Too many asterisks* in this sport!⏱

Lap 62: Sponsored by Puma Running

The American Track League and PUMA have partnered up to host a US-based track & field league for professional athletes. This league boasts a series of events that use a condensed, unique, and exciting format to engage both the athletes and fans. The events are infused with PUMA Big Cat energy and combine live music, dancers, product demos, athlete meet & greets, as well as unique fan experiences. Come cheer in person or watch on ESPN!

Puerto Rico Athletics Classic-Ponce, Puerto Rico-Thursday, 5/12, 6-8PM

USATF Half Champs 🇺🇸

The USATF Half Marathon Championships were on Saturday in Indianapolis and if you were in a coma one month ago then this is probably coming as quite the surprise, as that’s roughly when it was announced. (It’s good to have you back though!) The fact that Emily Sisson had always planned to include this race into her racing schedule gave her quite the advantage over a field full of late entries, but then again, being Emily Sisson is an advantage of its own.

With the help of two male pacers (Brian Harvey and Eric Ashe), Sisson proved that she is back into pre-having-COVID form by setting a new American Record in the half marathon — 1:07:11. This eclipsed Sara Hall’s mark of 1:07:15 set way back in January. Before that the record was 1:07:25, set by Molly Huddle, and prior to that, it belonged to Deena Kastor when she ran 1:07:34 in 2006.

We should always take the time to celebrate and appreciate every personal best, broken record and national championship, but if you’re planning to nod off into another coma then don’t expect to wake up and have this still be the American Record. Emily didn’t even announce her intentions to hunt down the American Record beforehand, because she was unsure until recently that she’d be making it to the starting line at all. Who knows when the next stealth takedown of this oft-pursued record will take place?

Look at what’s happening around the world at the half marathon distance and tell me this record won’t be a minute faster soon! Since 2020, there have been 34 women in the world who have run 1:06:01 or faster — you’re telling me not one American woman is amongst the top 34 half marathoners in the world? As a patriot, I’m calling shenanigans.

Also, this is a minor pet-peeve of mine. But it bothers me that every USATF headline about a record-breaking performance includes an asterisk stating “pending ratification by the USATF records committee.” Is that like, a legal requirement?

Anyway, in the men’s race, Leonard Korir continues to be very good at winning national titles in the half marathon as he has now hit the trifecta. This one was close though, coming down to the final steps as Korir couldn’t fully shake Futsum Zienasellassie, who might as well have been glued to Lenny — the final scoreboard read 1:02:35 to 1:02:36.

The coolest part of the race was when it jumped on the Indianapolis speedway — which isn’t quite every runner’s F1-adjacent pipe dream, but seems close enough. While the Indy 500 has 33 cars start their engines, the USATF Half Marathon Championships only hosted 29 elite athletes. Now that’s environmentally friendly!

Sound Running 5000m 🎼

It’s every meet director’s dream to get the call that an Olympic gold medalist wants to come to your race. Even if Jakob Ingebrigtsen wasn’t going to lead before the final straightaway when he pulled away to win the 5000m in 13:02.03 with a final 400m in 54 — it was nice to see him on that California track. Wathcing Jakob casually toy with the studs who are capable of toying with other slightly less fast studs is truly a great reminder of how incrementally huge the jumps are from one level to the next.

Northern Arizona University’s Nico Young ran a 10 second personal best, but the 19-year-old — who now boasts a 13:11 PB — doesn’t even have his school’s record. That honor belongs to Abdihamid Nur, who has followed up his two NCAA indoor titles with a new collegiate record of 13:06.32. To gauge just how quickly he has ascended into the fastest ever, as of March 2021, Nur’s resume was 4:03/7:57/14:18/28:12.

The previous record lasted for 44 years and was held by none other than the legendary Henry Rono of Washington State. During an 81-day stretch in 1978, Rono famously paraphrased Jules Verne by setting four world records in around 80 days, one of which was the old 5000m world and NCAA record, 13:08. The former Cougar still holds one collegiate record, an 8:05 steeplechase, that seems unlikely to be touched anytime soon. The closest anyone’s come is Donn Cabral, who ran 8:19 a decade ago! Rono is also well known for being picked up at Laguardia airport by me and my mom on the way to cross country camp in 2006 (Dick Beardsley was also a passenger in the car).

In actuality, if any record needs a small asterisk it is this one. Lawi Lalang ran 13:00.95 in Monaco after the NCAA season back in 2013 and for some made up reasons, that didn’t count.

The craziest aspect of Nur’s incredible 5000m time, despite almost certainly being the fastest time that’ll be run in the NCAA this year (hey, it’s the fastest ever*, remember!) is that it won’t qualify him for NCAA regionals. Because the meet did not host enough events, it will not count for seeding due to a technicality — something the coaches knew ahead of time. Don’t worry, he already jogged to a safe time at a sanctioned meet, but it’ll still be big news when the 38th seed from the West Region wins NCAAs!

Is this an athlete? 💁‍♂️

Is Garrett Scantling the best athlete in the country, or is he just the best exerciser? Well you don’t see many people casually tossing the javelin to burn some extra calories. This weekend the USATF multi-events had their championships off-site and independently from the rest of the action that will take place next month in Eugene.

