Running News Daily

Faith Chepkoech wins 10K Facsa Castello

After a dismal performance at the 10K Valencia Ibercaja, Faith Chepkoech come back guns blazing as she bagged the women’s title at the 11th edition of the 10K Facsa Castellón on Sunday (25) in Castellon, Spain.

The 30 year-old who finished a distant 16th in her season opener in Valencia, fought off Ethiopia’s Fotyen Tesfay who was primed for the pole position having come with the fastest time on paper of 30:20.

Chepkoech clocked a new personal best of 29:50 to take the honors and was followed by Tesfay who also got a new personal best of 29:54 with Diana Chepkorir who was making her debut over the distance closing the podium in 29:56.

Kenyans Loice Chemnung and Jesca Chelengat finished in fourth and fifth in respective time of 30:09 and 30:23.

The race course record of 29:14 set two years ago by Ethiopia’s Yalemzerf Yahualaw remains standing.

LEADING RESULTS

10KM WOMEN

Faith Chepkoech  (KEN) 29:50

Fotyen Tesfay       (ETH) 29:54

Diana Chepkorir   (KEN) 29:56

Loice Chemnung  (KEN) 30:09

Jesca Chelangat    (KEN) 30:23

Kenyan athletes dominate Napoli City Half Marathon

Kenyan athletes showcased their prowess at the Napoli City Half Marathon on Sunday, February 25, 2024, claiming victories in both the men's and women's races.

Brian Kwemoi Kirui crossed the finish line first in the men's race, matching Yeman Crippa's course record with a time of 59:27.

Angela Tanui emerged victorious in the women's category, achieving a new personal best of 1:07:04.

Anthony Kimtai secured second place in the men's race, setting a new personal best of 59:45, followed closely by Bernard Kipkurui Biwott, completing a Kenyan sweep of the top three spots with a time of 59:47.

Italy's Sofiia Yaremchuk achieved second place in the women's race, setting a new personal best of 1:08:27, while Kenyan athlete Nancy Chepleting Meli secured third place with a time of 1:10:03.

Nurmi's five Paris 1924 Olympic golds make historic return for Paris 2024

The five gold medals won by one of the greatest Olympic champions in history will return to Paris in March for the first time since they were won in the French capital a century ago.

The press called him “The Flying Finn”, “The Phantom Finn” or “The Finnish Running Marvel”. In the 1920s, Paavo Nurmi, Finland's middle and long distance running ace, was known across the world for his extraordinary human athleticism. Nurmi was a superstar whose fame transcended sports, his name and deeds headlined newspapers and filled out stadiums wherever he traveled.

Nurmi's outstanding Olympic exploits in Paris 1924 established his enduring legend. His five victories there a century ago remain today the most athletic gold medals ever won at a single Games.

Thanks to the kind generosity of the Nurmi family, Nurmi's set of five 1924 gold medals will go on display in the prestigious museum of the Monnaie de Paris on the left bank of the Seine in the heart of the French capital.

Nurmi's Paris golds form part of a larger exhibition of Olympic medals. Gold, silver, bronze. A history of the Olympic medal , organized by the museum of the French mint to mark the Olympic Games of Paris 2024, offers a fascinating exploration of the history of the Olympic medal, highlighting its evolution through the editions of the modern Olympic Games.

The exhibition opens for media preview on 26 March and to the public from 27 March to 22 September 2024.

Mika Nurmi, the grandson of Paavo, and Finland's four-time Olympic champion Lasse Viren will be honored guests at the press preview and public opening ceremony.

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said: “World Athletics is delighted that the family of Paavo Nurmi, the Paavo Nurmi Games, the City of Turku and the museum of the Monnaie de Paris have partnered with our own Museum of World Athletics to return one of the most famous sets of Olympic medals to the French capital for the first time since they were won there a century ago.

“During the year of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, we are celebrating the outstanding achievements of The Flying Finn Paavo Nurmi who in 1924 won a still unsurpassed haul of five Olympic athletics gold medals in a single edition of the Games.

“As famous as the Hollywood stars of his day, lauded by US presidents, Nurmi was the first truly global sports star. Nurmi ended his career with nine golds and three Olympic silver medals and 22 ratified world records but his achievements in Paris 1924, including an outrageous 1500m and 5000m double won with only an hour rest between the two finals, marked the zenith of his career.

“When visiting Paris for this summer's Olympic Games, I look forward to viewing this historic display of Nurmi's golds. These five medals are the athletics centre piece of an impressive six-month exhibition of Olympic medals and coins staged in the neoclassical museum of the Monnaie de Paris, the world's oldest continuously running mint.”

Chairman and CEO of Monnaie de Paris Marc Schwartz commented: “Presenting an extraordinary set of Olympic gold medals at the Monnaie de Paris Museum is truly an honor. Even years later, Paavo Nurmi stands out as one of the most renowned athletes of all time. The celebration of his accomplishments undoubtedly positions this collection as a highlight of our exhibition: 'Gold, Silver, Bronze. A history of the Olympic Medal'. Come to see it in Paris!”

World Athletics Council Member and Chairman of the Paavo Nurmi Games Antti Pihlakoski said: “The Paavo Nurmi Games and Festival organization is grateful to the Museum of the Monnaie de Paris and World Athletics and its Heritage Department for highlighting Paavo Nurmi and his unique career as an Olympic athlete. The display of his Paris 1924 medals serves not only to help a historical understanding of his feats but their continuing impact on society a century later.

“The mission of the Paavo Nurmi Games and Festival organization, with the great support of the City of Turku, is to promote a diverse culture of physical activity in the name of Paavo Nurmi, catering to people of all ages, organizing top-level sporting events, mass sports events for different age groups, and charity events, the proceeds of which are distributed to support physical activities for low-income families.

“We believe that Paavo Nurmi would be pleased that 100 years after his legendary Olympic success in Paris, his legacy continues to be an active part of his hometown City of Turku, Finland, and lives on in the international athletics and sporting community.

“Warm thanks to the Museum of the Monnaie de Paris and World Athletics.”

Mateiko and Gebreselama with bright future after dominant RAK wins

There were breakout victories for hitherto little known Daniel Mateiko of Kenya and Tsigie Gebreselama of Ethiopia in the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon in the United Arab Emirates early Saturday morning. And the imperious manner of their wins on a breezy, humid morning with a sea mist invading the latter stages suggests they both have a very bright future.

Yet the contrast in their race-winning tactics could hardly have been greater. Mateiko led from the gun, and only conceded the lead for brief periods, before outgunning his colleagues John Korir and Isaia Lasoi in the final kilometre, to win in a world leading 58min 45sec. Korir and Lasoi finished five and ten seconds behind respectively.

In contrast, Gebreselama contented herself to stay in the pack until she was ready to strike for home in the last five kilometres. Only former world record holder (64.31) and 2020 winner, colleague Ababel Yeshaneh could go with her, but that challenge didn’t last long. And such was Gebreselama’s attritional pace that by the time she crossed the line in 65.14, Yeshaneh was exactly half a minute in arrears. Jackline Sakilu of Tanzania was the surprise of the day, setting a national record of 66.05 in third place. What was no surprise was that the podium places were taken by athletes from three East African countries who share the same topography, the high altitude plateau of the Great Rift Valley.

Konstanze Klosterhalfen of Germany threatened to gatecrash that exclusive club up to the hallway point in a race, having come directly from her own training camp in Ethiopia. But, having headed the field up to 10k, which she passed in 31.09, which would have been a PB had she finished the race, she tailed off drastically and dropped out shortly afterwards, saying she did not feel well.

Olympic marathon champion, Peres Jepchirchir had been one of the favourites to win, but in the bustle of the start, someone trod on her heel and she lost around 20sec putting her shoe back on. Surprisingly for someone with her long experience, instead of working her way gradually back to the group, she shot off and rejoined them before they had completed the first kilometre. She paid for that unnecessary effort in the closing stages, and could only finish seventh in 67.19.

Gebreselama was not entirely unknown prior to today; she finished second in the world cross country championships in Australia last year. ‘That was my best performance, but today is better than that, because I won,’ she said after the race. ‘I knew I was in good shape. I think I like cross country and road running equally, but now I must prepare for the track’. In a reversal of tradition, she is leaving here for a four-month stint in an altitude training camp in the USA, before she runs the Ethiopian trials with the intent on making the Olympic team at 10,000 metres.

Having been told that there was no pacemaker in the men’s race, we wondered why Mateiko, who led from the gun kept consulting his watch and checking over his shoulder at his pursuers. Maybe he was surprised they were still there for so long, right up to the final kilometre. But having done all work, he was rewarded with a more than worthy victory, then engagingly stated that that was his intent throughout the race. ‘After finishing second last year, I promised myself to win. But the conditions were difficult; it was windy and very humid.’

Mateiko hails from Mount Elgon on the Kenya-Uganda border, but now trains in Eldoret with twice Olympic marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge under the tutelage of former steeplechaser Patrick Sang. ‘Patrick told me I was in good shape, but to be strong-minded. And Eliud is giving me advice too. I would like to have his consistency. Now my dream is to run well in the London Marathon’. If his marathon debut is as impressive as his win here today, the London crowds in April will be in for a treat.

Results, Men:

1 Daniel Mateiko KEN 58:45

2 John Korir KEN 58:50

3 Isaia Lasoi KEN 58:55

4 Gerba Dibaba ETH 59:38

5 Benard Koech KEN 59:42

6 Birhanu Legese ETH 59:43

7 Tamirat Tola ETH 59:46

8 Amos Kibiwot KEN 59:51

9 Boki Diriba ETH 60:10

10 Alphonce Simbu TAN 60:28

Women:

1 Tsigie Gebreselama ETH 65:14

2 Ababel Yeshaneh ETH 65:44

3 Jackline Sakilu TAN 66:05

4 Margaret Chelimo KEN 66:31

5 Evaline Chirchir KEN 66:36

6 Catherine Amanang’ole KEN 66:49

7 Peres Jepchirchir KEN 67:19

8 Gete Alemayehu ETH 67:25

9 Megertu Alemu ETH 69:23

10 Ashete Bekere ETH 70:03

Pineapple marathon man under scrutiny for cutting course at Sevilla Marathon

Moshe Lederfien, a 70-year-old Israeli marathoner who has become famous for balancing a pineapple on his head during marathons, has received scrutiny from Spanish citizens after he did not run the full course at the 2024 Zurich Marathon de Sevilla on Sunday.

Lederfien crossed the finish line at the Zurich Marathon de Sevilla in three hours, 21 minutes, and 48 seconds, which would have been a new Israeli masters M70+ age group record. Later, it came out that he only ran the second half of the race, starting at the 25 km mark. The race did not disqualify his result, but took him off the leaderboard for age-group prize purposes. Lederfien would have finished second in the M70-74 age category.

Several media outlets in Spain, like MARCA, reported on his jaw-dropping three-hour result while balancing a pineapple, and have been called out by Spanish citizens. “Running a half marathon with a pineapple in 3:21 is fine, especially if it’s to raise awareness. But it’s not 42.195 km at 4:46 pace,” one runner wrote on X. “The guy started running at 25 km… It’s impossible at that speed to make that time (which for half of people is incredible, for a 70-year-old person even more, and if he also has a pineapple on his head, infinitely more),” wrote another.

Lederfien has not come out and said whether he intended to only run half the course; but to activate the timing chip, he would have had to cross the start line and then exit the course. Lederfien has previously participated in other marathons in Berlin, Valencia and New York; and in all of them, he has run with a pineapple on his head. “Fruit is one of the most important foods for people, and I want to bring that good to everyone,” Lederfien indicated in an interview with Time News. “The objective is to raise awareness about the health benefits of eating fruit and the importance of caring for the environment.”

The pineapple marathon man also has an Instagram account with 4,500 followers, where he documents all of his races.

This Truck Driver Started Running the Length of One Song—Now He’s Finished 3 Marathons

“My life is totally different today because I have purpose. I also feel 100 times better health-wise.”

I was an amateur boxer as a teenager. I stopped boxing after age 17, and never took care of myself until I was 36 years old. For 19 years, I ate badly and did not exercise, and started to gain weight rapidly after the age of 30 when I became a truck driver.

Being a trucker, I ate a lot of truck stop food and fast food and didn’t move much. My life was simple: work, eat, come home to my family, and do it all over again. My struggle was always my diet. I had a food addiction. 

I didn’t have any major health problems other than high blood pressure, but I knew I had to make a change as it was only a matter of time before I’d be on medications, and other health issues would catch up to me because of my unhealthy lifestyle. 

It started as a New Year’s resolution on January 1, 2022. I was 36 years old and my clothes no longer fit me. I also realized that I couldn’t keep up with my 8-year-old daughter or do anything outside with the family because I was out of shape and tired all the time. 

I thought to myself, ‘What kind of example am I showing my daughter?’ So I made a promise to myself and family that in 2022, I was going to take care of myself and set goals. I set a very challenging goal to lose 50 pounds in three months. 

I started out by walking in January 2022, and lost 25 pounds in that month alone. In February, I started to implement running with my walks at the local parks in San Antonio, Texas. By March, I joined a gym. 

I began walking and running on the treadmill—it was so hard for me to run at first because my legs and calves cramped up often. I couldn’t even run for 30 seconds in January, so in March, my challenge was to try to run the length of the song the gym had playing on the intercom. In April, I completed my first nonstop mile of running—I was so excited to achieve that.

After April, I ran about two miles a day on the treadmill after lifting weights, and met my goal of losing 50 pounds in three months. 

My main focus during this time was weight lifting, but one day in late August, I challenged myself after my workout to see if I could run three miles nonstop on the treadmill. To my surprise, I did it. After that, I started to go back to the parks and run. 

A buddy at the gym told me about a local 5K in San Antonio. I ran it and fell in love with the race environment. It was there I heard runners talking about the San Antonio Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon. 

It was 11 weeks away, and I told them I would love to run the full marathon. They all chuckled a bit and looked at me like I was crazy. How would a person like me who barely started running have time to prepare for a full marathon in just 11 weeks? Well, I started training for it by following runners on TikTok and finding out what training schedule they followed. 

One month later in October, I was running 15 miles nonstop. In December, I completed the San Antonio Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon in a time of 5 hours and 9 minutes. The feeling of accomplishment was beyond amazing. 

After the marathon, I made up my mind: Running was something I would continue. Six months later, in May 2023, I ran the Shiprock Marathon in New Mexico in 4 hours 57 minutes. It was quite an honor to run with the Navajo people at the Navajo reservation. I then ran the San Antonio Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon again this past December 2023, and my time was 40 minutes faster than the year prior. The next marathon on my list is the Utah Valley Marathon in June 2024.

Today, I run four to five times a week with Saturdays being my long run. My goal is to keep running marathons and to get faster. My ultimate goal is to qualify for Boston. It sounds far-fetched because I’m currently running 4:30 marathon times, but running this distance seemed impossible two years ago. 

I work 50 hours a week for a local construction company. While I have the luxury of coming home every night, the days are long. To maintain my healthy lifestyle I pack a lunch everyday—I’m fortunate that my wife prepares these lunches for me. If I didn’t pack my lunch, I’d be eating truck stop food. After work, I go to the gym for strength training, and or run around the local parks. I usually don’t get home until 8:30 at night. 

My life is totally different today because I have purpose. I also feel 100 times better health-wise. 

These three tips have made my running journey a success:

1. Stay consistent

Stay consistent with running, your workout routine, and diet. Consistency is key. Just start and never give up. It’s going to be difficult, but stick with it and results and progress will come. It’s you versus you. Don’t compare your journey to anyone else’s. It’s your battle.

2. Eat healthy

Diet plays a huge factor on how you fuel for your runs and the right nutrition helps you perform better. I’ve noticed on days I eat bad it really affects my runs. Before this journey, my diet was horrible. All I drank was soda and ate fast food. I’m Hispanic and I love Mexican food, but it isn’t the healthiest. Now I only drink water and black coffee. I stay away from fried food, processed foods, sugar, and flour. I love pasta and chicken Alfredo the day before my long runs. I eat lean meat, chicken breast, lean ground turkey, salmon, and sweet potatoes, along with a lot of fruit and vegetables.

3. Stay confident

You have to believe in yourself. You have to have faith in yourself and the process. Faith over fear. I learned you can do more than you can imagine. The mentality I have now compared to two years ago is night and day. 

