Every week, we attempt to make the game extra enjoyable to comply with by placing the prior week’s motion in perspective for you. Previous editions of our Week That Was weekly recap may be discovered right here. Bought a tip, query or remark? Please name us at 844-LETSRUN (538-7786), e-mail us, or publish in our discussion board.
Should you missed our tribute to Henry Rono or our in depth protection of the 2024 USA Indoor champs or Friday’s distance meet at Boston College, catch up now.
By the way in which, earlier as we speak we printed an EXCELLENT visitor column by Andy Hardt on what monitor followers are going to overlook as a consequence of Kelvin Kiptum‘s unhappy loss of life. Test it out right here: LRC The Unfinished Marathon: What We Have Misplaced With Kelvin Kiptum’s Tragic Demise.
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****Noah Lyles is a supreme expertise and he’s in nice form at first of the Olympic 12 months…however the identical can also be true of Letsile Tebogo
This part was written by Robert Johnson.
One of many larger storylines of the US indoor champs final weekend was that Noah Lyles took down world report holder Christian Coleman to win the 60m in a world-leading 6.43.
For the FIRST time, Noah Lyles defeats Christian Coleman at 60 meters to win a nationwide championship! 🤯
📺: @NBC & @peacock | #USATFIndoors pic.twitter.com/1I03EGsOeE
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) February 17, 2024
If I informed you a couple of years in the past that Noah Lyles would someday be the world chief within the 60m, you wouldn’t have believed me.
Within the final Olympic 12 months, 2021, Lyles was the 250th-fastest man on the planet within the 60. Earlier than final 12 months, he’d by no means put up even one of many 10 quickest 60m instances on the planet in a given 12 months.
Yr
60m sb
World Rank
2017
6.63
61
2018
6.57
24
2019
DNC
N/A
2020
DNC
N/A
2021
6.76
250
2022
6.55
19
2023
6.51
8
2024
6.43A
1
Now he’s #1 within the 60, and if any on-line sports activities books had been taking early bets (I haven’t discovered any which can be), he’d positively be the favourite for the 100m and 200m golds in Paris this summer season.
However the favorites don’t all the time win gold, do they?
Return in time three years and inform me how many individuals had been predicting on the finish of February that Marcell Jacobs and Andre De Grasse can be your Olympic 100m and 200m champions.
Once I stated a couple of years in the past that Noah Lyles would by no means win an Olympic gold, I didn’t say that as a result of I believed he wasn’t gifted. It simply appeared to me that he was doubtless previous his peak and that there have been two supreme youthful skills mendacity in wait in Letsile Tebogo and Erriyon Knighton — each of whom had lanky physique sorts that jogged my memory of Usain Bolt.
In hindsight, it’s clear that Lyles was not previous his peak — he was merely off his recreation in 2021 both because of the anti-depressant treatment he was taking that 12 months or lack of followers within the stands in Tokyo. However the two lanky supreme skills are nonetheless mendacity in wait.
Tebogo, the world U20 champion within the 100 in 2021 and 2022, is the one human being I’ve ever seen acquire floor on Noah Lyles on the finish of a 200m. That occurred final 12 months in London (video under).
And what did Tebogo do on Saturday? Effectively he flashed wonderful kind by working a world report within the 300m in South Africa, working 30.69 (the video under says 30.71 however his time was finally corrected down).
That is how Letsile Tebogo broke the world 300m report over in South Africa 🔥
His time of 30.71 betters Wayde van Niekerk’s mark of 30.81 from 2017 💥
Tebogo has additionally gone faster than Michael Johnson and Usain Bolt over the space 🇧🇼pic.twitter.com/OK9xX46AoZ
— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) February 17, 2024
Admittedly, the 300m isn’t an occasion that’s run fairly often, and Tebogo’s race got here in Pretoria, which advantages from some elevation (4,400 toes). However solely three different males in historical past had damaged 31 within the occasion earlier than Tebogo, and they’re three of the best names in sprinting historical past, males who all received Olympic gold and set world data: Wayde van Niekerk, Michael Johnson, and Usain Bolt.
