Why are Penn and Drake the same weekend?⏱

Lap 61: 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 & 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!

The OC Classic-San Juan Capistrano, CA-Saturday, 5/7, 3-5PM

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

19.49 😵‍💫

When Lebron James was dominating high school basketball every media outlet would make a reference to him being the second coming of Michael Jordan. However, an accomplished and lengthy career-still-in-progress later, all the statistics and championships in the world haven’t necessarily supplanted His Airness from the throne.

Meanwhile, as American track fans are sitting around wondering where all the rockstar runners went, is it possible we may have been gifted something even better — the next Usain Bolt?

This weekend at the LSU Invitational, Erriyon Knighton ran 19.49 (+1.4) for 200m to become the fourth fastest all-time at the distance, while taking a significant amount of time off his previous best of 19.84. That time is so mind blowing that it doesn’t require mentioning that he is only 18-years-old — though I still will. Very few people have run nearly as fast as Knighton, but nobody runs times anywhere in this vicinity during the month of April.

Knighton is certainly a 200m specialist. His fastest 100m, 9.99, came with an illegal tailwind, so he officially holds a personal best of 10.04 from earlier this season. Although second place finisher Joseph Fahnbulleh is not known for his start, watching Knighton powerfully glide off the bend and away from Fahnbulleh makes it quite apparent he also likes a running start. Reportedly Knighton’s second half was run in 9.23, which is a few ticks faster than when Bolt closed it down in 9.27 at the 2009 World Championships.

Last year, when Knighton followed up his surprise Olympic berth with a fourth place finish in Tokyo, it felt like the world failed to notice just how special of a season the 17-year-old was having. Most of the attention was focused on Noah Lyles and so the prodigious nature of Knighton’s accomplishments took a back seat to one of the sport’s more charismatic stars. But remember, track and field is not like gymnastics or swimming — high schoolers aren’t supposed to win gold medals, especially if they’ve only been doing it for three years.

While Knighton has already caught and surpassed the timeline of Bolt’s career progression, he likely will not change the sport in the same way, even if he runs faster. Bolt’s legacy was born out of doing something that no one had ever done before and that extends beyond the times and transcends into culture — it certainly didn’t hurt that his last name is literally a verb that connotes speed, nor did his larger-than-life personality lose him too many fans.

But from a purely performance-based standpoint, his perfect track record of going 9-for-9* in the Olympics finals already cannot be matched by Knighton. Does that sound like it parallels another duo who is constantly being compared?

The world record of 19.19 might be under threat, but being Usain Bolt is not. That’s ok — had they raced when both were 18 years old, then Bolt would have been a half second behind Knighton anyway.

It’s harder than it looks 😤

Here we are. It’s week three of talking about the 4xmile! To quickly recap, that Irish world record of 15:49.08 from 1985 still stands. The OAC fell quite a bit short of the time, although the attempt actually becoming an honest race with Dublin TC for a solid 15 minutes was a nice consolation prize for fans.

The chase for the mark fell apart from the gun when the opening leg went out in 2:09 for the first half. Ben Flanagan was tapped to be on this team with short notice after the original group suffered a couple injuries, but he still took ownership for the mistake. It’s hard to fault a guy who ran a 1:01 half a few months ago for not being able to come down in distance to solo a 4-flat mile. Besides, the burden of taking the pace ought to fall on the team who is going for a world record.

It’s shocking that there was no pacer in there for the first 1200m to help Flanagan out. How much did On spend sponsoring the Penn Relays? The amount of organic hype that surrounded this record attempt became a PR firm’s dreams. Why not set your own squad up for success to the fullest extent?

I’m sure there are a half dozen local Philly guys who’d have been willing to rabbit for a $1000 On gift card. Or why not take a page out of the NBA’s books and sign an unsponsored sub-four guy to a ten-day contract? Instead this was a pretty big let down in comparison to what was initially envisioned.

The debate now shifts to ‘do they take a mulligan and try again next year?’ Part of the reason why this record has stood for so long isn’t because it’s difficult to have four guys average 3:57/mile. It’s significantly harder for a team to have four guys who are fit and healthy at the same time. And it’s even more difficult to convince multiple professional coaches that they should fly their teams across the country to race one another in what is essentially a publicity stunt.