Adam’s Must-Have Gear 

→ Nike Vaporfly Shoes: Of all the shoes I’ve tried, Nike Vaporfly are my go-to race-day shoes. They feel the best and I’ve had my PR with these shoes.

→ GU Running Gels: These work the best for me for fueling on long runs and don’t upset my stomach and give me a great boost.

→ Night Buddy Headlamp: For my early morning or night runs, this headlamp keeps me safe and well lit. It’s a super light headlamp and very bright.

He’s Back! Meb Keflezighi Announces Return to Boston Marathon

Meb will line up to mark the 10th anniversary of his 2014 victory.

After a decade of one of the most famous wins in the Boston Marathon, Meb Keflezighi is returning.

On Wednesday, the two-time World Marathon Major winner and 2004 Olympic silver medalist confirmed that he will compete at the Boston Marathon in April. He is returning to mark the 10th anniversary of his 2014 win, where he became the first American man to win since 1983. It was an emotional year for many, as it was also the first running of Boston since the 2013 bombings.Keflezighi, 48, announced via X that he’ll run the marathon in support of his MEB Foundation, which supports health, education, and fitness worldwide.

“I am lacing my shoes in Hopkinton and running the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2024,” Keflezighi said in the announcement, to a fitting soundtrack. “10 years ago I had the great honor to put the victory for all of us among the 36,000 others who want to make a difference at the streets of Boston. Boston strong.”

Keflezighi has been absent from the race since he ran his last professional Boston Marathon in 2017 before finishing his competitive career at the 2017 New York City Marathon. Along with his Boston win, Keflezighi won New York in 2009 and earned a silver medal at the 2004 Olympic games in Athens, making him the only man to win the Boston and New York marathons and an Olympic medal in the marathon.

Since his big win in 2014, no American has run a time faster than his 2:08:37 effort.

MORE FROM RUNNER'S WORLD ON APPLE NEWS

Kenenisa Bekele, Connor Mantz & Clayton Young To Headline 2024 United Airlines NYC Half

The New York Road Runners (NYRR) has announced that the 2024 United Airlines NYC Half, taking place Sunday, March 17, will feature 11 Olympians, seven Paralympians, and several more professional athletes who have their eyes on the Paris 2024 Games this summer.

Conner Mantz and Clayton Young, fresh off finishing first and second, respectively, at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, will headline the men’s open division at the United Airlines NYC Half, while two-time U.S. Olympian Hillary Bor will race 13.1 miles for the first time in his career and the world’s most-decorated distance runner, Kenenisa Bekele, will return to New York for his second NYRR event. The women’s open division will be chock-full of established contenders, including Olympians Des Linden, Jenny Simpson, Edna Kiplagat, Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal, and Malindi Elmore, in addition to World Championships marathon bronze medalist Fatima Gardadi.

These athletes will lead more than 25,000 runners during the United Airlines NYC Half, the world’s premier half marathon, organized by NYRR, which runs from Brooklyn to Manhattan, passing historic landmarks, diverse neighborhoods, and sweeping views of the city along the way before finishing in Central Park.

Men’s Open Division

Mantz and Young, training partners from Provo, Utah, will line up together at the start in New York less than two months after finishing one-two at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in Orlando and qualifying for the Paris 2024 Games. Mantz was fifth in his first United Airlines NYC Half in 2022, and last year became the seventh-fastest American marathoner in history when running 2:07:47 to finish sixth at the Chicago Marathon. Young finished right behind him in seventh in 2:08:00 and will be making his United Airlines NYC Half debut.

“I think I have a lot of room to improve in the halfs,” Mantz said on the latest episode of NYRR Set the Pace, Feb. 22, 2024. “I want to get these halfs in so I can have more confidence heading into Paris. I ran [the United Airlines NYC Half] in 2022…which was probably one of the most special experiences and it was a huge learning [experience]. It was probably my first race where I was competing against a big international field…so it was a really good experience for me, and I think it’s one I want to repeat and take what I’ve learned in the last two years and use it.”

Ethiopia’s Bekele, a four-time Olympic medalist, 16-time world champion, and the third-fastest marathoner in history, will challenge the American duo, racing with NYRR for the second time after finishing sixth at the 2021 TCS New York City Marathon. He will be joined at the starting line by Kenya’s Abel Kipchumba, the reigning champion of the B.A.A. Boston Half Marathon who owns one of the top-10 half-marathon times in history.

Mateiko and Gebreselama win in Ras Al Khaimah

Daniel Mateiko and Tsigie Gebreselama were victorious at the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon, a World Athletics Gold Label road race, on Saturday (24).

Making his third appearance in Ras Al Khaimah, Mateiko lit up a foggy morning to storm home in a world-leading time of 58:45 and win by five seconds from his compatriot John Korir, while Isaia Lasoi completed a Kenyan top three, clocking 58:55.

In the women’s race, Ethiopia’s world cross country silver medallist Gebreselama improved her personal best by more than half a minute to win in 1:05:14, 30 seconds ahead of her compatriot Ababel Yeshaneh, the 2020 Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon champion and former world record-holder. Tanzania’s Jackline Sakilu was a surprise third, beating her personal best by more than three minutes with a national record of 1:06:05.

This year’s race was held exclusively for the first time on the fast and flat roads of Al Marjan Island and the elites took it in their stride, despite unusual weather conditions which saw visibility limited to around 50m at the finish line.

Mateiko was always to the fore and he made his winning move in the final kilometre, leaving Korir and Lasoi to chase him to the finish line.

A delighted Mateiko was relieved to finally get a win in Ras Al Khaimah after finishing sixth on his debut in 2022 and runner-up to Benard Koech last year. 

“I was the fastest man in the field and I promised myself I’d win here after finishing sixth and then second last year,” said the charismatic 25-year-old, who dedicated his win to Kelvin Kiptum, the marathon world record-holder who died in a road traffic accident earlier this month.

“The conditions were very difficult – it was windy, humid and a little foggy – so this is definitely the best win of my career so far.”

While Mateiko saw off a world-class field that included defending champion Koech, who finished fifth (59:42), and New York Marathon champion Tamirat Tola, who took seventh (59:46), in the women’s event the hugely talented Gebreselama underlined why she is considered one of her country’s finest prospects.

After passing 15km in 46:42, Gebreselama and Yeshaneh broke away from the lead women’s group before Gebreselama forged ahead for victory.

“I am so happy to have run a personal best today,” said the 23-year-old, who finished fourth in the half marathon at the World Road Running Championships in Riga in October.

“I was very worried about Peres (Jepchirchir) in this race so I was surprised when she dropped back. It’s a great win for me and, while it’s too early in my career to think about the Paris Olympics, my aim is to break the half marathon world record.”

Olympic marathon champion Jepchirchir, one of the pre-race favourites and a three-time half marathon world champion, suffered a setback early on in the race when a shoe slipped off, costing her at least 20 seconds. 

Malindi Elmore and Tristan Woodfine to run 2024 NYC Half

On Thursday, the New York Road Runners (NYRR) announced the field for the 2024 NYC Half on March 17, which will feature Canadian marathoners Malindi Elmore and Tristan Woodfine alongside 11 Olympians and one of the world’s most decorated distance runners, Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele.

This will be Bekele’s first time at the NYC Half and only his second career road race in New York City. (He finished sixth at the TCS New York City Marathon in 2021.) Bekele is one of the most prolific runners of all time, having been at the top of the sport for more than two decades. His personal best of 2:01:41 from the 2019 Berlin Marathon still stands as the Ethiopian national record, and makes him the third-fastest marathoner in history.

Bekele will headline the men’s race alongside top U.S. marathoners Conner Mantz and Clayton Young, who are fresh off finishing first and second, respectively, at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in Orlando, Fla., on Feb. 3. Also joining the men’s field is Cobden, Ont.’s Woodfine, who is coming off an impressive 2:10:39 personal best and sixth-place finish at the 2024 Houston Marathon. The 30-year-old is currently training for the 2024 Boston Marathon, where he hopes to place in the top five to potentially secure a spot on the Canadian Olympic marathon team in Paris.

The women’s elite field will be full of established distance runners, including Olympians Des Linden, Jenny Simpson, Edna Kiplagat and Elmore, who was recently nominated to her third Olympic Games. Elmore secured her spot on the Canadian team last fall with a 2:23:30 clocking at the 2023 Berlin Marathon, the second-fastest Canadian women’s marathon time. Like Woodfine, Elmore is also training for the 2024 Boston Marathon, which she hopes will prepare her for the hilly marathon course at the 2024 Paris Olympics, which is expected to be the hilliest Olympic marathon course to date.

The men’s and women’s elite field will lead more than 25,000 runners during the United Airlines NYC Half, the world’s premier half marathon, which runs from Brooklyn to Manhattan, passing historic landmarks, diverse neighbourhoods and sweeping views of The Big Apple before finishing in the middle of Central Park.

14 Tips to Make the Most of Your Treadmill Workouts

Improve performance with your indoor workouts, thanks to this expert-backed advice.

We’re going to go out on a limb here and guess that if given the choice between an outdoor run and a treadmill session, most athletes would pick option A, no hesitation. And while there’s a lot of stigma surrounding the dreadmill—er, treadmill—there are also a lot of legit perks to relying on this tool every now and then. 

The obvious: Treadmills can help you complete scheduled workouts when weather or safety concerns kibosh outside runs, T.J. Garlatz, cross country and track and field coach at Western Washington University, and certified run coach with RunDoyen, tells Runner’s World. 

They also allow busy runners to train more consistently. For example, folks with a treadmill and kids at home can hop on the machine and bust out a workout without having to arrange childcare, Garlatz adds. Another plus: You can control key variables—namely, pace and incline—making it easy to accomplish specific workouts, like hill repeats and threshold runs. This can be especially helpful for runners who don’t live in hilly places but want to train that skill, as well as those who struggle to pace themselves. 

To boot, treadmills provide a flat, soft surface, which can make running more comfortable for people with joint pain or injuries, Kai Ng, USATF- and RRCA-certified run coach in New Jersey and New York, tells Runner’s World. 

Of course, to reap the benefits of treadmills, you need to be willing to use them in the first place, which for many runners involves overcoming the negative association they have with this oft-loathed machine. To help facilitate a more positive mindset, we tapped Garlatz and Ng for their tips for how to run on a treadmill. From beating boredom to setting paces to specific workouts to try, here’s the advice that may just tempt you to hop on the belt today. 

1. Toggle With Speed and Incline

The biggest mental block people have with the treadmill is “the monotony and boredom associated with it,” Garlatz says. And if you’re running at the same exact speed and incline for your entire treadmill workout, of course it’s going to be a mind-numbing experience. 

One easy way to shake things up? Change the pace and/or grade often throughout your workout. For example, do two minutes at a 3 percent grade, then two minutes flat, then two minutes at a 5 percent grade, then two minutes flat, then two minutes at a 7 percent grade, then two minutes flat, and repeat that pattern until you’ve completed your mileage for the day. Or, embrace the concept of Fartleks and alternate between easy, moderate, and hard paces. (Of course, there are nearly infinite ways to vary your pace and incline in one workout, these are just two examples.) 

However you choose to splice things up, expect your workout to feel a whole lot quicker. “As you’re rotating through either pace zones or incline zones, after a while, you don't realize it and 25 minutes have passed,” Garlatz says. 

2. Give Yourself Time to Find a Flow

Treadmill running (and really, any type of running) is not going to feel awesome for the first mile or two. “I don’t think anybody really enjoys the first 20 minutes,” Ng says. “No one starts running and says that this is amazing. Not even elite athletes.” 

Instead, “it takes some time to get into a flow state where everything locks in and you feel good,” he explains. Remind yourself of this fact before you start your treadmill workout so that you can better embrace the initial discomfort instead of being tempted to quit three minutes in when your legs still feel like lead. 

3. Focus on Form

Logging an easy run on the treadmill is “a great opportunity to work on good running form,” Ng says. That’s because the surface is soft and even, and there are fewer distractions compared to outdoor running, he explains. To do this, complete a body scan every five minutes. 

Here’s how: First, check your posture. Are you standing up tall? If not, imagine a balloon gently pulling the top of your head, straightening your spine, Ng says. Next, think about relaxing your shoulders, arms, and hands. Then, make sure you’re leaning slightly forward from your ankles (not your hips) and focus on pushing the belt backwards with every step, he says. 

Finally, note where on the belt you’re running. “‘The ideal place is probably the middle,” Ng says. “You don’t want to be too far back where you have to worry about falling off or you don’t want to be too far forward where it intrudes on arm swing.” 

4. Combine Outdoor Runs With Treadmill Time

The treadmill doesn’t have to be an all or nothing tool. “You can make treadmill running part of your run—it doesn’t have to be the run,” Ng says. 

What he means by this: Weather and location permitting, instead of committing to a full workout on the treadmill, which in itself can be daunting and loathsome, warm up by jogging outdoors to the gym. Once you get there, hop on the belt and run a little faster for a brief period of time (for example, go for 20 minutes at marathon pace). Then, get off and jog home at an easy pace, Ng suggests. This hybrid approach can reduce the intimidating factor of treadmill running by bookending your run with fresh air and sunshine. 

5. Recruit a Friend–or Five

Fact: “All running is better when you’ve got friends or workout buddies,” Garlatz says. Though most social runs happen outdoors, cajoling a pal or group to join you for a treadmill session (so long as you have access to a space with multiple machines in a row) can be a great way to make an otherwise loathsome workout more appealing. 

Don’t know any local people who run? Reach out to an area run club to get connected with possible treadmill buddies or sign up for Peloton to join a virtual community. 

6. Pair It With Something Positive

One surefire way to make the ‘mill more palatable is to cue up a favorite movie or TV show to watch it while you stride, Garlatz says. Consider it a treadmill-specific treat (after all, you can’t safely stream Netflix while running outdoors) and save up your most-anticipated episodes for the days when you’ll be hopping on the belt. A side benefit of this approach: By combining exercise and screen time, you can free up your schedule late in your day when you may otherwise be parked on the couch watching the tube. 

Just be sure to save this for an easy or long treadmill run where you can just zone out instead of a speed or interval-focused workout that requires more concentration. 

Oh, and speaking of concentration, if you’re streaming and striding, make sure to stay aware of your surroundings. Obviously you need to pay attention enough so you don’t fall off the treadmill, Ng says. 

Not a TV or movie buff? Lean on your go-to podcast or favorite Spotify playlist to help pass treadmill minutes. 

7. Try a Threshold Run

Outdoor threshold workouts can be a tough skill to master, considering people tend to either over or undershoot their goal pace, Garlatz explains. But on the treadmill, pacing is guaranteed: Simply input your desired speed and then resist the urge to toggle with the numbers until you’ve completed your workout. You can also pay attention to your heart rate as you go to make sure you stay within that zone. 

8. Conquer Hills

Like we mentioned, treadmills can be a great way to incorporate hill-specific training, and playing with the incline can be a surefire hack for making your workout more interesting. 

For a no-brainer hill workout, simply use the machine’s “hill run mode” (many treadmills have this) and you’ll get a workout that automatically cycles through varying incline levels, Garlatz says. 

If your treadmill doesn’t have this feature, simply adjust the incline manually. Garlatz recommends alternating between a 2, 3, and 4 percent grade. If you’re looking for a little more challenge, increase the grade to 6, 7, or 8 percent for brief bursts, though keep in mind “once you get past 6 or 7 percent, it’s honestly pretty darn steep and it makes it a little bit less enjoyable,” Garlatz warns. 

Another option: If you’re training for a specific race with known hills, look up the course elevation profile and simulate some of the climbs during your treadmill runs, Ng says. 

9. Run Intervals for Time vs Distance

The treadmill can be a great place for speed workouts, but instead of going for distance, run for time. That’s because the former can involve doing a lot of math—wait, how many tenths of a mile equals one 200-meter repeat?—which can be distracting and tedious, Ng says. Plus, if the treadmill is running continuously, sometimes it’s hard to remember exactly what distance you started a sprint at (and thus when it’s time to pump the brakes), Garlatz adds.

For a fuss-free workout, crunch the numbers ahead of time to figure out how to translate your sprint workout from distance into time. For example, if you typically run 400-meter sprints at an 8-minute mile pace, aim to run hard for 2 minutes on the treadmill at 7.5 mph.

