Kelati, the Bors, the Youngs, NXN champ Irene Riggs, and FL champ Karrie Baloga will all be racing USA XC in Richmond this weekend.
MB: 2023 USA XC is Saturday and it's LOADED (in the jr races). Official discussion thread
Archived Homepage For January 20, 2023
Archived Homepage For January 20, 2023
Other News of Note
- MB: Marc Scott isn't the only one joining the NN Running Team - 1500 WR holder Genzebe Dibaba joins as well As does 2022 European Championships Marathon silver medallist Maru Teferi from Israel.
- Belarus coach who allegedly tried to force an athlete to fly home from the Tokyo Olympics has been charged by AIU with improper conduct. "The AIU alleges that, in respect of these circumstances of Tsimanouskaya's removal from the Olympic Games, Maisevich did not act with integrity and acted in bad faith; failed to safeguard the athlete's dignity and his actions constituted verbal and mental harassment; and that he brought athletics generally into disrepute," said the integrity unit.
- The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has announced its Executive Committee for 2023 is to expand to 16 members
- Think you might be injured or sick? Try three days off
On The Boards
On The Boards
Our Written and Audio Weekly Recaps
The action in the New Year 2023 is starting to heat up and we break it down for you. Can someone now please organize a collegiate sub-16 4 x mile attempt with the likes of Stanford, UW and someone else?
LetsRun.com Track Talk
Sisson joined us after becoming the first American woman to go sub 67 in the half marathon. She talks Houston, her amazing 2022, what's on tap for 2023 and beyond!
Administrative News
- The long-standing member of the World Athletics Council got involved in the sport as a manager of his HS team and then repeated that role at Columbia. As a result, he says the greatest race he ever saw was Columbia's 4 x 800 Penn Relays win in 2007.
*WA Tribute
*MB: RIP Bob Hersh - Announcer at 6 Olympics games & big USATF/WA guy dies at 82 - Paul Tergat has been announced as ambassador of the World Athletics Cross Country Championships Bathurst 23, with one month to go until the 44th edition of the global showpiece in Australia. Tergat won 5 straight titles between 1995 and 1999 when everyone showed up and the US's best weren't scared to compete.
- Upcoming Olympic auction includes Greg Louganis swim trunks, 2020 Olympic gold and 1896 Olympic bronze for 2nd place finisher Yes, that's right. In 1896, second got you bronze.
- Investigator in charge of handling the complaint about the stop and search of Bianca Williams and Ricardo Dos Santos in UK says she quit her job as she says her report was 'watered down'
- Event-By-Event Top-10 NCAA Marks From Last Week
Marc Scott Going to Kenya
Scott, who is in Kenya now and hoping to work with coach Patrick Sang, reveals why he left BTC and reflects on his five years with the group that produced a 12:57 European indoor record and a World Indoor medal.
MB: Marc Scott Has Left Bowerman, Now With NN Running, Hoping to train with Kipchoge in Kenya
Random News
- Good Read: There Is A 200 Mile Ultramarathon In The UK That Runs Completely In A Dark Tunnel The race involves doing a one mile out and back 200 times in an old railway tunnel. Only 13 runners have finished in the three years of the race's existence. The race website describes it as "a mind-bending test of extreme endurance and sensory deprivation".
- A Narrow Start Lead To A Chaotic Pile-Up At The Start Of The Valencia 10k Multiple falls and injuries with one elite athlete dislocating their shoulder.
- British 400m Runner Martyn Rooney Reveals He's Visited Oscar Pistorious In Prison And Doesn't Believe Pistorius Meant To Kill His Girlfriend Rooney says he's visited Pistorius, his former training partner, twice in prison.
- Should you run early or late? A new study concludes that exercising later in the day may help control blood sugar and prevent Type 2 diabetes
Sprint News
- Update: Usain Bolt's $10 Million Investment With SSL Completely Wiped Out; He's Worried He Won't Recover The Money Which Was Meant Fore Retirement Bolt is one of multiple victims in what is being reported as a $1.2 billion fraud scheme.
*MB: Usain Bolt is scammed out of his life savings 🤦🏽♂️ Awful - Lolo Jones Reveals She's Had Three Different Men Stalking Her Over The Past Year One tried to break into her house and another broke into the Olympic training center and stayed overnight hoping to meet her.
- NCAA.com: Can the fastest NFL players beat the NCAA track stars? Here's what the numbers say Short answer: No.
More Recent Results
- Mizuki Matsuda Anchors Osaka To National Women's Ekiden Title She brought her team from 3rd to 1st on the final leg. But that was nothing compared to 9th grader Sheri Drury who set a record on the 3k leg, running 9:02 to pass 17 people.
- Spokane High School Invy Recap: Sadie Engelhardt Wins Mile In 4:47.55
- DyeStat: Oregon, USC Get Out To Fast Start At 2023 Cougar Classic Oregon's Micah Williams ran 6.54 for a NCAA-leading 60m win. Oregon's Jaydn Mays ran NCAA-leading times in the 60m (7.25) and 200m (23.18).
