WHO’S REALLY FASTEST? Noah Lyles says that he is “in talks” with representatives of NFL speedster Tyreek Hill about a possible match race…
Speaking of pro league crossovers, asked if he could win an Olympic medal in one of the jumps, basketball superstar LeBron James sounded optimistic: “Maybe the long jump. I think I could do the long jump, maybe, or the high jump. If you give me some time. I need about 6 months, 8 months, or whatever, preparation to get to that.”…
Hurdler Freddie Crittenden, long without a major sponsor, has signed with adidas…
Adams State grad Gracie Hyde has signed with Puma…
Cailie Hughes, who won multiple Big 12 titles for Iowa State and made All-America at 5K, 10K and cross country under her maiden name of Logue, has also signed with Puma…
Triple jumper Ana Peleteiro-Compaoré has left the coaching of Ivan Pedroso, whom she has worked with for 8 years. Instead she will be coached by her partner, French jumper Benjamin Compaoré…
Nike’s Union AC is moving from Oregon to Colorado…
Grand Slam Track, the Michael Johnson-backed venture that’s due to debut next year, continues to recruit big names. Recent signees include Kenny Bednarek, Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, Cole Hocker, Melissa Jefferson, Fred Kerley, Josh Kerr, Yared Nuguse, Masai Russell and Cyréna Samba-Mayela. And Morolake Akinosun was hired as Head Of Athlete Relations…
Using the points-ranking formula that hailed Eugene ’22 as the best Diamond League Final ever, Brussels scored 97,032 this year to rank No. 2 all-time, behind Eugene’s 99,156…
Next year’s Prefontaine Classic will be held July 05 (always with the possibility of adding some events on a second day)…
Miler Sinclaire Johnson has left the Nike Union AC and will not be following coach Pete Julian to Colorado. Instead, she will be training in Flagstaff, Phoenix and Park City.
Glasgow has received the promise of government support that it needed to say yes to the ’26 Commonwealth Games. Track will be held at Scotstoun Stadium. The ’26 edition was originally awarded to the Australian state of Victoria, which later backed out…
The marathon and walks courses have been announced for the ’25 Worlds in Tokyo. Rather than the Sapporo solution that ’21 Olympics organizers used, this time (in cooler September) the races will all begin and end in Tokyo’s National Stadium…
India, deciding that its chances of landing the ’36 Olympics are bleak, has shifted its focus to the ’30 Youth Olympics…
Denmark is now considering a bid for the ’36 Games…
In a potential blow to Olympic funding, Panasonic has cut its sponsorship after 37 years…
Both Letsile Tebogo and Fred Kerley have tweeted about wanting the return of the Continental Cup. The meet, which began as the World Cup in ’77, was last run in ’18…
Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, has proposed that the Olympic rings remain on the Eiffel Tower in perpetuity. That met with stern disapproval from the descendants of designer Gustave Eiffel. Said Olivier Berthelot-Eiffel, “The Eiffel Tower should not become an advertising outpost.”…
Japanese coach Keisuke Sawaki, 80, resigned after an incident when he allegedly punished his runners by making them race a 10,000 in heat and humidity, denying them water. Four of the runners were hospitalized. A former Olympian himself, Sawaki said, “This is the way we’ve always done it.”…
Odile Ahouanwanou, the heptathlete from Benin who placed 8th in the ’19 Worlds and 15th in the ’21 Olympics, has been missing in France since dropping her child with a babysitter on September 10. Police have asked for public help in their search…
A drone enthusiast who flew his $4000 toy near the finish of the Boston Marathon on race day has been arraigned in federal court on charges of violating restricted national defense airspace. He lost the drone as well as an extra $5000 fine…
Ethiopia’s Sembo Almayew, 5th in the Olympic steeple, missed the DL Final because she was denied a visa. The European Union is apparently being tougher on Ethiopian requests in order to force the African nation to take back citizens found living illegally in Europe…
The head of Tunisia’s anti-doping agency has been released after 4 months in jail; WADA had been lobbying for his release…
The UCLA women’s program is facing a year of probation after the NCAA found that recruiting violations had occurred. A former assistant coach is disputing the findings and will get a separate hearing…