10. Embrace 0% Grade

You may have heard the common advice to always set the treadmill to a 1 percent incline if you want to simulate running on flat ground outdoors. “The theory behind it is that because there’s no wind resistance or air resistance that you’re encountering when you’re running on a treadmill,” Garlatz explains. So, by bumping up the treadmill incline, you level the playing field, so to speak. 

But a 1 percent grade isn’t always necessary, Gartlaz caveats. In fact, he sometimes encourages athletes to leave the grade at 0 and instead run at a slightly faster pace—say, 7:50 per mile versus 8 minutes. “If you put the treadmill at 1 percent and theoretically, the effort is a little bit harder, our legs aren’t turning over as fast,” he explains. “And so if you keep the incline flat, then sometimes you’re getting a little bit more practice just turning your legs over more quickly.” This can help train your neuromuscular system to be able to maintain faster paces, which can become helpful in a race day scenario, he explains. 

11. Stay Hydrated and Cool

Unless it’s the heat of the summer, chances are you’ll sweat more during a treadmill workout compared to an outdoor session. That’s because on a treadmill, the room tends to be hotter than outside and the heat your body generates from exercise hangs around you, sort of like a hot fog, Garlatz explains. Compare that to outdoor running, where the naturally cooler temps and wind resistance help cool you as you stride, and it’s no surprise you may overheat on a treadmill. 

Combat the effects of that—namely, discomfort and diminished performance—by bringing ample hydration. Also consider propping a fan on the treadmill for mid-workout cooling. Even a little tiny fan can “go a long way,” Ng says. 

12. Don’t Trust Your Watch

PSA for all runners who use a fitness smartwatch: You can’t trust the distance and pacing data for treadmill runs. “At least for now, the GPS and indoor running mode for Garmin, for any other running watches, is just so inaccurate,” Ng says. So instead of tracking your workouts via a wrist-worn device, simply rely on what the treadmill itself reports for your distance and pace, he advises. 

13. Work on Cadence

Another way to rev up your excitement for the treadmill—plus practice your cadence—is to line-up a beats-per-minute (bpm)-specific playlist. Ng recommends striding at 150 bpm or faster, he explains. 

On Spotify or most any other music provider, search for playlists tagged under a certain bpm. A bunch of options should show up; pick one that jives with your musical tastes. Then, once you’re adequately warmed up, hit play and do your best to stride to the rhythm. 

14. Maintain Paces You’d Run Outside

Need to move a scheduled outdoor run to the treadmill? You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. “A lot of the components are really easy to mimic,” Gartlaz explains. A well-rounded run will start and end with easy running, two components Gartlaz recommends also doing on the treadmill. 

In terms of the workout itself, whatever target pace you planned for your outdoor run will likely suffice for a treadmill session, Gartlatz says. For example, if you were aiming to hold a 9-minute-per-mile pace outside, then that should be your target for the treadmill—most machines will tell you how a mile-per-hour pace corresponds to a minutes-per-mile pace, but if not, here’s a quick cheat sheet you can reference. 

For interval and threshold running, just make sure you know ahead of time which pace zones you’re targeting so you can set the treadmill accordingly. Also, don’t feel beholden to the numbers. “You definitely can run by feel and just adjust the paces up and down accordingly,” Gartlaz says.

Meet the marathon guru behind three of North America's top runners

It’s been an exciting start to the year for Brigham Young University (BYU) cross-country and track head coach Ed Eyestone. In February, three athletes who once ran for Eyestone at BYU qualified for the Paris Olympics in the men’s marathon, including Canada’s Rory Linkletter, who hit the Olympic standard at last weekend’s Sevilla Marathon, running a two-minute-plus personal best of 2:08:01.

Eyestone, who coached Linkletter for five years at BYU before Linkletter turned pro (he is now coached by former U.S. marathoner Ryan Hall), knew he was ready for a breakout performance after watching Linkletter execute a top-20 finish in the marathon at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest. “I was super excited for him, and told him he was next, after the U.S. marathon trials,” says Eyestone. “To see him execute on race day, and run a fast time, I was proud of him.”

“It turns out that the group of 10K runners we had in 2018 was special,” laughs Eyestone. Linkletter ran for BYU in Provo, Utah, from 2015 to 2019, and just happened to be a part of a special group of young runners who would turn out to be three of North America’s top marathoners. U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials champion Conner Mantz and second-place finisher Clayton Young also ran at BYU during this time; they helped lead the Cougars XC team to three top-three finishes and an NCAA championship title in 2019.

“Looking back on that 2018 team, we were second and now have three men who’ve run faster than 2:08:10… if only the NCAA’s was 26.2 miles,” Eyestone laughs.

“Every high school athlete we recruit has aspirations of running professionally or being an Olympian one day,” he says. “I know with Mantz, he was heavily recruited out of high school, and he wanted to go to a school that would one day prepare him for the marathon.”

Eyestone’s coaching philosophy for developing long-distance athletes is not rocket science. He believes in long-term progression, so his athletes aren’t maxing out in college, and are leaving the window open for higher mileage post-collegiately. “I’ll have my 5,000m and 10,000m guys run around 80 miles a week, with a long run of 90 minutes,” he says. Eyestone has continued to coach Mantz and Young at the professional level, and still swears by not having them do much over two-hour long runs. “We have a great program at BYU, and it’s not unusual for Mantz and Young to hop in and work out with the college kids.”

BYU is an altitude school, standing at 1,400 metres above sea level, and has a large recruiting pool and an extensive following, with its affiliation with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

When Eyestone arrived as a coach at BYU in 2000, his goal was to build a culture to become a powerhouse program in the NCAA. “We wanted to recruit guys who wanted to challenge for an NCAA XC podium spot every year,” he says. “It all starts at the beginning of the year, with the team’s veterans setting the tone and getting younger athletes and recruits to buy in.”

Despite Linkletter choosing to part ways with Eyestone as his coach in 2019, the two remain close friends and share a level of respect for one another. “Rory is an incredible leader; he was our team captain,” says Eyestone. “He would always hold the team accountable for showing up on time and developing a healthy routine […] I remember he called it Ferrari fuel.”

Eyestone’s favourite thing about being a coach is being able to see the ripple effect of a good performance or win on an athlete’s family and personal life. “My son-in-law told me on Sunday after Rory’s race that four percent of the athletes in the men’s marathon in Paris will be former BYU runners,” Eyestone revealed. “I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

NFL star Jason Kelce tackles 5K race for autism

Philadelphia Eagles centre Jason Kelce, toed the start line of the Mike’s Seafood 5K Run for Autism in Sea Isle City, N.J., on Feb. 17, and despite contemplating retirement from the NFL, he doesn’t plan on becoming a runner anytime soon.

Kelce, 36, completed the 5K in just over 41 minutes, finishing 511th out of 570 finishers. He took to X after the race and tweeted, “Ran 5K’ is a generous verb for what occurred. But we had a blast.”

The 13-year NFL centre ran the race with his wife, Kylie McDevitt, who finished a little ahead of him. The race also posted a picture of Kelce showing up for a good cause. “JASON KELCE WE LOVE YOU!” they wrote on Facebook on Feb. 18. “Thanks for coming & supporting!”

The Kelces have a long history of philanthropy, particularly in raising awareness for autism. He and his wife have worked closely with the Eagles Autism Foundation since Jason joined the NFL in 2011. The organization centres itself on “research, advocacy, empathy and unity” to raise awareness and funds for those in the autism community.

We don’t expect to see Kelce in Paris at the Olympics this summer, but it’s impressive for an offensive lineman to complete the distance. If he decides to eventually move up in distance or run another 5K, we’d recommend he look into getting fitted for a pair of the many high-cushioned trainers on the market, instead of running in a pair of old Nike Air Monarchs from 20 years ago.

Kelce has spent most of the NFL off-season celebrating his brother, Travis‘s second consecutive Super Bowl win with the Kansas City Chiefs, and his third win in the last five years. Jason ended the NFL season uncertain whether he will return to football next year or hang up his cleats. The TCS New York Marathon left a door open for him if he plans on pursuing running upon retirement, commenting “Want to run another race?” on Instagram.

Three ways to run a tune-up race

There’s a fine balance between challenging your legs and ensuring ample recovery time when you’re building up to a big race. Some runners schedule a tune-up race into their training plan—a race that is included as part of their training. If you decide to include a practice race in the lead-up to your main event, there are a few ways you can consider running it.

Elisabeth Scott, a Connecticut-based running coach and host of the Running Explained podcast, shares how runners should approach a tune-up session—a race that does not require a full taper or recovery time afterward.

What is a tune-up race?

“Tune-up races are almost always a shorter distance than your goal race distance; this means a half marathon is a tune-up for a marathon, a 10K is a tune-up for a half marathon, etc.,” Scott explains. A tune-up race should be slotted in ideally between four and eight weeks before your goal race, though this may be adjusted depending on your goal.

“A tune-up race will help you practise your race-day routine, strategy, fuelling, hydration and other skills you’ll need for your goal race,” Scott says. She explains that a tune-up race can be done in a few ways—as an all-out effort for that specific race distance, at a target goal-pace effort for your goal race, or something else as designated by your goals, your training plan or your coach.

“Don’t get discouraged if your tune-up race isn’t as fast as you think it should be; you’re racing on tired legs in the middle of your training cycle,” says Scott. “While a tune-up race can help benchmark your current fitness, it’s OK if you don’t PR or hit your exact goal paces; you are not losing fitness, you’re just fatigued.” Here’s how to figure out what you should aim for in that race-before-the-race.

1.- An easy effort

If you’re new (or returning) to racing and want to shake off some of those pre-race jitters, a tune-up event can be ideal. Scott also suggests this option for runners who need to work on performance anxiety or are looking to participate in a particular event (for example, your co-workers have all signed up for a 5K fundraiser) without it taking a huge toll on their legs. “Great for getting the race-day experience without the fatigue” she says.

If you’re a runner with an intensely competitive spirit and a strong temptation to go hard, this option might be one to skip.

2.- A workout with a goal pace

Want to finesse your ability to run at your goal pace, or make sure your fuelling plan allows you to stay strong until you hit that finish line? This one is for you—running a shorter distance than your goal race as a practice event at goal pace.

Scott says this option is “great for runners who can handle long-run workouts with significant chunks of goal-race pace (for example, executing a marathon-pace workout in a half-marathon) and want to practise their pacing skills, gear and fuelling strategies.”

3.- As a race

If you’re feeling the need to go all-out and see where you stand, you can plan a harder effort before your goal race—just make sure to schedule it well before you plan to taper, and make sure the distance is short enough that it won’t make you overly fatigued.

Scott says this choice is perfect for runners “looking to practise the skill of racing (pushing yourself to the edge of your ability for a specific distance) and for benchmarking your current fitness to help with goal-setting for your A race.”

Kelvin Kiptum: Thousands mourn marathon world record holder at funeral in Kenya

On Friday in Chepkorio, Kenya, thousands gathered for the funeral of marathon world record holder Kelvin Kiptum, who died at the age of 24 in a car accident on Feb. 11 with his coach, Gervais Hakizimana.

Kiptum will be remembered as one of the biggest rising stars in the sport for his record-breaking two-hour and 35-second run to break the world record at the 2023 Chicago Marathon.

Kiptum’s widow, Asenath Rotich, led the mourners at the funeral for the Kenyan marathon star. According to BBC Africa, she broke down when revealing that the couple had been planning a big wedding celebration in April. He had stunned the world in his short marathon career, and figures from sports and politics came to pay tribute to a man whose life had promised so much.

Kenyan president William Ruto was in attendance, as well as World Athletics president Sebastian Coe, who believed Kiptum would have become the first person to run a competitive marathon in under two hours. “It is a frustration to all of us that we won’t witness what I truly know he was capable of,” Coe told BBC Africa. “For sure he would have broken it. It would have been (Roger) Bannister and Edmund Hillary, both of them, wrapped into one.”

Kiptum was looking to better his world record time at the 2024 Rotterdam Marathon in April.

Also in attendance were notable Kenyan athletes Faith Kipyegon, former world record holder Paul Tergat, and 2022 London Marathon champion Amos Kipruto, who was one of Kiptum’s pallbearers at the service. Eliud Kipchoge did not attend as he continues to prepare for the Tokyo Marathon on March 3.

“Since he arrived… he has rewritten history,” said Tergat. “He has a legacy that we’ve never seen in this world. We are here to celebrate what he has achieved in a very short time.”

Before Kiptum became one of the world’s biggest marathon stars, he had worked as a livestock herder and trained as an electrician in Chepkorio. The government in Elgeyo-Marakwet County plans to honor the late marathoner by building an athletics stadium in his name.

Global champions Holloway, Moon and Lyles feature on USA's team for WIC Glasgow 24

The United States has named a team of 57 athletes for the World Athletics Indoor Championships Glasgow 24 on March 1-3.

World and Olympic champions Ryan Crouser and Katie Moon head the men’s and women’s entries respectively. They will be joined by world champions Noah Lyles, Grant Holloway and Chase Jackson (nee Ealey).

Sandi Morris will defend her world indoor pole vault title, while world leaders Tara Davis-Woodhall, Yared Nuguse and Shelby McEwen also feature on the team.

US team for Glasgow

Women

60m: Celera Barnes, Mikiah Brisco, Aleia Hobbs

400m: Talitha Diggs, Alexis Holmes

800m: Addison Wiley, Allie Wilson

1500: Nikki Hiltz, Emily Mackay

3000m: Josette Andrews, Elle St Pierre

60m hurdles: Christina Clemons, Masai Russell

High jump: Vashti Cunningham

Pole vault: Katie Moon, Sandi Morris

Long jump: Tara Davis-Woodhall, Monae' Nichols

Triple jump: Jasmine Moore, Keturah Orji

Shot put: Maggie Ewen, Chase Jackson

Pentathlon: Chari Hawkins

4x400m: Quanera Hayes, Bailey Lear, Na'Asha Robinson, Maya Singletary, Jessica Wright

Men

60m: Christian Coleman, Noah Lyles

400m: Brian Faust, Jacory Patterson

800m: Isaiah Harris, Bryce Hoppel

1500m: Cole Hocker, Hobbs Kessler

300m: Olin Hacker, Yared Nuguse

60m hurdles: Trey Cunningham, Grant Holloway, Cameron Murray

High jump: Shelby McEwen, Vernon Turner

Pole vault: Sam Kendricks, Chris Nilsen

Long jump: Jarrion Lawson, Will Williams

Triple jump: Chris Benard, Donald Scott

Shot put: Ryan Crouser, Roger Steen

Heptathlon: Harrison Williams

4x400m: Chris Bailey, Trevor Bassitt, Matthew Boling, Paul Dedewo, Wil London

Ednah Kiplagat confirms next race as she chases more history

Forty-four-year-old Edna Kiplagat has opened up on where she will compete next, giving the impression that she is not hanging her spikes anytime soon.

More than 25,000 runners have confirmed participation at the New York City Half Marathon scheduled for Sunday, March 17 from Brooklyn to Manhattan, finishing in Central Park.

One of the headliners in the women’s field is 44-year-old Kenyan runner Edna Kiplagat who will be using the race as part of her preparations for the Boston Marathon.

Kiplagat is one of the most successful long-distance runners and from her records, she is a two-time Boston Marathon champion and former London and New York City Marathon champion.

Kiplagat will be up against compatriots Gladys Chepkurui, the reigning Tokyo Half Marathon champion, and Cynthia Limo, a World Athletics Championships half-marathon medalist. The duo has the two fastest times in the women's open division.

Two-time US Olympian and 2018 Boston Marathon champion Desiree Linden will return as the top American finisher from last year's race, having recently finished 11th at the US Olympic Marathon Trials.

Olympic and World Championships medalist Emily Simpson will make her United Airlines NYC Half debut but she is no stranger to NYRR races as an eight-time winner of the New Balance 5th Avenue Mile.

Lindsay Flanagan and Annie Frisbie, both of whom finished in the top 10 at the 2024 US Olympic Marathon Trials, will also be ones to watch.

Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele, a four-time Olympic medalist, 16-time world champion, and the third-fastest marathoner in history, will challenge the Kenyan charge in the men’s race. He will be competing in the streets of New York for the second time after finishing sixth at the 2021 TCS New York City Marathon.