As a fan I’d prefer teams take a weekend off from chasing standards to race each other in an odd 4xmile, but the truth is that like 99% of fun things, it doesn’t actually matter.

And if you’re wondering why the 4xmile is seemingly always in some team’s crosshairs, it has a lot to do with the perceived ease of breaking it compared to its closest analog. The 4x1500 record of 14:22.22 was set by Kenya at the 2014 World Relays. After four guys averaged 3:35 per leg, World Athletics was like, ‘no one is ever going to beat that’ and removed it from the program entirely. My favorite part of that race was when the late David Torrence stuck onto Silas Kiplagat for as long as possible and ran his first three laps in 2:48-flat. The last two legs were fairly boring minus the fact that they were going incredibly fast.

That’s not to say a relay that long can’t be exciting! The Penn Relays Saturday crowd would generally use the COA 4xMile and 4x1500 as an opportunity to grab concessions, though they were arguably two of the most exciting races of the weekend. After their second leg fell, the University of Texas men left a wake of bodies in their dust to burst away from a tight group of nine with 200 meters left. And in the women’s race, Arkansas fought off a challenge from a tough NC State squad to break the collegiate record in 16:53.87.

Hopefully the lack of records falling on the professional side doesn’t dissuade clubs from going after it again, but we could all afford to take a year off from talking about it.

What would Gary do?

If Gary Martin has a million fans, then I am one of them. If Gary Martin has a hundred fans, then I am one of them. If Gary Martin has only one fan then that is me. And if Gary Martin has no fans, then I am no longer on Earth. If the world is against Gary Martin, then I am against the world.

In a world full of high school sub-four milers, a weekend highlight was seeing Pennsylvania’s own chase the mark all by his lonesome on a windy day at Franklin Field. Although his series of 60-second quarters came up short, there was a soul-cleansing level of purity in witnessing Gary’s honest attempt. Without rabbits or pros to draft off, he gritted his way to a theatrical near miss. After the race, he even said a quote from Steve Prefontaine inspired him to give the crowd a performance they were owed.

Gary then rushed off to make it back in time for his senior prom, before returning on Saturday to run the 4x400. Hell, he probably would have a leg for On’s 4xmile team had they only asked!

In partnership with The Run Show

Coming to Chicago on June 4th-5th is The Run Show! Designed to help runners plan for their season ahead and have an awesome day out with other like-minded people with inspirational speakers such as Carl Lewis, Dean Karnazes, and lots more.

Receive practical advice from coaches and trainers on pacing, nutrition, training plans and running techniques.Try and buy products from an assortment of brands or get a gait-analysis, learn about taping, try out recovery products and get one-on-one advice from industry professionals. There’s a reason this event is called Comic Con for runners!

Drake Relays ☔️

The Drake Relays is generally about as good as the weather allows it to be. With the stands full of rain jackets, this year’s didn’t enjoy ideal conditions, but that never stopped Dalilah Muhammad in Iowa before. The multiple time Olympic and World Champion competed in her first 400m hurdles of the year, opening things up with an impressive 53.88. That’s a great start for anyone, but it’s especially impressive in contrast to last year, which began with a 53.77 flat 400m. Muhammad then raced herself into form before ultimately finishing with a 51.58 400m hurdles PB at the Olympics.

(If we are keeping tabs on the one woman who ran faster, then this seems like an appropriate place to note that Sydney McLaughlin ran her first race of 2022 at the Penn Relays — posting a 12.75 100m hurdles.)

Quick rundown of the biggest highlights out of Des Moines:

• Olympic champion and WR holder Ryan Crouser won the shot put in 21.63m. Although this was his shortest winning throw since the 2019 Drake Relays, it’s not a reason to be concerned. He was plagued with an elbow injury at the World Indoor Championships so if he’s competing then that’s a positive indicator on the status of his health. If you haven’t watched his YouTube channel, then I highly recommend it.

• Randolph Ross, who is still in an NC A&T jersey, set the Drake Relays 400m record running 44.95.

• Atlanta Track Club’s Allie Wilson won the women’s 800m in 2:03.87. Isaiah Jewett won the men’s in 1:48.84 over second place finisher Erik Sowinski, who ran his 200th career sub-1:50. From his first time under the barrier at the 2010 Meyo Invitational until today, he has averaged a sub-1:50 every 22 days.

