JAMAICAN POLICE have dropped their investigation into Usain Bolt’s birthday party last August which led to his bout with COVID…
Triple jumper Tori Franklin has left French coach Teddy Tamgho and is now training with Sterling Roberts, who also coaches Donald Scott…
Marathoner Emma Bates has joined Team Bosshard…
The Tinman Elite training group, including its star, Drew Hunter, has split from coach Tom “Tinman” Schwartz in a dispute that has gotten acrimonious on social media. Hunter and company are now being coached by Cory Leslie in consultation with Joan and Marc Hunter…
Irish distance great Sonia O’Sullivan will be taking an assistant coaching position with the Nike club that is coached in Portland by Pete Julian. Our sources tell us that the long-awaited announcement of an actual name for the training group is coming soon…
Heptathlete Nina Schultz has switched allegiance from Canada to China and will appear under the name Ninali Zheng…
Roseli Machado, a ’96 Olympian at 5000 for Brazil, died of C19 in April at 52…
Boaz Cheboiywo, winner of the ’02 and ’03 NCAA 10,000 titles for Eastern Michigan, is facing felony drunk driving charges after allegedly crossing the center line and crashing into 4 other vehicles, killing a mother of 2…
A masters cyclist set a dubious record of sorts when he was banned by USADA for 4 years after testing positive for no fewer than 10 different prohibited substances…
Federal agents recently arrested former Northeastern track assistant Steve Waithe, charging him with cyberstalking and wire fraud for allegedly trying to obtain naked photos of female athletes at the school…
Des Linden has become the first woman to break 3:00 for the rarely run 50K with a 2:59:54 run in Oregon in April, passing through the marathon mark in 2:31:13. The old 50K best was 3:07:20 by Britain’s Aly Dixon in ’19…
With her recent 12.92, Sydney McLaughlin becomes the first woman to break 13 in the 100H, 23 in the 200 & 53 in the 400H…
Olympic stat maven Bill Mallon reports that the next nation to win its first Olympic medal in track at the Tokyo Olympics will be the 100th to do so in the history of the Games. The next biggest sport in terms of national diversity in the medals count is boxing, where 63 nations have made the podium…
In an important step for a possible Brisbane Olympics in ’32, the Australian prime minister has pledged government support to cover half the costs…
The USATF Junior Championships for this year were canceled, but the federation has announced it will stage a Youth (U18) championship in Rome, Georgia, on June 23-26. The USATF Junior Olympics will be in Jacksonville, Florida, July 26–August 02. And its Junior XC championships are set for Paris, Kentucky, on December 11…
The ’26 Commonwealth Games is without a bidder for host as Hamilton has withdrawn its bid after the Ontario government refused to back it. Hamilton will try again for ’30…
Canceled competitions: the Mt SAC Relays HS Division (May 15); Copenhagen Marathon (May 16); Racers GP, Kingston, Jamaica (June 05); the European Youth (U18) Championships, set for Rieti in August…
The World University Games (Chengdu, China) have been postponed from this summer to ’22…
The National Scholastic Athletics Foundation has revealed the dates of its summer nationals, June 30-July 03, but has not finalized a location yet…
German Olympic officials have proposed that the 2036 Olympics — on the 100th anniversary of the Nazi-hosted Games of 1936 — be hosted jointly by Berlin and Tel Aviv. Acknowledging the challenges of selling the idea, the officials acknowledged in their editorial, “It’s a vision, nothing more.” Israeli officials endorsed the concept of a Berlin-hosted Games, but didn’t nibble on the idea to co-host…
The NCAA Board Of Governors has said it will not host championships in states that discriminate against transgender athletes. A spokesperson said that no sports-specific decisions have been made, but it would appear to potentially affect future Indoor championships in Fayetteville, as Arkansas has recently passed such a bill…
This year’s prestigious prep Arcadia Invitational has been limited by the California Health Department to in-state athletes only; normally 200-plus out-of-state schools attend…
It’s hard to put a specific financial cost on the pandemic, but one estimate by Athletics Kenya estimates that Kenyan runners have lost a total of $46.5 million in prize money…