The Kenyan charge will be led by, Abel Kipchumba, the reigning champion of the B.A.A. Boston Half Marathon who owns one of the top 10 half-marathon times in history.

Morocco's Zouhair Talbi will return to the event after taking third in his United Airlines NYC Half debut last year, which he called "the race of his life."

Since then, he finished fifth at the Boston Marathon and broke the Houston Marathon course record in January.

Tanzanian Olympian and marathon record-holder Gabriel Geay, who was the runner-up at last year's Boston Marathon, will race the United Airlines NYC Half for the first time.

An American contender to watch will be Hillary Bor, a two-time U.S. Olympian and five-time national champion who will be making his half-marathon debut.

Kwemoi targets elusive Napoli Half Marathon title this weekend

Beijing Half Marathon champion Brian Kwemoi leads Kenyans in their quest for the Napoli Half Marathon title this Sunday.

The last time a Kenyan triumphed in Naples was in 2022 when Chepkirui Gladys clocked 1:08:09 to win the women's title.

Belet Kiplangat placed second (59:26) behind Italy's Crippa Yemaneberhan who clinched the title in 59:26.

In last year's edition, Edris Muktra (1:00:27) of Ethiopia and Mach Angelika (1:12:34) of Poland won the men's and women's titles.

Kwemoi, who secured the Beijing Half Marathon title in April 2023 with a course-record time of 59:37, will be joined by Vila de Santa Pola, Spain, half marathon champion Bernard Biwott.

Biwott also placed third in the Cardiff Half Marathon in October 2023, clocking 1:00:51.

Also in the mix is Moses Koech, the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympics silver medalist in the 3,000m. He was also a 5,000m  silver medalist at the 2015 Barcelona Regional Championships in 13:15.56.

Koech placed second in the Loop Den Haag Half Marathon in the Netherlands in March 2023, with a time of 1:00:55. The trio will face stiff competition from Ethiopia's Mosinet Geremew who was the 2022 world marathon silver medallist.

Geremew is a silver medalist in the 2019 London Marathon, finishing behind two-time Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge in 2:02:55.

On the women's side, 2021 Amsterdam Marathon champion Angela Tanui will lead the charge.

Tanui clocked 2:17:57 to win the title in the Netherlands. She will be joined by Nancy Jepleting, the Porto (Portugal) half marathon silver medalist.

The duo will face tough competition from Ethiopia's Anchinalu Dessie, a bronze medallist in the 2023 Milano Half Marathon, and Italy's Sofiia Yaremchuk, the 2021 Venezia Marathon champion.

Susan Chembai is aiming for victory and a course record at the NN CPC Loop Den Haag

Susan Chembai is aiming for victory and a course record during the 48th NN CPC Run, current national half marathon champion, is also at the start. It was previously announced that Abdi Nageeye will launch an attack on his own Dutch record half marathon .

Susan ChembaiSusan Chembai is the big favorite among the women during the 48th NN CPC Run on Sunday, March 10. The 24-year-old Kenyan wants to give her performance at the NN Half Marathon extra shine with a course record. The fastest time ever run by an athlete in the royal city has been in the name of Lornah Kiplagat since 2000. The Dutch triumphed at the time in 1.06.56.

Chembai is a promising athlete who makes great progress every year. She improved her personal best in the half marathon from 1.13.22 (2021, Verona) via 1.11.34 (2022, Lisbon) to 1.09.26 (2023, Copenhagen). She wants to surpass herself again on the attractive and fast course of the NN CPC Run The Hague. Last year she also stood out with a PR of 52.48 during the CZ Tilburg Ten Miles.

Katharina SteinruckAnother eye-catching appearance in the field of participants is Katharina Steinruck. The 34-year-old athlete won gold with the German women's marathon team during the 2022 European Athletics Championships in Munich. In the same year she set her PR in the half marathon in Berlin: 1.09.38. Steinruck is the daughter of Katrin Dörre, an athlete with an impressive list of honors. Dörre ran more than forty marathons and finished first in Osaka (4x), London (3x), Tokyo (3x), Frankfurt (3x), Berlin, Hamburg and Enschede. The (East) German won the bronze medal at the Seoul Olympics (1988) and at the Tokyo World Championships (1991).Katharina Steinruck is getting closer to her mother's personal top times. In the half marathon: 1.09.38 versus 1.09.15. In the marathon: 2:24:56 versus 2:24:35. Katrin Dörre, now 62 and national coach, ran her last marathon in 1999. Striking detail: mother and daughter both won the Enschede marathon during their careers.

Anne LuijtenAnne Luijten (29) is a Dutch star who has already met the marathon limit for the Paris Olympic Games with 2.26.36. That part is on the program in the French capital on Sunday, August 11 at eight o'clock in the morning. Luijten, born in Rijswijk, is the reigning Dutch champion in the half and full marathon. Last year she set a personal record of 1.12.12 at the CPC Loop The Hague. The women's race was then won impressively by Nienke Brinkman (1.07.44).

MenWilbert Lek, organizer of the CPC Run The Hague: "Once again we can speak of an interesting field of participants among women. We count on just as exciting a race as last year, when Nienke Brinkman won with a strong personal record. Following in the footsteps of the top athletes, many recreational participants will again pursue their personal goals, because the 'CPC' is the inspiring running event for everyone. We will soon provide more information about the men.”

Running partyThe CPC Run is the largest running party in the residence and attracts more than 30,000 participants every year in an unprecedentedly atmospheric atmosphere. In addition to being a top sporting event, it is a fun and sporty 'outing' for the whole family. With distances up to and including the half marathon, the event is known as a spring classic. The event is almost completely sold out, there are only starting tickets available for the 10 KM Run.

All distances start and finish at the Malieveld. The courses run through the crowd-filled streets of The Hague. The main part, the Half Marathon, goes from the city to the iconic Pier in Scheveningen and then finishes back in the city.

London Marathon to award equal prize money to wheelchair and able-bodied racers

Wheelchair racers at this year’s TCS London Marathon will compete for the same prize money as able-bodied athletes.

In a significant step for disability sports, the annual event will become the first marathon in the world to offer all entrants parity, meaning the winners of each of the elite races will receive $55,000 (£43,410), with the runner-up taking $30,000 (£23,678) and third-place $22,500 (£17,758).

The move comes after organisers increased the prize pot for wheelchair participants by $54,500 (£43,018) to $308,000 (£243,111), the same as that on offer to non-disabled athletes.

Event director Hugh Brasher said: “We are proud of our history in championing participants with disabilities, from introducing our first wheelchair race in 1983 to hosting the IPC World Championships on multiple occasions and providing a pathway from the Mini London Marathon to the London Marathon and beyond for Paralympic legends such as David Weir.

“We are delighted to continue our commitment to disability sport with this landmark move that ensures the prize money available to our elite wheelchair athletes is exactly the same as for those in the non-disabled elite races.

“We have made great strides in recent years towards our ambition to make the TCS London Marathon the most diverse and equitable marathon in the world and this is another important step towards achieving that goal.”

Eight-time winner Weir will take part in his 25th consecutive London Marathon, where he will go head-to-head with Switzerland’s world number one Marcel Hug.

Weir said: “It’s a very exciting year for me and for wheelchair racing. Again London Marathon has set the bar for parity across the racing divisions.

“This is a huge benchmark for disability sport and I hope other races and sporting bodies can take note.”

Reigning women’s wheelchair champion Madison de Rozario also welcomed the decision and its wider implications for para sport and society in general.

Australia’s De Rozario said: “We often say that sport is a mirror to society, but it can also be the starting point for much larger change, and that’s what the TCS London Marathon is doing here.

“This decision doesn’t just affect the athletes lining up in London in April, it has an overflow effect to not just how every other event values athletes with a disability, but how we view the 15 per cent of the global population living with disability.

“Sport has an enormous responsibility to community and the TCS London Marathon is at the forefront of doing that justice. It is setting an entirely new standard and I can’t wait to see what that means for para sport going forward.

“Knowing that a generation of wheelchair racers are going to get to come into a sport and never question their value or their place is beautiful.”

Garcia on Spanish team to defend world indoor title in Glasgow

Mariano Garcia forms part of the Spanish team for the World Athletics Indoor Championships Glasgow 24 and will defend his 800m title at the event that takes place from March 1-3.

The 26-year-old claimed his first global title in Belgrade two years ago and went on to win European 800m gold that year in Munich.

In Glasgow, Garcia will be joined in the men’s 800m by teammate Mohamed Attaoui.

Maria Vicente heads to Glasgow in the form of her life, having scored a world-leading national record of 4728 points in the pentathlon in Aubiere in January.

National mile record-holder Marta Perez and national champion Esther Guerrero are both entered for the women’s 1500m.

After winning three medals at the European Indoor Championships between 2017 and 2023 and finishing fifth at the 2018 World Indoor Championships in the 3000m, Adel Mechaal will contest the 1500m in Glasgow. He will be joined in that event by two-time world finalist Mario Garcia.

Asier Martinez will look to build on his fourth-place finish in Belgrade in the 60m hurdles.

The full team will be confirmed once world rankings places have been finalised.

Spanish team for Glasgow

Women

60m: Jael Bestue

1500m: Esther Guerrero, Marta Perez

60m hurdles: Xenia Benach

Pentathlon: Maria Vicente

Men

800m: Mohamed Attaoui, Mariano Garcia

1500m: Mario Garcia, Adel Mechaal

60m hurdles: Enrique Llopis, Asier Martinez

RAS AL KHAIMAH HALF MARATHON IS ON SATURDAY AND IT SHOUlD BE A FAST ONE

New regime, new course, but with Olympic and world champions and the usual array of speedsters, Saturday’s Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon is virtually assured of the sort of fast times that have been a feature of the event throughout its 17 year history, including three women’s world records.

Pride of place both on the start list and at this morning’s press conference in one of the smaller emirates in the UAE were Olympic marathon and three time world half-marathon champion, Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya, and keeping the balance in the long-term East African distance running rivalry, world marathon champion Tamirat Tola of Ethiopia heads the men’s entry. The wild card, hoping to gatecrash the party is Konstanze Klosterhalfen of Germany, who surprised the East Africans when she beat a dozen of them to win her debut half-marathon in Valencia in 2022.

Jepchirchir may neither be the fastest marathoner or half-marathoner among current women long distance runners, but she knows how to win races, an asset far more valuable than fast times. In the seven months between late August 2021 and mid-April 2022, she won the Olympic, New York and Boston Marathons, a rare collective achievement. In her comeback marathon following an injury, she finished third in last year’s London Marathon. And she has won 12 of her 16 half-marathons. She is loath to admit her plans yet, but this RAK ‘half’ is perfectly scheduled as a springboard, to going back to London in April, to upgrade that third place.

Tola was similarly annoyed that an injury preventing him successfully defending his 2022 world marathon title in Budapest last summer, but a speedy recovery saw him break the long-standing New York Marathon record with 2.04.58 three months later. He is one of the few elites to be making his debut in the RAK ‘half’ and the scale of his task may be judged by the fact that on paper there are 15 men faster than his best of 59.37 set seven years ago in Prague. But he suggested that is due for drastic revision. ‘I’d like to think I can do under 59 minutes if the race turns out to be fast,’ he said at the press conference. Fastest man in the field is Daniel Mateiko of Kenya with 58.26, but his colleague Benard(sic) Kibet has the advantage of having won last year in 58.45.

Klosterhalfen, ‘Koko’ to her pals may prove to be not only the wild card, but the joker in the pack in the women’s race. A world bronze medallist on the track and European 5000 metres champion, the German called a halt to her summer season last year when a foot injury caused her to reassess her career. She had changed her shoe sponsor, left her coach and long-term training venue in the USA already. She then switched again and has teamed up with Gary Lough, latter-day coach to Mo Farah and spouse of former world record holder Paula Radcliffe (here in RAK as a TV commentator). Klosterhalfen has also switched her altitude training venue to Addis Ababa, where she has just spent six weeks, coming directly to here. ‘Road running is still a bit of an adventure for me’, she said this morning. ‘I still want to run on the track, but I want to more road races’.

The roll-call of winners since the race began in 2007 is a ‘Who’s Who’ of distance running over the last two decades; beginning with Sammy Wanjiru and Berhane Adere in the inaugural race, via luminaries such as Patrick Makau, Geoffrey Mutai, Elvan Abeylegesse, Mary Keitany, Geoffrey Kamworor, Lelisa Desisa, Samson Kandie and Hellen Obiri. Add to that Jepchirchir herself who won in 2017 in a then world record of 65min 06sec.

The promoters of the successful marathon down the road in Dubai have been invited this year to give the RAK ‘half’ a makeover, and they began by introducing a 10k race for locals and altering the half-marathon course. ‘It’s faster and better than any route before here in Ras Al Khaimah; we’ve cut out some of the sharp turns,’ said race director Peter Connerton, ‘so we’re hoping for at least similar times and hopefully better. But with a couple of good races into the bargain’.

ELITE CONTENDERS

MEN

Daniel MateikoKEN58:26

Kennedy KimutaiKEN58:28

Seifu TuraETH58:36

Amdework Walelegn ETH 58:40

Benard Kibet KoechKEN58:45

Alex Korio KEN 58:51

Birhanu Legese ETH 58:59

Haftu Teklu ETH 59:06

Tamirat TolaETH59:37

WOMEN

Ababel YeshanehETH64:31

Margaret KipkemboiKEN64:46

Peres JepchirchirKEN65:06

Catherine Amanang’ole KEN 65:39

Konstanze KlosterhalfenGER65:41

Tsigie Gebreselama ETH65:46

Evaline ChirchirKEN66:01

Vivian Kiplagat KEN 66:07

Yalemget YaregalETH66:27

Five ways to overcome any excuse not to run

We all have days, weeks or even months of low motivation, when even setting out running gear the night before isn’t enough to get us out the door. Cue these strategies to overcome any excuse and make running a simple, fun activity instead of something you are dreading. Check out these six game-changing methods that will help you kick excuses to the curb and embrace the runner’s high.

Incentivize yourself while you run

Plan to reward yourself with something you’re eagerly anticipating while you’re running (instead of afterward). A mega-study with 60,000 participants found that simple incentives, like a free audiobook, helped make hitting the gym a highlight of participants’ days. The idea is based on giving participants something to look forward to while exercising, and could be shifted to watching a favourite show on the treadmill, or listening to a new album you’ve been holding off checking out.

1.- Make running a non-negotiable

The number one excuse that researchers hear from people who fail to fit in exercise is lack of time. Don’t squeeze in exercise; give it a VIP spot in your life. Brad Stulberg, performance coach and author of The Practice of Groundedness, suggests treating exercise like an essential part of your job. It really shouldn’t be optional—and the benefits will pay off in all aspects of your life as it boosts focus, helps you stay calm and improves energy.

2.- Stop thinking about it as exercise

If just thinking about fitting in your daily workout makes you yawn, try making your run a play date instead. In an article in The New York Times, psychologist Crystal Steltenpohl, an expert in exercise motivation, recommended turning exercise into something that feels more like hanging out with friends than a workout. Plan to catch up with a good pal as you log a few miles, or turn your regular run into a scenic tour of some local landmarks—just make it something you can look forward to, rather than a chore you’re dreading.

3.- Embrace flexibility

Feel like you need to have a rigid schedule for running? Incorporating some flexibility will help you hit your targets. A study by behavioural change scientist Katy Milkman found that maintaining flexibility in meeting your exercise goals increases your chance of success. Give yourself the freedom to choose when to lace up, and watch your commitment soar. Whether you’re a morning runner or prefer to hit the treadmill at midnight, find the rhythm that works for you, and don’t be afraid to switch it up when life throws a scheduling curveball at you. The key is flexibility, not rigidity.

4.- Set the stage for success

Where you exercise matters, and whenever possible you should tweak your environment to be as welcoming as possible. Steltenpohl suggests finding or creating an inviting space for physical activity. Choose a treadmill at a gym where you feel comfortable, a park where you feel close to nature, or just a cosy corner at home. Preparation matters (putting those clothes out the night before truly does help) so select your outfit, prep your playlist and set the ambiance.

