With the full year in the books, it's time to finally turn the page on 2021 and hand out some awards. Sifan Hassan, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Courtney Freirichs, Erriyon Knighton, Shelby Houlihan, Sha'Carri Richardson, Francine Niyonsaba, Elly and Laurie Henes and others all get some hardware.
Archived Homepage For January 12, 2022
Archived Homepage For January 12, 2022
2021 Awards / Rankings
2021 Awards / Rankings
45.94 is no longer a pretty good 400 time. It's the 400h WR.
Did you know that Athing Mu accomplished something this year that David Rudisha never did? Do you know the one event in our rankings where the Olympic champ wasn't also our world #1?
No American men cracked the top 3 in any event.
On The Boards
On The Boards
Boston 2022
Since 2022 marks 50 years since Boston officially began accepting female entrants, it's appropriate that year's women's field will be the greatest in race history with a staggering 7 sub-2:20 women.
Sad News - RIP
The 29-year-old was the third fastest Trinidadian of all-time with a 44.36 PB and was an NCAA champion for Texas A&M as well as a Bowerman award winner.
*World Athletics Tribute
Assorted Distance News
- Steeplechase WR Holder Beatrice Chepkoech Explains Her Disappointing Performance At The Olympics Last Year She says she started dealing with an injury issue before the Kenyan trials which got worse as time went. Her advice to other athletes: "Even if it is a slight injury, do not ignore it in the hope it will go away. ...Sometimes the opportunity to compete in a big competition may seem irresistible but at the end of the day, your health matters the most."
- Newbury Park XC Coach Sean Bronson Talks A Bit About His Team's Training And His Coaching Philosophy Bronson says no one on the team ran more than 64 miles in a week and that he is constantly adapting training on the fly for each athlete.
- Lithuanian Ultra Runner Aleksandr Sorokin Breaks 100-Mile And 12-Hour World Records The 40-year-old ran 10hr 51min 39seconds for 100 miles and kept going to complete 110.24 miles in 12 hours.
- Indoor 1500m WR Holder And Olympic 5000m Bronze Medalist Gudaf Tsegay Announced For Lievin Indoor Mile On February 17 At this meet last year she set the world indoor 1500m record with 3:53.09.
Athletes Of The Year
- 200m Olympic Champ Christine Mboma Named BBC African Sports Personality Of The Year The article mentions how recently Mboma wasin a car crash where her car's windshield was smashed by a flock of guinea fowl. Thankfully she wasn't seriously hurt. although she had shards of glass stuck in her face.
- USC's 2021 NCAA 100H And 400H Champion Anna Cockrell Named An NCAA Today's Top 10 Award Winner (All Sports)
- Karsten Warholm Named Norwegian Sportsman Of The Year (Across All Sports)
The Winter Olympics Start Next Month
- We're Getting To A Crazy Place: Beijing Residents Told Not To Intervene In Road Accidents Involving Olympic Vehicles Can't risk spreading COVID by helping someone in a car crash.
- USOPC Shuts Down Senators' Calls For Athlete Boycott Of Beijing Winter Games USOPC chairperson Susanne Lyons says an athlete boycott is "not the solution to human rights or geopolitical issues."
- Mass Testing Underway In Chinese City Close To Beijing After COVID-19 Outbreak They're testing the entire population of 14 million after a cluster of 20 people tested positive for COVID.
- The World Health Organization Is "Confident" Beijing 2022 Will Not Increase COVID Infections
- IOC Warns Beijing 2022 Participants To Not "Let Their Guard Down" On Omicron Spread
USA XC Is In The Books
In the U20 girls race, high school freshman Zariel Macchia of New York, who was 12th at Eastbay, dominated and won by 49 seconds in 22:50. In the U20 boys race, Oklahoma State freshman Gabe Simonsen, who broke the Oklahoma 2 mile state record by running 8:56, won by 8 seconds in 25:42. *Results
- Sergio Reyes And Renee Metivier Win USATF Masters XC Champs In Their Masters Debut OSU freshman Gabe Simonsen and NY high schooler Zariel Macchia won the U20 races. 15-year-old Macchia became the youngest athlete to win the under-20 race since Jordan Hasay in 2007.
