Another lap! ⏱

Lap 20: Sponsored by Tracksmith

Thank you to our sponsor Tracksmith for partnering with The Lap Count. Tracksmith is a Boston-based running apparel brand, born from a desire to celebrate both the history and the evolving culture of running. Whether you’re building a base, racing a Fall marathon or logging laps around the track, Tracksmith has you covered. And they are offering The Lap Count readers $15 off their first purchase of $75 or more when they use the code LAP at checkout.

Is this ban fake? 📝

This is the type of publicity running podcasters everywhere dream of. On an episode of The Sunday Plodcast the British Olympian, Andy Butchart, brought up an incident in which he said he considered faking an old PCR test to adhere to the rules surrounding pandemic travel. He said on the now deleted episode, ‘Having to deal with all the testing and protocols, blah, blah, blah, it’s a ball-ache. Everybody has faked PCR tests, I’m sure, to try to go somewhere, because it’s just so hard.’ And guess what, he’s not wrong!

UK Athletics investigated but ultimately could not prove that he changed the date of a test, while Butchart contended that the results ultimately came through on time. But they did manage to slap him with a 12-month ban and £5000 for misconduct, because his statement was ‘likely to bring athletics into disrepute.’ Hurting the reputation of the sport? Buddy, that happened a long time ago! The most ridiculous part of this whole thing is that his ban was itself suspended 2 years — meaning he will still be able to run in Tokyo, but will have to sit out in 2023. By then COVID will either be a distant, horrible memory and we’ll be on our fourth booster shots, or we’ll all be back inside because of the Upsilon variant.

Tinmom Elite ⚒️

The Tinman Elite squad has announced their new head coach and her name might sound familiar to fans of the club. Following what was a public and relatively ugly breakup with Coach Tom “Tinman” Schwartz, the group seemed stuck in limbo for much of the 2021 season. It’s tough to run well when distracted, and most of the team struggled through a difficult year of substandard performances and injuries. After a season of fragility and chaos, a return to stability is just what the doctor ordered, and that’s why this is a good move.

Understandably, there are those who look at this as the story of a female coach leading a squad of [mostly] elite male runners and see this as a big victory for gender equality in sports. But the real win will come once Coach Joan has demonstrated her chops and has her athletes running personal bests and winning races. Critics will downplay her legitimate coaching accomplishments at Loudon Valley and claim the only reason she got the role is because her son, Drew Hunter, is the star of the team. But where were the dissenters when Jake Wightman had his dad coach him to a 3:29? Or when Eilish McColgan’s mother guided her to the British 5K record? Having a parent as a coach worked out pretty well for Sebastian Coe — it’s not exactly groundbreaking. And if 12 other professional athletes decided Hunter was qualified enough to believe in, then surely the rest of us can check back in a year from now to see if it was the right decision. Say what you will about Tinman Elite, just don’t say they don’t get the people talking while making high quality YouTube content!

This bed is the full package 🛏

Our President, Paul Chelimo, has caused chaos in Tokyo before even stepping out onto the track. Inside the Athlete Village 18,000 cardboard beds were folded together to help cutdown on some of the rubble left in the wake of the notoriously wasteful event that is the Olympic Games. Rumor has it these beds — which make Ikea particle board furniture look like it’s made of hand-shaped walnut — were inserted into Village life to prevent the spread of COVID via the power of celibacy. This concept may not have originally been Chelimo’s idea, but his Twitter standup bit certainly helped proliferate it. Everything the athletes say or do will be amplified ten thousand times under the media’s dramatic microscope. One innocuous joke can turn into CNN having to publicly debunk the viability of 4 distance runners getting intimate in these dorm rooms. And that’s one myth worth busting!

The 6K National Championships

Taylor Werner’s first victory as a professional runner — and as member of the still-unnamed Puma group — must have felt sweet. The former Arkansas standout acknowledged after her victory the difficulties she’s experienced making the jump from college and into the real world. When she ran a 20 second personal best at the Track Meet back in May, her 15:18 was only good enough for 12th place in an international star-studded field. There is a necessary mindset shift that takes place after vying for the win in every NCAA race and many new pros can struggle mentally with this adjustment. It’s easy to get caught up in what is happening 100m ahead of you, but it’s more effective to focus on one’s own improvement in a new landscape.

