THE LATEST in the aches, pains & eligibility departments:
Devynne Charlton of the Bahamas ended her season after sustaining a stress fracture competing in the 100H at the Rome DL.
AR-holding steepler Courtney Frerichs is now back to running after an ACL reconstruction.
Triple jump prodigy Jaydon Hibbert is recovering from surgery to repair the torn meniscus that hampered him in Paris, where he finished 4th.
Houston’s NCAA 100 champion Louie Hinchliffe has gone pro.
Indian runner Parvej Khan, who won the SEC 1500 for Florida and placed 7th in the NCAA Indoor mile, has tested positive for EPO and is under a provisional ban.
EJ Obiena of the Philippines missed the tail end of the vaulting season after an MRI following the Chorzów DL showed that he had a stress fracture in his L5 vertebra.
After an 18-month whereabouts ban, Italian putter Nick Ponzio has returned to competition.
Katie Rainsberger reports that she has had successful surgery to remove a tumor from her chest.
Yulimar Rojas, the world’s dominant triple jumper, says she is nearing the end of rehab for her Achilles rupture: “After 5½ months away from the athletics track, I am reunited with her in this way, dancing with positivity and a lot of joy. It has been a time of hard work, challenges, but also of infinite faith. This path has not been easy, but I have always believed that with perseverance and patience, everything is possible.”
U.S. steepler Kenneth Rooks took a hard fall in the Chorzów DL. A trip to the hospital revealed no broken bones, but an MRI revealed a grade 1-2 tear of the AC ligaments in his right shoulder.
Galen Rupp is recovering from major hip surgery says coach Mike Smith. “He had surgery on a hip that had been giving him trouble for years right after the marathon Trials, and that was a really long, slow rebuild. And fortunately, he’s getting healthy, but there was a long, long road, and he is still on it. So we’ll see. I mean he’s a competitor. If he can come back, he will.”
Not your normal tourist attraction: Molly Seidel, in Paris to watch the Olympics, had an emergency appendectomy while there.
Rosemary Wanjiru has withdrawn from the Berlin Marathon because of injury.
A good reason for athletes to skip exhibition races? Karsten Warholm grabbed his hamstring at the end of his match race with Mondo Duplantis. He subsequently withdrew from the DL Final because of injury worries. “I felt something in my hamstring after yesterday’s race,” he said the next day. “I tried to warm up, but there was no hope.”
In The Retirement Corner
Sprinter Morolake Akinosun has hung up her spikes at age 30. She won 4×1 golds at the ’16 Olympics and ’17 WC.
A 2-time Olympian, German discus thrower Julia Harting has retired at 34.
Christina Hering, who ran in the last seven global championships before missing Paris, ran her final race in September. She reached the WC semis four times iand had a PR of 1:59.54 from ’15.
The WC bronze medalist in ’15, vaulter Nikoléta Kiriakopoúlou has retired at 38.
The walk wars will miss Spain’s Álvaro Martín. The reigning world champion in the 20K and 35K won bronze in the Paris 20K, along with gold on the mixed relay.
Doping Bans…
10 years — Tatyana Tomashova (Russia, 1500);
6 years — Federico Bruno (Argentina, distance);
4 years — Joshua Belet (Kenya, marathon);
2 years (additional) — Celestine Chepchirchir (Kenya, marathon);
2 years — Paskalia Chepkorir (Kenya, marathon);
20 months — Ezret Weldu (Eritrea, marathon);
18 months (additional) — Mouhamadou Fall (France, sprints). □