A ROME OLYMPICS? With the success of the Winter Olympics, Italy is looking at a 2040 Olympic bid for Rome. “If considered a realistic objective, I am open to working to build the most competitive bid possible. A capital like Rome should not fear major challenges,” says mayor Roberto Gualtieri…
Emily Infield, who lost her sponsorship despite winning the USATF 10,000 last summer, has signed with Nike, which had sponsored her years earlier…
Providence announced that head coach Ray Treacy will be retiring at the end of the outdoor season after a 41-year run with the Friars…
Southern Utah coach Eric Houle will also retire this year, after 34 years at the helm…
Mile WR holder Faith Kipyegon gave the roads a whirl, running a 10K in Monaco. “It’s a matter of learning, to know how road works,” she says. “I normally talk of doing marathon in the future, so this is the start.” She moved to No. 14 on the all-time list for the road 10K with her 29:46…
Olympic steeple champ Winifred Yavi won the World Military cross country race, covering 8K in 25:43 ahead of fellow Bahraini Violah Jepchumba (25:50). The men’s title went to Birhanu Balew of Bahrain (28:21 for 10K)…
Washington alum Anna Gibson, who ran in the Trials 1500 in ’24, made the Winter Olympic team in ski mountaineering. In Milan, she was part of a 4th-place mixed relay…
Denita Jackson, an all-conference sprinter for Div. II Lincoln of Missouri, was charged with second-degree murder after allegedly stabbing her boyfriend to death after catching him in bed with another woman…
Three runners at Kentucky accused former assistant Hakon DeVries of sexual harassment and stalking, according to reporting by the Lexington Herald-Leader. The accusations, which came a year ago, said that DeVries was “directing hugs, sexual and romantic innuendos, visits and gifts” to women on the team who were his “favorites,” thus creating an intimidating environment. The school says his contract wasn’t renewed last spring for unrelated reasons, and the case was dismissed afterwards…
Paul Askew has been hit with federal charges for conspiracy to influence major sports competitions by allegedly providing drugs to an athlete. The maximum penalty is 10 years. The prosecution’s case, under the Rodchenkov Act, is tied to the suspension of sprinter Marvin Bracy-Williams…
UK Athletics has pleaded guilty to “corporate manslaughter” charges in the death of Paralympian Abdullah Hayayei, who was killed in 2017 when a metal cage collapsed on him during training. Keith Davies, head of sport for the ’17 World Para-athletics Championships, also pleaded guilty to health and safety charges. Sentencing will be in June…
The NCAA has shot down the appeal made by Sean Brosnan related to recruiting violations during his time at UCLA. The former assistant had pursued a separate case after UCLA agreed to the penalties (year of probation, $5000 fine, reduced recruiting contacts) in August ’24…
Doping allegations have been swirling around Seth Clevenger, who was dismissed from the Iowa State team last fall for breaking team rules and is now the top runner in Div. III for Rowan. More than 500 people have signed a petition demanding that the NCAA investigate Clevenger before allowing him to compete at Div. III nationals. USADA says it does not have jurisdiction, as the NCAA is not a WADA signatory…
The UK Indoor title in the 200 went to 20-year-old Renee Regis in 22.95. Her parents are ’89 World Indoor champion John Regis and ’92 Olympic 4×4 bronze medalist Jennifer Stoute…
Terry Coyne has been appointed to the USATF Foundation Board Of Directors. Coyne ran collegiately for LaSalle. He is the chief financial officer of Royalty Pharma…
Colorado runner James Overby has designed and installed a custom sauna to help athletes recover; it’s now part of the Buffs’ endurance lab…
Malcolm Rogers, who was competition director for athletics at the 2012 Olympics, died at age 81…
In the Pantin neighborhood of Paris a new sports hall has been opened, “The Rebecca Cheptegei Sports Hall.” It is named for the Ugandan runner who was murdered by her ex-partner in ’24…
Enthusiasm for the LA Olympics seems high. Signups for a ticket lottery passed 5 million in February…
A resolution introduced in the LA City Council expresses concern about “potential conflict between the Olympic movement’s values and [LA28 chair] Casey Wasserman’s association with the Epstein files.” The LA28 Board executive committee already made its own inquiry with an outside law firm, and decided that Wasserman would continue in his role…
With no indoor track in Slovakia, the federation scheduled its indoor nationals for Ostrava in neighboring (and formerly conjoined) Czechia…
For the seventh consecutive year, the Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais Trophée meeting in Liévin, France, topped the World Indoor Tour Gold standings, based on athlete performance points using the WA tables. Liévin topped the runner-up Millrose Games, 47,820–46,638…
The ’26 USATF meet will be held at Icahn Stadium in New York City. It’ll be the first time since ’91 that the championships have been held in the Northeast…
In auction news, an example of the “stadium torch” used to light the cauldron at the ’80 Moscow Olympics sold for $128,066. Only 20 such torches were made…
Multi-eventer Harrison Williams was not happy after USATF’s Combined Events Championship, tweeting, “USATF did not livestream their own National Combined Events Championships this past weekend in Indianapolis. They also handed out leftover medals from the upcoming Indoor Champs in NYC. Combined Event athletes deserve better from their federation.”
South Dakota will soon have a new facility after the state signed off on $40M to go along with $20M in donations for the new fieldhouse, which will feature a 200 banked track…
The campaigning has started for seats on the World Athletic Council. All nominations must be received by June 01. Participants will have more than a year to make their cases. The World Athletics Elective Congress, held before the ’27 World Championships in Beijing, will anoint a president to succeed Seb Coe, along with four VPs and 13 Council members…
The latest Grand Slam Track bankruptcy proposal has the foundering organization paying off 85% of its athlete debts, and just 1.5% of what it owes vendors…
With his 20-2¾ (6.17) vault at the Greek Championships, Manolo Karalís now holds the non-Mondo WR. “I’m living a dream, don’t wake me up! he said. “I can’t imagine at all that I surpassed Sergey Bubka and Renaud Lavillenie.”