For this reason, the summer season is a huge opportunity for young athletes. With many of the top distance runners focused on the Olympics, these races really start to open up to those willing to take advantage of them. Taylor walks away from Canton bursting with confidence, looking forward to the next race, and this is the fun side of professional running — winning money!

What the heck Sweden! 🇸🇪

Ok Sweden, good on you for your 480 days of maternity leave, but this injustice needs to be accounted for the next time the quality of life rankings come out. Lovisa Lindh holds the national record over 800m at 1:58.77 and is currently ranked 22nd in the world, well-within the limits of the 48 person Olympic field. Although she did not run the standard of 1:59.50, she did break 2-minutes on three occasions this year. Despite her qualification meeting all the precepts as established under the silly World Athletics system, Sweden has still decided not to name her to the national team.

The first assumption is that it’s a budget issue, which it’s not because they told her so and Lovisa had even offered to pay her own way. Instead, they cited their belief that she is not fit enough to finish in the top 8 — not exactly the most unrealistic of outcomes for someone who finished 10th in Rio. Similarly, Melker Svärd Jacobsson has been left off the team despite having the appropriate ranking in the pole vault. This isn’t about pitting athletes against each other, but there are many people on Sweden’s list of 21 selected athletes who will likely finish outside the top 8 so I take issue with this rationale.

It would appear to be in the best interest of the country to have as great of representation as possible at the Olympics. No one is watching and thinks, ‘Oh, there’s classic Sweden again with so many athletes and no one in the top 8! How embarrassing!’’ Instead we’ve got American newsletter writers scratching their heads at your thought process. That’s the whole point of the new confusing Olympic process — it should be expected for about half the field to be filled out via the World Rankings and standards are set with that in mind. This cruel behavior should be discouraged and World Athletics needs to write a strongly worded letter to the Swedish federation (in a threatening tone!). Of course the ranking system is flawed, but while it is here it should be followed or else the whole thing falls apart. Imagine if every country mimicked Sweden’s policy? The Olympics is about more than just winning — it’s also about excellence, cold hard cash, laundry detergent commercials that make you cry, and international friendship! And I’m sorry to say it Sweden, but you are being a bad friend.

Sub-4 Baby! 👼

There are more meets than just the Olympics this summer, and if you’re paying attention, you know that the redemption circuit is already producing some incredible performances. At the Sunset Tour this past Sunday, Josette Norris put on a show worth staying up until midnight (this newsletter will never apologize for its east coast bias!) for as she blitzed a 7 second personal best to win the 1500 in 3:59.72. This season has held no shortage of breakthroughs for her, as she came into 2021 with a best of 4:10 and also dropped an additional 38 seconds in her 5k to get it down to 14:51! (Maybe we should extend the same level of credulity to others who are experiencing similarly significant levels of improvement?) Josette was undeniably hurt by the Olympic Trials schedule which forced her to choose between events; she faded to 8th in the 5k and did not compete in the 1500. This hopefully provides some perspective as to just how difficult it is to make the US team. But you know what’s even harder than making the Olympics? Marrying someone who has also broken 4! When Josette and fiancé, Robby Andrews, finally tie the knot they’ll be the first American* husband-wife combo to have both gone sub-4 in the 1500/Mile. Granted, the sub-4 1500 is a bit more impressive…

*Shannon Rowbury and her spouse, Pablo Solares have both gone under 4 in the, but he competed for Mexico.

How big of a fan are you? 👗

Alysha Newman is heading to the Olympics for Canada to compete in the pole vault and she’ll have plenty of fans cheering her along — some of whom pay $19.99 a month for exclusive content on Only Fans. For the sanctity of my marriage, I have no idea what lie beyond that welcome page and I won’t be making any jokes on the topic, but props to her for the savvy move.