The International Testing Agency has had its credentials cut by 20% for the Tokyo Olympics. WADA has also had its numbers cut but both organizations insist they can still secure a drug-free Games…
An outbreak of COVID reportedly disrupted the Turkish training camp of Dutch sprinters who were preparing for the World Relays…
The Associated Press reported that the NCAA has not conducted any drug testing at any of its championships since the pandemic hit. The organization, as always tight-lipped on its testing protocols, has refused to confirm or deny the situation…
The mayor of Paris has announced that that preparations for the ’24 Games remain on track, with C19 causing no significant delays in construction of the facilities…
Two surprise winners of the ’64 Olympics, American Billy Mills (10,000) and Britain’s Ann Packer (800) had been expected to be guests of honor this summer in Tokyo, but both invites have been rescinded, as the two don’t have “essential and operation roles.”…
North Korea has announced its withdrawal from Tokyo, citing COVID concerns…
Planners of the Olympic Marathon had set their qualifying standards to hit a maximum 80 runners in each race. However the popularization of super-shoes means that both races have already surpassed that number, with the qualifying period not finished till the end of May…
Historian Richard Hymans’ essential work, Progression Of World Athletics Records, is now available as an eBook through WA…
Also available as an eBook is the European Athletics Annual Review 2020, which can be found on that organization’s website…
What Mad Pursuit: Short Stories About Runners by Rich Elliott is now available on Amazon. Elliott, the nation’s second-fastest prep 2-miler in ’68, is also the author of the classic The Competitive Edge: Mental Preparation for Distance Running…
The IOC has signed off on the WA guidelines for Russian neutral participation in the Tokyo Games, allowing the athletes to compete under the flag of the Russian Olympic Committee. Instead of the national anthem, any Russian winners will hear a snippet from Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto #1…
The uniforms for Russia’s “neutral” Olympic team have been revealed, and they look an awful lot like the Russian flag, which is banned at the Games. Though the design is controversial, the uniforms have been approved by the IOC…
Sofía Sakoráfa has been elected president of the Greek federation. She set a World Record in the javelin in ’82 and earned No. 1 in our World Rankings…
Airbnb has signed on as an IOC partner. For an 8-year period the housing provider will offer up to 500 athletes a year $2000 in credits toward accommodations for training and competing…
Caitlyn (né Bruce) Jenner has filed paperwork to run as governor of California in a recall election…
The Boston Marathon has announced that adidas has extended its sponsorship of the event through ’30…
UMKC has reinstated its cross country teams for the ’21 season. Still on hold are the track programs, both men’s and women’s, that were suspended last fall…
Clemson has backed down from the threat of a Title IX lawsuit and reinstated its men’s track program…
Sportswear manufacturer Under Armour is building a new global headquarters in Baltimore, and it will include an outdoor track facility on the 50-acre project. The track will be shared with the community…
Razorback women’s coach Lance Harter has been inducted into Arkansas’s state Sports Hall of Fame…
Too good to be true: a reported 8:21.49 steeple PR for Craig Nowak at Eastern Kentucky, turned out to be bogus. The starting line for the steeple on the new track was in the wrong place. Likewise into the bin goes the 9:48.60 recorded by women’s winner Amy Cashin…
2-time Boston Marathon champ Moses Tanui is pushing for an athlete’s welfare fund in Kenya, to help support retired athletes such as Henry Rono, who recently returned home at age 69 and is facing medical and financial troubles…
The Brazilian Olympic Committee is requiring anti-racism training for the 650 people it intends to send to the Tokyo Games…
2000 Olympian Dawn Burrell is currently competing on the cooking reality show Top Chef. She is in the process of opening up her first independent restaurant, called Late August, in Houston…
Kentucky’s Centre College is building a new $50 million indoor athletic center that will include a 200m flat track…
The Expo Centre in Edmonton is considering adding a 200m banked hydraulic track to its features, according to a proposal the city is considering. □