AND THEN THERE WERE 6. In the unprecedented steak of annual global championships that runs from 2021 to 2025 (OG/WC/WC/OG/WC), only a select few have managed to win gold in all 3 of the years so far: Soufiane El Bakkali (steeple), Ryan Crouser (SP), Faith Kipyegon (1500), Katie Moon (PV), and Yulimar Rojas (TJ)…
USATF officials required athletes qualifying for the Pan-Am U20 Champs in Puerto Rico to have a passport, even though U.S. citizens don’t need one to travel to the island, a U.S. territory. LetsRun reported that among the athletes denied a spot were Junior 400 winner Judson Lincoln, 400H winner Gage Gose and World Youth 100 recordholder Christian Miller. Athletes were told the passport requirement was a World Athletics rule, something WA has denied. The requirement was listed before the meet in the USATF’s selection procedures, however…
Canadian distance runner (and Syracuse alum) Justyn Knight has joined up with the Nike Bowerman TC and will be training with former NCAA rival Grant Fisher, along with Canada’s Moh Ahmed, whom he calls a mentor…
Notre Dame’s NCAA steeple champ Olivia Markezich has signed an NIL with On Running…
Utah alum Emily Venters has signed with Nike…
Former Boise State/Florida State athlete Ahmed Muhumed (13:26.11 PR) has signed with the Hoka NAZ Elite…
Marathoner Susanna Sullivan, a full-time teacher, signed with Brooks prior to representing at the World Champs, where she finished 58th.
Tom Nohilly has been hired as the new coach of the Atlanta TC…
Dave Cianelli, who has coached at Virginia Tech for 22 years, is set to retire at the end of the ’24 season…
Throws guru Ashley Kovacs, now parenting twins with shot star husband Joe, has resigned at Vanderbilt, saying, “I have come to the realization that the passion I have for coaching has been overshadowed by the need I feel to be completely present for my family during these precious and formative moments of life.”…
Texas Tech head Wes Kittley has signed a new 7-year deal worth over $3.8 million…
WA hirings: Márton Gyulai, who was executive director of the Budapest WC, as Director Of Competition & Events; Jamie Fox as Director Of Communications…
South African runner Mbuleli Mathanga, 29, died in August in a suspected suicide. He was a 2-time national 10K champion…
Former BYU head coach Willard Hirschi died in August at age 89. He was on the U.S. coaching staff for the ’92 and ’96 Olympics…
Wichita State vault coach Pat Wilson died in August of brain cancer. In his 16 years with the Shocker program he coached 6 All-America vaulters…
Kenyan Frankline Chepkwony collapsed and died after an August training session at age 39. He was the winner of the Seoul Marathon in ’13, and had a PR of 2:06:11.
Triple jumper Tori Franklin has published a memoir titled, You Anthem, which she describes as a “raw account of my mental health journey, from battling depression to finding healing after enduring sexual trauma, all while pursuing success as a professional track & field athlete.”…
Izaic Yorks hasn’t raced this year, but the onetime NCAA 1500 runner-up from Washington has published his third fantasy novel, Walktall…
Grant Holloway is moving to a new sport—in a way. In October he is hosting a golf tournament to raise funds for the athletic foundation in his name. Proceeds go to provide holiday meals for area families in need…
Arkansas decathlete Ayden Owens-Delerme has been busy away from the track. Prior to competing in Budapest he launched an app to help connect athletes to NIL opportunities. Called DapUp, the application was part of his MBA activities in Fayetteville…
USATF 800 champ Nia Akins has also made a splash in the music world, with six of her songs now available on Spotify…
After the Budapest vault qualifying, eventual co-gold medalist Nina Kennedy asserted that the stadium featured a downhill runway. “If you look closely at it, [the runway] is slightly sloped down, so girls were jumping out of their skin tonight. If you look in the rules you are allowed a tilt. But just look at the track – it is downhill. Girls are running fast.”…
Jenny Simpson has said that she intends to compete in the Olympic Trials Marathon in February. She has not yet announced where she will make her 26-mile debut…
Hurdler Devon Allen’s football dreams took a step back when the Philadelphia Eagles cut him, so he will not be on the team’s 53-man active roster. He did sign on for another season on the practice squad, however…
Former World Youth 100 recordholder Anthony Schwartz (10.15 in ’17) may have hit the end of his NFL career at age 22, having been waived by the Cleveland Browns. He reportedly made $2 million in his short NFL career…
Seb Coe has made no friends in Moscow with his unflinching stance against Russian and Belarusian participation in the Paris Olympics, coming on the heels of the ban tied to the Russian doping scandal. The head of the Russian Olympic Committee said on the eve of the WC, “I believe that Mr. Coe has been pursuing a consistent Russophobic policy since the time he was first elected President of World Athletics.”…
The Sports Examiner reports that 35% of the U.S. team did better in Budapest than they had at the USATF meet…
