Don't ring the bell ⏱

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This is why we need The Lap Count

You had one job! The steeplechase is already a race full of beautiful chaos, but miscounting laps adds a whole new level of mayhem. In the men’s race, the bell was rung with 800m to go. Kenya’s Benjamin Kigen failed to realize he was only on the penultimate lap, then he took off into a full-sprint. As he launched into a violent attack on the back straightaway it was like watching a runaway train storm down the track. When he approached what he thought was the finish line and heard the bell — again — his face dropped and so did his pace. His 78 second last 400m was not enough to hold off the field as he finished in 8:15 and 7th place. Ethiopia’s Lamecha Girma took over and won in 8:07, which is now the fastest time of the year.

Obviously Kigen got completely screwed by the person whose job it was to ring the bell. At the very least he deserves some of that prize money and a hand-written apology. However, it’s surprising he wouldn’t see the clock and do the math or realize that the two guys next to him weren’t also sprinting. There are only 7.5 laps and Kigen is a supremely experienced steeplechaser (he completed 18 of them in 2019).

This just goes to show you two things: 1) Runners are conditioned to have a Pavlovian response when a bell goes off to start salivating for the finish line. 2) The best runners in the world are really good at running. To Kigen, being 2200m into a race apparently feels the same as being 2600m in. If there is no final kick then these guys are such aerobic monsters that they can sustain a hot pace beyond their anticipated race distance. It really makes you think!

In the women’s race there was also some confusion, although there was no bell. Hyvin Kiyeng seems to have miscounted laps and took off early, but then ran through the line looking around in hesitation before continuing on. Emma Coburn reeled her back in and seemed well on her way to the United States’s first ever sub-9, but she misstepped off a barrier, landed too deep on the final water pit and took a rare tumble. Kiyeng miraculously recovered from her earlier mishap and found a second wind to return to the front and win. What masochist invented this event? It was a heartbreaker for Coburn — though it should hopefully provide her with enough confidence to know she can compete with anyone right now.

Throwback Race: Lopez Lomong miscounting laps at Payton Jordan in 2012.

The OG super spikes 👠

Here is a special opportunity for all you sneaker heads out there! Sotheby’s is auctioning off a pair of Bill Bowerman’s handcrafted spikes that were worn by Canada’s 1964 Olympic bronze medalist and former Duck, Harry Jerome. They’re expected to fetch $1.2M, which is approximately enough money to financially support 50 professional runners for a year. If you’re such a big fan that you need these shoes in your gallery then I assume you’re also subscribed to this newsletter. Congrats reader, on your little piece of history!

Is this enough to make the Olympics? 🇰🇪

Getting into the Monaco 1500m is the hardest part of running fast there. If you’ve secured your spot on the starting line, everything else seems to fall into place, and that was certainly the case last week. The field owes the newest all-star rabbit on the scene, Erik Sowinski, a couple six-packs — 10 athletes set personal bests in a race where 12th place ran a remarkable 3:33.

But what if I told you the winner of the race, the now #1 ranked 1500m runner on earth, and the defending World Champ may not make the Olympics? In what was an outlier results, Timothy Cheruiyot finished a rare 4th place at the Kenyan trials. But after his 3:28 victory in Monaco, he made a strong case to be selected as the discretionary spot for the Kenyan Olympic team. And there is still a chance he can go because the runner-up, Kamar Etyang, has not met the necessary number of out-of-competition tests (3) in order to be eligible.

This is because the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has Kenya listed as high-risk due to some historical issues surrounding doping-control and therefore, certain precautions are in place for them as a Category A ranked country. The true victim here is the 18-year-old who has had a huge breakout season and fairly qualified. Imagine the uproar if Cole Hocker wasn’t named to the US team for the same reason!

That said, it’s tough to leave who would be the heavy Olympic favorite at home if you’re Athletics Kenya. They can either revoke the qualification of Abel Kipsang, who was 3rd at trials and already named to the team, or — if you’re into conspiracy theories — maybe they make sure Etyang, who has not raced since the trials, doesn’t get 3 tests…

ONE OF US! ONE OF US! 🚵‍♀️

‘All runners eventually take to the peloton.’ It was a banner moment for distance runners everywhere when Mike Woods slid into the polka dot jersey, designating him as the King of the Mountains on Saturday at the Tour de France. The Canadian was a sub-4 miler while competing at the University of Michigan alongside the likes of Nick Willis and Nate Brannen. (Your humble newsletter writer wrote to him on Facebook while in high school to ask what running there was like.) Following a series of injuries, he took up cycling first as a means of cross-training and eventually as a competitive career. Now he is a popular figure on the team Israel Start-up Nation and has won stages at the Vuelta a España. His feats further feed into the delusion that our sport breeds the toughest athletes out there and that ripping 400 repeats would hypothetically translate into a lucrative cycling career. His success is our success — we all did it!

