What would Steve Prefontaine do?⏱

Lap 64: Sponsored by the Under Armour All Out Mile

The Under Armour All Out Mile returns this summer on Global Running Day. Join me and runners from all over the world to run your fastest mile from June 1st through June 5th.

Last year I finished 2nd out of almost 10,000 runners when I ran a 4:09 after a solid month of training — it is important I mention that I closed in 60 and wholeheartedly believe that I would have run 4:02 on the Boston University track a week later.

This time around, I have been putting in some decent mileage and am coming at it from the strength side of things. (Setting the stage for a slower time with some preemptive excuses.)

Register for free now at www.uaalloutmile.com and join The Lap Count’s team!

USATF Distance Classic

What happened to this meet? The USATF Distance Classic, which was previously known to us track heads as Oxy, was a prime opportunity for fast running in the middle of May. It rarely had much in the way of spectators (and still doesn’t), but there were so many studs that they’d be evenly spread across two or three heats. In 2012, there were 28 men who ran under 3:40 for 1500m — that’s basically 3:37 in today’s dollars.

To answer my seemingly rhetorical question from the above paragraph, what happened was there are still too many meets! If a Thursday night race in California isn’t producing World Championship (or at least USAs) qualifiers and there is no one in the stands or watching the stream, then what’s it accomplishing beyond further diluting other fields? The only athlete to hit a standard was Australia’s Abbey Caldwell who won the 1500m in 4:04.18 — an unbelievable run for the hard closing 19-year-old, but this wasn’t USATF’s ideal outcome. Especially when six-out-of-eight races were won by non-Americans in a federation hosted event.

The meet offers both prize money ($2000 for the win, and with smaller payouts going five deep) and helps athletes with housing and travel — which is awesome! But in this humble newsletter writer’s opinion, those resources would be better used to build-up events that are currently thriving. There has always been a lot of scrambling to figure out where the best race opportunity will be, but in the current environment it’s become even harder with so many options.

In terms of race results - my heart goes out to Great Britain’s Neil Gourley who won the men’s 1500m in 3:35.43. That’s the third time this year he has run 3:35.XX, but the World Championship standard is 3:35.00. In the men’s 800m, Canada’s Brandon McBride won in 1:47.39 and Cooper Teare won the second heat in 1:47.90 with an impressive last straightaway. Union’s Sinclaire Johnson ran a season’s best of 2:01.06 and Australia’s Amy Cashin also narrowly missed the steeplechase mark (9:30.00) winning in 9:31.28.

Not every meet is going to be electric and I was exhausted on Friday morning, but that’s the downside of The Lap Count’s unofficial motto of, “we watch track so you don’t have to.”

Tale of two-one hundreds 💯💯

Since 1930, the Commonwealth Games has only been hosted by England on two occasions — while she’s a true corgi fanatic, it seems the Queen isn’t too jazzed about track. But this year the CGs (is that an abbreviation y’all use?) return to Birmingham and will be contested in a newly renovated stadium. For those unwilling or unable to wait for this meet, we had the opportunity to preview the action on the second stop of the Diamond League tour this weekend.

If you want to get the locals excited about track and field, then promote the stars, like Trayvon Bromell! Except an egregious error cost him as he was disqualified for an obvious false start, and he wasn’t the only one. Eventually Canada’s Aaron Brown won, once the race went off cleanly in 10.13 (-0.2) despite two empty lanes.

Compare that experience to Sha’Carri Richardson’s season opener at the American Track League. There were doubts whether or not Richardson would be competing as the superstar had previously been announced in a few races earlier this season before scratching. Because I am so intrigued by Sha’Carri’s lack of performances this year, I whipped out my phone to watch at dinner — except the athlete on the tiny screen looked nothing like the Richardson we saw storm to victory at the Trials. She was slow off the line before a moderate recovery to run 11.37 (-1.5) and finished fourth.

Then something strange happened — the meet ran the race again. This time, organizers flipped the track for a slightly more favorable wind and Sha’Carri took it after the mulligan in 11.27 (-0.1), and even found enough time to celebrate. It wasn’t a true rematch as Aleia Hobbs didn’t run. But the question remains, did Sha’Carri win her season opener?

