3 time in NCAA history and the pacer only went out at 31:50 pace. She won by more than a minute. UVA's Margot Appelton (4:05.68, #4 on NCAA all-time list) won the 1500, NC State's Angelina Napolean won the steeple (9:34.22) and Providence's Alex Millard (15:27.02) won the 5000. *DyeStat Recap
- Big Throws Highlight Friday's Action At The Texas Relays Curtis Thompson threw the longest javelin mark by an American in almost 18 years with an 87.76m victory and two-time Olympic champ Valarie Allman broke the MR in the discus with 66.72m.
- Rocky Hansen runs 13:22 meet record to win men's 5000
- World Athletics is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Texas Relays In 1925, the undoubted star was Harold Osborn who had won the Olympic high jump title in Paris the previous year and set an unratified world record during the inaugural meeting. While last year, Gabrielle Thomas and Valarie Allman were among the individual event winners in the Texas Relays, and they were later crowned Paris 2024 Olympic champions.
WA Continental Tour Gold Season Kicks Of Saturday In Melbourne
- MB: Official 2025 Maurie Plant Discussion Thread (4-6 am ET, 9-11 am CET, 7-9 pm AEDT)
- Maurie Plant Full Preview: Teen sensation Gout Gout and Cam Myers headline The men's 1500 is stacked with teen sensations Sam Ruthe and Cam Myers plus Hoare, Spencer and others as Gout Gout gets top billing in the 200 and Letsile Tebogo gets top billing in the 400.
- Cam Myers sounds ready: "Everything's gone perfectly, gone smoothly up until this point, so there's no point holding back and dawdling around for three laps."
- Gout Gout & Letsile Tebogo are racing Maurie Plant meet on Saturday (in different events) and Tebogo has some free advice
Friday 15 Podcast
The Champs Are Going on in Jamaica
- Gary Card pulls up injured, still wins Class 1 100 in 10.27 A heroic performance for the 17-yr-old who ran 10.06 in the prelims which you can watch above.
- Sabrina Dockery crushed field in Class 1 girls 100 (11.08)
- Kingston College (boys), Edwin Allen (girls) lead team standings after two days at Champs
- Nigerian distance runner Julius Itubo breaks 1500m record (4:05)
- 8 fastest boys and girls in 100, 200 and 400 will race each other in exhibition at Grand Slam Track THE EIGHT fastest girls and eight fastest boys from the ongoing ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships (Champs) across all age groups in the 100, 200, and 400 metres
- ‘Clearly, something is off’ - False starts plague champs 4 people were tossed from a single 100 meters.
The Latest From The Gjert Ingebrigtsen Trial
- Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s sister said once she quit running her father Gjert told her "that he didn’t see me as his daughter anymore”
*MB Jakob goes from indoor worlds to a Norwegian courtroom where his testimony may send his dad to prison. - Jakob Ingebrigtsen's sister says she got a "hand in the face - he hit me in the face" when she told her dad to shut up after he got very mad that she'd forgotten her heart rate monitor "I got a hand in the face. He hit me in the face. It was fast and it was hard. It hurt,” she testified on Wednesday. He then asked her if she feared him and when she said yes, she said he couldn't believe it. “It was the stupidest thing he had ever heard,” added Ingrid. “And didn’t drive home until I promised I wouldn’t tell anyone, especially not my mum, because he was afraid of what she would think.”
- Jakob says Gjert texted him after he was beat in 1500m final in '22 Eugene - “The defendant was happy that I failed,” “The defendant was happy that I failed,” he said. “And he conveyed that with that message.”
