WHEN A PRO ISN’T A PRO. Nothing’s new about an Irish runner taking an NCAA scholarship, but Oregon has raised eyebrows by signing Nick Griggs, a 22-year-old with 3:35.04/13:05.75 credentials. He signed a pro contract with Puma in ’22. However, what might have been taboo a few years ago is now legal under NCAA rules…
Bronze medal Jamaican hurdler Rasheed Broadbell has relocated to Lexington, Kentucky, to be coached by Wildcat head Lonnie Greene…
Lauren Tolbert, 3rd in the NCAA 800 at 1:58.22, has signed with adidas…
Former Arkansas triple jumper Jaydon Hibbert has moved to Greece to be coached by Georgi Pomaski, who also trains Miltiádis Tentóglou and Manolo Karalís…
After four years in Boulder working with Dathan Ritzenhein, ’22 European 1500 bronze medalist Mario García has left the On TC. He has not PRed since ’23…
Memphis has named Carjay Lyles as its new head coach; he had previously been at Mississippi State…
Former WR holder Asafa Powell, who has broken 10-seconds in the 100 more than anybody (97 times), has announced that he is now a coach…
Cindy Hook is stepping down as CEO of the ’32 Brisbane Olympics, despite assurances when she was hired in ’22 that she would serve through the Games…
Apparently someone out there liked Sebastian Coe’s idea of putting cross country in the Winter Olympics. FISU has decided to add the harrier sport to next year’s Winter World University Games, set to take place in Changchun, China. It will be a 2-race program, 3.7K and 6.9K…
And then there were 7. The IOC has announced that these nations are in the bidding process to host the ’36 Olympics: Germany, Hungary, India, Qatar, South Africa, South Korea and Türkiye…
Doha, set to host the next Asian Games, has said that it is fine with them happening in ’31 instead of the originally planned ’30. This would allow the events to also serve as Olympic qualifiers, being within the window for the ’32 Olympics…
The Los Angeles City Council is urging the LA28 Organizing Committee to take out enhanced risk management insurance against any disasters or unforeseen circumstances. Such insurance has been the norm for Olympics since the 9/11 attacks…
European Athletics has announced that Helsinki will host the <strong’30 European Championships</strong. Toruń, Poland, will stage the ’29 Euro Indoor…
The Run X World Treadmill Championship began on October 23, with 400 fitness centers across 20 nations hosting the qualification phase of the latest WA innovation. Regional meets begin January 30, and the finals are set for Cesena, Italy, on March 20-21. A prize pool of $100,000 is at stake, and the winners will be a wild card into the ’27 WA Road Champs 5K. The leader after the first weekend is Britain’s “LoneWolf” at 13:47.82…
Kiwi coach Arch Jelley, who guided John Walker to the ’76 Olympic gold in the 1500 and the first sub-3:50 mile, has died at 104…
Gaone Maotoanong of Botswana fell ill after running and died on October 22 at age 35. He was part of the 4×4 squad that placed 5th in the Rio Olympics and won Commonwealth gold…
Grace Nolan was set to be one of the elite pacers for the Detroit Free Press Marathon, but the 25-year-old died the day before in a car accident. In her final Horizon League meet for Oakland University in ’15, she won the 10,000…
With the London Marathon being a 2-day affair in ’27, the decision to run the men on Saturday and the women on Sunday was decided in time-honored fashion, as Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe and Switzerland’s Catherine Debrunner played Rochambeau (rock, paper, scissors). Debrunner, the wheelchair record holder, beat Sawe…
The fast times keep coming in every context: Kenyan Mark Kiptoo, a former African champion at 5000 who has run 12:53.46/26:54.64, broke the age-50 marathon record with his 2:15:24 in Frankfurt…
At Chicago, Galen Rupp’s 2:06:55 set a U.S. Masters record. He’s 40…
Burundi’s Célestine Ndikumana won the Lille Marathon in 2:07:52, so he ostensibly wasn’t the runner that was hit by a falling tree during the race. Strong storm winds caused the toppling. The downed runner went to the hospital but was released with minor injuries…
The male and females winners of the Baystate Marathon, Caitlin McGinley (2:36:08) and Spencer Friske (2:15:05), both bettered Olympic Trials qualifying standards. However, they’ll have to find a do-over, as it turns out the marathon neglected to get a USATF sanction…
USATF has announced that next year’s national marathon champs will take place within the Chicago Marathon. The World Marathon Major elite field will include 20 American men and 20 American women…
A headline from the South China Morning Post says it all: “Officials pledge to quell dog attacks before inaugural Northern Metropolis Marathon.”
Saint Lucia is going forward with plans to erect a statue of hometown hero and Olympic champion Julien Alfred…
The Forbes Africa 15th Anniversary Icons List, which celebrates 15 people making a lasting impact across Africa, will include Ethiopian great Haile Gebrselassie…
In the recently married column, add hurdler Grant Holloway (to Katie Chronister) and sprinter Gabby Thomas (to Spencer McManes)…
A study sponsored by WA confirms what runners have already figured out, that bicarb works. “Co-ingestion of sodium bicarbonate and carbohydrate could help athletes sustain high-intensity efforts later in a race while fatigued.” The entire report is available for download from the WA site…
Prosecutors in Georgia have thrown battery charges against a UGA student who put on an opposing team’s jersey and hid in the woods at a high school cross country meet before he attacked a runner, using the rocks in his hands as weapons…
Australian sprinter Jake Doran (PR 10.15), a past World Champs competitor, has been arrested and charged with a child sex offence. Australian Athletics has suspended him from any participation in the sport…
A father in China has been banned from the Zhengzhou Marathon for 3 years after a viral video showed him pulling his 9-year-old son through the distance, tied to him with a rope. The race doesn’t allow entrants under 20…
WADA has introduced a new reporting system for athlete whereabouts called the “Athlete Center.” It is running side-by-side with the old system till the end of the year, when it will entirely replace that system…
WA has told the South African federation that it will be suspended unless its president is removed and its constitution rewritten within 6 months. An audit showed that the organization’s credit card had been used 400 times in a 1-year period, over its spending limits and with over $18,000 in unauthorized or personal expenses…
WADA chief Witold Bańka says that the success of Kenya’s drug testing record is key to its successfully hosting the Worlds in ’29. “Kenya calls itself probably ‘home of champions’, but every home has to have a good host and has to be clean to be credible.”
Recently retired German decathlete Tim Nowak (8282) completed the Berlin Marathon in 3:27:47…
When is an American not an American? Arkansas alum Yaseen Abdalla, U.S. born and raised, bettered the American Record in the half-marathon with his 59:12 in Valencia. However, since he has chosen to represent Sudan internationally, USATF will not be accepting the mark…
A documentary about Nikki Hiltz called “Kick” sold out at its premiere. It will be available online via the DOC NYC Platform starting November 12…
An ESPN E60 documentary focuses on violence against Kenyan women runners. Called Still They Run, it debuts on November 1 after the network’s coverage of the New York City Marathon…
Jamaican middle distance runner Natoya Goule-Toppin has written a book called The Warrior In Me: From Coffee Grove To The Olympic Games. It is available on Amazon…
The University of Rhode Island, which hasn’t been able to host a collegiate meet for 32 years, has unveiled a new 9-lane track and will host its first competition in April…
An entertaining excerpt from a Jon Drummond rant on the realities of going pro while still young: “Frankly, Pro Track don’t care about what you did to age group and high school kids… you’re about to race people with mortgages, a wife, two kids and an SUV that takes $85 to fill up … they ain’t impressed with your New Balance Nationals backpack.”
