FRED KERLEY, WR holder? The world 100 champ says that he will soon be targeting the fastest times in the sprints: “Everything is realistic; Bolt, Wayde, and all of the American greats. If they can do it, then why not us? I’ve got to continue to train right, eat right, sleep right. These small things will help me to get to the bigger goals down the line. The records and that double gold.”…
There were no big surprises when European Athletics named its Athletes Of The Year, as the women’s award went to Femke Bol and the men’s was shared between Mondo Duplantis and Jakob Ingebrigtsen…
Euro 400H silver medalist Wilfried Happio is the subject of an investigation in France. He was attacked in June while warming up for the French Championships. The assailant was apparently the brother of an athlete who is alleging that Happio sexually assaulted her…
The movie More Than Gold is being released in New Zealand; it’s a documentary on shot great Valerie Adams. A worldwide release is set for a future date…
European Athletics is going to start its own road running championships. To be held every 2 years, the affair will start in ’25 with competition in the 10K, half marathon and marathon. Munich is the likely host…
Eilish McColgan was originally credited with a European Record 30:18 (breaking her own 30:19) at the Great Scottish Run, but this year’s 10K course turned out to be some 150m short…
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce has been awarded the Order of Jamaica, which goes to citizens who have made outstanding achievements…
The most popular drug for Russian tracksters this past year has been meldonium. It was cited in 14 of the 57 positive tests…
Guatemala’s Olympic committee has been suspended by the IOC for failing to resolve a domestic legal dispute…
Long jump Olympian Tara Davis and Paralympic medalist Hunter Woodhall married in October, as did distance runners Sage Hurta and Joe Klecker…
The silver medal that German Lutz Long won in placing 2nd to Jesse Owens in the ’36 Olympic long jump sold on auction for $488,435…
San José State may soon have a track again, as the state of California has awarded a $9 million grant for a track & field facility and community center that the Spartans will operate jointly with the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds…
Chelsea Sodaro, who won the ’13 USATF Indoor 3000 under her maiden name Reilly, recently captured the Ironman World Triathlon title…
WR holder Tobi Amusan says that in order to have the time needed to train for her world title she had to take out a bank loan of $50,000…
Athletes on Central Oklahoma’s track and cross country teams have sued the Div. II school, citing Title IX violations. The allegation is that unlike the men, the women’s teams have no locker room, no competitive facility and they are forced to practice at a local middle school…
Egypt has announced that it will be among the contenders for the ’36 Olympic Games. All told, the IOC has revealed that it is in discussions with 10 nations over the next available Summer Olympic slot…
Seven nations have been placed on the competition watch list for reporting suspicious meet results during the lead-up to the ’21 Olympics: Albania, Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Turkey, Uzbekistan…
Jim Redmond, the father of British sprinter Derek Redmond, who became famous for helping his injured son to the finish line in the ’92 Olympic 400 semis, has died at 81…
Adam Beltran, Notre Dame’s throws coach, has died of cancer at age 46…
Puerto Rican Olympian Carmelo Rios, the ’83 Pan-Am steeple silver medalist, passed away in late October…
Dan Wieden, the advertising legend who coined Nike’s iconic “Just Do It” campaign, died at age 77…
Not yet in the retirement notices is Joan Benoit Samuelson. The ’84 Olympic marathon champion, now 65, won her age group at the London Marathon in 3:20:20…
Another one who’s not done yet is Deena Kastor. At age 49, she became the fourth woman to complete the 8-star Abbott Challenge that includes all 6 World Major Marathons plus the Olympics and World Championships. At Berlin she finished 42nd in 2:45:12…
Marshall University is bucking the trend. The Mid-American Conference school is reinstating men’s track and cross country after 20 years without…
Andre De Grasse is going into the wine business. The Olympic 200 champion has launched a limited edition red wine called “19.62” (his gold-winning time in Tokyo)…
The Paris24 marathon course has been revealed, and it appears the route will favor strength runners, with some 436m of climb and 438m of descent. Organizers are calling the course “spectacular and demanding.”…