Recommended reads
- After 54 years at the Asahi Kasei corporate team, legend Takeshi Soh is retiring from coaching Together with his twin brother Shigeru Soh, they were icons of the Japanese marathoning world. Takeshi finished 4th in the '84 Olympics and then helped coach Hiromi Taniguchi to gold at the 1991 Tokyo World Championships and Koichi Morishita to silver a year later at the Barcelona Olympics while the corporate team has captured the NY Ekiden a record 26 times. *Original article in Japanese
- 18-year old Cam Myers is more focused than ever & ready for Maurie Plant meet "I was a little bit too complacent, and thinking just things would happen naturally, but now, I’m really focused on making sure that I control every single variable I can," said Myers who will race Saturday in Melbourne, after a sharing a house and playing Nintendo in Florida with Gout Gout.
- Jess Warner-Judd: ‘I want to finish my track career on my terms, not epilepsy’s' She's slowly making her way back from her epilepsy caused collapse at Euros last summer. Her father and coach realized mid-race something was very wrong.
- Dina Asher-Smith flew from Texas to the UK to get her MBE from King Charles who she said is ‘funny and really charming’
Is The NCAA System good for developing sprinters? Some say yes, others say no
- Usain Bolt thinks the US college system is not good for developing Jamaicans We disagree but here's what he said on the Justin Gatlin podcast - "When you have a scholarship you just have to go run all the time. And from what I heard, I don't know, it's that there's a lot of different levels that you have to run every weekend...So you run your body so hard and then you try to go into the championship now." *Full podcast
- Amber Anning credits NCAA system with giving her World indoor 400m gold "Because (the US) is such a big place and big population, only a small percentage are going to make it, maybe they want it that much more because they know the chances are slimmer. I needed to take on that mentality of wanting to be the best in the world because that is the level they are at over there."
Some final takes From World Indoors
- A final look at World Indoors - by the numbers Europe won the gold medal battle between the continents, WA gained 16,000 new social media followers and our Jonathan Gault was one of 188 members of the media.
- Neil Gourley used disappointment of not being able to do World Indoors last year in his hometown of Glasgow to fuel him to silver in 2025
- Team Kenya bizarrely gets praised upon return home from World Indoors with zero medals
NCAA News
- Recommended Read: DyeStat: 'Our Sports Are Under Siege' — How The Upcoming House v NCAA Ruling Is Impacting College Track And Field Up until now, it's not been uncommon for D1 XC teams to have 25-30 distance runners, but with new roster limits likely coming, teams will have to get down to 17 or even less for XC and 45 or less for track. This is already leading to athletes getting cut and less opportunities to compete in college in general.
*Earlier This Month, 17 Power 6 Head Coaches Wrote An Open Letter To The Track And Field Community Warning About The Uncertain Future Of NCAA T&F The letter talks about roster limits, budget cuts and program eliminations as negative consequences of the House vs NCAA settlement. - Oregon Signs 8:56/15:01 Kenyan Diana Cherotich The World U20 XC Champs 5th placer arrived in Eugene last week.
- USTFCCCA Program of the Year Award Standings – Mid-Year Update After XC and indoor season, the Arkansas men and Oregon women are on top.
- MB: Saint Francis University drops from D1 to D3
- Event-By-Event Top-10 NCAA Marks Of The Week (March 18-24)
Tuesday at The Ingebrigtsen Trial
- The Times: Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s Harrowing First Day Facing Dad In Court Jakob says he hasn’t addressed Gjert as "dad" since he was 11. Jakob explained, "It happened because I no longer saw this person as a father. I thought that the things he says, the things he does and has done, are not worthy of a father."
- Narve Nordås Will End Coaching Relationship With Gjert If He's Convicted "He tells me the same thing as in the courtroom: That he is innocent and that this is not true. Then I trust him until the opposite is proven."
- Jakob Ingebrigtsen Says His Father Once Hit Him In The Head "Between 10 And 20 Times" With A Flat Hand And Medium Force Talking about Jakob's testimony, Gjert’s attorney said, "He is aware that this has been his son’s perception of reality, while he himself has a completely different one."