Because the decathlon and heptathlon compete in the middle of the day, the adverse conditions of last summer’s heat wave disproportionately affected their performances. Plus, this gives multi-athletes a bit more time to recover before the World Championships — and hey, I think they deserve a little extra downtime. There’s now also the opportunity for those who missed the podium to return in their strongest events as individuals.

On the men’s side, it wasn’t a big surprise to see Scantling come away with another US title and a couple hundred point personal best. After finishing fourth at the Olympic Trials in 2016, Scantling hung up all of his different spikes and temporarily traded them in for football cleats. After a brief period practicing with the Atlanta Falcons, he then took up a career as a financial advisor. But unlike most former athletes who are sitting at their desk reminiscing about their glory days, Scantling realized he was only 25-years-old, and still firmly within the range of those glory days. (Hear his story)

The extra year before the Olympics proved to be advantageous as he worked back into form and he would go on to finish fourth in Tokyo. Unlike after the disappointment of a fourth place finish at the Olympic Trials in 2016, Scantling appears to have bounced back stronger and more motivated than ever, except now he does so armed with the knowledge of how to set up a SEP-IRA with his winnings.

Georgia’s Kyle Garland finished second, crushing the old collegiate record with his 8,667 point performance, and rounding out the top three was Zach Ziemek.

But if there was one standout performance of the weekend that this distance-biased readership needs to be aware of, it’s Anna Hall’s 800m of 2:03.11. It’s a time so fast — and at the end of two days worth of grueling competition! — that you may be wondering, why doesn’t she just concentrate on that? Well, because she can do it all. The US Champion, who still has eligibility at the University of Florida, broke her own American Collegiate record, earning 6,458 points.

The tragedy is that the Heptathlon doesn’t include Hall’s best event, which would be the 400 hurdles. Her run of 55.35 earlier this season at the Florida Relays is currently ranked eighth in the world! Here is the catch — that was Hall’s first time ever doing it. Some people just get all the talent!

Home field advantage 💯

There are two ways to measure how fast Ferdinand Omanyala ran at the Kip Keino Classic: the clock, which read 9.85 seconds; or who he beat, which includes Fred Kerley.

Racing at over 5,000 feet of altitude and with a legal +2.0 wind, the 9.85 is the world lead. And although Kenya’s newest sprint star has gone faster (9.77) in the same stadium with less aid, he has never before beaten someone of Fred Kerley’s caliber.

After an initial false start, my man crush named Fred stayed in the blocks a bit longer than he had to. Imagine flying all the way to Kenya and not even getting a clean race in? Well that’s what happened to the Olympic 100m champion, Lamont Marcell Jacobs who suffered from food poisoning upon arrival — which I’d assume rarely happens on what I am also assuming is normally a pasta-heavy diet.

On the women’s side, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce posted a ridiculous 10.67 (-0.4) in what was her first 100m of the season. What does it feel like to be next to that much power? Well, Christine Mboma pulled up lame in the lane next to her trying to keep up. After the race Fraser-Pryce visited Mboma to encourage her to rest up so she could be ready for Prefontaine.

Mboma was five years old when Shelly-Ann won the 100m gold in Beijing, but despite this very kind gesture of sportsmanship, it doesn’t feel like Fraser-Pryce is passing the baton off just yet – she just wants a chance to race (and beat) the upstart Mboma in an honest race.

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Leading the world with Allie Wilson 🥇

Does this look like a picture of the fastest 800m of 2022? The Atlanta Track Club’s Allie Wilson took control of the race early at Sound Running and held it together until the final moment. Stumbling in the last few meters, she just barely made it to the finish line to win the race in a world leading 1:58.18 — taking down her previous best of 1:59.02 from her sixth place finish at the Olympic Trials.

I caught up with the Monmouth University graduate to hear more about her season:

You shared that you were hurt for ten weeks during the indoor season. What exactly did you have going on and how did you get back so quickly and successfully?

I had the best fall training I've ever had with my highest mileage ever and hardest workouts. Then in January we went to training camp in Florida and the first two weeks I was getting excited about my fitness. But we did one workout that was like 4x400, going fast-slow-slow-fast. We were trying to run like 57 and 60, 60 then 57, but the last one was a 55.

That day I started having shin pain on the outside and it wasn't super painful, it just felt like some pressure. I never know how to describe injuries, but it felt weird and then eventually excruciating.

An MRI said I strained my extensor – which I didn't even know I had one of those - but it caused a myofascial tear. So I started biking a lot, even twice a day sometimes to not lose fitness.

Since starting to run again in the middle of winter things have come back quickly. I'm actually feeling the best I've ever felt. And it's weird because I don't know how I'm even feeling like this right now because it feels like I just started running again.

After running a world lead and one-second personal best after leading the whole thing, did the time surprise you when you crossed the finish line?

My coach has been throwing me in with the more distance-focused girls since coming back. I was struggling in some of those workouts and I was like, ‘this is so hard, why are you having me do this?’ Basically it would be the easy way out to throw me into the 800 meter workouts since the speed stuff comes naturally so we are focusing on building my body back up.

