HERE’S THE LATEST in the aches, pains & eligibility departments.
Meanwhile, in the maternity ward: Almaz Ayana, the Olympic gold medalist and WR holder at 10,000, gave birth to a boy in late November.
OT Marathon winner Aliphine Tuliamuk is pregnant, with a child due in January. She Instagrammed, “we planned this knowing that we would have 6+ months to get ready for Tokyo Olympics!”
2-time Olympic champion Meseret Defar of Ethiopia recently gave birth.
Marina Arzamasova of Belarus, the ’15 World champ at 800, has been banned for 4 years after testing positive for ligandrol, an anabolic drug.
British walker Tom Bosworth contracted C19 in March and was only able to resume light training in July.
Triple jumper Omar Craddock has been provisionally suspended by the AIU after a series of whereabouts failures.
Recent 10M American Record setter Keira D’Amato had hoped to make a splash at The Track Meet in December, but took a rain check after a bout with food poisoning. “This sucks. But I’m human,” she said on Instagram.
Fedrick Dacres, the silver medalist in the Doha discus, fell in his bathroom and tore a ligament in his hand. “They are saying that I can be out for 3–6 months, but based on that, I still have time to get back. I just have to work harder than everybody else.”
Two-time discus World Ranker Andressa De Morais has been banned for 4 years after testing positive for a type of selective androgen receptor modulator, similar to a steroid.
Britain’s Tom Gale, high jump co-world leader at 7-7¾ (2.33) this year, has not jumped since February. He had knee surgery over the summer.
Spanish Olympian Trihas Gebre, a 31:35 road performer, has been stranded in the war-torn Tigray region of Ethiopia where she was born. After taking refuge with a family in the mountains she told her coach that she is starving but still alive.
South Carolina’s NCAA 400H champion Quincy Hall has turned pro, but will keep training in Columbia for the ’21 season. “It’s been a long journey and I’m still fighting,” he tweeted.
Hoka NAZ Elite runner Nick Hauger recently went public about his diagnosis with C19, blogging, “Everything my doctor had read showed that I needed to halt all physical activity until my symptoms of a tight chest and cough had subsided additionally, I would need to wait a full 2 weeks after those symptoms disappeared to return to running. On top of all this she was concerned that the virus may have affected my heart and lungs.”
Hurdler Lolo Jones has returned to bobsledding, making the national bobsled team for the fifth time. The 2-time track Olympian opted not to focus on the hurdles because “that would give me a little bit more time if things are not operational for Summer Olympics. I’m putting basically all of my eggs in the Winter Olympics because I feel like by 2022 we’ll have a handle on the situation.”
Swiss sprinter Mujinga Kambundji will miss the indoor season after sustaining a metatarsal fracture in her right foot during training at the end of November. “It feels a lot better and it’s healing well,” she says.
German Melat Keljeta, the runner-up at the World Half-Marathon, had hoped to make a splash at the Valencia Marathon but had to pull out with illness.
’17 World 1500 champ Elijah Manangoi has been suspended for 2 years for whereabouts failures. “It seems simple but a slight mistake can be costly at the end,” he said. “I’m a clean athlete, and I will be back on track and win right.” His suspension ends December 22, 2021, when he’ll be 29.
Manteo Mitchell, silver medalist in the ’12 long relay, is also trying bobsled, but says he will still go for a track Olympic berth. Of his first go in a sled he says, “It’s like being in a dryer and being a pair of tennis shoes. Nothing but shoes, just blunk, blunk, blunk, blunk.”
Yumi Hattori, who won the Fukuoka Marathon in ’18, withdrew from this year’s race with a calf injury.
Doping Suspensions
4 years—Marina Arzamasova (Belarus, 800), Andressa De Morais (Brazil, discus), Viktoriya Khapilina (Russia, distance), Tebogo Mamathu (South Africa, sprints);
2 years—Elijah Manangoi (Kenya, 1500). □