Olympic News
- NBC Agrees To $3 Billion Deal To Remain Olympic Broadcaster Through 2036
- Ukraine Condemns IOC's Move To Reinstate Russia The Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) says it is "appalled by incoming IOC President Kirsty Coventry’s intention to discuss Russia’s return to the Olympic Games."
- Brisbane To Build 63,000-Seat Stadium For 2032 Olympics The decision is controversial for a couple reasons, including the fact that there were numerous pledges before the 2024 state elections that a new stadium would not be built.
- The Media's Olympic Dooming/Glooming Already Starting For LA 2028 InsideTheGames says deportation photos of "alleged criminals by the current United States government paint a harrowing picture" and contribute to concerns over athlete visas for LA 2028.
- Berlin Planning Multi-City Olympic Bid For Either 2036 Or 2040
- Kristy Coventry Talks About Potential Olympic Bid Review Process There is often controversy and scandals when selecting the Olympic host city. That potential is already there for 2036 as an Indian philanthropist supported Coventry during the election and there is talk of fast tracking India's 2036 Olympic bid.
IOC Election Analysis
- Opinion Piece From The Guardian's Marina Hyde: "So it’s victory for Kirsty Coventry in the IOC elections. Who says cards with a rigged deck isn’t an Olympic sport?" Hyde writes, "Part of the IOC’s trouble with Coe, who ran on a platform stating that the IOC should ban transgender athletes in the female category in the interests of sporting fairness, is that he does things. His time at the helm of World Athletics saw him found a fully independent anti-doping and sporting integrity unit, rule decisively on the protection of the female category, and ban Russian athletes – the latter being something that seems to have earned him the permanent enmity of Bach."
- Cathal Dennehy: "Sebastian Coe Paid The Price For Rattling Cages" (Paywalled Article) Dennehy writes, "It’s a dangerous game, trying to tell a powerful, antiquated organization something they don’t want to hear. Or worse, trying to make them change."
- Alan Abrahamson's Analysis Of IOC Election Abrahamson writes, "This election, given the array of issues arguably the most consequential in 131 years of IOC history, saw seven candidates in the field. But it was always a test of one thing – did Bach, who pushed hard behind the scenes for Coventry, still have the juice?"
Protect Women's Sport
- World Athletics Introducing Pre-Clearance Cheek Swab Tests To Confirm Athletes' Gender The tests will be non-invasive and only necessary once in an athlete's career. Seb Coe says, “We will doggedly protect the female category, and we’ll do whatever is necessary to do it.” *AW article
*MB: World Athletics Sex Testing
- WSJ: My Stolen NCAA Championship - Minna Svard Tells Her Side Of The Story From When Her NCAA D2 400H Title Was Stolen By Trans Runner CeCe Telfer Svard writes, "That made me the first collegiate woman to be told her victory was worth less than a man’s feelings. I cried a lot that day—not because I lost, but because of how I lost."
*MB: "My Stolen NCAA Championship" - Female Athlete Who Lost Women's National Title to Male Tells Her Side of Story
*LRC Archive What No One Is Telling You: An Athlete Who Ran NCAA Track As A Man For 3 Years Just Won An NCAA Women’s Title - MB: Portland varsity girls 400m: male athlete wins by 7 seconds
Gjert Ingebrigtsen's Trial Begins
- Jakob Ingebrigtsen Tells Court Of Fear And Control In Testimony Against Father Ingebrigtsen said, "My upbringing was closely tied to fear. I’ve been aware of a fear-based culture for a long time. As a teenager, it was a concept I really identified with, because I felt I had no free will or say in anything. I was in an environment where everything was controlled and decided for me. There was an enormous amount of manipulation."
- Jakob Ingebrigtsen's Father Pleads Not Guilty To Abusing Sons As Trial In Norway Begins Gjert Ingebrigtsen is accused of physically abusing his children and faces up to six years in prison if found guilty.
- MB: Jakob goes from indoor worlds to a Norwegian courtroom where his testimony may send his dad to prison.