When the Ukraine Olympic committee said that it has not yet come up with a final position on how to handle Russian/Belarusian participation in the ’24 Olympics, the embattled nation’s prime minister responded quickly, saying that, “Ukraine is determined,” and that a coalition of 35 nations would boycott the Games if the Russians participate…
Sam Prakel, World Record holder? It could be. As of September 1, the road mile became an official WR distance. World Athletics is recognizing the fastest times of 2023 so far on record-quality courses as the first set of records. That means that Prakel’s 4:01.21 in winning the USATF Road Mile is in line to be first on the list, as is Nikki Hiltz’s 4:27.97. They may not last long, as the mile is one of the distances to be contested in October’s World Road Champs…
USATF Board member Jim Estes has filed a defamation lawsuit against USATF, claiming that his reputation was harmed by the way that USATF threw out Chattanooga’s bid to host the OT Marathon. Estes had disclosed that he was an advisor for the Chattanooga bid and recused himself from discussions of it, in keeping with USATF policy. According to the lawsuit, Estes was named and blamed by USATF in the letter CEO Max Siegel sent to the Chattanooga organizers…
Tracksmith has initiated an NIL program for 10 athletes to help them transition to the pros. The Tracksmith Varsity Club will offer stipends, gear, mentorship, and a week-long trip to compete in Europe…
A Kenyan banned for a doping violation last year, Joel Maina (60:40 half marathon), received a reprimand for attending two online courses conducted by World Athletics. The terms of the ban forbid any WA activity other than anti-doping education or rehabilitation programs…
USATF has launched its own podcast, “Behind the Wings,” hosted by Olympians Erik Kynard and Wallace Spearmon. In searching for it, don’t get thrown off by the established aviation history podcast of the same name…
With 10 new cards in Budapest, the Museum of World Athletics has now issued 50 historical collector cards…
The stadium in Aarhus, Denmark, has seen some history, including Emiel Puttemans’ 3000 WR of 7:37.6 in ’72. Now the track is being ripped out after 103 years so that the site can be a dedicated soccer stadium. A new track facility will be ready in ’26.
India may be among the candidates to host the ’27 Worlds, as officials at the national federation say they are formulating a bid — a specific city not cited. So far, Beijing and Istanbul have announced they are also contending for ’27, with an apparent three other cities in the mix privately…
The IOC’s Thomas Bach says that there’s a “strong case” that India should host the ’36 Olympics. The center would be the Narenda Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, which is the largest stadium in the world outside of North Korea, with seating for 110,000…
Tickets for the ’24 Euros in Rome have gone on sale. While evening session tickets range from $21 to $80, all morning sessions have been capped at $5. An “all-in” ticket covering everything goes from $312 to $516…
San Diego will be host of the ’25 World Road Championships, with Copenhagen hosting in ’26…
Lima, Peru, which had withdrawn from hosting the World U20 Championships in ’24, has been reinstated…
The decision on the sports program for the ’28 Olympics—which events are in, which are out—had been scheduled for September but is now postponed indefinitely…
A scandal has erupted belatedly in Somalia over the selection of an apparent non-athlete for the World University Games team in ’21. The woman, reportedly a relative of the federation president, clocked only 21.81 in the 100; the next slowest was 13.15…
The USATF Foundation has launched year 2 of “Operation Hammer Sweep.” The $5000 grants this year have gone to Brooke Anderson, Janee Kassanavoid, and Deanna Price as well as Daniel Haugh, Rudy Winkler and Alex Young…
A documentary on the Balco doping scandal has come to Netflix, titled, “UNTOLD: Hall of Shame.”…
So far unnamed, Netflix is also working on a documentary series covering a number of top sprinters behind the scenes, including Dina Asher-Smith, Fred Kerley and Noah Lyles…
The Virginia Beach Sports Center has reportedly fallen behind on its bills and will need a $1.16 million cash infusion to stay open…
The USATF Foundation has awarded maternity grants to Paige Wood of HOKA NAZ Elite and Elaina Tabb of adidas. Wood is expecting in December and Tabb in September…
Swedish discus thrower Simon Pettersson thought he had qualified for the Budapest discus final. The next day, his qualifying throw was thrown out after a video review showed a foot foul. Not one to pout, the Olympic silver medalist flew home and two days later threw a season best 217-6 (66.31), a mark that would have put him in the top 6 at Worlds…
One thing the U.S. mixed relay WR didn’t feature was Gabby Thomas, though she had told reporters that she would be on the team in the final. She later explained, “The team had to make a last-minute switch, and you only get one substitution in this relay, but in the end it was a great call.”…
Organizers of the Mexico City Marathon have disqualified 11,000 of their 30,000 competitors for reportedly cutting the course or using vehicles. That tops the ’17 record of 6000 disqualified. ◻︎