No fans in Tokyo

A completely empty stadium, you say? A bummer, yes. But if anyone is prepared for this moment, it’s track athletes!

The only reason most people want to make the Olympics in the first place is to finally experience what it’s like to have fans while still competing in a niche sport, and to get free stuff (I joke!).

A fan-less arena won’t be the only inauspicious aspect of these Games. All the stories that come out of Village life, whether it is meeting various stars, making friends from other countries or eating McDonald’s after a late night out suddenly make the whole spectacle slightly less appealing — those are basically off the table. Instead the athletes will be forced to focus on the competition, with the rest of us slow-clapping at home…that part at least, should be like normal. It will be interesting to see how the at-home viewing experience changes without in-person fan support contributing to the energy, oohing and aahing at all the right moments, and generally raising the pressure and stakes of everything. Surely every athlete who didn’t make the team is being comforted by friends and family who are saying this was the Olympics to miss. You know, just like they said about Rio — Paris is the one you want to make. Whatever helps you sleep at night!

Champion? Like the brand my Dad wears? 🏆

Is this how you pivot? Tara Davis, the NCAA Long Jump record holder and 2021 Olympian and her boyfriend, Hunter Woodhall, a 2x Paralympian, are what you might call a “power couple,” and have an incredible online following. In addition to obviously being very good at sports, they’ve got a combined 469K followers on Instagram, 272K on YouTube and 2.8M on TikTok. Needless to say, they resonate with a younger crowd. And on Monday they announced their new sponsor — Champion — a brand that has been around for over a century and hasn’t necessarily been on the forefront of track athletes minds since then. But in 2018 they began supporting Alexi Pappas, giving some indication to the type of athletes that they may look to endorse. Being ‘more than an athlete’ is slowly becoming more valuable to non-traditional or non-running-specific brands. For proof, look no further than people like Colleen Quigley (Lululemon) or Allyson Felix (Athleta), who can transcend and influence beyond the sport.

This is trickle-down-sponsornomics©. Having the best athletes in the world wearing and competing in your gear brings legitimacy to your brand. The athletes are at the top of the pyramid. People like me [and you, dear TLC readers,] see this and we get excited that a new company is investing in T&F. Immediately, we have a positive association with Champion outside of the logo reminding me of my father (or if you’re 15 years younger than me, outside of the HYPEBEAST universe). This newly established affinity for the brand is passed on through a game of telephone. I write about it in this stupid newsletter, you mention the fact that Champion is sponsoring track athletes at the local group run. We are the mavens! Next come the fringe fans. They see ‘real’ runners wearing Champion or on the rack at their run specialty store and believe that logo will signal their own legitimacy. And now there is a connection with high performance and this brand. All of a sudden the weekend warrior is buying Champion gear to run in and they have no idea who Tara Davis or Hunter Woodhall is. But that’s the smoke and mirrors of marketing, baby!

Have Faith in mama! 🐻

3:51.07 — Faith Kipyegon ran the 4th fastest 1500 time in history and the best ever by an athlete whose coach wasn’t surrounded by doping allegations. The 2016 Olympic Champ gives us plenty of reasons to believe in her abilities. She was a precocious youngster, having won the World Youth and Junior Championships 10 years ago. And since then, her logical progression has provided the type of empirical data that fans can generally only dream of, as she has consistently improved throughout her career — except for a small hiatus in 2018 — when she paused to give birth to her daughter, Alyn. In addition to solidifying her own candidacy as the favorite to repeat in Tokyo, her dominance over Sifan Hassan in the final 100m most likely gave the flying Dutchwoman a moment of hesitation about attempting such a bold triple in Tokyo. The 1500 and 5k have a difficult schedule overlap and instead it would be much more reasonable to stick with just the 5k and 10k. Is it worth risking no gold medals to try and get 3?

Speaking of progression!

Mohamed Katir has been turning heads this year, having already lowered the Spanish national 5,000m record to 12:50, but he sent those same heads into a 360-spin this week! It started with a 3:28 at Monaco and continued with a 3k in 7:27 to win at Tuesday’s Gateshead Diamond League. For context, the 23-year-old’s personal bests coming into 2021 were 3:36, 7:44, and 13:50 — so yea, he got better. It is the policy of this newsletter to never accuse others of doping until proven guilty. It is not fair to an innocent athlete while stealing all the enjoyment out of being a fan. It also seems like a potential libel lawsuit! But the entire purpose of The Lap Count is to keep our readers informed as to what’s happening in the sport, and his remarkable improvement is certainly provoking speculation. (For example, there is a lengthy LetsRun thread titled, ‘Katir is the most obvious doper ever’.) While Katir has definitely upgraded his game, if you are looking for a reason to believe, he has been beaten a number of times and puts on a gnarly grimace that makes it look like he can hurt. Plus he is super fun to watch, has enthusiastic celebrations and the sort of posture your chiropractor dreams about. Also, shoes! There is no greater sign that you have arrived on the world stage than to be accused of cheating — Welcome Mohamed! You have the running world completely shook.