Running Legends
- World Athletics Looks Back At When Kenenisa Bekele Made A Comeback From Being Grief-Stricken Over The Loss Of His Fiancée To Win Double World XC Titles In 2005 Bekele won the short and long course titles on back-to-back days, winning a battle with Eliud Kipchoge in the long course race. But not long beforehand he had been losing on the indoor track circuit saying, “It is difficult for me to think about running. I can only think about my girlfriend.”
- University Of Mississippi Track Stadium Named Prefontaine Stadium In Honor Of Steve Prefontaine The cousin of Steve Prefontaine is a big fan of Ole Miss athletics and wanted to honor Pre so donated $750,000 to name the stadium.
Distance News – 800m Through Ultra
- After a Record-Setting 2024, No One Finished This Year’s Barkley Marathons Last year 5 runners (including the first woman) finished the notoriously difficult ultra, but this year apparently the organizer made it tougher with a new section that added at least 45 minutes to each loop. Only one man made it through three of the five loops and no woman made it past loop one.
- MB: Congratulations! - Jordan Hasay is pregnant! :)
- The Prefontaine Classic To Host Women’s 800m Olympic Podium Rematch Keely Hodgkinson vs Tsige Duguma and Mary Moraa.
- Matt Centrowitz Will Be A "Guest Expert" For FloTrack's Diamond League Coverage This Summer
- World Athletics Ratifies A Slew Of Distance Records Including Grant Fisher's 7:22.91 3000m Yared Nuguse's 3:46.63 mile WR was ratified and Jakob Ingebrigtsen's 3:45.14 is still pending so Nuguse isn't officially been replaced in the record book yet.
- Toyota Wins New Expo Ekiden
World Indoors
World Indoors
Jakob has joined the great Haile G as the only man to win 1500/3000 gold. Luke Houser also nabbed a bronze in the 1500 for Team USA but Sinclaire Johnson & Heather MacLean both struggled in the women's 1500.
- Official 2025 World Indoors Day 3 Dicussion Thread
- Jakob -- GOAT STATUS ACHIEVED
- Jakob now only needs 1500m Outdoor WC Gold
- Luke MF Houser - Luke Houser has a world championship medal
- Shelby Houlihan: world silver medalist
- BRANDON MILLER: absolute WORST tactic he could have attempted
- Will anyone sponsor Shelby?
- Tsegay must be reading LR
- Hoey and Ingebrigtsen talk to LRC post-race
LRC Podcast
World Indoors Final Day Non-Distance Results
- USA Dominates Men's 4x400 With 3:03.13 Win Over Jamaica (3:05.05) The US men won 10 of 13 world indoor 4x400 from 1993 to 2016, but had lost the last three.
- USA Women Win 4x400m To Claim Final Title Of Nanjing 2025 Team USA won by almost 5 seconds with 3:27.45.
- USA’s Claire Bryant Sets Big 6.96m PB To Win LJ Title
- New Zealand's Tom Walsh Reclaims World Indoor Shot Put Title Walsh has an impressive World Indoor resume with bronze, gold, gold, bronze, silver and now gold again. He won with 21.65m over US's Roger Steen (21.62m).
- Australia's Nicola Olyslagers Retains Her World Indoor HJ Crown With 1.97m She beat her countrywoman Eleanor Patterson on countback.
- Bahamas' WR Holder Devynne Charlton Defends Her 60H Title In 7.72 It was a super close race with the top six separated by just 0.04.
- Italy's Mattia Furlani Wins Super Close LJ With 8.30m He beat out Jamaica's Wayne Pinnock by just .01m and Australia's Liam Adcock by .02m.
- Noways Sander Skotheim Wins Hepathlon Gold With 6475 Points
- World Athletics Final Day Medals Rundown
Saturday at World Indoors
Saturday at World Indoors
Jakob Ingebrigtsen has an indoor gold, Shelby Houlihan has her first medal and so does Ky Robinson.