The 4 Quickest Males in 300m Historical past1. Letsile Tebogo – 30.69a – February 17, 2024 2. Wayde van Niekerk – 30.81 – June 28, 20173. Michael Johnson – 30.85a – March 24, 20004. Usain Bolt – 30.97 – Could 27, 2010
When Michael Johnson appeared on our Monitor Speak podcast final 12 months, he was shocked to study my Lyles prediction. However Johnson was tremendous impressed by Tebogo’s run over the weekend and believes big-time in his expertise. (By the way in which — Johnson’s 30.85 pb, which stood because the WR for 17 years, was run in Pretoria, identical to Tebogo’s 30.69).
There’s all the time discuss of who’s the subsequent nice one in monitor. The hype and promise often fizzles. However Letsile Tebogo is among the uncommon ones I’d wager on!
— Michael Johnson (@MJGold) February 17, 2024
I don’t know what’s going to occur in Paris within the 100m and 200m however I’m fairly darn assured that Lyles and Tebogo received’t be sharing any gold medals (though it’s potential they might every win one) and that’s what’s going to make the Olympics so particular. Let’s hope we get the equal of Powell-Lewis from 1991 Tokyo or Gebrselassie-Tergat in 2000.
Extra Lyles/Tebogo discuss on the messageboard: MB: Letsile Tebogo breaks the 300m world report*MB: It’s over proper?! Noah Lyles 2024 Olympic 100m Champion*MB: Can we discuss Noah Lyles?*MB: Rojo will get ROASTED by World Champ Noah Lyles within the press convention
***Josh Kerr is doing World Indoors and the lads’s 3000m is now must-watch TV
One of many largest questions of the winter lastly has a solution: sure, reigning 1500m world champion Josh Kerr will run the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, and he’ll achieve this within the 3000m. It’s a win for the game, notably the Scottish followers. Frankly, it could have been ridiculous if there was a World Championship in Scotland and each of the Scots to win world titles not too long ago (Kerr and 2022 world 1500 champ Jake Wightman) failed to indicate up. Wightman, nonetheless racing his means again into form after lacking the 2023 season as a consequence of a foot harm, was already out however Kerr, after working an 8:00.67 2-mile world report at Millrose on February 11, has determined to offer it a go.
Kerr’s coach Danny Mackey had expressed reservations about including a bunch of additional races to his schedule and including additional bodily and emotional stress throughout an Olympic 12 months. However with British Athletics altering its choice coverage to permit Kerr to skip the trials and with the 3000m being a straight ultimate at World Indoors, Kerr will solely must run one race. As for the stress, Kerr, an Edinburgh native, will undoubtedly be one of many faces of the meet, however he revealed at Millrose that he has employed “4 or 5” folks to assist him take care of off-the-track stuff now that he’s a world champion.
The tip result’s that Kerr might be at Worlds, and he’ll be dealing with one of the vital aggressive fields of the meet within the males’s 3000. Kerr’s rival Jakob Ingebrigtsen is not going to be there as he recovers from an Achilles harm, however US champ Yared Nuguse, who beat Kerr in a terrific 1500 duel in Zurich final 12 months, is working and enters in large kind after successful his second straight Wanamaker Mile in 3:47. Ethiopia’s Selemon Barega, the reigning champ and 2021 Olympic 10k champ who has run 7:25 this season, is one other large title on the entry listing, and Barega’s countryman Getnet Wale (7:24 pb, #4 all-time indoors) can also be working. However world indoor report holder Lamecha Girma is not going to be in Glasgow. Girma has been racing indoors – he ran 7:29 in Boston on February 4 after which 4:51 for 2000m in Lievin on February 10 – however his agent Hussein Makke informed LetsRun.com that Girma is targeted on outdoor on condition that it’s an Olympic 12 months.
And whereas Wightman is sitting out, it might nonetheless be a really huge meet for Scottish athletes in Glasgow. Kerr might be among the many favorites within the 3000, Laura Muir might be within the medal combine within the 3000, and Jemma Reekie introduced herself as a gold-medal contender after successful the 800 on the British champs on Sunday in 1:58.24.
Some had been upset this week by the dimensions of the British squad for Glasgow, notably on the lads’s facet, the place solely six athletes had been named to the group. British Athletics drew criticism final summer season for its harsh choice coverage for the 2023 Worlds in Budapest the place they had been targeted on solely choosing athletes who might goal a top-8 end.