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How do you do, fellow kids? 🆒

I know what you’re thinking — we already have a competition to see who the world’s longest jumper is! But the World 1 League (not to be confused with Woodrow Wilson’s) wants to integrate social media into the real world. The platform will host various Olympic-style athletic challenges, which encourages users to participate. Beyond that objective, though, it’s difficult to fully comprehend the vision for this concept from the press release. If you’re a skeptic, but also a fan of Shark Tank, the backing of Mark Cuban seems like a reason to be excited. But even more so than the shark, the involvement of Brett Morris, co-founder of Super League Gaming lends some promise to this idea. The innovation and prize money imbued into Esports far surpasses anything T&F is currently working with. Rather than trying to convince the target audience to come to meets, it’s worth trying to bring meets to them instead. I’ll support any start-up initiative that has plans to create new revenue streams for athletes, and I’m willing to spend even more time on TikTok to play my part!

Did you forget about Nijel? 🇧🇼

When he comes at the Prince, he does not miss! Fun Fact: Of the five times that Botswana’s Nijel Amos has raced in Monaco, his winning time of 1:42.91 last week is the slowest. After an early exit in Rio, putting down a World Leading time has immediately propelled the 2012 Olympic silver medalist into position as the favorite for Tokyo. Something particularly crazy about this “late career comeback” is that Amos is still only 27. One of the big perks of running 1:41.73 at 18 is your whole life and career are still ahead of you.

It’s good to see the Oregon Track Club as a whole enjoying a bit of a renaissance this year. In baseball, even if you hate them, it’s good for the sport when the Yankees are playing well. As one of the most historic clubs in the country, their brand extends beyond the two-turns of Hayward Field. In addition to Amos, they’ll be represented at the Olympics by Sally Kipyego (marathon), Pat Tiernan (5k/10k) and Jake Heyward (1500). Additionally, they’ve seen big breakthroughs this year from Vince Ciattei (3:34), Will Paulson (3:35), Sabrina Southerland (1:58), and the triumphant return of 2014 Indoor World Champion, Chanelle Price (1:58). Although this may appear to be an individual sport, there is absolutely a tendency for teams to run well (or poorly) as a unit and it’s worth recognizing what Coach Mark Rowland has helped his squad achieve this year.

Rule 40 🚧

Oh, the Olympics! A beautiful celebration of international competition and the pure unbridled spirit of competition, that definitely doesn’t have even the slightest bit to do with major corporations profiting off the tireless labor of poor athletes.

Yes, I know — there are like 8 athletes who make millions of dollars in endorsements. But guess who many Olympians will compete in Tokyo…11,238!!! Most of those individuals are scraping by on peanuts. And the one time there is an opportunity to finally reach a global audience to thank those who made it financially feasible for them, there are medieval restrictions placed on what can be said. The last time around, athletes were not allowed to mention or endorse any personal sponsors that were not also official Olympic sponsors — which did not include any shoe sponsors. (Surprisingly, no T&F athletes had the foresight to lockdown that coveted Bridgestone Tires contract.)

Given the major uproar following 2016, the rules have been dialed back for the latest iteration, but are still comically restrictive. American athletes are now allowed to post 7 thank you notes on social media mentioning their sponsors, but they must be done with generic, unbranded image and copy and cannot include any Team USA apparel or show the sponsor logo apart from the thank you messaging. So if you win a gold medal (surprisingly, there are a few athletes who subscribe to this newsletter that have a chance), then make sure you don’t post a picture of yourself crossing the finish line. And not that anyone likes admitting it these days, but definitely don’t give any credit to your spikes!

Can we blame companies who choose not to finance athletes’ dreams if they’re excluded from participating on the biggest stage? There’s a certain irony to the rationalization behind Rule 40. It exists 'to preserve the unique nature of the Olympic games by preventing over-commercialization.’ That’s hard to buy in a year when a record $1.3B+ will be invested by corporate sponsors. That’s great news — I wish it was $2 billion! But it would seem like the ship already sailed on the whole ‘amateurs doing it for the love of the game’ argument and it has instead fully entered the territory of exploitation. Even Karl Marx and Adam Smith would agree on the fact that Rule 40 sucks!