5.- Anticipate the afterglow

Feel stressed or tired? That’s the perfect time to lace up those sneakers. As Stulberg says: “You don’t need to feel good to get going; you need to get going to feel good.” Exercise is a mood-booster. Embrace the anticipation of post-exercise euphoria, and running becomes a delightful journey instead of a daunting task.

Kenyan-born American runner seeking redemption at Tokyo Marathon after US Olympic trials heartbreak

Kenyan-born American runner Betsy Saina is seeking a comeback at the Tokyo Marathon after missing out on the US Olympic marathon trials.

Kenyan-born American runner Betsy Saina will seek redemption at the Tokyo Marathon after a heartbreaking run at the US Olympic Marathon trials.

Saina exuded confidence ahead of the Olympic trials in Orlando but unfortunately failed to finish the race after the hype surrounding her. She now heads to the Tokyo Marathon on Sunday, March 3 where she hopes to bounce back to winning ways.

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Two days ahead of the marathon trials, Saina had opened up on how her son motivates her to do better and she was optimistic of representing the US at the Olympic Games.

In a post on her Instagram, she said: “My little man has taught me to be resilient and brave. Everything I do he is the priority before anything else comes.

On Saturday I will be running for him, He has changed my life in many ways, I am the happiest woman in the world.”

She has now put the setback behind her and is looking forward to bouncing back at the Tokyo Marathon where she will be up against some of the greatest marathoners.

Defending champion Rosemary Wanjiru will be returning with the hope of bagging another title. During last year’s edition of the race, Wanjiru destroyed a strong field to claim the top prize, cutting the tape in 2:16:28. She enjoyed her 2023 season and will be looking to continue the hot streak to 2024.

Wanjiru also represented Kenya at the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary where she finished sixth in the marathon.

2023 London Marathon champion Sifan Hassan will also be in the mix, hoping to notch up her third marathon victory since her debut in London last year. The Dutch woman has proven what she can do both on the track and the full marathon.

Hassan made her full marathon debut at the London Marathon and won most dramatically. She clocked 2:18:33 to beat marathon experts including Peres Jepchirchir, the reigning Olympic marathon champion.

She extended her winning streak to the Chicago Marathon where she stunned defending champion Ruth Chepng’etich to second place.

Hassan will be eyeing the Olympic Games and the Toyo Marathon is a better place for her to build up for the event.

Kenyan-born Israeli Lonah Salpeter has also been invited and she will be out to challenge the double Olympic champion and Wanjiru for the top prize. The Ethiopian charge will be led by Sutume Kebede and Tigist Abayechew who will be out to reclaim the title they lost to Kenya last year.

Magdalena Shauri of Tanzania will also be hoping to continue soaring high after her dominant exploits in Berlin last year where she finished third.

Swoboda's sights set on medal glory in Glasgow

Sprinter Ewa Swoboda is bang on target for her first global senior medal at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Glasgow 24 next month. And the Pole, No.2 in the world this year over 60m, is sure to be well supported at the Scottish venue on March 1-3.

Not only is it the same arena in which she won European Indoor Championships 60m gold in 2019, but she also has strong family ties nearby.

“It’s a big event for me,” she says. “I want to win a medal and a PB.

“I like Glasgow. It’s also close to where my brother lives in Edinburgh.”

Swoboda opened her year in searing style, winning at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Bronze event in Lodz and then at World Indoor Tour Gold events in Ostrava and Torun. At the latter, she clocked a then world lead of 7.01, her best time for two years. Only Julien Alfred, with the 6.99 she ran in New York, has gone faster so far this year. That 6.99 matches Swoboda's PB, set in Torun in 2022.

Speed has always been a feature in the life of the Zory-born runner, who also takes an interest in fast cars. Recalling her school days, Swoboda says: “I (was) faster than the boys too and my teacher looked at me and she told my parents, ‘She must go to training.’ And here I am, since 2009.”

Her first major competition saw her finish fourth in the 2013 World U20 Championships in Donetsk, Ukraine, aged 16. She then placed fifth at the same event in 2014 in Eugene, USA, and became European U20 champion in Eskilstuna, Sweden, in 2015.

Then, at the 2016 Bydgoszcz World U20 Championships, she thrilled the home crowd by winning 100m silver. She went on to represent her country at the Rio Olympic Games, where she reached the semifinals.    

Now, 26, she is asserting herself on the world stage. She was fourth at the 2022 World Indoor Championships in Belgrade and last year she reached her first World Athletics Championships final, placing sixth over 100m.

It followed an unfortunate career blip, which meant she missed the opportunity to defend her 60m title at the 2021 Torun European Indoor Championships in her home country due to Covid-19 and then the Tokyo Olympics through injury.

Now, as well as enjoying her current success on the track, Swoboda embraces being an extrovert figure in the sport. Her heavily tattooed body, painted nails and playful personality have won her a legion of fans at home and overseas.  

“I am not playing any role,” she says “I am just Ewa. I am open, I don’t have a problem smiling! It’s important. I like what I do, and I am happy.” 

She also welcomes being part of the current era of the women’s 100m and its colourful crop of champions, particularly world champion Sha’Carri Richardson.

“I love to run with Sha’Carri,” smiles Swoboda. “Sha’Carri is a gorgeous girl, and her energy is welcome and it’s nice to be a part of this little family.” 

This year promises to be a huge one for Swoboda, with the World Indoor Championships, European Athletics Championships and the Olympic Games all in her plans: “First Glasgow, then Rome and Paris!”

As for whether, there will be more body art this year, she says: “Not now. Maybe when I win something? Maybe after (the) indoors, some more tattoos. 

“I like this, it’s my hobby,” she adds, putting precious metal above tattoos as her favoured decoration for now.

How change of shoes helped youngster Letsile Tebogo smash world record

Letsile Tebogo ran faster than Michael Johnson and Usain Bolt to set a new world 300m record but that would perhaps not have happened had he not changed his running shoes.

Botswana sprint sensation Letsile Tebogo is currently basking in the glory of his new world record after lowering the 300m mark last weekend.

Tebogo smashed the world 300m record following an incredible run at the Simbine Curro Classic in South Africa, running 30.71, to beat South African Wayde van Niekerk's mark of 30.81 set in Ostrava, Czech Republic in 2017.

In what was a world lead and his personal best over the distance, the 20-year-old obliterated the field to take a giant lead, leaving a big gape between him and the chasing pack as he sprinted to the finish line.

It has now emerged that things would have perhaps been different had he not opted for a change of shoes, having decided to ditch his trainers for spikes ahead of the race.

Since sustaining an injury that locked him out of the Zurich Diamond League 200m finals, Tebogo has not used spikes and wore trainers in his season-opening race in January, but his coach Dose Mosimanyane advised him to use spikes in last Saturday’s race in Pretoria only to yield a world record.

“The world record was not in the plan. But I am not surprised. With his training partner, Bayapo Ndori and other athletes in the mix, I knew he would do something but this is not what we came here for,” Mosimanyane said.

The world 100m silver medallist did not just break the seven-year world record but his time was faster than that of American great Michael Johnson, who clocked 30.85 at the same venue in 2000, and Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt, who timed 30.97 in 2010.

The world 200m bronze medallist had an impressive 2023 season when he became the first African to win a medal at the World Championships in 100m and also the first from his country to achieve such a feat.

He is hoping to go one better this during the Paris 2024 Games in France where he is seeking to make history by winning his country’s first ever Olympics gold.

Dina Asher-Smith, Katarina Johnson-Thompson opt out of World Indoor Championships to focus on Olympics

Dina Asher-Smith and Katarina Johnson-Thompson are among a group of Team GB athletes who have opted out of competing in the World Indoor Championships to focus on their preparations for the Olympics.

Other athletes who have chosen not to compete include Zharnel Hughes and Keely Hodgkinson as they focus on the summer.

That leaves Josh Kerr and Laura Muir to top the bill in Great Britain's squad for the World Indoor Championships.

World 1500m champion Kerr will race in the 3000m in Glasgow next month as he kicks off his own preparations for the Olympics in Paris this summer.

Fellow Scot Muir, who won 1500m silver at the Tokyo Games, will also run in the 3000m at the championships which run from March 1-3.

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Molly Caudery (pole vault), Morgan Lake (high jump) and Jemma Reekie (800m) are also included in the squad.

Paula Dunn, Olympic head coach, said: "We are pleased to be announcing such a strong team and I am looking forward to seeing how the team perform on the world stage.

"We had a thrilling National Championships where athletes secured their places for the team in Scotland and it was fantastic to see a number of athletes stepping up when it counted.

"This is a really exciting squad that includes global medallists as well as athletes who will be hoping to make an impact on the world stage for the first time.

"Once World Athletics have finalised the final road to Glasgow rankings later this week, those athletes who have the required ranking and have met the UKA requirements outlined in the selection policy will be announced and we look forward to confirming our home championship team for next month."

Koech eyes course record in Haspa Marathon title defence

Haspa Marathon Hamburg champion Benard Koech believes he has what it takes to defend his title during the 38th edition of the event on April 28.

Koech, 36, said he is also keen on lowering the 2:04:09 course record he set last year. It is also his personal best time while he has a best time of 59:10 over 21km.

Around 26,000 runners will parade on the streets of Hamburg, featuring both fun runners and elite athletes.

Koech said: “I am looking forward to another impressive performance in the city of Hamburg. I have prepared adequately for the race and I’m confident I have what it takes to set a new course record.”

“Last year’s victory was a huge boost to my career, especially coming at a time I was smarting from grave personal challenges and a lengthy layoff owing to the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic,” he added.

Koech, who flew the country’s flag at the 2013 World Championships, must, however, prepare to fend off a pool of talented challengers including compatriots Samwel Mailu and Martin Musau.

“I’m expecting intense competition as has been the case in the past but I believe I have trained well enough to contain any kind of rivalry,” added Koech.

Koech said he believes has what it takes to shatter his record.

“I prefer racing in the Hamburg Marathon due to its quick course. Hopefully, I can improve my current personal best,” Koech remarked.

Mary Ngugi confirmed for Roma-Ostia Half Marathon

Ngugi, a Boston marathon silver medalist from 2021, headlines the women’s field with a personal best (PB) of 66:29 in the half marathon and 2:20:22 in the marathon.

As part of her preparations for the upcoming Boston Marathon, Mary Ngugi-Cooper will line up for this year’s Roma-Ostia Half Marathon in March.

The race will be held on March 3, 2024 in Italy.

Ngugi, a Boston marathon silver medalist from 2021, headlines the women’s field with a personal best (PB) of 66:29 in the half marathon and 2:20:22 in the marathon.

The 2022 Boston bronze medalist who placed fifth at the New York City marathon last year will compete against her compatriots Caroline Korir and Nelly Jeptoo, the young Ethiopian Wariyo Bekelech Teku (fifth in the recent Ethiopian Cross Country Championships and rising star), and compatriot Anna Dibaba, the younger sister of the well-established Tirunesh and Genzebe.

“I’m really excited to announce that in April I will be running @bostonmarathon. Boston holds a special place in my heart, not only for having two podium finishes in the last few years, but getting married there too! The streets are always amazing, crowds loud and I can’t wait to hit Heartbreak Hill once again with a ridiculously strong field of talented women,” Ngugi said while announcing her return to Boston.A welcome return for the Italian team is Rebecca Lonedo, who is in great shape with a recent PB of 70.13 in Seville.

As for the men’s elite list, Ethiopian Tsegu Berehanu Wendemu headlines the list with eyes firmly set on running under an hour as he holds a PB of 59:42.

Shadrack Koech, eager to compete on the fast Roman course after his 61.12 in Trento last October, and Kimakal Kipsambu, returning to the capital after pacing with a time of 61.37 in 2023 make up the top three list of elites.

Cranberries may boost running performance, Canadian study reveals

Beyond their reputation as a Thanksgiving side dish, cranberries are emerging as potential game-changers for athletes seeking a performance boost. A recent study out of Montreal’s Concordia University delved into the impact of cranberry extract on runners’ time-trial performance and lactate response after exercise, with exciting results. Here’s what you need to know.

Cranberries: a superfood for athletes?

Cranberries, often hailed for their vibrant color and tart flavor, pack a powerful punch when it comes to a health-elevating organic compound called polyphenols, and boast the highest levels among fruits and vegetables. For runners, the magic lies in polyphenols’ ability to combat exercise-induced free radicals.

When you engage in vigorous physical activity, your body produces free radicals—unstable molecules that can wreak havoc on cells and tissues. While the free radicals are natural byproducts of exercise, an excess can lead to oxidative stress, potentially impacting performance and recovery.

Polyphenols are renowned for their antioxidant capacity, which raises the question: can cranberries protect against exercise-induced free radicals and, in turn, enhance performance?

The study

A team of researchers conducted a study involving 14 athletes, aged 18–40 years old, who regularly performed at least five hours of endurance training per week, to investigate the effects of cranberry extract (CE) on time-trial performance and lactate response post-exercise.

The participants underwent testing at baseline, two hours after an acute CE dose, and four weeks after daily supplement consumption. Key performance indicators included a 1,500-meter race and a 400-meter race, with scientists measuring oxygen changes in leg muscles using near-infrared spectroscopy (a method that shines light into the body and observes how different tissues respond based on their oxygen levels).

The study revealed that chronic cranberry supplementation over 28 days led to improved aerobic performance during the 1,500-meter time trial. The benefits were not observed after a single dose, emphasizing the significance of consistent consumption. After 28 days of cranberry supplementation, muscle reoxygenation rates were significantly faster compared to baseline, suggesting that the antioxidant properties of cranberries may contribute to enhanced oxygen utilization, a crucial factor in endurance.

The takeaway

The study’s results suggest that cranberry supplementation may have ergogenic effects, particularly in improving physiological markers of performance during both short- and long-distance running. Whether you’re a seasoned runner or a weekend warrior, the cranberry’s potential benefits might just add a delightful twist to your running journey.

Shericka Jackson shares secret to maintaining great form in the Olympic season

Jamaican track star Shericka Jackson has shared the secret to maintaining her great form as she eyes the Olympic Games in Paris, France.

Two-time world 200m champion Shericka Jackson has shared the secret to her great form as she eyes a grand return to the Olympic Games in Paris, France.

Speaking on a video shared by her sponsor, Puma Running, the Olympic 100m silver medalist noted that consistency is what keeps her grounded.

“Consistency for me has played a great role in my life. For me, it’s more mental and physical and once I’m physically fit and mentally ready I think it plays such a great role to just stay consistent by working hard and staying grounded,” Jackson said.

Meanwhile, the Jamaican will hopefully enjoy her 2024 season just like she did in 2022 and 2023. In 2022, Jackson won her first-ever gold medal in an individual event at the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon. In the 100m, she bagged a silver medal, finishing second behind compatriot Shelly-Anne Fraser-Pryce.

At last year’s World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, she clocked the second-fastest time, behind Flo-Jo’s world record in the 200m to successfully defend her title. She then settled for silver in the 100m, behind American Sha’Carri Richardson.

She proceeded to win a double (100m and 200m) at the Prefontaine Classic, the Diamond League Meeting final held in Eugene, Oregon. Her eyes are now set on the Olympic Games where she intends to have a good run and don the Jamaican colors with pride.

The amount Noah Lyles will pocket for beating Christian Coleman at US Indoor Championships

After his dominant exploits at the US Indoor Championships, Noah Lyles will not only debut at the World Indoor Championships but he will also bag some money from his exploits.

Two-time World 200m champion Noah Lyles will reap a good amount of money from his hard work at the just concluded US Indoor Championships.

Lyles beat world record holder Christian Coleman in the 60m to automatically qualify for the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland and he will be joined by the latter at the global showpiece.

He clocked an impressive world-leading time of 6.43 seconds, a personal best time, for his first win in four career 60m finals against Coleman.

After the race, Lyles said: “World domination. We the best in the world. I’m hyped, I’m beyond excited. It’s one thing to run fast but it’s another thing to run fast against the greatest in the world and that’s truly what happened here today. You know, everyone was excited about this matchup and I was excited about this matchup.”

The triple world champion will not only make his debut at the World Indoor Championships but will also receive a token of appreciation from the USA Track and Field. According to the organisers of the US Indoor Championships, winners of the final races will pocket approximately Ksh 850,000.

The second and third-place finishers will walk away with around Ksh 566,000 and Ksh 353,000 respectively while the athletes who finish fourth will pocket Ksh 212,000.

