The 20-year-old Kessler won the first road mile world title as Diribe Welteji upset Faith Kipyegon in the women's mile. Peres Jepchirchir won a record-tying 3rd title in the women's half.
Archived Homepage For October 02, 2023
Archived Homepage For October 02, 2023
1st WA Road Champs
1st WA Road Champs
Granted the "world record" in the road mile was a joke, but Kessler was the surprise winner at the World Road Running Champs.
On The Boards
On The Boards
NCAA XC
- Top-Ranked NC State Women Beat #4 Notre Dame 44 To 53 Points At Joe Piane Invy NC State had 5 in the top 15, led by Kelsey Chmiel in 2nd (16:15). Alabama's Doris Lemngole won in 16:05. On the men's side, #9 Notre Dame beat Florida State 87 to 95 points. Kansas' Chandler Gibbens won the individual race in 23:08. *Results
- Penn State's Evan Dorenkamp (23:53) And The Yale Men, South Carolina's Judy Kosgei (19:54 For 6k) And Utah Valley Women Win At Paul Short *Results
- Arkansas Men And Women Dominate Their Home Meet At Chile Pepper Festival Arkansas' Kirami Yego (23:14) and Paityn Noe (16:09) won individually.
- DII Rivals Adams State And Grand Valley Faced Off At Lou Classic The Grand Valley men beat Adams State by just 1 point while the Grand Valley women won their race by 37 points.
Shoe News
- The World's Oldest Shoes? Sandals Found In Bat Cave In Spain Are Thousands Of Years Old Estimated at 6,200 years old, this may be the oldest footwear ever discovered in Europe.
- WSJ: How Adidas Outran Nike With Its $500 Super Shoe Unlike its other shoes that adidas tests with ordinary runners, they only tested them with elite athletes. They also developed a new rubber which saved weight without sacrificing grip.
Doping News
- Nijel Amos Accused Of Violating The Terms Of Doping Ban By Still Associating With The Sport He was recently photographed at the launch of a marathon in Botswana, alongside another past doper, Amantle Montsho.
- WADA Seeking Answers From Indian Athletics Officials Over Meet That Had Mass Withdrawls After It Got Out Anti-Doping Officials Were There The federation president also said they are looking into the issue, but talking about the 100m final where seven of the eight sprinters pulled out he said, "There is no rule set by WADA by which we can actually take action on the seven."
- WADA Publishes 2024 Prohibited List They note an important update is banning the narcotic tramadol in competition.
Olympic News
- France Fighting Against Bed Bug Problem Ahead of Paris Olympics The bed bug problem in France (and especially Paris) is so bad that it's even an issue at the Paris airport.
- Russian Athletes To Compete As Neutrals At The Paralympics The Paralympic Committee voted against a full ban on Russia and Belarus.
- USA Today: IOC Still "Dodging The Question" On Whether Russians And Belarusians Will Be At The Olympics And It May Be Different For Each Sport
- Warsaw, Poland Is Bidding For The 2036 Olympics Poland has never hosted the Olympics before and never made a bid to host the summer Games. They've had two failed bids to host the Winter Olympics.
- Athens 2004 Olympic Stadium Closed Due To Concerns Over Roof Safety
LRC's NCAA XC Previews
Tuohy, who won the individual last year, opted to return to Raleigh and is one of four women on the NC State roster who finished in the top 20 last year.
NC State women without Tuohy win Joe Piane Invite This race is generating a lot of buzz on the messageboard. *Discuss *All NCAA results
Our pre/midseason top 10 is here. NAU is loaded, but OK State could be even better than '22, when they lost NCAAs to NAU on a tiebreaker.
Weekend NCAA XC Preview It's not as big of a weekend as last week but Paul Short and Chile Pepper are taking place.
Better Running Shoes
The ASICS SUPERBLAST tops the first LetsRun.com shoe rankings for everyday trainers. The shoe is a worthy winner as it is the epitome as to how super shoe technology has made its way over to everyday trainers. Asics and HOKA each put 3 shoes in the top 10.
These Interesting Articles Passed Our Vetting Process
- Recommended Read After incredible 2023 campaign, Yared Nuguse is celebrating by attending HS JV xc meet in his native Louisville but still dreaming big: "I think I can get the world record.” A great article.
*MB: After attending high school JV xc meet, Yared Nuguse talks big, "I think I can get the world record.” - Former HJ star Erin Aldrich-Shean is thrilled John Rembao is no longer coaching after he allegedly sexually assaulted her and many others
- Sonia O’Sullivan is dumbfounded by Assefa's 2:11:53: How does any woman run a marathon 11 minutes faster than the Irish record?