Josh Hoey and Brandon Miller looked great and have a chance to go 1-2 in Sunday's final. Nia Akins fell just over 100 meters into her semi yet picked herself up and came just .18 shy of qualifying.
If you want a podcast recapping / analyzing World Indoors join the Letsrun.com Supporters Club today.
Day 2 OTB:
- Shelby Houlihan: world silver medalist Ethipia's Freweyni Hailu won in 8:37.21. Houlihan ran 8:38.26 to just beat out Jessica Hull (8:38.28).
- Another one of Kerr's achievements equaled by Jakob Jakob won in 7:46.09 holding off Berihu Arewawi (7:46.25). USA's Sam Gilman was 4th (7:47.19).
- Forgot just how good of a kick Aregawi has.
- Fisher, Hocker and Kerr would've won the 3k today.
- Would Ethan Strand have won World indoors 3K
- SAM MF GILMAN
- Looking at how Shelby beat Hull, a 3:50 runner, really makes me think how many medals would she have won
- LRC World Indoor Day 2 Thread
3000m + 400m US Medal Sweep Race Videos
3000m + 400m US Medal Sweep Race Videos
More World Indoor Coverage
- Grant Holloway Keeps His Unbeaten Streak Going With World Indoor 60H Hat Trick Holloway ran 7.42 to win convincingly over France's Wilhem Belocian. Holloway hasn't lost a 60H race in 11-years.
- Chris Bailey Leads USA Sweep Of 400m Medals At World Indoors Bailey won in 45.08 ahead of Brian Faust (45.47) and Jacory Patterson (45.54). This was the first ever men's 1-2-3 at World Indoors and only the second ever (Ethiopia swept the women's 1500m medals in 2022).
- Mondo Duplantis Wins His Third World Indoor Pole Vault Title With 6.15m Clearance Greece's Emmanouil Karalis became the only man in a championship final to clear 6.05m and not win gold. US's Sam Kendricks took bronze with 5.90m.
- Switzerland's Mujinga Kambundji Storms To 60m Gold As The Top Three Finish Within 0.03 Of Each Other She won in 7.04.
- Amber Anning Wins GB's First Ever Women's Indoor 400m Gold She ran 50.60 to edge US's Alexis Holmes by .03 in a dramatic finish.
- France's Marie-Julie Bonnin Wins Pole Vault Gold With 4.75m 2nd through 4th place all cleared 4.70m with Slovenia's Tina Sutej and Switzerland's Angelica Moser winning silver/bronze and GB's Molly Caudery losing on countback.
- BBC: "Disappointed Molly Caudery Misses Out On World Indoor Pole Vault Medal"
- Cuba's Leyanis Perez Hernandez Leaps World-Leading 14.93m To Win TJ Gold
- Irish Independent: Ireland’s Sarah Healy And Andrew Coscoran Miss Out On 3000m Medals"
- World Athletics: Five Things To Look Forward To On Day 3 In Nanjing Jakob Ingebrigtsen will go for double gold in the 1500m.
- Vote For The Best Moment Of Day 2
- Jeremiah Azu's 60m Win Voted Best Moment From World Indoors Day 1
- World Athletics Day 2 Medals Rundown
World Indoors Day 1 PM
World Indoors Day 1 PM
Azu won in 6.49, the slowest winning time since 2014, as Australia's Lachlan Kennedy (6.50) and South Africa's Akani Simbine (6.54) each won their country's first medal in this event.
If you need a VPN to watch the video above click here.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen closed in an impressive 25.74 to win his heat. Americans Sam Prakel, Luke Houser, Sinclaire Johnson, and Heather MacLean all advanced to Sunday's finals. And 35-year-old Raphael Pallitsch became Austria's first global 1500 finalist since 1900.
- MB:Official 2025 World Indoors Day 1 Discussion Thread The men's 60m final is at 9:24 am ET.