The athletes who finish fifth will walk away with around Ksh 141, 500. This means that Lyles will walk away with about Ksh 850,000 ($5842US)  while Coleman will pocket Ksh 566,000 ($3890US).

Wins for Geleta and Gebru as records fall in Seville

Ethiopia’s Deresa Geleta ran a world-leading course record of 2:03:27 to move into the top 20 on the men’s world marathon all-time list while his compatriot Azmera Gebru won the women’s race in 2:22:13 at the Zurich Maraton de Sevilla, a World Athletics Elite Label road race, on Sunday (18).

Record breaking was the theme of the day, with eight national records set as athletes chased qualification times for the Olympic Games in Paris in August.

A total of 12 men dipped under 2:08 and 14 women went sub-2:25.

Three of those national records were achieved by the athletes who next followed Geleta over the finish line: runner-up Morhad Amdouni of France, who clocked 2:03:47; third-place finisher Gashau Ayale of Israel, who ran 2:04:53, and Yemaneberhan Crippa of Italy, who finished fourth in 2:06:06.

Behind Gebru, the runner-up spot in the women’s race was secured by Josephine Chepkoech in a PB of 2:22:38, while her Kenyan compatriot Magdalyne Masai was third in 2:22:51.

The men’s race started fast and the leaders reached 10km in 29:02 before the front group of nine passed the half marathon mark in 1:01:49 – 42 seconds inside course record pace.

The pacemakers dropped out at around 25km and Geleta made a move. He was chased by a group of five athletes and by 30km Amdouni had closed the gap. They ran together through that checkpoint in 1:27:44.

Geleta pulled away from Amdouni over the final 5km and won by 20 seconds in 2:03:27.

Further back, national records were also set by Sweden’s Suldan Hassan in ninth (2:07:36), Chile’s Carlos Martin Diaz del Rio in 18th (2:08:04) and Macedonia’s Dario Ivanovski in 20th (2:08:26).

Gebru was part of a six-strong women’s group that passed halfway in 1:11:22. At the two-hour mark, the race was down to three.

Gebru was the only athlete who could stick with the pacemaker over the following kilometers and she reached the 40km mark in 2:15:02.

She continued on to win in 2:22:13, 25 seconds ahead of Chepkoech. Masai finished a further 13 seconds back.

The record-breakers in the women’s race were Meline Rollin, who placed seventh in a French record of 2:24:12, and Argentina’s Florencia Borelli, who was eighth in a South American record of 2:24:18.

Prior to the race, a 42-second silence was held in tribute to marathon world record-holder Kelvin Kiptum, who died in a road traffic accident last weekend.

Kerr and Muir head host nation team for Glasgow

World champion Josh Kerr and Olympic silver medalist Laura Muir are among the athletes selected to represent Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Glasgow 24.

World leader Molly Caudery is also on the host nation team for the event taking place at the Glasgow Arena from 1-3 March.

Kerr, who won world 1500m gold at the World Championships in Budapest last year, will contest the 3000m. Olympic 1500m silver medallist Muir, who claimed 1500m silver and 3000m bronze at the 2018 World Indoor Championships, will also race the 3000m in Glasgow.

Caudery heads to the event as the current world leader in the pole vault following her 4.85m PB clearance at the UK Indoor Championships on Saturday.

They will be joined in Glasgow by athletes including Jemma Reekie, who sits second on this season’s top list with the 1:58.24 she ran to win the national 800m title on Sunday, plus 60m hurdlers Cindy Sember and David King, high jumper Morgan Lake and sprinter Jeremiah Azu.

The full team will be confirmed once world rankings places have been finalised.

British team for Glasgow

Women

400m:Laviai Nielsen

800m: Isabelle Boffey, Jemma Reekie

1500m: Georgia Bell, Revee Walcott-Nolan

3000m: Laura Muir

60m hurdles: Cindy Sember

High jump: Morgan Lake

Pole vault: Molly Caudery

4x400m: Hannah Brier, Hannah Kelly, Jessie Knight, Laviai Nielsen, Lina Nielsen, Ama Pipi

Men

60m: Jeremiah Azu

1500m: Callum Elson, Adam Fogg

3000m: Josh Kerr

60m hurdles: David King, Tade Ojora.

Sorry But That Nightcap Definitely Isn’t Helping You Sleep—and Could Hinder Recovery

Research shows a nightcap can mess with your REM cycle.

A new study shows that just one alcoholic drink, consumed about an hour before bed, can reduce REM sleep. 

Experts suggest cutting down on alcohol (or trying a period without it) to see how it affects your sleep quality. 

The connection between alcohol consumption and poor sleep is well established—previous studies point to booze shortening sleep duration, increasing odds of snoring, and leading to daytime sleepiness (even if it initially provides a sedating effect)—but why is it so problematic? New research published in the journal SLEEP suggests sleep quality suffers due to the way alcohol significantly reduces REM sleep, the type needed for adequate mental function.

Researchers looked at 36 participants of an in-lab sleep study, who drank either an alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverage about an hour before going to bed, for three consecutive nights on two different occasions. 

They found that when the alcohol was consumed, participants had notably less REM sleep compared to the nights when they drank the non-alcoholic beverage. Because of that, they concluded that drinking even a small amount of alcohol before bed can adversely affect sleep quality.

Also important is that the body didn’t adjust by the third night with alcohol, which led the researchers to conclude that regular nightcaps don’t cause the body to adapt over time.

Lack of REM sleep, particularly if it becomes chronic, can be a major brain health risk, since this is the stage of sleep necessary for memory consolidation and emotional processing, and it’s when you dream. If this is affected in a negative way, the researchers of the recent study suggested it might result in emotional problems, memory difficulties, and trouble focusing.

This isn’t the first time the association between alcohol and reduced REM sleep has been noted. A 2022 study published in SLEEP Advances that tracked the effects of behaviors like alcohol consumption over 36 years also found even moderate drinking could affect sleep quality.

Does this mean if you have poor sleep quality, you should quit drinking altogether? Not necessarily, but it may be a good idea to cut back or have a period of abstinence to see how your sleep improves, said Anton Bilchik, M.D., Ph.D., surgical oncologist and division chair of general surgery at Providence Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California.

“There’s no doubt that alcohol increases health risks, but as with any type of behavior, it comes down to tradeoffs,” he told Runner’s World. “Everything you do should be put in context of your potential lifespan and healthspan. Most of all, it helps to pay attention to how a particular behavior, like drinking, is affecting you overall and adjust based on that insight.”

5 Workouts to Improve Your VO2 Max

Learn more about this metric—and specific workouts to improve it. 

Running at the best of your ability is somewhat of a numbers game. To hit new PRs, you’ll want to keep tabs on all kinds of stats, like distance covered, pace per mile (or interval), max heart rate, hours slept… We could go on. 

But at the end of the day, there’s one measurement that stands out for having a huge influence on performance enhancement: your VO2 max.

All About VO2 Max and What It Means

“VO2 max is a measure of the amount of oxygen your body can use while running or the maximum rate at which we can race a middle- or long-distance race,” says Juli Benson, Olympian and owner of Juli Benson Training. It’s a number that denotes what volume of oxygen (in milliliters per kilogram of bodyweight per minute) that your body delivers during activity. Simply put, it’s a gauge of your aerobic capacity.

If you’re interested in knowing your exact number, there are a few ways to measure it. The first, and most accurate, is to have it tested in a performance lab. That’s also pricey and the most uncomfortable, as you’ll have to endure a tough session at an all-out effort on a treadmill with a mask strapped to your face. 

Many new smartwatches also offer VO2 max approximations; some Garmin watches, for example, estimate your number based on data including heart rate and running pace, plus info about your max heart rate.

The easiest way to approximate your VO2 max is to use a simple equation, based on your max and resting heart rates: VO2 max = 15x (HR max/resting HR)

All that being said, you can train to improve your VO2 max, and your overall running performance, without calculating your exact number. Here’s how.

The Best Types of Workouts to Boost VO2 Max

When it comes to improving your VO2 max, your genes play a huge role. However, “with good old-fashioned hard work, it’s possible to improve your VO2 max,” says Benson. 

Getting faster by way of VO2 max work is all about efficiency. “The higher your VO2 max, the faster or more efficiently you’ll be able to finish a race or training run—as your body moves the oxygen in the most effective manner,” says April Gatlin, ACE-certified personal trainer, master trainer, and coach for STRIDE Fitness. 

The best way to train your body to do just that is by regularly tackling intervals—both interval runs and HIIT sessions incorporating strength moves. The good news: While you need to do intervals regularly, it shouldn’t take long before you see gains. “If consistent in training to increase VO2 max, people should start to notice a difference in approximately six weeks,” says Gatlin. 

Research backs up the keys that unlock better VO2 max: Runners who did 200-meter interval workouts for only 10 weeks improved their aerobic capacity and VO2 max significantly more than runners who stuck to moderately-paced workouts, according to a 2018 study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. Similarly, people who did HIIT sessions with intervals as short as 30 seconds for four weeks or less showed VO2 max improvements in a 2019 meta-analysis of studies published in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport; participants who did intervals closer to two minutes for four to 12 weeks showed even greater gains.

5 Workouts to Challenge Your VO2 Max

The best way to improve your VO2 max is to tap into the right heart-rate zone during those intervals. “In general, VO2 max work should be completed at about 90 to 100 percent of your max heart rate,” says Benson. That’s about the same as a 5K pace, and each of the five workouts below—recommended by Benson and Gatlin—include intervals at that approximate intensity. Feel free to dial it back a bit, Benson says, if you’re new to this type of training. 

Before each of these sessions, warm up by jogging for eight to 15 minutes, then do some dynamic stretches or range of motion drills, like high knees and leg swings, followed by a few reps of 20-second strides to prep your body to pick up the pace. 

The tough interval sections of the workouts can range from about 10 minutes for novices to 25 minutes for advanced runners; pick your reps below to dial into the right level for your fitness. It’s always smart to start on the lower end, see how it feels, and work your way up to more reps.

Benson recommends doing a VO2 max workout twice a month for newbies, up to once a week for more experienced runners. And for the biggest benefit, be careful not to schedule them the day after a long run or other challenging session. “These types of workout sessions should be done during the week and sandwiched between two very easy days of running, cross training, or rest days,” says Benson.

Workout 1: 1,000M Repeats

Run 1,000 meters at a 5K effort, then walk or jog for the same amount of time. Repeat 3 to 6 times. 

Workout 2: Two by Twos

Run for 2 minutes at a 5K effort, then walk or slowly jog for 2 minutes. Repeat 4 to 8 times.

Workout 3: Ladder

Run for 2 minutes and 30 seconds at 10K effort, rest for the same amount of time. Run 3 minutes and 30 seconds at 10K effort, rest for the same amount of time. Run 4 minutes and 30 seconds at 10K effort, rest for the same amount of time. Repeat entire set of intervals at 5K effort.

Workout 4: Bodyweight AMRAP

Do 10 push-ups followed immediately by 10 bodyweight squats, then run 400 meters at a 5K or 10K pace. Repeat as many reps as possible for 20 minutes, resting when needed. 

Workout 5: EMOM Sprints

Sprint at a pace you can sustain for 10 to 15 seconds, then jog for the remainder of the minute. Repeat for 20 minutes. Work up to sprinting for 20 or 30 seconds each minute. 

Chase the Sun - Running in Sunglasses

Running is more than just a workout; it's an exhilarating adventure that lets you embrace the great outdoors, break a sweat, and feel the wind in your hair.

It’s not just about you and the pavement anymore - as any seasoned runner knows, the right accessories can make all the difference. This might be a new pair of running trainers, are some additional kit, anything from some bone-conducting headphones to a belt for your phone, keys, and a drink. You might have a Garmin running watch to track your times and fingerless gloves for those chilly mornings out on the road.

Among popular accessories, sunglasses emerge not just as a style statement but as a game-changer for your run. Picture this: you, pounding the pavement with a steady rhythm, the sun casting a warm glow on your path. Without sunglasses, you get momentarily blinded and stumble….

Now picture this – the same scene, but on your face is a sleek pair of shades adding that extra cool factor to your stride. Glare? No such thing as you power forward on your way to a personal best. Let's delve into why these are not just fashion whims but essential gear for every runner.

Why You Need Sunglasses for Running

Running under the open sky is invigorating, but it comes with its challenges. The sun can be a relentless adversary to your eyes, causing a multitude of problems. That's where sunglasses come in. Beyond being a trendy accessory, they are your shield against the sun's potent UV rays. Prolonged exposure to these rays can lead to eye strain, fatigue, and even long-term damage. Imagine squinting through your entire run, your eyes battling the glare –not exactly the calming jog you envisioned.

However, running involves constant movement, and that can mean sunglasses are uncomfortable. You have to balance that with the effects of the environment - anyone who's ever tried running against the breeze knows the struggle of keeping their eyes wide open. Sunglasses act as a barrier, keeping wind, dust, and other airborne nuisances at bay. Ever felt a speck of dust or a stray insect in your eye mid-stride? Sunglasses make sure your focus stays on the path ahead, not on clearing debris from your eyes.

Also, the importance of glare reduction cannot be understated. Whether you're running on a beach boardwalk, a city street, or a forest trail, reflective surfaces are everywhere. The sun bounces off cars, water, or even fellow runners! A good pair of running sunglasses with polarized lenses protects you from glare, ensuring you maintain optimal visibility and reducing the risk of accidents.

There are considerations – you can’t just grab any old pair of sunnies. If they’re not the right fit, you’ll be constantly adjusting ill-fitting sunglasses mid-run. With that in mind, here are the main considerations when identifying a pair of running sunglasses to add to your kit.

Recommended Sunglasses for Running

First and foremost, UV protection is non-negotiable, so you should look for sunglasses that offer 100% UVA and UVB protection. However, you need to pair those with something comfortable. Lightweight frames and adjustable features ensure a snug fit without causing discomfort. Remember, the last thing you want is for your sunglasses to become a distraction rather than an asset.

Lightweight doesn’t seem to fit with durability, but you’ll need a strong pair, just in case they fall off. Opt for frames made from robust materials that can withstand the occasional bump, sweat, or accidental drop. Running is an adventure, and your sunglasses should be up for the ride.

Also, the lenses are important. We’ve mentioned polarized already, and that’s important in reducing glare. However, you should also pay serious consideration to the lens color. While personal preference plays a role, certain tints can enhance visibility in specific conditions. Gray lenses maintain color accuracy in bright sunlight, brown lenses enhance contrast in varying light conditions, and yellow lenses are great for low-light settings.

There are a couple of brands which come highly recommended. One manufacturer with a reputation for making running sunglasses is Oakley. Their BXTR model boasts plant-based BiO-Matter®* frame material that provides lightweight comfort and durability whilst running, but they’re also durable – they’re designed and undergo high-velocity tests to ensure they’re fit for high-octane situations.

Bolle also has a reputation within the sports eyewear sector, and they’re another option. They have the C-Shifter among their popular running models, with polycarbonate shatterproof and impact-resistant lenses. There’s also a half-rim shield lens that provides excellent airflow for particularly demanding runs.

Finally, CEBE offers a budget-friendly range for those runners who might hang up their trainers after they’ve got fit. They have the Outline model, which comes with an ultra-lightweight frame and shatterproof lenses. They tend to be more multi-use rather than for running, but at the lower end of the scale, they’re certainly a budget option.

Conclusion

Sunglasses - they're not just a finishing touch to your running ensemble; they're your armor against the elements, your shield against UV rays, and your style statement on the go. Running is about freedom, and with the right sunglasses, you're chasing miles, but you don’t have to run away from the sun.

ST. PIERRE'S MILE RECORD EARNS HER USATF ATHLETE OF THE WEEK HONORS

INDIANAPOLIS — Bettering her own American record* in the women's mile, Elle St. Pierre (Enosburg, Vermont/USATF New England) earned recognition as the 5th USATF Athlete of the Week award winner for 2024.In only her second track race since giving birth to a son last March, St. Pierre clipped almost a half-second off her own AR in the mile to win the Millrose Games in 4:16.41. She became the third fastest woman ever and her en route 1500 time of 4:00.34 puts her second on the all-time U.S. indoor performer list.St. Pierre, the 2022 World Indoor Championships silver medalist in the 3000 and an Olympian at Tokyo in the 1500, beat a star-studded field at Millrose, making a strong move with 300 to go to pass Australia's Jessica Hull and take the lead. Her final quarter-mile of 61.33 put away a group of women who behind her set four national records and eight lifetime bests. Other top performances from last week:

Grant Fisher lowered the American best in the men's 2 mile with an 8:03.62 to place second at the Millrose Games. He is now the No. 3 all-time world performer. En route, his 7:30.88 for 3000 moved him to No. 3 on the all-time U.S. performer list.