- Moses Tanui says he had no other options than to call of Eldoret City Marathon He didn't want a repeat of last year when the winner's weren't paid their $$ until a year later.
- Joshua Cheptegei's marathon debut in Valencia won't be a guaranteed victory - Kibiwott Kandie and 5 sub-2:05 guys will also race
- After Asian Games conclude, India says it will investigate why so many competitors dropped out of a competition once the drug testers and age verifiers showed up
- Former Cornell XC runner Taylor Knibb, who soon will be a 2-time Olympian, may win Hawaii Ironman
Reads we found interesting
- Seb Coe writes about how he feels the Budapest Worlds was his 1st at WA president, and promises a new spectacle in 2026 "2026 is important for us because, from this point, it’s the first year where we don’t have a World Championships or an Olympic Games, so we’re going to create a three-night athletics spectacle. It will be a television product. We’ll take a limited number of the very best athletes per event and there will be a big prize pot."
- MB: 2024 Boston marathon cutoff times are farthest below qualifying times in history - 5:29 faster than qualifying times It drives us nuts that a 'qualifying' time isn't really a qualifier in some years. How about just setting a time that if you beat, you are in. 1/3rd of the 'qualifiers' didn't get into the race. To get in at ages 18-34 as a male, you had to run 2:54:31, unless you signed up for the non-binary category and then you get in by running 30 minutes slower. Why a sporting competition would ask for someone's gender and not sex is illogical. Someone's gender should be viewed like religion - none of your business.
- World champion Marco Arop talks 800m gold and South Sudanese pride When asked about what his relationship with Athing Mu is like, he replied, "Every time I run into her I feel like I’m looking at a sister."
- Why did so many women’s distance world records get smashed this year? This article addresses a point we raised on this week's podcast, where we pointed out a lot of men's records fell as well (2k, 2 mile and steeple).
- Eldoret City Marathon - which was supposed to take place this weekend - is postponed for 3rd time this year We bet it doesn't take place at all in 2023 as they don't have the $$.
- British ultrarunner blazes to new Appalachian Trail FKT He averaged 48.7 miles per day for 45 days straight.
- 20 yrs ago - Sept. 28, 2023 - Paul Tergat became the 1st human to break 2:05 with his 2:04:55 in Berlin
LRC Exclusives
A woman has run 2:11:53 for the marathon - that's equivalent to a 3:56.21 mile according to WA - which seems shocking but Rojo tells you why it may not really be that crazy if you think about it.
After Assefa's WR, sadly doping allegations swarmed the Internet, but could it simply be the shoes? "I hate these shoes, and I truly wish the authorities had acted to prevent this entirely foreseeable situation," writes Ross Tucker.
World Road Running Champs Are Sunday In Riga, Latvia
- World Athletics Road Running Champs Men's And Women's Mile Previews Faith Kipyegon leads a competitive women's field while Kenyan under-20 athlete Reynold Cheruiyot (3:30 1500m PB) leads the men. Addey Wiley, Sam Prakel and Hobbs Kessler will rep Team USA.
- Men's And Women's 5k Previews Berihu Aregawi (12:40 track PB) vs Yomif Kejelcha (12:41 track PB). World XC champ Beatrice Chebet (14:05 track PB) leads the women.
- Men's And Women's Half-Marathon Previews Olympic Marathon champ Peres Jepchirchir goes for world half title number three while Sara Hall leads the US charge. On the men's side there are three sub-59 Kenyans and too many sub-hour men to count.
- World Athletics Profile: Hirut Meshesha, Diribe Welteji and Freweyni Hailu Lead New Generation Of Ethiopians To Riga And Beyond
- 67:17 Half Runner Samantha Harrison Leads Team GB At World Road Running Champs She'll be wearing the new adidas $500 super shoes.
- Perese Jepchirchir turned 30 on Wednesday, wants to win 3rd World Half title on Sunday
These Links barely passed our vetting process
- Andre De Grasse is now backing startups He generally lends "his star-power endorsement to their marketing efforts in exchange for equity stakes in the businesses."
- Stanford's star frosh Amy Bunnage of Australia talks about how she just signed an NIL deal with On
- Delhi half is Oct. 15 and Daniel Ebenyo and Almaz Ayana will be there
More Shoe Stuff
- New $500 Adidas Super Shoes Going For $3000 As First Batch Sells Out In Hours These are sad times for our sport.