However this time round, it’s arduous to pin the blame on British Athletics. For one, the complete group has but to be named – British Athletics stated it could be naming extra athletes as soon as World Athletics points invites following the finalization of the Highway to Glasgow listing this week. The Brits even have a bunch of certified athletes who, for varied causes, have elected to skip World Indoors: Wightman, Neil Gourley, Dina Asher-Smith, Keely Hodgkinson, Katarina Johnson-Thompson, Zharnel Hughes.
MB: UK Athletics continues to be a joke
***World Athletics wants to increase its quota allocation system to all nationwide championships, not simply the marathon
We’ve lengthy held the idea that monitor & subject doesn’t want extra meets — it simply wants extra meets that matter. Meets the place successful and dropping means one thing — assume highschool state meets, NCAA championships or convention meets, nationwide championships, Worlds, Olympics, and so forth. — typically are fairly standard.
Alongside these traces, we actually want World Athletics would prolong its “quota reallocation system” past the marathon in order that it applies to all occasions.
On the British champs final week, Piers Copeland received an exciting males’s 1500 however he received’t be going to Worlds as he doesn’t have the usual whereas the 2nd and third placers do.
It was actually fairly the race. Copeland had the center to attend for the within to open up and nonetheless had time to place his finger as much as his mouth to silence the group.
🚀 @PiersCopeland1 turning on the afterburners to safe a well-known win on the #UKIndoorChamps. pic.twitter.com/f1wOZlHzIM
— British Athletics (@BritAthletics) February 18, 2024
If a nationwide governing physique is looking it a “well-known win,” then shouldn’t or not it’s worthy of a spot at Worlds? It’s not as if Copeland can be taking the spot of an athlete from one other nation — Nice Britain is sending two males within the 1500 both means.
If the quota allocation system had existed for USA Indoors, then it’s potential we’d have gotten to see a Yared Nuguse vs Cole Hocker showdown within the 3k. As an alternative, Hocker opted for the 1500 solely as he didn’t have the 3k commonplace (Facet be aware: It’s additionally loopy that World Athletics doesn’t take transformed 2-mile instances for the 3000 commonplace.)
***Leonard Korir strikes all the way down to #70* on Highway to Paris listing after Seville Marathon
Though he didn’t race, final weekend was an enormous one for US Olympic Marathon Trials third placer Leonard Korir. That’s as a result of the Seville Marathon was held on Sunday, and it is among the deepest marathons on the planet. Forty-one guys broke 2:10 and the highest 17 finishers all ran beneath the two:08:10 Olympic commonplace.
In fact, lots of these males got here from international locations who already had three certified athletes for Paris. Listed here are those who weren’t already certified:
Suldan Hassan, Sweden: 2:07:36Rory Linkletter, Canada: 2:08:01Phil Sesemann, Nice Britain: 2:08:04Carlos Diaz, Chile: 2:08:04
Korir entered the weekend ranked #68 on the Highway to Paris listing and now he’s all the way down to #70*. Keep in mind, the highest 80 as of Could 5 qualify for the Olympics.
*Replace: LetsRun.com reader Carole Fuchs factors out that, as of February 20, the Highway to Paris listing solely contains two Ethiopians though three are certified. As soon as that’s remedied, Korir will transfer all the way down to #71.
Korir has to outlive one other 10 weeks earlier than the Highway to Paris listing is finalized, and he could have to be a couple of spots increased than #80 as soon as World Athletics accounts for universality locations (international locations with zero certified athletes in any occasion can enter their best-ranked athlete within the 100, 800, or marathon, however which may be offset if not everybody within the prime 80 enters the race). However Korir additionally has the power to enhance his rating, both by working a half marathon or by attempting to get the usual at a spring marathon. Beforehand, USATF had stated athletes couldn’t chase the usual however Korir’s coach Scott Simmons says USATF has informed him Korir can chase the usual if he decides it’s essential.
We’re curious to see if American marathoners change their method forward of the 2028 Olympics, notably because the auto commonplace is prone to get even faster for the subsequent cycle. Proper now, most American professionals race some mixture of Boston/Chicago/New York. Of these, solely Chicago is a flat course, and the climate doesn’t all the time cooperate. Evaluate that to Seville and Valencia, the place dozens of males have run sub-2:08:10 in recent times.
