THE LATEST in the aches, pains & eligibility departments:
As its meet date approached, the Los Angeles GP was hit by a trio of big-name SoCal withdrawals: Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone reportedly irritated her hamstring while doing a biomechanical test; Athing Mu was reportedly hit by COVID (again); Michael Norman felt pain behind a knee when he raced in Doha.
Steepler Val Constien tore her ACL while competing in Doha, and will be out for the rest of the season.
Maternity ward: sons for Leah Falland, a 5-time U.S. Ranker in the steeplechase, on May 02; mid-distance star Kate Grace on March 05. And USATF marathon champion Paige Wood (née Stoner) is expecting in December.
Eric Jenkins has announced his retirement. The ’15 NCAA Indoor 3/5K champion for Oregon, he Ranked No. 2 in the U.S. in the 5000 in 2017, the year he competed in the World Championships.
The NCAA 100 champ for LSU in ’21, Terrance Laird has revealed the injury woes that led to his absence from the sport last season. He injured two disks in his back in a sled pull workout in fall ’20. He managed the pain during his breakout ’21 season. After that it got worse. COVID restrictions kept him from going to German specialist Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt until May ’22. Now fully recovered, he’s training in Southern California with coach Darrell Smith.
Arkansas decathlete Ayden Owens-Delerme lost decathlon training time because of a case of tendinitis in his knee. Hence his concentrating on the 400H during the collegiate season.
Prep miler Aaron Sahlman tore an IT band; the season is over for the Northern Arizona signee. A sub-4:00 mile threat, he ended up frustratingly close at 4:00.30.
Auburn javelin thrower Keyshawn Strachan, the yearly collegiate leader, is reportedly “not 100% healthwise” and won’t be competing in NCAA Regionals or Rationals.
Florida’s Parker Valby has been dealing with a lower leg injury. It kept her from running most of the indoor season and she is slowly recovering. She hasn’t worn spikes since, but still won the SEC 5000.
A peer-reviewed study of college athletes found an increase in injuries during the lockdown period of the pandemic. No conclusive reason was found, but possible explanations include, “misjudgment of sport readiness, deconditioning, the lack of access to sport training facilities, and psychosocial factors.”
Internationally…
Swedish javelin thrower Kim Amb has ended his season and will be getting surgery on last year’s shoulder injury.
Britany Anderson will miss the ’23 season; Jamaica’s ’22 WC silver medalist in the 100H has a torn ACL.
Polish shot putter Konrad Bukowiecki also has an ACL tear, but he is hoping to come back in the second half of the season.
Steeple WR holder Beatrice Chepkoech says she is recovered from last year’s injuries: “I’m coming back slowly as the season progresses.”
Mouhamadou Fall has not yet been provisionally suspended, but the sprinter has rejected the French anti-doping agency’s offer of a 2-year ban for whereabouts violations. Instead he’s referring his case to a sanctions commission.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce missed the Keino Classic with a knee injury she got in training. She had made the trip to Nairobi but then flew to Milan for treatment.
10K road WR holder Rhonex Kipruto has been provisionally suspended by the AIU because of inconsistencies in his biological passport.
Nicholas Kosimbei, the runner-up at the Atlanta Half-Marathon, has been provisionally suspended for using trimetazidine, which increases blood flow.
Italy’s Nick Ponzio, the former USC shot putter, announced his retirement, saying he was being “forced out of the sport.” He later revealed (see “Last Lap”) that he has three missed doping tests, which could lead to a 2-year ban.
Though he retired last year, Jamaican great Asafa Powell is now saying he might be back, but it’s not about medals. He says, “I’m at 97 sub-10s. My main goal that I’ve always wanted to accomplish was to get 100 sub-10s.”
Andrey Silnov, the banned Russian gold medalist from the ’08 Olympic high jump, says he won’t further appeal his suspension, because it’s a “waste of time.”
Doping Bans…
4 years — Amoury Golitin (France, sprints), Esther Machuria (Kenya, marathon);
3 years — Nijel Amos (Botswana, 800), Besha Teshome (Ethiopia, distance);
2 years — Aleksey Tovarnov (Russia, javelin). □