Wesleyan College runner Nefertari Holston, 23, died from cardiac arrest while racing in a cross country invitational in Georgia…
Kenya’s anti-doping agency has been hit by budget cuts after a controversial tax bill failed to pass. “This decision has paralyzed the agency, preventing us from meeting our obligations and risking non-compliance with the World Anti-Doping Code,” said an official…
Ludmila Engquist, who won 100H gold at the ’96 Olympics, says in a new book that after she left track & field for bobsledding, she doped in order to get out: “I hated bobsledding. It was a complete nightmare. Constant unhappiness; before, during and after training, day and night…there was nothing to hide, I wanted to get caught. End the madness. Get rid of the fear. No one could have stopped me, not even myself. Now the doping police would take me.”…
In addition to a 10-year ban, Tatyana Tomashova, the original runner-up in the 2012 Olympic 1500, will be stripped of her silver medal, pending appeal. That means that Shannon Rowbury will likely ascend to the bronze step of the podium 12 years after the race…
Jakob Ingebrigtsen jumped into his first half marathon in Copenhagen, passing through 10K in 27:37 but struggled badly afterwards on his way to a 34th-place finish in 63:13. Says his agent, “He can run anything from 1500m up to half-marathons — and even marathons over time.”…
Top Jamaican sprint coach Stephen Francis says he will be banning social media for his athletes at big meets. “I believe I’m going to try to implement a policy for the athletes to delete social media before they start competing. It’s too much of a distraction, and they spend too much time on their phones.”…
Florida State canceled its Pre-Regionals cross country invitational as weather forecasters tabbed Tallahassee for a near-direct hit by Tropical Storm Helene…
Harriman, Tennessee, has named its track for ’84 Olympic hurdler Sharrieffa Barksdale…
Sha’Carri Richardson was recently honored when a local Dallas track was named after her…
Virginia Tech has named its indoor track for retiring coach Dave Cianelli and his wife Ellen…
Olympic champion Rai Benjamin got a motorcade and a track named in his honor in his hometown of Mount Vernon, New York…
An indoor track at a health club in Grand Blanc, Michigan, has been named for Grant Fisher, who trained at the facility while a high schooler…
The Diamond League has inaugurated the Jesse Owens Rising Star Award of the best U23 athletes on the circuit in a given year. The first recipients were Letsile Tebogo and Diribe Welteji…
The WA Combined Events Tour has wrapped for ’24, with Michelle Atherley winning top women’s honors and a check for $30,000. The men’s standings were topped by Estonia’s Johannes Erm…
On returning to St. Lucia, Olympic 100 champion Julien Alfred was honored with her own annual national holiday — September 27 will be “Julien Alfred Day.”…
Henry Park, a long jumper for the University of Chicago in his college days, has been named to the board of the USATF Foundation…
A federal judge has said she was not prepared to sign off on the $2.7 billion settlement the NCAA approved to pay student-athletes, and has told the parties involved to “go back to the drawing board” before facing more questions from her in October…
The Reno-Sparks Convention Center now has a 200m banked Mondo track with seating for 1200, making the Nevada site a possible host of national level meets (at 1500m+ of altitude)…
The Penn Relays is launching an indoor meet aimed at high schoolers, called the Winter Showcase. It’s set for January 31–February 1 on Penn’s new indoor oval…
A new documentary is out, Decathlon: The CK Yang & Rafer Johnson Story, telling the story of the great rivalry between the two top multi-eventers of the early ‘60s. It’s available on YouTube, with never-before-seen footage…
The USTFCCCA has joined in with other groups representing coaches of Olympic sports at the NCAA level and has endorsed a request that Congress take steps to protect Olympic sports from the changes coming at the collegiate level. “Congress must recognize the need to protect collegiate Olympic sports and ensure that the erasure of our entire Olympic pipeline as we know it is not one of the unintended consequences of recent sweeping changes in college sports.” ◻︎