‘She’s not a business woman. She’s a business, woman.’ — Jay Z

She can play with the boys 💅

Normalize women racing men! In her final tuneup before Tokyo, a small all-comers meet in Philadelphia, Ajee Wilson set the facility record at Franklin Field and put up her fastest time in 2 years. The above screenshot isn’t the full results — she finished 7th of 13, but surely some of the 0x Olympians behind her are being unfairly teased for losing to one of the best American middle distance runners of all-time. To have such an honor! This was a genius move from the Wilson-camp before making the long trek to Tokyo. Why fly to Europe for a tuneup race when you can simulate the traffic of a crowded final better at home? Learning from a busy 2019 season that involved 6 international races before eventually flying to Doha for the World Championships (where she finished 3rd after coming in as the favorite), Ajee has only competed domestically this year and more sparingly than ever before. Now with that lesson in mind, she enters Tokyo looking fresh and poised to carry the momentum. Luckily she won’t be racing 1:46 runners next time out!

And on the topic of the US 800m squad, Raevyn Rogers ran a 4:29 mile this past weekend in what the internet is saying is her first mile ever. This is insane coming from the same woman who anchored an NCAA championship 4x400 in 49.7!!! Add in Athing Mu and I’d bet that trifecta box.

I’d like to gamble please 🎲

It’s not a novel idea, but it is a good one. The Olympics present the rare occasion when track fans can finally place wagers on the sport they have long been following at no financial benefit. It may be a surprise to many, but it’s not illegal to gamble on T&F — it’s just not thought to be popular enough to warrant it. The US sports betting industry is estimated to exceed $2.5B in revenue this year; surely there are some folks out there looking to make some elaborate, Uncut Gems-style parlay on the rounds of the 1500! It’s a chicken vs. egg conundrum. There isn’t enough action to make hosting the lines worth it, but having the lines would (hopefully) increase the sport’s visibility to the point of making it worth it.

The future is not gambling on low key time trials that pop up in the middle of a forest somewhere. It will start at the top and hopefully prove profitable enough that it’s worth expanding into more Diamond League races. If you’re of the belief that this would promote the sport to the masses, then start laying down bets and requesting odds at other meets. Money talks — so make yours say: “ I want to bet on the Bowerman Mile at the Pre Classic!” We are still years and a few controversies away from in-stadium kiosks or live in-race betting. This most likely wouldn’t yet be a problem as most websites restrict the maximum payout to just a few thousand dollars. It’d be a shame if athletes could win more money betting on their opponents than they could stand to gain from winning the race!

Okay Colby! 👨🏻

Colby Alexander was the only finalist in the Olympic Trials 1500 without a shoe sponsor and so his singlet bore only the name of his club, Empire Elite. Such is the life of a professional middle distance runner who had personal bests of 1:46.0/3:34.8 and who finished 7th in the 2016 Trials. That’s why when he took off on a mission this past weekend he was worth yelling at the computer for — he’s still having to prove himself again and again. Through 800m he was on the rabbit’s ass as they came through in 1:52 and never let off the gas, keeping it rolling by himself all the way to a 3:33.65 — Unfortunately there was no contract bonus or prize money waiting for him on the other side. Traditionally, athletes get a bonus $5,000 to $15,000+ for a time of that caliber and it would then roll over into the following year’s base pay. But not if there’s no contract.

Athletes often retire in their prime years because financially it becomes so difficult to rationalize continuing. If you’re in sports marketing for a shoe company and you’re reading this, do me a favor and make sure Colby isn’t one of these casualties!

🚨 Introducing…The Victory Lap 🚨

Don’t worry, the free Wednesday morning newsletter isn’t going anywhere! What started as a fun side project is now 20 weeks in and the reception has been far greater than I could have possibly imagined. It’s amazing to see the evolution since its earliest editions, but thanks to the encouragement of readers it has grown quickly. As I’m writing this, there are now 7172 subscribers to The Lap Count and every week a couple hundred more join the pack thanks to your enthusiasm and willingness to share it with friends, family and teammates.

With a dedicated readership of this size, I think it’s finally time to do something that has long been discussed: Flip the premium subscription switch on.

The plan is to send out a paid, second weekly email that features an athlete interview or blog that they’ll promote on their social channels. This money will go to these featured athletes in exchange for marketing The Lap Count. It’s a win-win-win. Athletes receive the money. The Lap Count grows in subscribers. And fans get more content.

Of course, this is completely optional! If you don’t want to opt in then nothing changes. But if you have an interest in supporting elite athletes then this would be a great way!

(Quick math: If 500 people paid $5/month to subscribe then we’ll be able to pay 5 athletes $500 just for doing an interview and posting about it!)

The first athlete on the starting line will be with Colby Alexander this Friday!