Variety of males sub-2:08:10, 2020-24
Yr
Seville
Valencia
Chicago
2020
14
17
Not held (COVID)
2021
Not held (COVID)
16
3
2022
9
19
6
2023
17
28
7
2024
17
N/A
N/A
Now we have little doubt that if everybody who raced on the 2024 US Olympic Trials had lined up in Seville as a substitute, at the very least three People would have damaged 2:08:10. Come the subsequent Olympic cycle, will People flock to Seville and Valencia in an try to hit the usual? Or will they continue to be stateside, the place their possibilities of getting the usual are far smaller however the place the looks charges are a lot larger?
***
Talking of Seville, we obtained an attention-grabbing be aware from BYU coach Ed Eyestone after the race. He despatched us the next picture from the 2019 NCAA outside championships in Austin, when BYU certified six males within the 10,000.
After Seville, the highest three males within the pyramid are actually virtually actually going to the 2024 Olympics. Conner Mantz (prime) and Clayton Younger (center proper) went 1-2 on the US Olympic Trials and Rory Linkletter (center left) might be going for Canada except two Canadians run quicker than 2:08:01 earlier than Could 5. Connor McMillan (backside left, 2:12:07 at 2019 NYC) and Connor Weaver (backside proper, 2:13:56 for thirteenth on the ‘24 Olympic Trials) additionally became fairly strong marathoners.
Should you’re interested by that 2019 NCAA outside meet, it went very properly for BYU because the Cougars went 1-3-4 with Younger, McMillan, and Mantz. However BYU was solely 2nd on the NCAA XC champs the earlier fall, ending behind Northern Arizona, which had a deep and gifted group of its personal (future Worlds 5k 4th placer Luis Grijalva was NAU’s #3 man whereas future Worlds steeple fifth placer Geordie Beamish was NAU’s #6). BYU would go on to win the NCAA XC within the fall of 2019, however Mantz was the one member of that group of six to attain for that squad.
One different be aware on Linkletter. After the race, his former BYU teammate Marcus Dickson despatched the next tweet:
TRUE STORY!
The punishment for getting final place in our fantasy soccer league was run a marathon. @ThePapaLinks acquired final place, he educated extremely arduous and now may be very doubtless going to be Olympian.
Stunning story of turning your L’s into W’s. His story deserves to be informed https://t.co/lNQ5zz9X36
— Marcus Dickson (@marcusdickson94) February 18, 2024
Fairly a narrative, proper? Linkletter confirmed to LetsRun.com that he did certainly end final of their fantasy league final 12 months, and the punishment was to run a marathon. The one element Dickson disregarded is that Linkletter had already been planning on working Seville regardless of the place he completed within the fantasy league.
###Talking of NCAAs and BYU, the 2024 NCAA Indoor championships might be at The TRACK at New Stability in Boston from March 8-9. And it’s going to take some loopy quick instances to qualify.
4:30.87 is at present the #16 time within the girls’s mile. 3:54.62 is at present #16 within the males’s mile. Are you able to think about working 4:30 or 3:54 and never making it to NCAAs, even on a relay?
It’s arduous to fathom however BYU’s Lucas Bons, who ran 3:54.82 at BU on the finish of January, at present wants assist to get in as he’s #17 on the mile listing for NCAAs (16 make it) and the BYU DMR group didn’t run quick sufficient at BU on Friday night time to get in there both.
The BYU DMR group “solely” ran 9:25.79 at BU. That places them at #15 within the NCAA and 12 make it. I put “solely” in parenthesis as I simply needed to remind everybody that 9:25.97 was the NCAA DMR report from 2008 till 2020. Now it doesn’t even get you into the meet.
What explains it?
Some folks don’t wish to admit that new shoe expertise — the spikes are quicker and the brand new tremendous highway sneakers let folks run tempos quicker and get well quicker — has performed an enormous function. But a prime NCAA coach who has had a group win an NCAA DMR title disagrees with the shoe skeptics. He informed LetsRun.com he thinks that shoe tech is price 7-8 seconds and even broke it down by leg for us:
1200: 2 seconds400: .5 second800: 1.5 seconds1600: 3 seconds
“The first issue is you possibly can run tougher, longer and with much less effort so athletes have change into way more aggressive of their racing,” wrote the coach.
