Archived Homepage For December 29, 2022
Archived Homepage For December 29, 2022
We Look Back At The Year Month By Month

2022 was a year that saw Grant Fisher break out, Sydney McLaughlin explode, and Eliud Kipchoge break the WR (again). Here's what else stood out according to Jonathan Gault.

The Year's Not Over: Japensese New Year's Corporate Ekiden Will Be Broadcast at 7pm ET New Year's Eve - Watch It Live/Race Preview

End of Year Podcast

Fast races, great celebrations, controversies: another great year of track and field is in the books and Jon, Rojo, and Wejo try and put it in perspective.

Early Season Battle Between Sub-3:50 Milers
The TasCarnivals Series provided a real treat this year as two sub-3:50 guys battled it out on the grass in the handicap race where the other participants got a head start.
Coaching News


Non-Distance News

Trail / Ultra
Distance News
Doping News
World Athletics News
More End-Of-Year News
Merry XMAS - Paywall lifted

In a decade, Valencia has gone from afterthought to host of some of the world's fastest races. How did the third-largest city in Spain emerge as a global capital of running? Jonathan Gault journeyed to Spain's Mediterranean coast to find out how.

RIP
More 2022 Review
Japan Distance News
Free Training Advice For Youngsters
Supporters Club podcast

We break down the big Chris Solinsky news and have differing opinions on what Parker Valby should do. Plus we discuss some of the changes to qualifying in Worlds thanks to the new cross country rankings.  Our 2nd podcast a week is only for Supporters Club members. 

Big Coaching News

The Stride Report has reported the news that Chris Solinsky has officially accepted a job at Oregon.

Thread of Day
Assorted Distance News
Recruiting Stories
Negative News
Science Stuff
Miscellaneous
Distance News
2022 In Review
Smarter than you and us

A 17-year-old made an app that has a race calculator and uses AI to measure wear and tear on running shoes.

Looking Forward To Some Great Distance Racing This Winter
Is Russia Ever In The News For Anything Good?
This week's pod

Plus the Fake Josh Kerr called in and discussed Seth Demoor; Diana Kipyokei is no longer a Boston champ, but Edna Kiplagat is a two-time champ.

2024 Will Be Here Before You Know It

The standards are the hardest ever for a major championship. It will take 2:08:10 or 2:26:50 to qualify automatically in the marathon.

Getting Healthy
Upcoming Action
Week That Was

How Max Siegel and USATF handled Chattanooga's Olympic Marathon Trails bid is far different than how they handled giving out a "six-figure, no-bid contracts to Indianapolis marketing firm Matchbook Creative, a marketing firm that previously billed itself as 'a Max Siegel company.'"

Jon talks with Seb Coe

Coe didn't share full details about the new event but said a focus will be on prize money and keeping the spotlight on the stars during the off year of 2026.

Meet Teshome Mekonen

Teshome Mekonen became a US citizen in August and beat Conner Mantz by a minute earlier this year at the NYC Half. Learn about his story from Tigray to Harlem.

Rojo and Mara Yamauchi Editorial

For nearly 40 years, the NYC Marathon has been known for being a trailblazer that paid its male and female athletes the same prize money. Sadly, that changed on Sunday. Guess what sex dominated the new non-binary gender division at Sunday's 2022 New York City Marathon? Olympian Mara Yamauchi joins Robert Johnson in this guest column.

Trials Awarded

What will the course be like? What type of weather can we expect? We break it down for you.

Post NYC Updates

The good news is the Brazilian star is recovering well after going to the hospital. His agent explains what he thinks happened.

  • Which Super Shoes Did The Best In NYC? While Nike shoes dominated in numbers, there were plenty of other shoe brands to finish in the top-10 men and women including a surprise win by Under Armour on the feet of Sharon Lokedi.
  • NYRR's Post-Race Release Specifically Omits Nonbinary Winner's Time They listed the winning times for the men's, women's, and wheelchair divisions, but not the nonbinary. Maybe they didn't want to highlight the fact that they gave thousands in prize money to biological men who ran significantly slower than many women who got nothing?
Engels Speaks

Engels says he enjoyed his time with UAC but needed to train in a place where he either had consistent training partners or a coach with him every day.

How Would You Attack The Doping Problem?

Instead of just complaining about anti-doping it's time to try and do something about. Submit your best anti-doping proposals.

      Has Kenya found a new super drug? What is going on?

      And have the Kenyans found a new super drug? Kipyokei is one of 10 athletes in the last two years to test positive for the same substance, triamcinolone acetonide, a drug once used by Lance Armstrong and Brad Wiggins. Why are they suddenly all testing positive for it now?

      Disturbing Stuff

      Allegations regarding the Huntington University track and field team where Nick Johnson used to coach and his wife Lauren Johnson now coaches continue to come out thanks to the great reporting by David Woods and continue to get more grim. Two national champions for Huntington claim their coach gave them unknown injections and have asked that their national titles be invalidated. One claims she was raped by Nick. Police reports show Nick, who had already pled guilty to a felony after admitting to impersonating a University of Oregon staffer so he could take a teen recruit on a trip where the teen told police many sexual acts took place, has admitted to having sex with two other athletes and his wife admitted she didn’t tell anyone at Huntington as she didn’t want them to lose their jobs. She’s now the head coach. If that’s not bad enough, there are now allegations of PED usage. Did PEDs cause the Johnsons to leave the Oregon Track Club?

      The series used the elites to build themselves up as the majors in our sport but now is forsaking the pros once the image is established. In the process, they just screwed Eliud Kipchoge out of $200,000 after the fact as the cut is effective immediately. Wow.

      Kipchoge loving the LetsRun Shirt in Berlin
      History was made 20 years ago

      And he ran his marathon PB to boot.

      Ross Tucker Speaks

      We paid one of the top sports scientists in the world to analyze the Shelby Houlihan doping case and CAS ruling. He has 2 pieces for us, the piece above is an opinion piece where he answers our questions. In a 2nd more technical piece, Ross goes through the CAS decision step by step and outlines in clear terms exactly what Houlihan argued and why he thinks CAS ultimately (correctly) ruled against her.

        Your latest American stars share their insights.

        Three legends of the sport.

        One of the greatest US runners ever.

        We chatted with Frank on the 50th anniversary of his Olympic Marathon gold

        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
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        Take Your Love of LetsRun to the Next Level
        Take Your Love of LetsRun to the Next Level