Another U20 WR! 🇧🇼

For a country of just over 2 million people, Botswana does quite well for itself in the world of athletics! Over the weekend, 18-year-old Letsile Tebogo broke the U20 WR for 100m with his 9.96 (+1.9) performance in Gaborone. That knocks just .01 seconds off Trayvon Bromell’s previous record, but it could have been way more!

Maybe that track has as many confusing lines on the ground as the Penn Relays oval because he was throwing his hands up in celebration with a solid 10 meters to go. Generally, if you are in the middle of running a giant personal best, it’s a pretty poor strategy to purposely not go as fast as you can. Those sort of rookie mistakes is what makes U20 track and field so unpredictable!

Meanwhile, the now elder statesman, Trayvon Bromell retaliated by entering what he keeps referring to as “bleed mode” and running 9.75 (+2.1). That’s his fastest all-conditions mark ever in his first of the season.

From the comfort of my keyboard +1.9 and +2.1 wind feel pretty much the same, but so does 9.96 and 9.75.

Who beat Mo Farah? 🤨

This right here is why I would get more nervous for my high school dual meets than the state championships. If I lost at state, it was at least going to be to the state champion, but getting ducked at the line by a guy who’d be hanging up the spikes next year in order to rush a fraternity at University of Michigan? That was my nightmare.

When you have four Olympic gold medals, like Mo Farah, you get paid a significant amount of money to show up for a speaking event, or a race like the Vitality London 10km, or so I hear. And when your 10,000m best is 28:47, like local elite Ellis Cross, then you have to ask for a spot in elite field, get denied, pay the £37 entry fee, and then have a busy morning of travel to get on the start line.

While Cross’s caption references him beating the ‘greatest athlete of all time’ I am unsure if Serena Williams was actually in the race. But telling the story of that one time you beat Sir Mo Farah in a race will make for some incredulous patrons at the local pub. Hopefully they buy Cross a beer when he breaks out the picture evidence.

It is quite obvious that Mo Farah is no longer as dominant of a runner as he once was, but at 39-years-old maybe it’s time we stop comparing him to the peak version of himself. Clearly he likes running and is making a living doing it, so there’s no need for anyone to be calling for his retirement — that’s his decision. It’s not illegal to keep competing past your prime! If it was, I reckon I could jump through your screen and place ¾ of you readers under citizen’s arrest before turning myself in, too.

Instead, let’s note that the master’s world record for a 40-year-old is 27:49, set by Bernard Lagat for 10,000m, and 2:06:25 in the marathon by Ayad Lamdassem. And if Ayad could run that fast last month shortly after his fortieth birthday, then maybe Mo could too — after all, he was well over a minute faster at the 2012 Olympics.

Breaking Two with Sage Hurta

Part of the fun on Friday night at the Penn Relays was the women’s 800m, which featured eventual race winner from the OAC, Sage Hurta. The 7x All-American from the University of Colorado crossed onto the other side of the barrier with her finishing time of 1:59.76. We briefly caught up with her to recap the moment:

You've been on the verge of breaking two minutes for a while with some very near misses. What does it mean to finally be under it, especially doing it the hard way, being all by yourself on a cold night in April?

It's definitely a little bit of a relief. I feel like I have gone into at least one or two other races where I've been thinking about it the entire time, but I went into this weekend trying not to obsess about breaking it. Maybe that was partly because it was a little chilly and not ideal for an 800. Earlier in the day I thought ‘cool, it might not be the day — whatever happens, happens.’ So I feel like almost because of that, I was able to relax a bit more and get it done. It's really nice because it's been three years of wanting to do that.

Does it feel like a weight has been lifted? You've been in multiple situations where it was just you out there going for it.

Yeah, definitely. I feel like most of the time when I've gone for it, it's just been me out there. And so now I can just hopefully get into some fast races and compete, even if it's a slower race. I can focus more on the competition and don't need to prove that I can run under two minutes anymore.

Last year at the Trials you fell during the semi-finals and never got a fair chance to make the team. Looking back now, how have you internalized that whole experience and everything surrounding the disappointment?

In a lot of ways I feel like I was kind of traumatized by it. It was my first time competing as a professional athlete and it was a really dramatic way to start out. But because I was switching to a new program right after the Trials, it almost gave me a reason to move on pretty quickly. It became just a reset to get back in training and get settled with the new team.