Alicia Monson lowered the American best in the women's 2 mile at the Millrose Games, placing third in 9:09.70. She is now the No. 5 all-time world performer.

Yared Nuguse won the men's mile at the Millrose Games in 3:47.83, the third fastest time ever indoors, and the second fastest by an American. His en route 3:33.43 for 1500 was the third fastest ever by an American.

Brandon Miller won the men's 600 at the Kirby Elite meet in Albuquerque in 1:14.03, making him the No. 2 all-time world performer.

Nia Akins won the women's 600 at the Kirby Elite meet in Albuquerque in a world-leading 1:24.32 to move to No. 8 on the all-time world performer list.

Grant Holloway continued his 10-year winning streak in the men's 60H with a 7.32 at the Liévin World Indoor Tour - Gold meet in France. He tied the fourth-fastest time ever and only one man besides him has ever run faster.

*All records subject to verification by the USATF Records Committee. Now in its 23nd year, USATF’s Athlete of the Week program is designed to recognize outstanding performers at all levels of the sport. USATF names a new honoree each week when there are high-level competitions and features the athlete on USATF.org. Selections are based on top performances and results from the previous week.2024 Winners: January 17, Weini Kelati; January 24, Cooper Teare; January 31, Nico Young; February 7, Fiona O'Keeffe; February 14, Elle St. Pierre.

American sprint legend claims top athletes are avoiding each other at major meetings due to low pay

Sprint legend Michael Johnson feels top athletes have been skipping meetings pitting them against their bitter rivals because there is not enough incentive to entice them.

American sprint legend Michael Johnson believes top athletes would not be skipping meetings against their bitter rivals over some flimsy reasons if the pay was good.

Johnson has been an advocate of better pay for athletes, calling on World Athletics to improve on their welfare, while also urging runners to speak out so that they can be taken seriously by the powers that be.

While commenting on sentiments made by multiple world champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who claimed he could beat his bitter rival Josh Kerr while blindfolded, a fan said it was highly unlikely that the two runners will clash any time soon because athletics authorities ‘do not like the idea.’

“One of them is definitely pulling out with an “injury” bc [because] there is no way we are going to get this good of a moment from the track and field gods,” said the fans.

Replying to the comment, Johnson said: “If the money goes up, the “injuries” will go down.”

It is another dig aimed at those in charge of the sport, ramping up the pressure on the need for athletes to get better pay so that fans have an opportunity to witness the best competing against each other.

Johnson, who won four Olympic Gold medals and eight World Championship titles, fired one of his many salvos last month when fans appeared to casually dismiss track and field athletes as amateurs.

“The number of people in the replies who think a track & field Olympic and World Champion is an amateur athlete is a major indictment of those in charge of the sport,” Johnson posted on social media after Pole vault Olympic and world champion Katie Moon had questioned why the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission had never nominated a female athlete for the Athlete of the Year award.

Ingebrigtsen stocked the fires on Friday when responding to Kerr’s impressive outing at the 2024 Millrose Games.

Kerr of Great Britain set a new indoor two-mile world record, running 8:00.67 to take down Mo Farah’s time of 8:03.40.

However, Ingebrigtsen seemed to dismiss his performance, claiming he could have beaten him in the two-mile “blindfolded” despite the fact that Kerr defeated him to claim 1,500m gold at the 2023 World Championships.

World 60m hurdles records for Holloway and Jones in Albuquerque

By running the fastest time in hurdling history on Friday (16), Grant Holloway also extended one of the sport’s longest stretches of dominance.

On the first day of the US Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Holloway ran 7.27* in the heats to break his own 60m hurdles world record before skipping the final hours later because he was already assured of a berth on the US team bound for the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow next month. 

The victory was Holloway’s 60th consecutive at the senior 60m hurdles, part of an astounding, decade-long streak that has left him still the only hurdler all time to dip under 7.30, a feat he has now achieved three times. That longevity and speed ensures he will arrive at Glasgow the prohibitive favourite to win a second straight world indoor gold medal – what he called the “main goal” of this season.

“I knew it was going to be a good one after I got out of the blocks,” Holloway said. “My main thing was just to continue going through with my steps and my rhythm. I wasn’t too upset about it but, you know, 7.27 at a nice track is always a good thing.”

With Holloway a spectator for Friday’s final, Trey Cunningham’s comeback season continued with a personal best 7.39 to claim his first national indoor title. The silver medallist at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Oregon, Cunningham was hobbled by an injured back and hamstring in 2023, but has returned to form. 

Holloway’s world record run came only 20 minutes after another. Tia Jones equalled the women’s world record in the 60m hurdles by clocking 7.67* in the heats to match the mark set by Devynne Charlton of The Bahamas just five days earlier at the Millrose Games.

After crossing the finish line and bouncing off the facility’s protective padding, Jones glanced at the clock and initially turned away – before doing a double-take when recognising she had just equalled Charlton’s mark. 

In the final more than two hours later, Jones nearly matched her record yet again. Her winning time of 7.68 was 0.10 ahead of Jasmine Jones.

They were not the only favourites to win convincingly on the championships’ first day.

World-leading marks were set by Daniel Haugh, whose weight throw of 26.35m also broke the US record; Chase Jackson, who led the shot put from her first attempt and won it on her third with a mark of 20.02m; and long jumper Tara Davis-Woodhall, who described herself as “shocked” after leaping a personal best of 7.18m. Despite acknowledging that she was struggling with her approach on her final four jumps, Davis-Woodhall’s mark moves her to No.6 on the all-time list indoors.

“I think we have more in the tank,” said Davis-Woodall. 

In the pole vault, Chris Nilsen set a US Championships record with his winning vault of 6.00m, ahead of Sam Kendricks, who cleared 5.95m. Nilsen missed once and Kendricks twice at a US record height of 6.05m, before Nilsen raised the bar to 6.10m and missed two more attempts at the record. In one of the night’s few instances where a top contender stumbled, KC Lightfoot finished eighth on 5.65m.

Elle St. Pierre, the only racer in the 3000m with the World Indoor Championships standard, ran alone for much of the final to win in 8:54.40, nearly nine seconds ahead of second-placed Josette Andrews. Countries are allowed two entrants per event for the World Indoor Championships – unless they also have a wild card entry in certain disciplines due to athletes winning the World Indoor Tour in 2023 or 2024, as is the case for Holloway – and competitors must either own their event’s qualifying standard or, if not, advance via world ranking.

Expecting a tactical race, St. Pierre, who was accustomed to racing at Albuquerque’s altitude after months of training at elevation in Arizona, took control of the pace early. If she qualifies for the World Indoor Championships in the 1500m as well, St. Pierre indicated she “would just focus on the 3km” in Glasgow.

Like St. Pierre, Yared Nuguse entered his own 3000m final as the only racer already owning the standard for the World Indoor Championships. Unlike St. Pierre, he waited out a slower, more strategic race with his kick to win in 7:55.76.

Running in fifth through 1400m, Nuguse moved up to stay patient in second until taking the lead entering the bell lap. He never let it go by closing the final 400m in 54.39 to edge Olin Hacker, who was second in 7:56.22. Nuguse set the US mile record last year, but said he and his coach had aimed for the 3000m in Glasgow out of a desire to maintain the strength he’d accumulated during winter training.

Will Nuguse race Josh Kerr in Glasgow, in what would be a showdown of top 1500m medal contenders stepping up to a longer distance? Kerr, fresh off running 8:00.67 for two miles at the Millrose Games, has not tipped his hand. 

“Honestly, I like the suspense factor,” Nuguse said. “Maybe he’ll be there, maybe he won’t. It’s great.”

Vashti Cunningham’s reign in the high jump continued, needing only three jumps and never missing en route to winning her eighth consecutive indoor national title at 1.92m. Cunningham will enter Glasgow in position to add to her gold and silver medals earned at previous World Indoor Championships, as her season’s best of 1.97m is tied for third-best in the world this season. 

The men’s high jump saw another repeat champion, as Shelby McEwen leapt 2.28m to retain his title. McEwen has not yet met the World Indoor Championships standard of 2.34m, but could advance based on world ranking.

In other finals, Chris Carter won the men’s triple jump on his last attempt, though his mark of 16.49m remains short of the world indoor standard. Nick Christie claimed the men’s 3000m race walk in 11:56.06, and Miranda Melville claimed the women’s title in 13:55.24.

Doha Marathon; Uganda’s Solomon Mutai won the elite men’s race and Kenyan long-distance runner Valary Jemeli Aiyabei in the women’s elite race

Solomon Mutai of Uganda emerged victorious in the top men's race of the 2024 Doha Marathon presented by Ooredoo on Friday morning. The bronze medalist from the 2015 Beijing Athletics World Championship finished the 42-kilometer event in two hours, twelve minutes, and forty-eight seconds. He finished ahead of Mesfin Negus of Ethiopia (2:13:12) and Awet Habte Ghebrezghiabher of Eritrea (2:13:00).

In the women's elite event, Kenyan long-distance runner Valary Jemeli Aiyabei triumphed. With a timing of 2:23:38, the seasoned marathoner—who has taken home gold in marathons at Barcelona, Belgrade, Valencia, Prague, Beijing, and Frankfurt—added Doha to her list of accomplishments.

Rediet Daniel Molla of Ethiopia placed third in 2:26:25, while her countryman Joan Kipyatich came in second in 2:23:45.

On that day, almost 13,000 competitors competed in a variety of races across varying distances. There were races in the full, half, 10 km, 5 km, and 1 km distances.

This year's tournament featured 25 participants from across the world and the Olympics.

The races began at 6.15 a.m. at the Hotel Park and ended at the starting point after taking a gorgeous course along the magnificent Corniche.

A total of QAR 500,000 in prize money was awarded to the victors of the Ooredoo Doha Marathon.

A Riveting New Series Shows the Insane Workouts of Elite Runners—Completely Unfiltered

Every week, TRACK: All-Access reveals the raw training of star athletes like Conner Mantz, Clayton Young, and Elle St. Pierre.

“You just watched an attempted murder,” says Graham Blanks as he catches his breath on a pole vault mat at the Harvard University indoor track. 

His coach, Alex Gibby, prescribed Blanks a lengthy session. Three sets of 12 minutes at threshold pace (4:49 to 4:40 mile pace), followed by four fast 300-meter reps on the track. Blanks ripped the last interval in 41.9 seconds.

The 2023 NCAA Cross-Country champion—along with his teammate, Maia Ramsden—is the subject of an episode of the new running YouTube channel TRACK: All-Access.

The channel is the latest project from Gordon Mack, who spent the previous decade working at FloTrack and MileSplit, where he wrote articles, covered meets on-site, and co-hosted the FloTrack Podcast. Last year, after a career change, Mack got the idea of doing weekly workout videos. Now, he’s diving head-first into the venture, traveling across the country to create content with some of the biggest names in running.

Mack posted his first video—3-mile repeats with marathoners Conner Mantz and Clayton Young—to popular reception. Since then, he’s been releasing at least one episode every week and has featured the likes of Stanford University stand-out Nico Young, high school star JoJo Jourdon, and 1500-meter Olympian Elle St. Pierre.

So far, he says it’s been a success. 

“I’ve been pleasantly surprised and blessed and happy and thankful that people are responding positively,” Mack says. “When you start something, you have in your head the idealistic response, but you actually don’t know if it’s gonna happen until you put it out there. And fortunately, people seem to really like the content.”

Mack plans on releasing videos every Tuesday morning, but for the first few weeks, he’s uploading another video on Thursdays to give the channel some momentum. So far, TRACK: All-Access has over 7,000 subscribers, and the workout video with Nico Young has racked up more than 83,000 views.

While YouTube comments can quickly become crude, viewers seem to welcome Mack’s content. Sometimes they’ll offer feedback or encourage Mack to film episodes with specific teams. Some users have even joked that workout videos are prophetic.

“Babe wake up! All Access just posted another workout video ? ?” @sofodachimp2776

“Thank you for the back stage pass. I feel so honored to be part of this team.” @deviljames

“I’m starting to think track all access has the script” @orangepeanutyguy6569

The essence of the channel is in its name: access. Mack believes that track and field fans—himself included—crave more behind-the scenes content from athletes, outside of competition or media appearances. “We love watching them race, run records, and win championships,” he says. “But we also really love to see how they did it. And a lot of that is not really shown.”

After working in the running industry for over a decade, Mack has accumulated a rolodex of contacts with professional athletes and coaches. So far, the videos have focused on distance runners, but Mack plans on incorporating sprinters and field events into the mix as well. 

Along with access, Mack wants the videos to be in-depth. Instead of editing the raw footage down into highlights, he prefers to show every rep of a session— even the more monotonous parts—to paint a full picture of training. The relationships between the athletes and their coaches are just as important, too. “[I’m] trying to give the user a viewpoint as if they got to watch the practice in full time for that full hour-and-a-half session,” he says.

Mack is a one-man show so far. He films and edits the entirety of the videos, and he has to get creative sometimes to keep up with the runners. When he was initially filming Conner Mantz for a workout in Provo, Utah, Mack sped alongside him on a bike—until he got a flat tire. He came back two days later with a car.

Although TRACK: All Access is still in its infancy, this isn’t a part-time job for Mack—this is his life for the foreseeable future. He plans on supporting the channel with YouTube advertising revenue, as well as working with brands on potential sponsorships down the line. Consistency is a cornerstone of the channel, and Mack plans to keep his output high.

“At the end of the day, it’s a very simple concept,” he says. “It’s workout videos with the best elite athletes in the varying degrees of our sport and the varying disciplines of our sport. And, hopefully, if I put out good content, people will like it.”

TRACK: All-Access tentative schedule

February 15—Boston University men (Distance) 

February 20—Sophia Gorriaran (Harvard)

February 22—Northern Arizona University men (Distance) 

February 27—BYU men (Distance)

February 29—Northern Arizona University women (Distance) 

March 5—Kenzie Doyle (UMass Lowell)

March 7—Arizona State University men (Sprints) 

March 12—Courtney Wayment/Anna Camp Bennett (Taylor Made Elite)

Can Strength Training Protect You from Running Injuries?

The logic is good and the anecdotes are common, but the evidence is shakier than expected, researchers find

The best way to prevent running injuries isn’t to waste your time stretching or searching for the perfect shoe; it’s to get strong. That’s where the zeitgeist has been headed over the past decade or so, as old ideas about injury prevention have produced disappointing results in studies. The rationale for strength training, by contrast, is seemingly unassailable: injuries occur when more stress is applied to a tissue than it can absorb, so strengthening the tissue should ward off injuries.

But that claim, too, should be treated with caution, according to a new systematic review of exercise-based prevention programs for running injuries. In Sports Medicine, a research team led by Richard Blagrove of Loughborough University in Britain sums up the available evidence. Blagrove, for the record, is the author of Strength and Conditioning for Endurance Running and has worked with plenty of elite runners on their strength routines, so it’s not like he’s an anti-strength-training zealot. I’ve written before about some of his previous research on strength training and running economy. But the overall picture on injury prevention is underwhelming—although, as Blagrove and his colleagues point out, there are reasons for optimism and some intriguing avenues for future research.

As with all systematic reviews, the first challenge is finding studies that meet your criteria. In this case, one of the key hurdles was ensuring that the subjects in the study were, by some reasonable definition, runners. Previous reviews of the topic have included military studies where running only made up a small fraction of overall training, and injuries sustained during other training activities were counted as “running injuries.” For the new review, they insisted that running had to be the subjects’ main training activity, comprising at least half their training time.

They were able to include nine articles with a total of 1,904 subjects—which, for a tricky topic like running injuries, isn’t a lot. The exercise interventions were all over the map: strength exercises like lunges and squats, plyometric hops and jumps, core routines, foot strengthening, and so on. Overall, perhaps not surprisingly given the wide variety of regimens, there was no significant benefit for the exercise groups compared to the control groups in injury risk (what proportion of subjects got injured during the studies) or injury rate (how many injuries they suffered for a given amount of running).