Comparing the American Track League to the Diamond League has them sitting on two polar opposites as to how fan or athlete-centric a meet should be. Disqualifying the dude with the fastest time in the world this year for a false start is the opposite of entertainment. And it’s hard to pretend that a meet isn’t just an exhibition if a race can be rerun when the results don’t say what we want them to. If that was always an option, I have a number of races I’d like to rerun.

Here are the hits from Birmingham 🇬🇧:

• Slovenia’s Kristjan Čeh threw a Diamond League record in the discus of 71.27m — the tenth farthest of all-time.

• Kenya’s Abel Kipsang continues his hot streak winning the 1500m in 3:35.15 — can he hold on for two more months?

• Hometown hero Keely Hodgkinson ran her first race since pulling out of the World Indoor Championships — she won the 800m in 1:58.63.

• Ethiopia’s Dawit Seyaum ran a world leading 5000m in 14:47.55 in her first ever 5000m on the track — hopefully I don’t have to race her in the Corporate Challenge next week!

• Laura Muir of course won the 1500m in 4:02.81.

• Canada’s Marco Arop won the 800m in 1:45.41 — it feels like he’s going to have a big year. Check back here in a couple months, where I’m assuming he’ll get more than a bullet point out of me.

This week in our Friday morning premium newsletter we’ll be speaking with Under Armour’s Willy Fink. This initiative has now raised over $20,400, with all proceeds going towards those whose stories we share. But this edition will be available for all readers!

More like Trials of Half Miles!

The Trials of Miles race series aims to present the sport in a digestible and fun way for fans. On Friday night, I had the pleasure to once again be in the booth alongside Chris Chavez to call the races at Icahn Stadium. The meet has proven viability for a free live stream hosted via YouTube, due largely to the many race sponsors, like Tracksmith and Athletic Brewing Company. Personally, the reason I like it is because we know that if you’re tuning in to watch then you’re likely a diehard. Similar to this newsletter, that generally means we can speak at a slightly elevated reading level when discussing the sport. You know how far around the track it is, so let’s talk more in-depth about other things – like why Chris can’t chug a beer?

On the way to the track that evening, there were questions as to whether or not the meet would even happen due to a severe storm that brought plenty of lightning to the Tri-State area. Although things were delayed slightly and the initially poor conditions possibly scared off some fans, it made for prime conditions to run fast. The track may have been wet, but the wind was calm, the temperature was comfortable and there was loads of extra oxygen in the air. It worked out — but it was in the few hours before that I felt for the meet directors, Dave and Cooper who now likely have some gray hairs.

And maybe the delays were a blessing in disguise! Juliette Whittaker was caught in traffic driving up from Maryland with her father and the delay allowed her enough time to get there and do a proper warm up. The Stanford-bound senior ended up the star of the night as she went on to beat a field of professionals to run the second fastest time in high school history — 1:59.80!

The only name ahead of her on the all-time list is now Mary Cain, who ran 1:59.51 in 2013 at the Prefontaine Classic. To help put into perspective how unreal of an accomplishment this is, no woman in the NCAA has broken the two-minute barrier this year (and only three have since 2016). Whittaker then further cemented herself as extremely easy to root for when she came back to rabbit the high school girl’s mile through 1000m in 2:51.

Generally at this point we’d expect a shoe company to try and swoop in and gobble up all of her college eligibility with a million dollars, but she seems committed to become a Cardinal. In fact, in an interview with Fast Women Whittaker shared that she will not be competing at the US Championships — well, the senior ones at least. Instead, her schedule is aiming towards the USATF U20 Championships in hopes of qualifying for that World Championships in Colombia.

On the men’s side, Cade Flatt also ran the second fastest 800m performance in high school history as he had a huge kick to finish fourth in 1:46.51, just shy of Michael Granville’s all-time mark of 1:46.45. The District Track Club’s Festus Lagat won the race in 1:45.02, but unfortunately he’s an adult.

In partnership with WCH OREGON22

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USA 10000m Championships - Preview 🇺🇸

The first events of Prefontaine Classic weekend will be the most important to most of you reading at home — at 7:30pm PT on Friday, the meet will double as the USATF Championships for 10000m. As someone who has theorized about how good of an idea this is, I am invested in its success. There are a couple reasons I love this concept: primarily this gives athletes more time to recover ahead of Worlds, but it allows the fans and media to give undivided attention to a single (or two) races. The thing that makes the 10000m exciting is the plot and that needs to be developed, otherwise it kinda sucks.