I feel like it underlines that just no matter how much you do, you can never control every outcome. I've been a little bit more relaxed about my future in this sport in a sense because of it. I'm going to try really hard to get where I think I can go, but you can't guarantee anything.

When you watch Athing Mu run 1:22, how do you process that as a competitor? The standard of women's middle-distance running in the US is at such a high level so what do you have to do to make sure that you're there with them?

A lot of people look at the women's 800, in particular in the US. and their attitude is like, ‘well, why would you even try when everyone's so good?’ But I feel like I'm lucky to be in the same event, but come from a different skill set.

I could run a good 600, but never in my life will I be running a 1:22. So I really respect what she does and it's kind of cool because like, this is a living legend right here! But at the same time, when it comes to the 800 my skills are totally different so I need to play to them.

In reference to those skills, you were a half-decent steeplechaser a few years ago. You're in this unique situation where most people move up in distance as they get older, but you were doing the 5000m and steeplechase and moved down. How did that happen?

That's mostly a result of being at the University of Colorado. I was definitely a 15 person in high school and then when I got to college, my coaches said that I had the strength and speed and was relatively coordinated for a distance runner. So they suggested the steeple. Once I started doing it my heart wasn’t in it. And so the whole time I was like, “can you just let me get back to the 1500?”

So no plans to return! Do you see yourself focusing on the 1500 later this year now that you have the sub-two?

I mean, that's kind of the big question. I definitely think I'm worthy in the 800, but I also have a lot of people telling me my future is there. I'm not ready to go all-in on one just yet.

Rapid Fire Highlights 🔥

• No offense to the rest of the performances in the “Rapid Fire Highlights 🔥” section, but Athing Mu probably deserves her own write-up. It’s just that I know we are going to be talking about her all summer! She ran 1:22.74 to win the Penn Relays 600m, which is the fourth fastest all-time. It looked effortless.

• Dillon Maggard won the Payton Jordan Invitational 10,000m with a 27:37, leading Florida' State’s Adriaan Wildschutt (27:38) and four other college guys under 27:48. Nice work. That should hold up for regionals, fellas!

• Fellow Seminole Trey Cunnigham ran an NCAA and world leading 13.10 in the 110 hurdles. In front of a crowd of Eagles fans, Devon Allen ran a Penn Relays record of 13.11.

• Texas A&M’s Lamara Distin raised the high jump bar to a world leading 1.97m. Hailing from Jamaica, she was the second place finisher at last year’s NCAA Championships, and entered the 2022 season with a best of 1.90.

• Noah Lyles ran 19.86 (+0.8) on Sunday in his first 200m of the year after working extensively on his start recently.

• Empire Elite’s Isaac Updike ran a US#1 steeplechase to win the Penn Relays in 8:22.96. He is currently squatting in my completely empty apartment in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, before our buyers close on it next week.

• Annie Rodenfels ran a world leading 9:25.48 steeplechase at Stanford in for a 21-second PB. She knows her hurdle form is not perfect (the announcers mentioned it), but don’t be surprised if she runs under 9:10 soon.

• Lester Wright Sr. who turned 100-years-old the day before he ran 100m in 26.34 seconds at the Penn Relays. If he had four Olympic gold medals they’d have been saying he should have retired 61 years ago!

• NAZ Elite’s Wesley Kiptoo won his first race as a professional in Pittsburgh, taking the half in 1:01:25. Caroline Rotich won the women’s half over Aliphine Tuliamuk, 1:09:30 to 1:09:54.

• At an Adidas test event in Germany, the indoor mile record holder Yomif Kejelcha won the 5k (12:53) and the 10k went to Kibiwott Kandie (26:50). Senbere Teferi (14:37) was the 5k champion and Fentaye Belayneh (30:24) in the 10k. There should be a way to combine the various test events shoe companies keep having so fans could have a way of knowing who makes the best product.

• Namibia’s Christina Mboma ran a 10.97/21.87 WL double in Botswana.

• The Ole Miss men won both the 4x800 and DMR at the Penn Relays. I’m a huge Mario Garcia Romo fan because the Spanish side of my family lives close to where he grew up and in this sport you gotta take any reason you can to pick sides.

Thank you Puma Running for sponsoring this week’s newsletter! Make sure to tune into watch the American Track League outdoor events starting this weekend.