*MB: Adizero Pro Evo 1 sold out in most countries - What do past Aussie and Kiwi greats think of the super shoes after Assefa's WR? Rod Dixon and Olympic champ Ralph Doubell don't have a problem with them, "Yesteryear is yesteryear," said Doubell but former World indoor champ Tamsyn Manou wants WA to "re-open an investigation".
Not Your Everyday Running News
- Kenyan Robert Ngeno Gets Chased By Stray Dog During Buenos Aires Marathon He was leading the race at 38k, but after having to run away from the dog, ended up slipping to third and finishing in 2:10:16. Cornelius Kiplagat won in 2:08:29; 2016 Olympic 10,000m silver medalist Paul Tanui was 2nd in 2:09:57.
- High School Ekiden Canceled After 22 Runners Stung By Killer Hornets At least three athletes were taken to the hospital for treatment.
- About 200 Runners At Quad Cities Marathon Get Stopped For Several Minutes By Freight Train At 17 Mile Mark The race director said they were afraid this would happen and they have no control over the train schedule. If that's the case, they should pick a different route.
- 90-Year-Old Sets Age Group American Record At Chicago Half-Marathon With 3:33:47
Japan Running News
- Japan Has A Ton Of Fast 5000m High Schoolers: 17 One One Team Went Sub-14 In One Race The fastest high schooler of the weekend was at a separate meet where Sota Orita ran 13:27.78 (#2 on the Japan HS all-time list) in a race won by Edwin Kisalsak in 13:20.75.
- Joseph Karanja (13:27) And Judy Jepngetich (14:57) Win 5000m Races On Day 3 At Japan National Corporate Track Champs
*Emmanuel Kiplangat Wins 10,000m In 27:27 On Japan Corporate Champs Day 2
*Kenyan Women Sweep First Day Of Japan National Corporate Championships
XC News
- Belgrade, Serbia Steps Up To Host 2024 World XC Champs After They Event Was Stripped From Croatia Croatia was forced to pull out after World Athletics said their "preparations [were] not sufficiently advanced." Now the meet will be March 30th instead of February 10th. *WA Release
- NAU Men Remain Ranked #1 In Latest NCAA XC Coaches' Poll OSU and BYU stayed 2-3 while Wisconsin moved to #4. Stanford dropped from 4th to9th. *Regional Rankings
- No Changes To Top 4 Women's Teams In Latest NCAA XC Coaches' Poll NC State is still ranked #1 followed by NAU, OSU and Notre Dame. Stanford made a big jump to #5. *Regional Rankings
- DyeStat Preview: Hosts Arkansas Seek Another Sweep At Chile Pepper XC Festival
Sprint Stuff
Boling passed on his final year of NCAA eligibility to sign with Hawi Sports Management. No word on a shoe sponsor yet.
- Marcell Jacobs' New Coach Is Rana Reider The Olympic 100m champ has struggled since the Tokyo Games and says he is working with Reider to prepare for Paris 2024.
- Netherlands' Two-Time 200m World Champ Dafne Schippers Retires At Age-31 Schippers hadn't raced since 2022 due to injury. She retires as the 6th fastest woman ever in the 200m with a 21.63 PB
This Week's Pod
On this week's show we spend most of the first hour breaking down the 2023 Berlin marathon where Tigst Assefa ran an incredible 2:11:53. How shocked were we by the run? What it made it possible - pacing, shoes, talent, or doping? Eliud Kipchoge got the men's win in the 8th fastest time in history but is he starting to slip? The US men did not do well - will they even get three into the Olympics on world ranking? Should brun the marathon Trails or does he have a better shot in the 5000? Reid Buchanan ripped Kipchoge on twitter - fair our foul? We break it down for you.
Eugene, Oregon will host the US Olympic Track and Field Trials and Rojo is irate. The NCAA xc season got underway and some super freshmen impressed while others totally bombed. Plus Brandon Miller and a ton of top sprinters have new coaches.
Shoe News
- Former Olympians Say Super Shoes Have "Devalued" Marathon World Records Tim Hutchings says, "One big mark of greatness is record-setting, and that’s a devalued currency. It’s one that could and should be raised to its previous value, if only someone used the data to show the big differences made by shoe tech. This generation deserves that and so a fair comparison with history."
- Tigist Assefa Kissed Her New Adidas Super Shoe And Raised It Over Her Head After Setting The Marathon WR In Berlin The shoe became available to the public this week. Apparently it comes with a disclaimer that the $500 shoe is only designed for a single use (one marathon).
