HERE’S THIS MONTH’S collection of short takes on generally off-track activities that have gone/will go a long way towards shaping the way the sport is headed.
Meanwhile, In The Willamette Valley
Stop us if you’ve heard this one: the next Olympic Trials meet will be staged in Eugene. No, really, for the sixth straight time iconic Hayward Field will be hosting the choosing of Team USA for most events.
The bulk of the events will be contested in the window June 17–22. Previously chosen (site/date[s] to be determined) will be the squads for the multis, 10,000 and walks. The marathon will be chosen in St. Louis on March 25.
“TrackTown USA is honored to welcome back the nation’s best athletes, coaches, and fans to Hayward Field at the University Of Oregon,” said TrackTown USA CEO Michael Reilly. “Our community looks forward to hosting an amazing celebration of the sport and the world’s No. 1 team.”
The 6-day timetable makes for a truncated schedule of events compared to those used in the last few decades. While some expected the tightened setup to be split across two weekends, it will be 6 straight days, Saturday through Thursday.
Better Plan On Winning The Lottery
Scoring track & field tickets for the ’28 Olympics is looking like it will be restricted only to the rather well off. “The Sports Examiner” reported some shocking numbers when the second phase of seats for registered buyers were made available in early August.
The ducats come in 9 categories with these price tags: A—$2461; B—$2047; C—$1365; D—$1117; E—$745; F—$621; G—$404; H—$187; I—$105. Note: at the time of this offering only seats in categories A through D (the 4 most expensive) were available.
Not Everyone Happy With UC Timing
Count Karsten Warholm among those not happy with the way that WA has scheduled the big season-ending events. “It’s chaos,” he charges. “The schedule after the European Championships is a mess.”
The Norwegian superstar explains that August/September is crowded, with 3 DL meetings in a week, and then the DL Final and the Ultimate Championship on consecutive weekends.
“Track & field needs to figure out how to schedule the Diamond League Final and the Ultimate Championship. Obviously, you don’t need both,” he continues.
“I think the Diamond League is a fantastic concept that should definitely be nurtured. It’ll take a long time before people understand what it means to be an Ultimate Champion. There are a lot of concepts that are just thrown out there in the hope that something will catch on. I’d like to see more structure in the schedule.”
He continues, “In track & field right now, there’s starting to be a bit of an inflation of titles. Medals and titles are handed out left and right. People get confused about what’s what. That’s why I place the Olympics, World Championships, and European Championships so highly. Because those are titles everyone can relate to.”
Ingebrigtsen Critical Of Kerr
Josh Kerr broke the mile WR but chose not to run the European Championships. Not a good move for the sport, says Jakob Ingebrigtsen.
The Norwegian told the BBC, “Of course I am going to go for times, but I don’t think you have to do one or the other.
“It’s not for us as athletes to choose almost where to participate. We have these championships for a reason, and that is for the best athletes to compete — that is the whole point.
“So I definitely think it is ruining the sport if we are not participating. We all have different plans, but I could never see myself in that position.”
Koech’s Disappearance Explained
We noted last month that Jonah Koech, surprise winner of the USATF 1500 last year, had basically disappeared from the racing scene and apparently cut ties with his training group in Baltimore. Now we know why.
The 29-year-old Kenyan native was busted by USADA for biological passport abnormalities indicating blood doping. The tests came both before and after his ’25 USATF win. He got a 3-year ban instead of 4 for his part in accepting the findings and admitting wrongdoing. While his ban begins on July 17 of this year, his USATF win and everything after July 30, 2025, is invalidated.
That makes Ethan Strand the belated USATF champion, but no remedy is available for Hobbs Kessler, who finished 4th in that race and missed his shot at the World Championships in Tokyo.
Koech, meanwhile, is apparently contradicting his USADA deal. In messages to LetsRun he insisted he is innocent: “I didn’t take anything… I’m clean and always will be.”
Broeders-Bol Ahead Of Schedule
The No. 1 World Ranker in the 400H in ’23 and ’25, last October Femke Broeders-Bol made the big decision to switch to the 800, an event she had never before run competitively.
The switch is paying off big-time. Her debut was an indoor 1:59.07. Outdoors she debuted at 1:57.13. As the season progressed her all-time best produced more PRs: 1:55.60, 1:55.54, 1:55.41, 1:54.71. That last made her No. 9 ever.
“This year is going better than I could expect for the first year,” she says. “It’s a lot faster, and tactically, I’m a lot better than we expected. It’s really fun and I’m really happy.”
