Drake Relays
Morgan McDonald eased to victory in the 5000m in an impressive time of 13:21.39, the fastest 5000m in Drake Relay and Drake Stadium history, on the day of his 25th birthday. However, it was arguably the third place athlete, Nico Young, who claimed the title of most-impressive performance. At 18, he’s been ‘one-to-watch’ for some time but in this race, he demonstrated the true extent of his potential, running a US junior record 13:24.26.
Bizarrely, the biggest Nico Young story to come out of the Drake Relays was the fact that he had painted the 3 stripes of Adidas onto his Nike spikes. In true Adidas style, which is generally the use of far too many words to name one pair of shoes, I’m calling them the Adidas Adinico Adizero Pros. Copyrighted.
Athletes banned from wearing black lives matter apparel at Tokyo Olympics… Don’t know much about this yet, but seems like a very odd decision from the IOC.
Oregon Relays
An incredible event was played out at Hayward Field in the inaugural Oregon Relay’s this week. For British fans, of most interest was likely to be the performance of Laura Muir, the British athlete continued her dominance in the 1500m. Taking the race out hard and fast, she ran a race that didn’t give her competitors a chance, finishing far ahead of the field in 4:01.54, backing up her 3:59.58 indoors back in February.
Other standout performances include Adelle Tracey’s 2:03.25 to win the 800m, beating world silver medallist Raeyvn Rogers into third. Michael Saruni won the men’s race in 1:46.64. Australian, Ollie Hoare cruised to victory in the 1500m (3:33.54), beating Canada’s Justyn Knight who took second in 3:35.84. Trayvon Bromell won the men’s 100m in 10.01 and Blessing Okagbare won the women’s race in 10.97.
Arguably the best duo in athletics, Cole Hocker and Cooper Teare once again battled it out for first and second in the 5000m. Cole edged Cooper to win in 13:19.98, with Cooper half a second back (13:20.24). Incredibly, they’ve now taken first and second in every race they’ve run this year.
Tinman Elite vs Coach Schwartz: Update
Despite statements from Tinman Elite and Coach Schwartz’ wife, the strife surrounding this acrimonious split has no signs of abating just yet, with the story capturing the imaginations of running fans everywhere. Whilst it is clear that both sides deserve respect and any athlete reserves the right to change coaches during their relatively small career, I don’t think either side could deny that it has been handled poorly.
The question will now inevitably turn to the argument surrounding the use of the ‘Tinman’ title, with Coach Schwartz explicitly confirming on his instagram that he wants ‘his name’ back. Trackstaa’s sources have told us that the matter is now expected to end up in the court-room with neither side willing to back down.
Jake Smith jogs to a 2:11:00 Marathon
Perhaps the most remarkable story of the year, certainly the week, was Jake Smith casually dropping a 2:11 marathon. In the Cheshire Elite Marathon, Jake was due to pace the front-runners to 25km, with a target of passing half way in 65 minutes. However, once his pacing duties were completed, he just decided to carry on and, miraculously, finished underneath the Olympic qualifying standard. When considered in its full context, specifically, that he had 1 gel, no drink and had never even run a full marathon distance before, even in training, the achievement just becomes even more astonishing. h
We’ve known about Jake’s talent for some time now after his jaw-dropping 60:30 in the World Half Marathon Championships last year but this, frankly, just takes the biscuit. In a week where he also dropped a 1500m PB of 3:51, it’s clear that the extent of his potential has yet to be truly considered. He also found the inclination and oxygen to gee on and encourage the other runners on the final lap. He’s so cute. We thought his achievement had to be marked more overtly so we invited him on the podcast and truly exposed him. You can listen to it here:
Silesia World Relays
I’ve written the title but let’s be honest, does anyone really care? I think it would be fair to say that the World Relays in Silesia was a ‘damp squib’. The weather and conditions were so bad that many athletes decided to run in tights - hardly prime sprinting weather. Not only that, the title of ‘world relays’ is a bit misleading given that many teams did not even participate including arguably the two main sprinting countries in the USA and Jamaica. Perhaps what this event does prove, however, is that scheduling major world championships only 100 days out from the Olympics is not a sensible idea if the goal is to attract the world’s best athletes. Overall, the less said the better.