*Register Guard: Jorinde Van Klinken Breaks Oregon School Shot Put Record At UW Preview - Polish Runner Dominika Stelmach Sets Women's 12-Hour WR With 94.8 Miles (7:35 Pace) She broke the previous record by over 2 miles.
- Hiroki Hashimoto (62:19) And Mao Ichiyama (1:12:34) Win Okukuma Half Marathon In Japan
Looking Ahead This Indoor Season
- 10 Things To Look Forward To On 2023 World Athletics Indoor Tour Will Jakob Ingebrigtsen break Daniel Komen’s 7:24.90 3000m WR from 1998?
- Jakob Ingebrigtsen Shooting For His Tenth Senior European Title At The European Indoor Championships In March In Istanbul He hasn't said which distance (or distances) he'll race there.
- Global Medalists Chase Ealey, Auriol Dongmo And Jessica Schilder Announced For Karlsruhe Shot Put On January 27
(Kenyan) Distance / Sprint Stuff
- Eliud Kipchoge Says His 2023 Focus Is On Winning Boston He said, “I will be running the Boston Marathon. There is no other big plan this year, I need to win Boston."
- Kenyan Sprinter Evangeline Makena Makes Transition To XC In Style The 54.10 400m runner won the Athletics Kenya Nairobi Region XC Champs over the weekend.
- Eliud Kipchoge's 2:01:09 Marathon WR Ratified By World Athletics Two Jamaican sprint records were also ratified. Letsile Tebogo's 9.91 men's U20 record and the Jamaican women's world U20 4x100 (42.59).
More Doping News
- Kenyan 59:07 Half-Marathoner James Wangari Gets Second Doping Ban He was banned for 4-years in 2017.
- WADA Reports Return To Normal Testing Levels In 2021 After The Pandemic Significantly Hindered 2020 Testing Testing was up 61.2% from 2020 to 2021.
- AIU Will Review Decision By India Anti-Doping Agency To Reduce Ban Of Javelin Thrower From Four Years To One Shivpal Singh claimed his positive test came from a contaminated supplement.
2023 Houston
Sisson ran 66:52 to take 18 seconds off her own record but finished 2nd to Ethiopia's Hiwot Gebremaryam. Tirunesh Dibaba was never a factor in her return and was 16th in 71:35. In the full marathon, Hitomi Niiya (2:19:24) nearly broke the Japanese record. Plus the LRC singlet set a new pb.
Bonus Podcast
His story is the Dreams Become Reality type we all hope for. From high school band member to baseball player, to finding himself unsponsored out of college and working at Walmart, could he really make the 2024 Olympics (he was 4th at the last Trials).
Kipchoge's Gonna Have To Earn This One
A super Boston field just got even more super. Tanzania's Gabriel Geay (2:03:00), Brazil's Daniel Do Nascimento (2:04:51) and others including two top Americans join a field that already included Eliud Kipchoge, Evans Chebet, and Benson Kipruto.
Doping is one of the dark sides of the sport and it's time to bring back our LetsRun.com Doping Polls. We explain why they are back and open up voting for the world records on the track.
2023 Boston Is Going To Be Amazing
The 2023 Boston Marathon will feature a RECORD 5 sub-2:18 women and 16 sub-2:21 women on its start line.
Previous 2023 Boston Coverage:
The 2024 Olympic Schedule Looks Fantastic
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Athing Mu, and Jakob Ingebrigtsen could all be interested in doubling up in Paris. We run the numbers to see how feasible each double/triple is. We've got good news - almost any double/triple you want to see is very doable.
Jonathan Gault's latest feature
25 Kenyan athletes were sanctioned by the Athletics Integrity Unit or ADAK in 2022. We spoke to agents and AIU head Brett Clothier to figure out what's going on.
A Look back at 2022
From "Poopgate" to the Abbott World Marathon Majors screwing over Eliud Kipchoge to Devon Allen's DQ to Max Siegel's salary, 2022 was a wild year on and off the track.
We Look Back At 2022s Highs 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
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.
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.
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?
- MB: Has Kenya found a super drug? 2021 Boston champ is one of 10 Kenyans to test positive for triamcinolone acetonide since 2021
- 23 Kenyans Have Been Banned For Doping In 2022 2:23:40 marathoner Betty Wilson Lempus (won the Paris Half in 65:46 last year) was also banned and both she and Kipyokei were charged with obstructing the AIU’s investigation by providing false information or documentation.
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?
- David Woods' Indy Star Expose: Christian college coach created a culture of doping and sex, star runners allege.
- Gregg Doyel Indy Star: Coach goes to prison, so Huntington hired his wife
- Huntington University places head cross country coach and assistant on leave
- MB: Coach-athlete sex, rape and PEDs at Huntington University? Nick Johnson scandal gets grimmer thanks to David Woods
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.
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
