2023 Houston Half should be great -- Mantz, Sisson, Simpson, & the return of Tirunesh Dibaba

Jonathan Gault wrote:

They just announced the elite fields for the 2023 Houston Half Marathon (January 15) and I'm very excited.

Emily Sisson and Conner Mantz are both running. Could we finally see Ryan Hall's AR go?

Plus Jenny Simpson is making her debut. And Tirunesh Dibaba is running her first race since 2018. I had assumed she was retired but according to the press release, she gave birth in 2019 then battled COVID. She's one of the best ever and is 37 years old -- younger than Kipchoge -- but it's hard coming back after more than four years away.

Full fields and press release here:

Link:www.letsrun.com/news/2023/01/emily-sis...

Mantz crushin this wrote:

Mantz in 1st...59:22

Disko Eric wrote:

Jonathan Gault wrote:

They just announced the elite fields for the 2023 Houston Half Marathon (January 15) and I'm very excited.

Emily Sisson and Conner Mantz are both running. Could we finally see Ryan Hall's AR go?

Plus Jenny Simpson is making her debut. And Tirunesh Dibaba is running her first race since 2018. I had assumed she was retired but according to the press release, she gave birth in 2019 then battled COVID. She's one of the best ever and is 37 years old -- younger than Kipchoge -- but it's hard coming back after more than four years away.

Full fields and press release here:

Link:www.letsrun.com/news/2023/01/emily-sis...

Looking forward to watching Dibaba

History lesson wrote:

Disko Eric wrote:

Looking forward to watching Dibaba

Never forget that Dibaba was with her sister Genzebe at Sabadell with Jama Aden at the very time of epo/anabolic bust.
Never forget that many of those former Aden athletes were then “managed” by Juan Pineda after the Aden bust and his passport surrendered in Spain.

Never forget Tsegay’s amazing jump in abilities after becoming “managed” by Juan Pineda and her many trips to Spain in 2020/21.

Jonathan Gault wrote:

They just announced the elite fields for the 2023 Houston Half Marathon (January 15) and I'm very excited.

Emily Sisson and Conner Mantz are both running. Could we finally see Ryan Hall's AR go?

Plus Jenny Simpson is making her debut. And Tirunesh Dibaba is running her first race since 2018. I had assumed she was retired but according to the press release, she gave birth in 2019 then battled COVID. She's one of the best ever and is 37 years old -- younger than Kipchoge -- but it's hard coming back after more than four years away.

Full fields and press release here:

Link:www.letsrun.com/news/2023/01/emily-sis...

sabadell wrote:

History lesson wrote:

Never forget that Dibaba was with her sister Genzebe at Sabadell with Jama Aden at the very time of epo/anabolic bust.
Never forget that many of those former Aden athletes were then “managed” by Juan Pineda after the Aden bust and his passport surrendered in Spain.

Never forget Tsegay’s amazing jump in abilities after becoming “managed” by Juan Pineda and her many trips to Spain in 2020/21.

The short term memory of people is crazy. Like there are hundreds of distance runners out there to cheer for who weren't coached by a guy arrested for EPO possession + pressured athletes he coached into taking injections. Sadly anticipating the 2025 chat of "excited to see how Houlihan does on her half-marathon debut - will be fascinating to see how her AR caliber track talent translates to the roads!"

dababajr wrote:

Love that Tirunesh took her time to have babies, to recover from Covid, and is coming back. Genzebe is pretty much dead to to me. Every result she has is marked by a mini shrug—like great result but I don't know if that means anything.

collegiateathlete101 wrote:

Torn between wanting Sisson to crush, or an all time great in Dibaba return 5 years after her last race and giving birth and show she's still a force to be reckoned with. Either way should be a good race.

On a side note, would love to see a Genzebe Dibaba vs. Tirunesh Dibaba battle, as they both have shown major success at the half marathon distance. After Genzebe's recent 2:18 marathon debut and 65:18 half marathon debut in 2020 showing she can handle the transition from the track to the roads, and Tirunesh's success throughout her storied career at the 10k and road racing, it would be fun to watch.