Kenenisa Bekele to run in the Tokyo Olympics
The big news this week is that the great showdown between arguably the 2 greatest marathon runners of all time, Kenenisa Bekele and Eliup Kipchoge, in this year’s Olympic marathon looks set to take place after all, after it was confirmed that Bekele will run. He had been expected to miss the Olympics after he failed to run in the Ethiopian marathon trials due to the recent sad passing of his father. That he is probably the greatest of all time is no longer in no doubt; over the 10,000m he was unbeaten for 8 years between 2003 and 2011 and he holds the second fastest marathon of all time (2:01:41). Many observers will regard Bekele as the only runner with a realistic chance of beating Kipchoge and preventing from retaining his Olympic gold from Rio 2016, particularly with his recent return to form in the NN Mission Marathon.
Meanwhile, in the Ethiopian Marathon Trials, which was run over 35km just outside Addis Ababa, last year’s London Marathon winner, Shura Kitata, won the men’s race in a time of 1:46:15 which equates to a 2:08 marathon. Just like London last year, it was his kick that took him past compatriot and reigning world champion, Lelisa Desisa. In the women’s race, the victor was Tigist Girma who with a marathon PB of 2:19:52 will now head to Sapporo for her Olympic debut in an attempt her solitary previous competitive victory at the 2019 Ottawa marathon.
Conner Mantz shows incredible versatility in the 1500m
They’re clearly feeding these college athletes some sort of secret potion because Conner Mantz’ recent 3:37 1500m is the latest in a string of incredible performances by NCAA college athletes in the USA. Whilst on the world stage 3:37 is not necessarily winning any major titles, the fact that this came only a few weeks after winning the NCAA national cross country title over 10km, demonstrates Conner’s incredible talent and range right across middle and long-distance running. A talent to keep an eye on over the coming years, for sure.
Karoline Grovdal sets new women’s road 5km world record
As well as the NCAA, something very strange is going on in Norway. Other than the Ingebrigstens who are famous enough to have their own TV program, Norway has never traditionally been considered as a bastion of European long-distance running. Well perhaps that looks set to change after Karoline Grovdal became the latest Norweigan athlete to run really really fast. In fact, Karoline ran so fast, she broke the women’s world 5k road record, in a stunning 14:39. It seems like only yesterday, we were lauding British triathlete, Beth Potter for running an unofficial world best of 14:41. Running in the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro and interestingly receiving zero comment from the usual suspects about the impact of her shoes, Grovdal has certainly laid down the gauntlet to her fellow female athletes. The question now, of course, is whether Potter and other stars like Beatrice Chepkoech (14:43) can respond.
So, this is what we had written until we became aware that the course Grovdal ran on was, according to report, 12 metres short. That must be very annoying because if the reports are true, then clearly Grovdal’s world record won’t stand.
Alfie Manthorpe YouTube Channel
Okay, so this is totally and utterly a shameless plug, but with our issues with FloTrack continuing and as we transition Trackstaa to an athletics and running media and content outlet, I’ve set up a new YouTube channel dedicated to vlogging my training and my personal journey as an athlete. You can check it out here, go subscribe and turn on those video notifications :)
Race your knowledge - Trackstaa Podcast Network
Whilst we’re on the case of shameless plugs, I might as well take this opportunity to remind you of the newest podcast in the Trackstaa Podcast Network; ‘Race Your Knowledge’ with me, Alfie, and Master of Drills himself, Bob Bertemes or, as we all actually know him, Berte Bob, is a weekly podcast covering all the main results and races from the previous week with a focus on talking about athletic performance.
Listen to the latest episode here:
USATF Golden Games and Distance Open
This weekend sees the USATF Golden Games take place with arguably the most stacked field since the world championships in Doha in 2019. Every single race has a potential Tokyo medalist in, as well as world superstars of track and field, including 8-time Olympic medalist Veronica Campbell-Brown and Allyson Felix, Donavan Brazier and Craig Engels as well as a healthy British contingent in Josh Kerr, Kyle Langford, Ellie Baker, Eilish McColgan and more.
With less than 100 days to go until the Olympics, 50 days to go until the British Championships and a month until the US Olympic Trials, this meet is full of athletes trying to prime themselves for a huge summer of athletics. For many, possibly the biggest of their careers. It’s all set for Sunday 9th May 2021, live from Walnut, California. Check out our full meet preview here [ENTER LINK TO ARTICLE].
Saucony Endorphin range 2
I’m not sure if he was allowed due to embargo, but Seth James Demoor live streamed the opening of the new Saucony shoes, including the Saucony Endorphin speed and the Saucony Endorphin Pro. Both shoes looking like they’ve had an upgrade as well as a colour change.
Watch Seth James Demoor video here
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF8aH1Kvka-4dmzT-Zc8m-A