Leuven, Belgium, recently hosted the latest Beer Mile World Classic. The winner was Corey Bellemore in 4:49. The Canadian holds the world best of 4:28.1 but that’s was with beer in cups, which is easier. The Leuven promoters are hailing his latest mark as a WR for cans. Bellemore has a sans-beer best of 3:57.20…
British journalist Edmund Willison reports that as of 2021, the AIU is only testing 12% of all its doping samples for EPO, and only 1.75% for synthetic testosterone…
Former UConn trackster Trisha Bailey, hailed as the richest woman in Jamaica, has made the largest athletic donation in the school’s history. The amount — not disclosed — will go toward a renovation of the indoor track and fieldhouse, as well as a training and academic support center…
Members of the European Parliament have launched an effort to create a world anti-corruption agency (based loosely on WADA) to police international sports. The current push was inspired by a recent study showing corruption is widespread and that 12% of IOC members have been the subject of criminal probes in the last decade…
Athletics Kenya officials say they’ve canceled plans for a gala celebrating top athletes because of the nation’s recent outbreak of doping positives. Said one, “We no longer have anything to celebrate because months after we arrange these gala awards to fête certain athletes, we receive information that they have been banned due to doping.”…
IOC head Thomas Bach has hinted that he is considering suggestions to allow back into competition Russians who do not support their country’s invasion of Ukraine. His comments sparked an angry response from Russia…
WADA president Witold Bańka says that Russian drug testing operations are still being monitored despite difficulties posed by the war. He notes that in-person audits have been on hold for the duration…
The IOC has confirmed new partnerships with 11 research centers worldwide that are focused on athlete health and injury prevention. One of those centers is based in the U.S., the Coalition for the Prevention of Illness & Injury in Sport at Utah…
The Great American Cross Country Festival, a big high school affair set for Cary, North Carolina, at the beginning of October had to be canceled because of the fallout from Hurricane Ian…
In order to smooth out the difficulties that athletes from some nations might face in obtaining visas (as happened for last summer’s Worlds), Paris organizers are working with the French government to create an Olympic visa as well as an Olympic consulate…
Brothers Josephus and Noah Lyles have been presented with the key to their hometown of Alexandria, Virginia…
Shoe questions emerged at the Ironman World Championships, where the triathletes’ shoes weren’t constrained by the stack height limits mandated by World Athletics. Runner-up Sam Laidlow crushed the marathon record with a 2:36 in prototype ON shoes higher than 40cm. Said 2-time champ Chris McCormack, “Did it change the game – no, because everyone had it – but if you’re not running in those shoes, forget it, it’s all over, you’re doomed.”…
Marathoner CJ Albertson, who ran 2:10:23 at Boston this year, took on the 50K and sliced 90 seconds off the World Record with his 2:38:43 in San Francisco in October. That broke the 2:40:13 standard held by South African Stephen Mokoka since March…
For the first time since the pandemic struck, the Kansas Relays are scheduled to return next spring, in what would be the 100th anniversary of the event…
New Jersey official and coach Charles Webster has been named to the USATF Foundation Board…
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation allowing athletes moving to California to train for the ’28 Olympics access to in-state college tuition…
It’s not just the flame that comes from Greece. French Olympic officials have traveled to the birthplace of the Olympics to collect a small sample of soil from ancient Olympia, which they brought back to Paris…
This fall’s West Coast Conference cross country championships will be the final one for BYU, which has won 4 straight on the women’s side and 7 on the men’s. Next fall the Cougars will be competing in the Big 12…
Field event athletes in the NCAA Championships will be getting double the time to initiate their attempts. The limit has been raised for the 2022–23 school year from 30 to 60 seconds. That brings it in line with WA rules. Also approved is video review of the field events (if available). In addition, the NCAA has banned mixed-gender competitions in the horizontal jumps, throws, and 10,000…
Kenny Bednarek recently told NBC the story behind his toe injury last winter: “I ended up breaking my toe in December while building a coffee table — something so simple that could have ended my season. I learned my lesson not to be a handyman. I am not Bob The Builder.” ◻︎