- Nike Has A Trail Super Shoe Now The Ultrafly is the Vaporfly for the trails.
Negative News: Crazy Doping Story From India
- 50% Of Indian Athletes Flee Meet After Drug Testers Show Up Only one athlete was left to run the men's 100m final at the Delhi State Athletics Championships. And a steeplechase athlete crossed the line and just kept running to try to evade drug testers. Apparently a video clip from the locker room showed "piles of used syringes."
- Olympic Bobsledder And Former Track Star Aja Evans Files Lawsuit Against Chiropractor Alleging Sexual Abuse Evans says the chiropractor groped her on multiple occasions over a decade and that he photographed her and other athletes without permission. Evans was a former All-American track athlete before switching to bobsled and winning bronze at the 2014 Olympics. She is currently serving a drug ban.
2024 Diamond League
- 2024 Diamond League Schedule Announced - Will Have The Most Meets Ever With 15 The season will start with two meets in China in April before moving to Doha in May and ending with Brussels in September.
- Brussels Will Host The Diamond League Final In 2024 It will be the first time since 2019 that they host the last DL meet of the season.
*MB: 2024 Diamond League Final will be a Brussels returning to Europe
Drug News
- NCAA Committee Recommends Changes To Remove Ban On Cannabis The three NCAA divisions will have to vote to decide if they will actually remove it from the banned list.
- WADA Announces New Consequences For RUSADA; Imposes Multiple Sanctions WADA's compliance review committee found that RUSADA has not addressed "non-conformities" with its national legislation that were pointed out in 2022.
Berlin Marathon
Berlin Marathon
Assefa took the women's world record to another stratosphere as she skipped the 2:12s and 2:13s and ran 2:11:53 to shatter Brigid Kosgei's 2:14:04 world record. Eliud Kipchoge got the men's win in 2:02:42 as no Americans hit the Olympic standard.
Kipchoge surpassed Haile Gebrselassie for most Berlin wins and now owns 5 of the 8 fastest times in history.
Berling MB Talk
- Official 2023 Berlin Marathon Live Discussion Thread - 3:15 am ET (9:15 am in Berlin)
- American men bombed, are we not going to send 3 to the Olympics?
- QUEEN ASSEFA 2:11:53 WR
- 2:11:53 - not possible w/o drugs, supershoes?
- Man I feel for Scott Fauble, DNF before 30k
- Jared Ward battling back, he may beat Assefa
- Kipchoge needs to just focus on 3 peating at Olympics
- I don't think Kipchoge runs faster than 204-205
- Tadese Takele, 21 years old future marathon crack
More From Berlin
- Orange Climate Change Protesters Tried Blocking Runners At The Berlin Marathon They were out on the course throwing orange paint all over the road, but thankfully police forcibly removed them from the course. *Video
- Eliud Kipchoge Celebrates Berlin Win By Dancing In A Nightclub (Video)
- Amanal Petros' 2:04:58 (9th Place) Is The Highlight European Performance In Berlin He took off more than a minute from his own German national record and moved to #4 on the all-time European list. On the women's side, GB's Charlotte Purdue finished 9th in 2:22:17 (#3 on the all-time UK list).
*MB: Amanal Petros, 2:04:58, has achieved what Julien Wanders should have achieved
Weekend XC Action
(link updated) NAU got individual wins from Drew Bosley (23:20) and Elise Stearns (16:18 for 5k) to lead their teams to dominant wins over the BYU men and Stanford women. *Results
*MB: ROCKY MF HANSEN, Best true freshman this year?
- Cal Poly Men And BYU Women Win Bill Dellinger Invy LSU's Davis Bove (23:40) and Oregon State's Kaylee Mitchell (19:37 for 6k) won the individual titles. Oregon freshman Simeon Birnbaum (competing unattached) finished 3rd in his collegiate debut (23:44).
*MB: Simeon Birnbaum 3rd!!!
*MB: UCLA- Men 9th, Women 6th - USTFCCCA Weekend XC Round-Up: California Baptist Men And Women Take College Team Titles At Roy Griak
- DyeStat Recap: Stevens Point Boys And Wayzata Girls Win At Roy Griak Invy
More Road News
Young beat out Willy Fink (28:52) and Leonard Korir (28:54) while Kelati had a dominant win over Ednah Kurgat (32:40).
*Better Late Than Never: USATF Puts Out Recap Four Days Later
- Sam Prakel (4:01) And Nikki Hiltz's (4:27) Road Mile WRs Ratified By World Athletics The road mile only became an official WR as of September 1. There have obviously been much faster times ran for a mile on the road in the past and these times will likely be broken at the World Athletics Road Champs in October.