- MB: Official 2022 USA XC Discussion Thread: Kelati vs Monson XVIII - Who you got? Does ADP continue to DOMINATE?
Sunday Distance Results
- Daniel Simiu Ebenyo (26:58) And Norah Jeruto (30:35) Win 10K Valencia Ibercaja Ebenyo's time put him 7th on the world all-time list.
*Emile Cairess Equals Mo Farah’s British 10k Record With 27:44 For 5th Place In Valencia Cairess took half a minute off his PB to tie the British record, although the fastest time by a Brit is 27:34 by Nick Rose from 1984 on a non-record eligible course.
- Italian Ossama Meslek Beats British Olympic 1500m Finalist Jake Wightman Over 3000m At British Milers' Club GP Meslek ran 7:50.13 to outkick Wightman (7:50.96) and move to #9 on the all-time Italian list.
- Takehiro Sekiguchi Wins Hi-Tech Half Marathon In Japan In 62:26 Showing the depth of Japan distance running, 20 runners from Hakone Ekiden champions Aoyama Gakuin University who weren't in the team's top-10 ran here with Sekiguchi winning and their 13th man running 63:57 (so essentially the team's 23rd man ran a sub-64 half).
- Kenyans Nicholas Kimeli And Edinah Jebitok Win Elgoibar XC Meet In Spain Jebitok beat out world U20 XC champ Beatrice Chebet by 15-seconds while steeplechase WR holder Beatrice Chepkoech was never a factor in 8th. Olympic 5000 4th placer Kimeli beat out Ethiopia's Addisu Yihune by 6-seconds.
Middle Distance News
- Elijah Manangoi Says He Has Learned His Lesson About Whereabouts Rules As He Returns From Ban "I have learnt my lesson and now know what 'whereabouts' is. I know how to fill it and I have enlightened myself on the rules ...It is better for you to fill your 'whereabouts' rather than let someone else do it."
- Cole Hocker And Cooper Teare Millrose Games Training Video
- MB: "My goal is focused on being #1, I don't really understand why I would shoot for less than that." - Cole Hocker
- British Middle Distance Runner Sarah McDonald (4:00.46 PB) Seeking Fresh Start With Team New Balance Boston\ After not making the Tokyo Olympic team, McDonald felt she needed to make a change so joined Mark Coogan's group in Boston.
WADA News
- US Government Pays Its Remaining $1.3 Million In Dues To WADA Despite Major Misgivings About The Way WADA Operates And The US's Standing Within It One official said it was a "sorry state of affairs" that the US is absent from both WADA's executive committee and foundation board, the bodies that make the most important decisions at WADA.
- WADA Seeking Seven Candidates For Its New Independent Ethics Board The board will be responsible for implementing WADA's Code of Ethics.
What Was Popular In 2021?
2022 Millrose
- 2022 Millrose Keeps Getting Better and Better - All Three US Olympians at 1500 + Plus Konstanze Klosterhalfen Will Be In Women's Mile As if Athing Mu vs. Ajee' Wilson, Ryan Crouser vs Joe Kovacs, Trayvon Bromell vs Christian Coleman and an absolutely stacked men's 3000m with Cole Hocker, Edward Cheserek, Drew Hunter, Conner Mantz, Yared Nuguse, Cooper Teare, and Joe Klekcer wasn't enough. Buy tickets here.
Nick Willis Come Up Just Short
He ran the mile at 12 midnight on New Year's but the documentary is just out now.
Podcast
The crew was back to welcome in the Year and make some big predictions for 2022. Will Flojo's 100m record go down? Could Galen Rupp really win Worlds? What about Jakob Ingebrigtsen or Tim Cheruiyot breaking El Guerrouj's 1500m record? Will we see a 3:4X w 1500, 13:5x w 5000, and sub 29 10k in 2022?
2022 Predictions
Plus which US and Worlds 4th placers are most likely to move up into the top 3? And who is most likely to make Team USA - Evan Jager or Colleen Quigley? SC Friday 15 podcast.
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