- MB: Jakob on whether he's disappointed his rivals aren't running World Indoors: "Aren't we all?" We caught up with Jakob after his 1500m prelim where with 250m left he went from 6th to first in less than 150m and cruised to a heat win.
Outside World Indoor Coverage
- Britain's Jeremiah Azu Wins World Indoor 60m Title In 6.49 Seconds He beat Australian Lachlan Kennedy by just .01 after Kennedy was initially show as the winner on the big screen.
- Neil Gourley Says He Was "More Nervous" About Making His Speech As GB Captain Than His 1500m Race At World Indoors Gourley qualified for the final winning his heat with the fastest time of the day (3:36.60).
- South Korea's Woo Sanghyeok Regains World Indoor HJ Title With 2.31m New Zealand's Olympic champ Hamish Kerr took silver with 2.28m.
- Italy's Olympic Bronze Medalist Andy Diaz Hernandez Wins TJ Gold With World Leading 17.80m
- Canada's Sarah Mitton Defends Her World Indoor Title With 20.48m Shot Put Victory US's Chase Jackson won bronze with 20.06m.
- Finland's Saga Vanninen Wins Pentathlon With 4821 Points Over Ireland's Kate O'Connor (4742 Points)
*Kate O’Connor's Pentathlon Silver Was Ireland's First Ever Global Multi-Event Medal It was also Ireland's first global medal in any event for 19 years.
- Some Interesting Stats From World Indoors The youngest and oldest athlete at the championships are both in the women's 60m. They are China's Chen Yujie (16-years-old) and Turkmenistan's Valentina Meredova (40-years-old). This World Athletics article also points out all the countries that have participated at World Indoors, but never finished in the top-8 (there are 94 of them).
- GB's Molly Caudery Looking For Redemption At World Indoors After Paris Olympic Disappointment She was the favorite in Paris, but failed to make the final. She says, "I hated that people thought in Paris, 'maybe she can't perform under pressure'. I don't think that was the case. ...I would usually count myself as a championship performer."
- World Athletics Day 1 Medals Rundown
- Vote For The Best Moment Of World Indoors Day 1
- Enter To Win An Official Bib Signed By A World Indoor Champion
Fallout From IOC Presidential Election
- Reuters: "Seb Coe Gracious After Crushing Defeat In IOC Presidential Election" Asked about the election results, Coe said, "It's very difficult to make any interpretation at the moment. I think what is pretty clear is that the athletes and the women members in particular supported her very strongly in the first round, and you know those things happen in elections. Elections are not an exact science, believe me. So, you know, it's what it is. You know, I'm not going to sit there trying to dissect stuff on the back of a napkin."
- MB: Did an Epstein, racist smear campaign cost Seb Coe the IOC presidency?
- The Independent: "Why Seb Coe Lost The Room In Crushing IOC Presidential Election Defeat" Part of the reason was Coe has butted heads with the IOC over the years. This included giving out prize money at Paris 2024 and when he went against the IOC's recommendation by banning Russian and Belarusian track athletes from competing after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
- Russia Is Happy About Kristy Coventry's Election With Vladimir Putin Personally Congratulating Her Putin said, "I am convinced that her unique experience and her commitment to advancing the noble ideals of Olympism will contribute to our success."
- World Athletics Congratulates Kristy Coventry On IOC Election Seb Coe said, “As President of the No.1 Olympic sport, we look forward to working closely with Kirsty to ensure that sport remains the priority of the IOC, and athletes the driving force behind the new president’s agenda."
World Indoors Day 1 AM
Hoey and Akins both won their prelims on Friday with fellow Americans Brandon Miller and Valery Tobias also advancing. Also meet the American Olympic 6th placer who still doesn't have a shoe deal.
After 28 hours of travel, we have boots on the ground at World Indoors. We give you a look at the intimate stadium and talk about WR holders Grant Holloway, Mondo and more.