Guess what the longest-standing NCAA indoor distance report is?
It’s Cooper Teare‘s 3:50.39 mile from all the way in which again in…2021. Each different NCAA distance report — the mile, 3000, 5000, and DMR, males’s and girls’s — has been damaged because the begin of 2023. That features the ladies’s DMR (Washington, 10:43.39), girls’s 5000 (Parker Valby, Florida, 14:56.11) and males’s 5000 this season. The latter report was really damaged twice — first by Harvard’s Graham Blanks (13:03.78), then once more by NAU’s Nico Younger (12:57.14).
****Aussie Teenagers Impress
Not the entire monitor motion final week was indoors as some folks had been racing outdoor in Australia, together with 18-year-old Claudia Hollingsworth. Hollingsworth, who’s coached by Craig Mottram and ran 2:01.60 at age 15 in March 2021, dipped beneath the two:00 barrier for the primary time on Thursday. She ran 1:59.81 to win the Maurie Plant Meet 800 title in Melbourne, setting an Australian U20 report within the course of and defeating 2023 Worlds group members Abbey Caldwell and Catriona Bisset plus Aussie 1500 report holder Linden Corridor.
Embed from Getty Pictures
5 days earlier than that on the Chemist Warehouse Adelaide Invitational, Hollingsworth picked up the U20 1500 report by working 4:04.45. At that very same meet, one other 18-year-old Aussie, Peyton Craig, broke the lads’s Aussie U20 report by working 1:45.41 for the win.
In accordance with Race Outcomes Weekly, Craig is now working properly sufficient to surrender on the triathlon.
“I made the choice to place the triathlon profession on the burners and deal with monitor, and I believe I’ve discovered a good way right here,” Craig defined. “I’m in career-best kind however I believe I can get the (Paris 2024) qualifier [1:44.70]; that’s positively the objective.”
And naturally, neither Craig nor Hollingsworth is even essentially the most achieved Australian teen trackster. That title belongs to 17-year-old Cameron Myers. Myers, who ran 3:33.26 final 12 months, is in good kind thus far this 12 months as he ran 3:34.55 for the 1500 win in Adelaide earlier than working 3:52.44 for third within the mile in Melbourne behind Stewy McSweyn and Jake Wightman.
***
Femke Bol breaks the 400m world report (once more)
Whereas her 400m hurdle rival Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone has been on a e-book tour this winter, Dutch star Femke Bol has been doing what she all the time does this time of 12 months: race. On Sunday, she ran 49.24 to interrupt the world report within the indoor 400 meters on the Dutch championships.
Qué superatleta es Femke Bol.
49.24, récord mundial de 400 en la pista cubierta de Apeldoorn (Campeonato de Países Bajos).
Mejores 400 de la historia en pc49.24 Bol (2024)49.26 Bol (2023)49.48 Wilson (2023)49.59 Kratochvilova (1982)49.63 Bol (2024)pic.twitter.com/2l2fKSG7yX
— juanma bellón (@juanmacorre) February 18, 2024
You might be forgiven for considering you had seen this race earlier than — Bol broke the identical report on the identical monitor on the identical meet final 12 months. Her splits had been near-identical as properly: 23.63-25.63 in 2023 vs 23.64-25.60 in 2024. Subsequent up for Bol is World Indoors in Glasgow, the place she might be favored to win the 400 after taking silver behind Shaunae Miller-Uibo two years in the past in Belgrade.
***Final Week’s Dwelling Pages
Previous editions of our Week That Was weekly recap may be discovered right here. You must come to LetsRun each day for the newest information however in case you miss a day, you possibly can all the time go to our archive web page. Should you like our written weekly recap, you’ll love our weekly Monitor Speak Podcast as properly. Bought a tip, query or remark? Please name us at 844-LETSRUN (538-7786), e-mail us, or publish in our discussion board.
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Bought a tip, query or remark? Please name us at 844-LETSRUN (538-7786), e-mail us or publish in our discussion board.