I didn't touch 800 pace stuff until the Wednesday before my 800 at the Drake Relays with a 200 at race pace. I didn’t know where I was at or what to expect. Then I felt really good, but in a different way than I've ever felt.

Usually I get out fast then just cruise, but now I'm coming at it from a strength phase so it felt different and it gave me confidence. And so coming into Sound, I said to my coach, “I think I can run 1:57 right now.” And I never say stuff like that. It's always him hyping me up and telling me what I can do.

I have to ask though about the fall at the line. First off, are you okay? And second, how have you handled the attention that it's received? Have you been in good spirits about it?

I heard a lot of people thought I went unconscious at the line, which is not what happened. My leg just gave out — that's never happened to me before and I don't remember what I was thinking.

I wanted to make sure I got across the line, but I was not in control of my body. And luckily I got it over the line. I was just laying there and I was like, ‘does that count or do I have to crawl?’

I looked around and then realized my chest was across. I looked at the scoreboard and saw the time and that I’d won it. My knees a little banged up and it feels like turf burn and some bruising. I was able to do a workout the next day, so I'm not injured.

I am sure you’ll look back on it fondly one day!

I think I've been overdoing it! I’ve laughed with my teammates at everything that was made of it. Looking at people’s faces in the stands when it happened is pretty hilarious. It’s the most classic me thing possible – just so dramatic not being able to control my body. I’m happy I was able to push myself to that limit.

I am openly a big fan of the Atlanta Track Club. Your team may have one of the best 4x800 teams in the country. Are people recognizing just how good of a squad it is? Do we need to have a 4x800 face off? If you want to call anyone out, this could be a good venue.

Thank you for noticing. We were excited about the Penn Relays, but it fell through the cracks. I don’t know if they couldn’t get enough other people to do it. When do you ever get to run a relay at this level?

We have such a solid group of women and I think we are on the rise. We’d love to find someone to race us in it.

I think the Union Athletic Club is your best shot. They have a good potential team and like doing relays.

Yeah, we're always up for relays!

I'll consider that a call-out.

Rapid Fire Highlights 🔥

• Mexico’s Carlos Villarreal announced his retirement. Since graduating from the University of Arizona and joining the OAC as the 2019 Pan American Games 1500m champion, he has struggled with injury.

• At the Lisbon Half Marathon, Tsehay Gemechu (1:06:44) defeated the marathon world record holder, Brigid Kosgei, by two seconds.

• Newbury Park, which is a high school and not a professional team, had Colin Sahlman run 3:39.59 for 1500m and Lex Young 13:43 for 5000m.

• Ethiopia doubled up at the Barcelona Marathon with wins by Yihunilign Adane (2:05:53) and Meseret Gebre Dekebo (2:23:11).

• Sydney McLaughlin is married! She changed her name to Levrone on Instagram, but what will it say in the record books?

• Ethiopia’s Bekelech Gudeta Borecha won the Prague Marathon in 2:22:56 PB and Kenya’s Norbert Kigen won the men’s race in 2:07:54.

• With the help of his best bud Cole as rabbit, Cooper Teare ran 3:34.81 at the Oregon Twilight meet for a new personal best and World Standard. It’s still six weeks until USA’s, but no one has looked nearly as good at 1500m so far this season.

• Gabriela DeBues-Stafford won the Sound Running 1500m in 4:03.20 in her first race since joining her new coach.

• Kenny Moore passed away this week at the age of 78. For his contemporaries, he was best known as a two-time Olympian and Duck. But for the next generation, we knew him as a writer who made some of the most valued literary contributions to the sport. In addition to his 25 year career with Sports Illustrated, his Bowerman and the Men of Oregon belongs on any serious runner’s bookshelf. CITIUS MAG contributor Jesse Squire wrote a nice tribute to Moore, summarizing what he meant to the sport and the people who love it — or didn’t love it at first.

• The Seiko Golden Grand Prix in Tokyo was a nice return for some Olympic stars like Rai Benjamin (48.60) and Michael Norman (44.62), who returned to their primary events. And for Christian Coleman, who didn’t have the chance to compete there last year, he won his venue debut in the 100m in 10.09.

• At the Kip Keino Classic, Kenya’s Abel Kipsang ran 3:31.01, which is world class, but not unexpected for a guy who finished fourth at the Olympics. But mind you, the race was held at altitude! I always proceed with caution when converting times for an athlete who was born and trains in the mountains. But there is definitely still some adjustment — we have talked about this! However, the cadence difference between running 56.2s and 54.6s for each lap is a significant one. At that speed you’re not only limited by aerobic capabilities but foot speed. For a middle distance runner who has “only” run 1:45, that matters. Bump this when he breaks the world record!

• Compare that to Girmawit Gebrzihair's 5000m win of 14:49 WL in Kenya — she is going to pop something big soon! Or South Africa’s Prudence Sekgodiso who won 800m in 1:58.41 for a three second personal best.

• I am not going to write anything about the six-year-old whose parents made him run a marathon in exchange for Pringles.

Thank you to Puma Running and the American Track League for supporting this week’s newsletter!