15-Year-old Goes Sub-4
He ran 3:58.35 in New Zealand where one of his pacers was Olympian Sam Tanner. Ruthe breaks Jakob Ingebrigtsen's record for youngest runner to go sub-4 (Ingebrigtsen ran 3:58.07 when he was 16-years-old). This after he ran 3:41.25 for 1500m a week ago.
Doping News
The AIU says three athletes coached by Phiri tested positive for the same substance between 2023 and 2024 -- including sprint phenom Issam Asinga, who was banned four years in 2024.
*Discussion thread
Ngao, the Big 12 1000m champion, ran 2:01.71 this season for 800m but the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya says she is currently provisionally suspended.
- MB: 1:20 Indian half marathoner gets 4-year doping ban Archana Jadhav tested positive at the Pune Half-Marathon in December and responded to the AIU's AIU’s charge via email, saying "I am extremely sorry sir...I welcome your decision."
First American To Win LA In 31 Years!
Richtman, a 13:47/28:21/1:01:14 guy who never made NCAAs on the track at Montana State (but was 26th in XC), had run 2:10:47 for his marathon debut for 4th at Twin Cities.
- RRW: Young American Matthew Richtman Is Surprise Winner At 40th LA Marathon Ethiopia's Tejinesh Gebisa Tulu won the women's race in 2:30:14; Savannah Berry was the first American in 3rd place (2:30:30).
Major Doping Bust
The 57:32 man is currently #3 on the all-time list and has a 10,000m bronze medal from the 2022 Commonwealth Games. He was also 5th at 2023 World XC.
- MB: Spanish road 5K record-holder Ouassim Oumaiz banned for FOUR years. He tested positive for GHRP-2.
GST #1 is Coming Soon - 3 Weeks Away
While some of the fields are AMAZING, it's impossible to deny that the 4 biggest names in Jamaican sprinting will not be in Kingston - Kishane Thompson, Shericka Jackson, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Elaine Thompson-Herah - nor will arguably the 4 biggest names in all of the short sprints - Noah Lyles, Letsile Tebogo, Julien Alfred, and Sha'Carri Richardson.
- MB: Grand Slam Jamaica April 4-6 Full Field Released Americans Cooper Teare, Dylan Jacobs and Heather MacLean have been added as racers but Luis Grijalva is out with injury.
Shelby Speaks
Last week, Houlihan spoke with LetsRun.com for more than an hour with no questions off the table. Houlihan shares which supplements she took at the time of her positive test, why she said she didn't know what nandrolone is, running a 30:31 10k in practice, and her hopes for World Indoors and the rest of 2025.
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.
Big Administrative News
WA announced today that San Diego will no longer host the World Running Champs. Ken Stone is reporting in the Times of San Diego that the event was moved despite there reportedly being a $3 million title sponsor. We believe race registrations were nowhere near what they were expecting but feel that easily could have been fixed. With 1 week notice, easily 10,000 people would have signed up if they had known this was a possibility.
*MB: Breaking: San Diego pulls out of hosting World Road Champs 4 days after qualifier!!
This is a stunning development for a championship but the lights will be off for the first 1/3rd of the race.
*MB: Jakob says wavelight wasn't added at Euros at his request: "I wasn't aware of that. I assume it's a spectator stunt."
MB: US Olympians will now receive $200k each thanks to a $100 million donation by Ross Stevens They'll have to wait for the money though as they get 100k 20 years after they compete (or when they turn 45) and then 100k goes to their estate when they die.
Pro Distance News
Disappointed that the Night of 10,000 PBs in on hiatus this year, they decided to do something about it.
*MB: Kara Goucher and Des Linden To Host Save the 10,000 Track Meet at Mt. SAC on May 3 with prize money.