Let’s begin with the women.

The Olympic Trials champion, Emily Sisson, has opted for the roads despite her dominant performance last year in the heat. In her absence clear favorite in the field is Bowerman Track Club’s Elise Cranny, whose solo 30:14 at Sound Running in March just narrowly missed the American Record. Since then Cranny has only raced once, which was a 1500m victory at Mt. Sac in 4:08 — which is basically three planets away from the impressiveness of her 10000m. But that doesn’t matter — she is healthy. Watching her now, it’s hard to believe she was just fourth at the Trials (although she won the 5000m).

Another Olympian from last year’s team to keep an eye on is OAC’s Alicia Monson. Indoors she won the Millrose 3000m and qualified for the World Championships in the event, but Monson has not run a 10000m this outdoor season (not counting her National Cross Country Championship). Interestingly she came back after running a 1500m at the Track Meet in May to pace the first 20 minutes of the 10000m. By doing so, she helped her arch-nemesis and friendly rival, Weini Kelati achieve the World Standard of 31:25 — which is not something you’d ever see in regular sports. Depending on this weekend’s outcome that could come back to bite her.

But speaking of Weini, if you’re looking for someone to root for, Kelati is a good one. Her journey began in Eugene at the 2014 World Junior Championships while competing for Eritrea. She remained in the United States where she sought asylum before eventually continuing her running career as a 2x NCAA Champion at the University of New Mexico. Now as a US citizen, qualifying for the World Championships eight years later in Eugene would complete a perfect circle — and would make great Oscar-bait so long as it kept true to its source material and wasn’t directed by M. Night Shyamalan.

Do you remember seeing pictures of Karissa Schweizer in a boot following an off-season achilles surgery? Forget them. The 10000m Olympian bounced back quickly and ran 15:02 for 5000m to win her only race of the year. Recency bias (for good reason), says that Cranny is the pick, but Schweizer was better last year and has significantly better 1500m and 5000m bests of 4:00.02 and 14:26.

Speaking of medals, have you met Emily Infeld? The 2015 World Championships 10000m bronze medalist is now working with the Verde Track Club and enters the meet with a 15:05 5000m last month. I can’t imagine there is a drop of bad blood between Infeld and her former Bowerman teammates, but if this race was hosted by the WWE it’d make for a good storyline.

If you want a dark horse pick then you wouldn’t be able to find more favorable betting odds than on Hansons’ Natosha Rogers. It’s hard to believe it’s been ten years since she finished second at the Olympic Trials. But this time around she won’t have to worry about not having the standard, as she ran 31:16 earlier this season. However, she looked strong winning the Track Meet’s 5000m in 15:05 closing in 63.

Other athletes with the standard: Ednah Kurgat, Marielle Hall, Sarah Lancaster, Paige Stoner, Danielle Shanahan, Stephanie Bruce and Emily Lipari.

I know we all love rooting for upsets and underdogs, but when you consider this race is about selecting a team to represent the United States, you may want to root hard for those with medal potential. The goal is not to feel good going to sleep on Friday night, but to give THE GREATEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD a fighting chance against a field of women who make sub-30 look casual.

(Here is a fun fact to circle back on my earlier point about supporting meets that are thriving: every single US Women’s 10000m qualifier came from a Sound Running meet.)

No pressure on Grant Fisher, but as the American Record holder with a personal best of 26:33, he has 31 seconds on the next fastest guy in the field. Except in the picture above he can be seen finishing second at the Olympic Trials behind teammate Woody Kincaid.

The headline to sell newspapers before this bout is Bowerman vs. The World. We are yet to learn if Sean McGorty is finished with the steeplechase experiment, which gave him an 8:20 personal best and a lot of disappointment. The good news is that when you’ve run 13:06 and 27:18, you don’t necessarily NEED to run over barriers. Of all the men who could benefit from this race being held as a separate championship, it is McGorty.

