WHITHER THE ’25 WC? Japan has thrown its hat into the ring as possible host of the next available World Championships, with Tokyo a possible site. Although encouraged to do so publicly by Seb Coe at the Olympics, capital city authorities might balk at some point about the $90 million price tag of hosting a Worlds after the Olympic losses…
WA was able to pay back a $7.5 million loan from the IOC to get through the first pandemic year, and even made a tidy $2.1 million profit. That overage thanks to the $6.8 million fine Russia paid for its doping coverup…
Several months of meetings between USOPC officials and college athletic directors have resulted in a set of recommendations for making the NCAA work more effectively as part of the Olympic pipeline for all sports. One suggestion has governing bodies and the NCAA partnering to host championships…
OT 1500 4th-placer Shannon Osika has moved west to join Pete Julian’s training crew. “I was in need of more training partners and wanted to up the ante a bit. Looking forward to getting my butt kicked.”…
Stanford alum Ella Donaghu has also joined the as-yet unnamed Julian group…
Olympic hurdler Anna Cockrell on Twitter: “I haaateeee that my neighbors know who I am cause I just know they see me struggle jogging and are like, ‘isn’t she supposed to be good at that??’”…
Cockrell’s Tokyo teammate Dalilah Muhammad, has been honored with the key to Queens, the New York City borough where she started out. Muhammad also got to throw a ceremonial first pitch for the New York Mets, of which she says, “I’m only good at hurdling and proud of it lol.”…
Kenenisa Bekele says he plans to keep marathoning through the ‘24 Olympics: “My plan is not only to break the World Record before I retire. Everybody is talking about sub-2:00, so why not? One day I will try this, I know it’s hard work.”…
WA will begin recognizing road 50K World Records. The initial standards will be the best legitimate performances as of January 01, provided they are at least 2:43:38 (men), 2:59:54 (women) and 3:07:20 (women-only). That 2:59:54 is the mark that Desiree Linden set in April…
Rhode Island hammer throw guru Bob Gourley has passed. In addition to coaching 8 national prep champions, for decades he produced national prep hammer listings…
Long jumper Ivana Španović will be competing under the married name Vuleta next year, having gotten married in September…
Allyson Felix shared the Sportswoman of the Year award from the Women’s Sports Foundation with volleyball player Jordan Larson…
Dobromir Karamarinov of Bulgaria has been elected as president of European Athletics. He had served on an interim president after Svein Arne Hansen suffered a stroke and died in ’20…
After having dropped down to the short sprints and earned a bronze medal in the 100, Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson says she’s not averse to going back up to the 400, explaining, “I am willing to run all events. If my coach says we will run the 400m, I am always up for it. I like to challenge myself. I don’t limit myself to what I can do. I go after what I want, I work really hard. If it means going back to the 400m next year, I am definitely up for that task.”…
The future of the Commonwealth Games after next summer’s staging in Birmingham, England. No one has yet offered to host the ’26 edition, though Australia is considering it…
Helena Duplantis, mom and strength coach to Olympic champion Mondo, recently shared that a Tokyo taxi driver took her to the wrong arena and she missed her son’s gold medal presentation. In a public letter to her offspring she wrote, “No pressure, but do you think you can repeat your performance at the next Olympics?? I really would like to be at the medal ceremony in person.”…
Another major meet has switched from the 50K walk to the new 35K distance. The European Championships will host the event at its ’22 edition. Also, in a break with tradition, it will include the walking events in ’24; previously it has not held the walks when the Euros and Olympics fall in the same year…
After a 1-year absence, Birmingham’s Müller Indoor GP is set for February 19…
The ’22 NCAA Indoor schedule has been released for the March 11-12 event (a cut from 3 days this year), with men’s finals in the afternoons, women’s in the evenings…
Obstacle racing is making its bid to become an Olympic sport eventually. World Obstacle has been granted observer status by the Global Association of World Sports Federations…
Indoor track will be coming to the St. Louis area if local tourism officials get their way. Consultants are pitching a facility on the north side of town that will be able to host NCAA-type events as well as provide opportunity for area youth. As always, funding will be the biggest challenge…
Irish greats such as Ron Delany, Eamonn Coghlan and Marcus O’Sullivan have won the Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games over the years, but this winter will be the first time the meet will be seen on Irish TV. A deal has been cut that will bring all 7 of the World Indoor Tour Gold meetings to TV viewers in Ireland…
Usain Bolt’s successor? Says Bolt: “Andre De Grasse is more consistent. Any time he is in shape he is always on the podium. So if that continues on this line he would be the guy to watch, or he will be the guy to beat. Everyone else has been up and down, win one meet lose the next and it is all about consistency.”…
Decathlon gold medalist Damian Warner of Canada says that he’s not near done: “For me the decathlon is like a giant, crazy impossible puzzle that I keep trying to solve. From a technical standpoint there are a lot of events I can still improve on. From an accomplishment standpoint I still haven’t won a world championship gold medal, that’s the only title I haven’t achieved, but also the decathlon World Record.”…
Triple jump king Pedro Pablo Pichardo thinks he has a World Record in his legs. “I think I can improve half a meter from now until the end of my career [his current Euro Record is 59-4/18.08]. I think I could finish with 40 or 50cm more, jump more than 18.40 [60-4½]. I should be able to achieve it; if I do it or not, it’s difficult to say.”…
The Olympic Park in Munich, site of the ’72 Olympics, has been nominated by Bavaria as a possible UNESCO World Heritage Site…
In a development that could have far-reaching implications for college sports, the top lawyer for the National Labor Relations Board issued a memo saying that college athletes should be treated as employees of the school…
Maybe you were kicking yourself that you didn’t bid on Steve Prefontaine’s bib from the ’70 NCAA harrier finals. Well, stress no more! The auction ended at $26,734.80 and we don’t think we know anyone who would spend that much on a race bib…
With only 10 medals at the Tokyo Olympics, compared to 14 in Rio, some in Kenya are upset over what they are calling a dismal showing. The Kenyan Senate is set to investigate the sports cabinet secretary as well as the management of Athletics Kenya and the National Olympic Committee…
Oops! There was a photo mixup in the print edition of the October issue, in which gremlins switched the pics of XC stars Conner Mantz and Cooper Teare…
Texas’s Odessa College, once a powerhouse on the JUCO track scene, has broken ground on a new track facility as it plans to bring its program back…
The Quad Cities Marathon got hit with controversy when an official on bicycle missed a turn and sent two Kenyans who had a big lead off the course past the halfway mark. In their stead, American Tyler Pence won in 2:15:06. Pence said, “I saw it happening, but I’m not going to shout anything. It’s not my job.” The race director said he would find a way to compensate the two DQed runners…
China’s anti-doping agency has announced that it will be working with U.S. firm Agilent Technologies to make sure its drug testing for the Winter Olympics is quick and accurate…
The Nagoya Women’s Marathon has upped its ’22 prize money to $250,000, making it the highest-paying marathon in the world…
The Nagoya Women’s Marathon has upped its 1st-place ’22 prize money to $250,000. Dubai used to pay $250K, but halved that in 2019. (Boston pays $150K).…
Jakob Ingebrigtsen doesn’t sound so big on fellow Olympic champion Karsten Warholm’s chances should the two Norwegians ever have an 800 duel: “I do not think he can run much more than 350m.”