- Jake Wightman will no longer be coached by his father
- CNN Profiles Yared Nuguse: At age 14, his athletic claim to fame was he was on his HS lawn bowling team. Now he's a 3:43 miler CNN catches up with the Olympic bronze medallist who doesn't take any shots as Jakob Ingebrigsen. *MB: Yared Nuguse on Jakob Ingebrigtsen: "He elevates the sport, elevates what everyone else thinks they’re capable of doing"
- Canadian Olympian Julie-Anne Staehli gets a job as Queens University and leaves New Balance Boston “I still have goals I want to accomplish, but I’m at a point where running isn’t my singular focus,” she says. And she might move down to the 800 or up the marathon.
The Shelby Interview
Houlihan spoke to LetsRun for over an hour and answered a slew of questions about her doping ban, what she thinks happened, and her return to racing. Full talk out for SC members. Everyone else can watch the clip above or wait for wider release. Join the SC today.
Big Doping Story
Jeptanui, a freshman from Kenya, finished 12th at NCAAs in November, but has been provisionally suspended since September. She's currently triple entered in the AAC championships which start today.
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.
LRC Rankings
From GOATs (Faith Kipyegon), world records (Ruth Chepngetich) and breakthroughs (Keely Hodgkinson, Beatrice Chebet), this year's women's world rankings had a bit of everything.
LRC Rankings And Other Distance News
From the 800 through the marathon, we rank our top 10 men in the world and top 5 in the United States from 2024.
- Saturday's Dr. Sander Scorcher at the Armory has some great matchups How about Katelyn Tuohy v Elly Henes in the mile, Ajee' Wilson v Nia Akins at 800 and Aussie teen sensation Cam Myers vs Adam Spencer in the mile as they try to go sub-3:50?
*MB: 18 Year old Aussie Cameron Myers to run DR. Sanders Mile this weekend. How fast? - USTFCCCA announces its 2024 HS XC coaches of the year Jonathan Dalby and Eric Selle from Mountain Vista (Colo.) High School and “Frankie” Ruiz from Belen Jesuit (Fla.) Preparatory School are your winners.
*Video chat with Frankie Ruiz
*Video chat with Dalby and Selle - Q&A with Sadie Engelhardt who says her #1 goal is to break Mary Cain's 4:04 1500 mark
- Stanford's Roisin Willis named ACC athlete of the week for her 1:25.74 600m (#2 all-time NCAA)
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.
Unlike other Publications, We wait until the year is over to hand out our awards
Unlike other Publications, We wait until the year is over to hand out our awards
We actually hand out six awards in this piece - overall Athlete of the Year, Runner of the Year, and Distance Runner of the Year - but Chebet swept all three for the women, edging out SML. For the men, our Runner of the year goes to Grant Holloway over Rai Benjamin and our Distance Runner of the Year is Jakob Ingebrigtsen.
From world records to unlikely breakthroughs to one very strange session of Kenyan parliament, Jonathan Gault recaps the highs and lows of running in 2024.
Year in review podcast
The LRC crew has it's annual 2024 trivia challenge and takes a look at an incredible year of track and field.
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."
Jonathan Gault pays tribute to two legends
Simpson and Centrowitz, who both 1st medalled in 2011 and retired in 2024, leave the sport as two of the faces on the Mt. Rushmore of American 1500m running after piling up a combined eight medals at global championships. And despite not ever finishing in the top 3 on the yearly 1500 list (Simpson's best was 4th, Centro's 9th), they will be remembered as two of the better milers of their generation.
Tim Rowberry Interview Highlights
Rowberry began as a pacer and errand boy at the Nike Oregon Project but has since coached Hassan to six medals across the last two Olympics. He dives into their relationship and why he's looking to expand his training group -- and land a coaching contract from a shoe brand.
World Marathon Majors Soon Will Be Dead....... Unless
Expanding the number of world marathon majors to nine is an absurd idea unless the majors make one simple change that will instantly keep them being compelling, elite sporting events.
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
