WHO’S THE FASTEST combo 400/400H performer of all-time? Not surprisingly, it’s Rai Benjamin, with PRs of 43.83 and 46.17 that add to 1:30.00. Next fastest are Alison dos Santos (44.38 & 45.80 = 1:30.18) and Karsten Warholm (44.87 & 45.94 = 1:30.81)…
Georgia has added a distance assistant in Katie Althoff, while Janek Õiglane will help the jumpers and combined events athletes…
Eugene Frazier has been hired as the new head coach at Portland State…
Jake Stewart will head the Cal Poly program…
Former Minnesota long jumper Ayesha Champagnie has been hired as an assistant at Kansas State…
Vincent Johnson will be assisting with the jumps at Minnesota…
Jebreh Harris has been tapped to lead the Azusa Pacific program…
Baylee Mires will be the new distance assistant for Tennessee…
Former decathlete Victor Houston will be assisting at Eastern Washington…
Trevor Dunbar is the new Virginia head, and he’s bringing Sam Bradley on as an assistant…
In an unusual proceeding, a ’26 Iowa State grad is suing the school for denying her eligibility to compete in the coming school year. Canadian Jenna James, a distance medley All-America with a 400 PR of 52.71, maintains she still has indoor eligibility coming to her…
Emily Infeld has won a $6000 maternity grant from the USATF Foundation…
Sweden’s Andreas Almgren will be racing the NYC Marathon but says, “Don’t worry, I’m not saying goodbye to track racing. I’m just saying hello to marathons.”
British coach and former sprinter Leon Baptiste was recently reported as missing in Morocco. Turns out he has been serving a prison sentence in Marrakesh for sexually assaulting a minor…
Britain’s anti-doping organization has a “protect your sport” reporting service that takes tips from the public. In the latest 6-month period, it took 125 reports, 23 more than last year…
If finances mean anything, we may have seen the last of the Enhanced Games. Turns out the drug-enhanced May event in Las Vegas lost some $61 million and the company’s stock is down 77% from its debut point. The company says it will be forging ahead on a reduced scale…
A Russian official reported that the country’s intelligence service has information that the European Union is pursing various measures to keep the country from returning to the world of international sport. He said, “Our so-called neighbors from Europe do not like that our athletes are allowed to participate, separating politics and sports. And the Europeans are livid about that. But the IOC must not give in to this, it must stick to its guns.”…
Despite recent claims by Michael Johnson, a BBC report says that not all athletes involved in Grand Slam Track have been paid yet. The money is apparently being held by a third party at this point…
WADA has suspended its lab in Madrid, but not for any irregularities. It’s just a temporary shutdown while the facility is being renovated…
While the European Championships were a hit in many ways, organizers had trouble filling the seats in Birmingham. Critics have pointed to the high cost of spectator refreshments: $25 for a pork roll with chips, $5.40 for a bottle of water. Tickets weren’t cheap either, with category-A seats going for as much as $202 and the cheap seats going for $35…
The Ultimate Championships added more athletes in late-August, through what it is calling “exceptional invitations.” Included are mile WR setter Josh Kerr, Jakob Ingebrigtsen (in the 1500; he’s already automatically qualified for the 5000) and Gianmarco Tamberi. Also getting invites were four Hungarian athletes as well as two mixed relays from the host nation…
At the Euros the awards for the Saturday night session were delayed to the next day after a man was arrested in a secured area wearing a false credential. In the ensuing security shutdown, meet transportation was put on hold, stranding many at the stadium…
The qualifying period for the World Championships in Beijing next year began on August 23…
The Euros boasted a total of 218,135 spectators over its 6-day run. That made it No. 5 ever, with the leader being Gothenburg, Sweden, with 270,000 in ’06…
TV viewership for the Euros reached a peak of 6 million on the Sunday session, and that’s just Germany’s numbers. Another 3.5 million watched in Britain…
The eight meets that NBC televised in the United States averaged 1.025 million viewers each, with Millrose getting the most at 1.3 million…
ESPN averaged 291,500 viewers for its four days of the NCAA finals…
World Athletics has launched a documentary series, “Iron Sharpens Iron,” that will focus on three training groups and their approach to the WA Ultimate Championships. The stars: Melissa Jefferson-Wooden in Florida, Keely Hodgkinson and Georgia Hunter Bell in England, and Femke Broeders-Bol in the Netherlands…
Texas high jumper Osawese Agbonkonkon (7-1½ PR) is also an aspiring sci-fi writer and has published his first book, Psychic
Suit…
Russia has filed a challenge with the CAS over World Athletics sanctions against it.
Not all the runners at the Edmonton Marathon were thrilled that the course turned out to be 674m too long. Construction work caused a diversion that added the extra distance, spoiling athletes’ chances for PRs and Boston qualifiers. Officials are reviewing possible solutions with Athletics Canada…
The triple jump WR had a scare on Andy Diaz’s first jump at Euros, with his big foul. Said ’13 world champ Teddy Tamgho, “On his first attempt, he narrowly fouled a jump of 18.20 (59-8½), so he had the World Record within his grasp here, and even a jump of 18.40 (60-4½), I say that without exaggeration. Technically, it was a pretty clean jump, even if his approach run could have been much improved.”…
Eugene is hosting every other track meet, it seems, so why not the Big 10? The ’27 outdoor champs will be at Hayward, May 14-16…
In a metric sense, the vault’s big barrier remains 6.00 (19-8¼). Zürich marked only the fourth time that three men topped it in the same competition. Oddly enough, the first three instances all came in Poland: the ’24 Chorzów DL, the ’26 World Indoor, and this year’s Chorzów DL…
Marileidy Paulino is now the first in history to break 49 in the 400 more than 5 times in one season. Her 48.87 in Chorzów was No. 6. Salwa Eid Naser did it 5 times in ’25, and WR holder Marita Koch did it 4 times in ’84.
The finishers’ medals for the Sydney Marathon includes an image of the Allianz Stadium. The only problem was that it featured the Munich facility of the same name instead of the one in Australia. Organizers decided the optimal response was to laugh it off: “It’s a beautiful medal, and now a little more unique. What it represents does not change. We’re grateful to our participants and partners for taking it in such good humour.”