Then there is Lopez Lomong — the former 800m specialist, turned 1500m specialist, turned 5000m specialist, turned 10000m specialist. Unfortunately the 37-year-old dropped out of last year’s Trials with an injury, but he has returned to solid form this year posting a 13:07 and 27:39. He was a double national champion in 2019 and won what was one of the wildest races I ever watched in person. However, Lomong still needs the standard.

So who can break up the four musketeers?

If anyone will, it will likely be the OAC’s Joe Klecker, who finished third at the Olympic Trials. He suffered a rare injury during the winter, but ran enough sub-6 minute miles on “easy days” in Boulder to get back down to 13:04 in the 5000m a few weeks ago.

Other athletes with the standard: Conner Mantz, Emmanuel Bor, Shadrack Kipchirchir and Ben True.

Looking at the forecast for Friday night, we can expect classic Eugene in May weather. It’ll be in the low 50’s with some light rain, making it not the worst conditions to go after a fast time. All of the above mentioned guys have no real impetus to keep things honest the first half, but that’s where Frank Lara steps in.

WWSPD? ✊

The USA 10000m Championships are being held the same weekend as the NCAA Regional meet, which would be more controversial had there been any collegian with a legitimate shot to make the team. That said, the depth of the entries has definitely been affected as the slowest accepted times in the men’s field is 28:45, which is 44 seconds slower than what made the Olympic Trials.

Is it a controversial opinion to not completely hate the separation between amateurs and professionals? I’m still in the process of developing this take so don’t crucify me yet or at the very least, I am open to counter-arguments. Essentially, the ambiguity between amateurs and professionals creates a lot of gray areas that not only make it difficult to follow, but to control how and where athletes compete. I’m not convinced the free market economy has produced the most enticing on-track product for fans and perhaps a little government intervention wouldn’t hurt.

In all walks of life, I try to adopt the viewpoint of where I believe Steve Prefontaine would have stood on any issue. While he was fighting to allow professionals to compete at the Olympics, how would he have felt about allowing only professionals? Makes you think!

Rapid Fire Highlights 🔥

• Poland’s Marcin Lewandowski announced his retirement following a career that included four Olympic Games and national records in the 1500 (3:30.42) and mile (3:49.11). He broke 1:45 for 800m in twelve different seasons and on 45 occasions.

• Shelby Houlihan’s ban was upheld in the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland. She will be eligible to compete on January 14, 2025.

• Rory Linkletter, the Canadian National Record Holder in the half marathon, has signed a contract with Puma.

• Ed Cheserek won the Carlsbad 5k again, this time in 13:44. On the women’s side Ethiopia's Biruktayit Degefa stayed hot on the road circuit as she took it in 15:29.

• I made it to Coney Island just in time to miss the finish of the Brooklyn Half Marathon on Saturday. Patricio Castillo and Erin Gregoire won the race in 1:03:58 and 1:12:54, respectively. Unfortunately a 32-year-old man, David Reichman, died after running 1:40:53.

• Olympic champions Lamont Marcell Jacobs, Athing Mu and Matt Centrowitz have dropped out of the Pre Classic. There are still like, a million other gold medalists there so you should still watch the meet.

• Alan Culpepper has been named the new head coach of HOKA NAZ Elite as Ben Rosario has shifted roles to become the Executive Director. Culpepper was a two-time Olympian who coached himself for the majority of his career and was previously the UTEP assistant coach.

• Great Britain’s Corey Campbell set a 15-year-old world record for the mile in 4:05.77.

• Helen Obiri won the Great Manchester Run 10k in 30:15 with Eilish McColgan finishing second in a new European record of 30:19. On the men’s side, New Zealand’s Jake Robertson took the tape in 28:06.

• Jamaica’s Oblique Seville ran 9.86 for a massive personal best to break 10 seconds for the first time in his career. All eyes in the nation will now be on the 21-year-old now as he has quickly emerged as their best hope for future medals in the men’s 100m.

• Ahead of this weekend’s Bowerman Mile, Cooper Teare jokingly referred to his rivalry with Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who had a great retort.

• Get inspired by checking out this New York Times piece on the National Senior Games.

Thank you to Under Armour for sponsoring this week’s newsletter! I have been whipping myself into shape for the UA All Out Mile, but I need some teammates to join me — sign up and become part of The Lap Count’s team.