ATHLOS Cuts One Of Its Meets
The elite women-only ATHLOS venture was launched in New York City in ’24 and repeated that format in ’25. This year was supposed to staged as a 2-meet affair, with London joining the fray. But in late August came notification that this year’s Big Apple affair — scheduled for October 02 at Icahn Stadium would not be held. The new London edition is still on the calendar for September 18 at StoneX Stadium.
While previously meets have been staged at the end of the traditional European season, in ’27 they’ll be moving earlier (details TBD). The group posted, “Moving our event schedule in 2027 is the right call for our athletes and for the future of the series.”
Whither The Atlanta Flame?
Atlanta Legacy 96 is an organization leading a controversial plan to relocate the ’96 Olympic cauldron from its 30-year home in the Summerhill neighborhood to downtown Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park. They plan to place the bowl on a shorter base inside the park where more visitors can easily see and photograph it.
Critics, including mayor Andre Dickens, argue that removing the cauldron would disrespect the neighborhood that lived through the disruptions of the 1996 Games and hosted the landmark for three decades.
Says Dickens, “A city’s greatest moments should belong to its people first. The Olympic cauldron should remain in the neighborhood it has called home for the past 30 years, just as thousands of residents have.”
The Fastest 100 Yet?
Ever heard of the Chinese sprinter Tiangong Ultra? He’s faster than Usain Bolt. Sort of. As one wag pointed out, we’ve long made cars that are faster than Bolt too.
Much publicity went to the mechanical biped of that name that recently ran 9.32 for the 100 at the World Humanoid Robot Games. Another entrant, “Lightning,” ran 9.47.
Neither of the robots had the flair of Bolt as both slammed straight into a thick mat designed to stop them in their tracks, with Tiangong stumbling wildly into the sidelines, forcing onlookers to move out of the way. Lightning was carried away on a stretcher after collapsing to the ground.
Time To Add An Event To NCAA Outdoor?
Writing in USTFCCCA’s magazine, Techniques, Kyle Barnes of Grand Valley State said, “At a time when collegiate athletics continues to evolve, championship formats should be evaluated not only on tradition, but also on their ability to enhance competition, engage participants, and strengthen the identity of the sport. The DMR represents an opportunity to do all three”
He continued, “Whether the relay is ultimately added to the outdoor NCAA Championships remains uncertain. What is increasingly clear, however, is that the conversation itself is no longer about whether the DMR belongs in collegiate track & field. That question has already been answered. The remaining discussion centers on whether one of the sport’s most successful and enduring championship events should continue to be limited to the indoor season.”
An Improved Version Of The Sport In Budapest?
The Ultimate Championships won’t just be a new look and a new concept for the sport. Organizers have announced a number of other innovations and rule changes for the mid-September event:
•In the 200s, athletes will select their preferred heat and lane for round 1, choosing in order of their WA rankings seed.
•There will be no first-place ties in the vertical jumps — jumpoffs will be required.
•In the other field events, all 8 competitors will be in the first two rounds. Round three will be trimmed to 6, and round four, the final round, to 3.
•In the verticals, athletes will make attempts with the highest seeds going first, the lowest last.
•In the other field events, highest seeds will go first in round one. In round two and beyond, the athletes will make attempts based on their current standings, with the highest placing going first.
•There will be no jury of appeals, but athletes will be able to make oral protests directly to the referee. Written protests can be made by the athlete or representative to the technical information center within 30 minutes.
In addition to a wide range of event presentation and broadcast innovations, WA will also be releasing a mobile app to bring together results with a variety of other content including videos, games, predictions, etc.
Simpson Opens Up About Her Collapse
The frightening mid-June collapse of ’11 World 1500 champion Jenny Simpson at a North Carolina event shocked many of her followers. Now Simpson, 40, has shared her story about what happened.
She went into cardiac arrest during the initial collapse and again at the hospital. The culprit, it turned out, is a rare inherited heart condition called arrythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy. The diagnosis means that she will no longer be able to run, though as chief running officer at Fleet Feet, she will remain active in the running world.
“I’m profoundly grateful that I got to have the career I did,” she posted. “I experienced everything, from the trenches of training to standing on the top of the podium while our national anthem filled the stadium.”
In Next Month’s Edition
Our October issue will feature the wrapping up of the international track season with our deep coverage of the Diamond League Final in Brussels and the debut of the Ultimate Championships in Budapest.
Looking ahead, that edition will also contain our annual preview of the NCAA cross country season, IDing the top 10 predictions for both teams and individuals. ◻︎