Congrats to the newlyweds
Next up. A honeymoon in the Maldives.
Pre-Marriage: LRC Jakob Ingebrigtsen Is Getting Married on Saturday - Here's What It Will Be Like The world's fastest miler is getting married on Saturday and thank to the Norwegian press, we have all of the details.
European News
- Scottish 800m Runner Jemma Reekie Wants To Win A Medal In Front Of The Home Crowd At The Glasgow World Indoor Champs Next Year It would be Reekie's first senior medal (she was 4th at the Tokyo Olympics).
- Vote For The European Men's And Women's Athlete Of The Year Last year's winners were Femke Bol and a tie between Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Mondo Duplantis for the men. All three are candidates again this year.
- Vote For The European Rising Stars Of The Year NCAA 400m champ Rhasidat Adeleke is among the candidates.
- France's Makenson Gletty And Germany’s Sophie Weissenberg Lead After Day 1 Of Talence Multi Meet
2024 Olympic Trials
Eugene fatigue is real but don't tell that USATF. This will be the fourth straight US championships at Hayward Field and the fifth straight US Olympic Trials. Eugene paid them at least $3 million for the last Trials and we all know that USATF needs at least $3 million just to pay Max Siegel. Ridiculous.
Ingebrigtsen Wants ALL of the WRs
After his double victory at Pre, Ingebrigtsen shared advice for those attempting double threshold and why he believes he can break every WR from 1500 through the marathon.
Better Running Shoes a Click Away
Want to know what running shoes real runners like best? We've got some answers for you as our Better Running Shoe review site is now open to the public. Real reviews, from real runners, with data science.
XC Super Fan
Mahon, 61, has been to more than 52 meets a year over 38 seasons and has no plans on slowing down.
Max Siegel & USATF Are Getting Sued
Estes lawsuit stems from USATF's decision to disqualify Chattanooga's bid for the 2024 Olympic Marathon Trials because Estes worked as a consultant on Chattanooga's bid. The idea that Siegel cited that conflict of interest as a deal breaker is laughable to us considering "under (Max) Siegel’s watch, USA Track and Field has awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of business to an Indianapolis marketing firm that once advertised itself as “a Max Siegel company.”
XC Video Game
The XC video game that former Wisco runner Ryan Craven spent time developing during much of the Covid lockdowns is now available to play on your phone and it's free!!
Justyn Knight Joins The BTC
The former NCAA star announced earlier today and he is now a Nike and BTC man. We talked to him before it was announced about why he made the move and what does he have think he has left in the tank?
The Latest LRC Feature
Zouhair Talbi has had an unconventional path to 2023 Boston Marathon where he became one of a handful of men who can say they beat Eliud Kipchoge in the marathon.
A legend speaks
Michael Johnson was the guest on the LetsRun.com Track Talk podcast on the anniversary of his 19.32 double gold world record to share his thoughts on the sport and its current crop of stars.
2024 Trials Update
Are the mid-day start times great so it can be shown live on TV? Or too hot? We give you our thoughts.
Coaching News
Brosnan, who coached the greatest boys' HS distance team in history at Newbury Park, has confirmed to LetsRun.com that he won't be returning for a 2nd year at UCLA. "I'm disappointed. I'm bummed. I'm upset. I don't want to pretend like [I didn’t want to stay]. I wanted to be there. And I wish they would have kept me," said Brosnan.
Karsten Warholm Q&A
Recently Alex Geula sat down with Karsten Warholm and his coach, Leif Olav Alnes, at the IK Tjalve club in Oslo to understand Warholm's beginnings, his career, and the sprint side of Norwegian training.
The Most Untalented 3:29 Guy Ever?
Is Nordås the least talented runner to break 3:30 in history? He thinks so, "I can guarantee you I'm the slowest sub 3:30 guy in history." Text highlights from his appearance on the LRC Track Talk podcast.
Paywall lifted!
Paywall lifted!
The Latest JG Feature
What links Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the NAU cross country team, and Sebastian Coe? Double threshold training, which is having a moment in 2023. Note, most of this article is behind our SC paywall for 72 hours (until Saturday).
How do you explain the ridiculous indoor distance times?
Are all the fast times merely a product of supershoes? Or is it something more? We spoke to coaches Dathan Ritzenhein, Jason Vigilante and Dave Smith to figure it out.
Kipchoge loving the LetsRun Shirt in Berlin
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