That, for now, is the state of the evidence. As always, we’re left hungry for more. What are the injury benefits of a straightforward strength-training routine? Given that this is among the most common forms of supplementary exercise among runners, you’d think we would know if it helps, but there’s almost no evidence either way. That’s important, Blagrove and co. point out, because there is robust evidence that this approach works in other sports like soccer. That doesn’t mean it will work in running, since the injury mechanisms are different, but it does suggest that it’s worth finding out.

One intriguing pattern in the data is that the three studies that produced the lowest injury risk also happened to be the three studies where the exercise routine was supervised rather than just assigned to be performed at home. Previous research has tended to find that people get bigger gains when they have a spotter or a personal trainer looking on. That could be because they dig a little deeper; or in this case, it could be that this is the only way to ensure people do the exercises at all. Sports medicine doctors and physical therapists often laugh about the patients who come for a follow-up visit claiming that they’ve been doing their assigned exercises religiously… but when they’re asked to demonstrate them, search for the piece of paper where the exercises are described. Exercises can only work if you actually do them, needless to say.

It’s also worth noting that Blagrove and his colleagues were particularly intrigued by a 2020 study from the American Journal of Sports Medicine that used foot and ankle strengthening, including exercises like the “foot doming,” based on the concept of a “foot core” providing stability to the rest of the body. In that study of 118 runners in Brazil, the control group was 2.4 times more likely to develop an injury during the one-year follow-up period. The survival graph from that study, showing the cumulative injuries for the control group (solid line) and foot-strengthening group (dashed line), is certainly compelling:

But the whole point of a meta-analysis is to pool more than one study, to increase sample size and reduce the risk of fluke results—and of investigator error or bias. One of the minor details in the meta-analysis: there were actually two other studies that met the inclusion criteria, both by the same research team. But when Blagrove’s team dug into the studies, they found identical baseline data—the same age, height, body mass, BMI, running experience, and biomechanical parameters—and identical injury occurrences… even though the studies had different sample sizes, durations, and exercises. The authors didn’t respond to questions about their data, so Blagrove’s meta-analysis excluded them.

The bottom line? We can’t say for sure, at this point, whether strength training or other forms of exercise lower your risk of getting injured while running. The logic is sound, and the circumstantial evidence from other sports is suggestive. Maybe more importantly, there’s also solid evidence that various forms of strength training improve running economy and boost your long-term health. It would be nice to get some injury prevention as a bonus, but the package is already pretty enticing.

Here are the top songs runners love

Still listening to “Eye of the Tiger” to help you channel your inner Rocky (III) when running stairs? You’re not alone—but marathoners do like a range of music to power them through their workouts. The charity fundraising website Just Giving recently conducted a survey of 2,000 participants gearing up for the 2024 London Marathon in April, hoping to reveal the rhythm that fuels their 42.2K journey.

We already know that music can play a powerful role in helping us get out the door and stay motivated. Studies have shown that not only does what you listen to while you exercise potentially improve your performance, but tuning in to some pre-workout music can boost your performance in the gym and help you get more out of each session. One could predict that playlists and preferences would be largely unique and individual, just like running styles and abilities, but it seems that runners have a lot of similarity in what they find motivating.

From more than 6,000 song nominations, the top 10 tracks emerged as the ultimate running playlist, with Survivor’s timeless Rocky anthem “Eye of the Tiger” still leading the way (however, the classic theme from the original Rocky didn’t make the list). Eminem‘s “Lose Yourself” and Queen‘s invigorating “Don’t Stop Me Now” also raced to the forefront. And while you may be getting tired of hearing about Taylor Swift‘s latest football sideline fanatics, you’re apparently still happy to have her cheer you through the miles of a long, slow distance session, with her name appearing on both favourite artists and within the top 10 songs.

Top 10 songs marathoners love to listen to:

1. Eye of the Tiger – Survivor 2. Lose Yourself – Eminem 3. Don’t Stop Me Now – Queen 4. Dog Days Are Over – Florence & The Machine 5. Running Up That Hill – Kate Bush 6. Mr Brightside – The Killers 7. Born to Run – Bruce Springsteen 8. Adore U – Fred Again 9. Pump It – Black Eyed Peas 10. Cruel Summer – Taylor Swift

The survey also determined the top artists runners tune in to, with Queen, Swift and Fred Again making the cut for both lists.

Kelvin Kiptum's legacy lives on with two-hour challenge

Last Sunday, the running world lost marathon world record holder Kelvin Kiptum at the age of 24 after he lost control of his car in Kaptagat, Kenya. Kiptum was one of the most promising athletes in the sport, setting the marathon world record of 2:00:35 at the 2023 Chicago Marathon, and was slated to challenge the two-hour barrier at the 2024 Rotterdam Marathon.

In memory of Kiptum, the running community has come up with an idea to honour his legacy: a virtual two-hour run on April 14, the day he was scheduled to run Rotterdam.The challenge isn’t asking runners to go out and try to break the world record, but they can use the challenge as a long run for their upcoming race or see how far they can run in the elapsed time.The two-hour challenge also does not have to be a run; it could be a ride, or even a walk. Just be sure to tag #TwoHours4Kiptum on your Strava or social media post.

Kiptum had a rapid rise to superstardom in the sport, recording the fastest-ever marathon debut at the Valencia Marathon in 2022. Five months later, he broke Eliud Kipchoge’s course record at the 2023 London Marathon, where he ran an impressive negative split of 2:01:25. Then came the one he’ll most be remembered for–setting a world record of 2:00:35 at the Chicago Marathon last fall.“Athletics world mourns death of marathon world record holder Kelvin Kiptum” — Canadian Running Magazine

After his world-record run, Kiptum said he never felt he was challenged by the marathon distance, and there was a fascination around what he might run in Rotterdam–a topic that will forever be debated, and a question that the world will never know the answer to. The running community will forever remember Kiptum and his drive to show people that anything is possible.

Konstanze Klosterhalfen is running the RAK Half Marathon

Konstanze Klosterhalfen is one of the few Europeans who have successfully challenged East African superiority in long distance running in recent years; but the German star will have a mass challenge from Kenyans and Ethiopians in her next venture, the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon on Saturday February 24.

The reigning European 5000 metres champion ‘Koko,’ to her fans, won bronze in the World Championships at that same distance in 2019, but her debut victory over a posse of leading East Africans in the Valencia Half Marathon in October 2022 signalled not only a step-up in prestige but also potential for success in the full marathon. And RAK in nine days’ time will be another stepping stone.

The RAK ‘half’ has been one of the fastest 21.1k races in the world since its inception 17 years ago in one of the smaller emirates in the UAE. The list of winners and record breakers reads like a ‘who’s who’ of distance running. Leading this year’s women’s field and a formidable opponent for Klosterhalfen is reigning Olympic marathon champion and three-time world ‘half’ winner, Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya, who set a then world record of 65:06 when she ran RAK in 2017. Burgeoning competition and the advent of super-shoes has resulted in that record now standing at 62.52, to Letesenbet Gidey of Ethiopia.

Klosterhalfen’s debut win in Valencia came in 65:41; and with another former world record holder – Ababel Yeshaneh of Ethiopia (64:31) in the RAK field, the German will not have an easy task, the more so since she took a break in the second half of last summer season, and has not raced for six months. She was understandably cautious this week when she said, ‘Overall I am happy with how my training has been going and I’m ready to test myself and see exactly where I am after a good training camp. I’m certainly looking forward to returning to racing, especially at the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon as it is a race I’ve heard a lot about’.

Klosterhalfen spends a lot of time training at altitude in the USA, and in her quieter moments has walked the runway at Berlin Fashion Week, and also plays piano and flute; but running full tilt for just over an hour before breakfast will be the order of the morning a week on Saturday.

Athletics Canada names nine athletes to 2024 World Indoor Championship team

On Thursday, Athletics Canada released a list of nine athletes who will represent Team Canada at next month’s World Indoor Championships from March 1-3 in Glasgow, Scotland. The team is on the smaller side, consisting of five women and four men, who hope to contend for medals in Glasgow.

World championship silver medalist in the shot put, Sarah Mitton, will lead Team Canada in Glasgow. Mitton has yet to win a world indoor medal in her career. Last August, she won her first world championship medal, taking silver behind Chase Ealey of the U.S. Mitton is the Canadian national record holder both indoors and outdoors.

The other four women joining Mitton on Team Canada are 1,500m runners Lucia Stafford and Simone Plourde, 2023 World Indoor Tour winner Alysha Newman (pole vault) and, making her world indoor debut, Mariam Abdul-Rashid, who is coming off a personal best of 8.01 seconds in the women’s 60m hurdles in Clemson, S.C. last weekend.

“World Indoor Championships is a fun test to see where we’re at with the training and all the work we’ve put in,” Mitton said to Athletics Canada. “With it being an Olympic year, my focus is set toward the Games, but it’s great to be able to be competitive and get into that competitive mindset this early in the season at an event like the World Indoor Championships.”

On the men’s side, the team will feature three veterans and one rising star. Malachi Murray, a sprinter out of Edmonton, has had several breakthrough performances in the men’s 60m this season. Just days before the Feb. 14 selection deadline, Murray ran to a personal best of 6.55 seconds in the men’s 60m–the fastest mark among Canadian athletes this year. The 23-year-old will be joined in the 60m event by Brendon Rodney, who ran the third leg for Canada’s gold-medal-winning 100m relay team in 2022.

Charles Philibert-Thiboutot and Kieran Lumb will compete in the men’s 1,500m. Both men have had a fantastic start to the 2024 season, setting personal bests in almost every race they’ve run.

Eleven other athletes have been provisionally nominated to the team: Sade McCreath, Audrey Leduc, Astrid Nyame, Donna Ntambue, Madeleine Kelly, Jazz Shukla, Regan Yee, Ibrahim Ayorinde, Abdullahi Hassan, Olivier Desmeules and Matti Erickson. According to Athletics Canada, these 11 athletes met the AC indoor qualification standard in their respective events. They will be added to the team if they appear as “Qualified by Entry Standard” or “In World Rankings quota” on the World Athletics rankings list and quota places remain open in their event. 

These athletes will be selected if they appear in the World Athletics selection quota as of Feb. 21. (For example: Shukla currently holds the 32nd spot of the allotted 30 spots in the women’s 800m, if several other 800m in front of her choose to not go, she would then get their spot on points). But that invite rests in the hands of World Athletics, not Athletics Canada.

At the 2022 World Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, Team Canada came home with one gold medal, three national records, seven personal bests and eight top-eight performances. The lone medal came from Damian Warner in the men’s heptathlon. It was Warner’s first World Indoor gold medal, having also won silver at the 2018 championship in Birmingham, U.K.

The 2024 World Indoor Championships will run from March 1-3 and will host more than 700 athletes from more than 130 countries, competing across 26 events (13 for men and 13 for women).

Chumba will go head to head against Gebreslase when the two clash at the Nagoya women’s marathon

Kenya-born Bahranian Eunice Chumba will go head to head against 2022 World champion Gotytom Gebreslase of Ethiopia when the two clash at the Nagoya women’s marathon slated for March 10.

Nagoya women’s marathon is held annually in Japan and it is the largest women’s race in the world certified by the Guinness World Records.

It was launched on March 12, 2012 with an initial participation of 13,114. It has since grown to be recognized by World Athletics as a Platinum label race averaging 20,000 participants.

Chumba was a silver medalist in the 10,000m at the 2018 Asia Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, where she clocked 32:11.12.

Before that, she had also placed second in the same event in the 2015 Asia Championships held in Wuhan, China in 32:22.29. The 31-year-old further won the 2023 NN Rotterdam Marathon, Netherlands, clocking 2:20:31.

She followed it up with a bronze medal during the Shanghai Marathon, China, in November clocking 2:22:20.

Chumba has also won titles in the Abu Dhabi Marathon (2:20:41) in 2022 and the Copenhagen Half Marathon (1:06:11) in 2017.

In 2021 Gebreslase made her debut in the marathon with an overwhelming victory at the Berlin Marathon, Germany, clocking 2:20:09.

She followed it up with a bronze medal in the Tokyo marathon in 2022 (2:18:18) before winning the title at the 2022 World Athletics Championship (2:18:11)  in Eugene, USA.

 The 29-year-old also has a title in the Bahrain Half Marathon (1:05:36) and a silver medal in the Ras Al Khaimah marathon (1:05:51).

The two will be joined by the 2020 Napoli half marathon champion Violah Lagat and Kenyan-born Romanian Delvine Meringor.

Meringor won a title at the 2022 Los Angeles Marathon, USA, where she clocked 2:25:04.

The local contingent will be led by Ai Hosaoda who boosts a personal best of 2:21:42. She will be joined by 2016 Japanese champion in the 10,000m Suzuki Ayuko.

Noah Lyles, Christian Coleman set for major showdown at US Track & Field Indoor Championships

Noah Lyles and former world 100m champion Christian Coleman are set for an epic clash will at the US Track and Field Indoor Championships in New Mexico this weekend.

Multiple world champion Noah Lyles is set for a thrilling battle with former world 100m champion Christian Coleman at the US Track and Field Indoor Championships taking place in New Mexico this weekend.

Lyles, Coleman and 2020 World Indoor tour winner Ronnie Baker will be the star attractions in the 60m sprint showdown that also has the likes of Demek Kemp, Ray Wells with, Kendal Williams, Brandon Carnes, Coby Hilton, Pjai Austin, Lawrence Johnson, Zachaeus Beard and Kasaun James.

The three-time world 200m champion is fresh from winning the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston, where he clocked a personal best of 6.44 seconds, and will line up as the athlete with the best time over 60m from the lot.

Lyles clocked 6.34 seconds, a world record in the event at the US Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 2018 while Baker managed a personal best time of 6.40 seconds, finishing behind Coleman and the three are set for an epic clash once more.

The 27-year-old claimed he is in good shape after winning in Boston while revealing his lofty ambitions for the World Indoor Championships set to take place in Glasgow, Scotland next month.

“World lead, meet record. Now let’s go out there and get a world indoor medal in Glasgow. Last year I went out there and won three gold medals. This year I want to get four. And if I don’t get four, I am going after three world records," he told the Guardian after the race.

Lyles is seeking to stay in great shape as he gears up for the Paris 2024 Olympics where he has declared his intentions to win up to four gold medals while also eyeing Usain Bolt’s 200m world record.

Irine Cheptai to make marathon debut at the 2024 Haspa Marathon

The 2017 World Cross-country champion Irine Cheptai will make her full marathon debut at the 38th edition of the Haspa Marathon in Hamburg.

Reigning Copenhagen Half Marathon champion Irine Cheptai will make her full marathon debut at the 38th edition of the Haspa Marathon on Sunday, April 28.

The 2017 World Cross-country champion has competed on all surfaces from the track to cross-country and she will finally make her debut in the 42km distance in April.

Cheptai finished second at the 2023 Valencia Half Marathon and third at the Annual Charity Run in Saudi Arabia.

The Commonwealth 10,000m silver medalist opened her season with an eighth-place finish at the 10K Valencia Ibercaja and she now gears up for the 42km distance where she hopes to impress. Other notable debutants at the event will be Nelly Jepchumba and Roselida Jepketer.

Meanwhile, Winfridah Moseti and Sharon Chelimo from Kenya headline the field. Moseti took second place at the 2023 Frankfurt Marathon with a time of 2:20:55, while Chelimo also put in a strong performance with a time of 2:22:07.

The Ethiopian charge will be led by Kidusan Alema while Canada’s Natasha Wodak (Canadian record holder with a personal best of 02:23:12) will also be in the mix seeking top honors. Margaret Wangari from Kenya with a time of 2:23:52 also seeks to spoil the party.

Portuguese runner Jessica Augusto (02:24:25) will also be at the start again, having won the marathon back in 2017.

“We are excited to see what awaits us at the 38th Haspa Marathon Hamburg. Hamburg has proven to be a springboard for great runners in the past, as we saw for example with Eliud Kipchoge, who once made his debut in Hamburg. So it remains exciting to see which new talents will prove themselves on the track this year,” race organizers said.