One year of counting laps!⏱
Lap 52: Sponsored by Diadora
Buckle up! Diadora has released the new Mythos Vigore, their latest offering for runners seeking maximum cushioning and optimal stability. This innovative model does not use a traditional medial post, resulting in a softer ride with increased flexibility throughout the shoe. Rather than fighting nature, the stability system acts as a guiding mechanism to gently steer the foot on a neutral pathway. The Vigore features Diadora's latest midsole compound, which contains a full layer of blushield underfoot for a plush experience with each stride. Step into the Vigore at your local run specialty store or on diadora.com.
Fast times with friends 👯♀️
There was likely no one happier on Sunday to see Elle Purrier St. Pierre close her last lap in 28.8 seconds to clinch the 3000m national title in 8:41.53 than her best friend and training partner, Heather MacLean. That’s because in the 1500m the day prior, things went a little sideways for the Vermonter. Elle led the pack through all but the final 15 meters of the race. But with 200m to go, the small gap back to Heather in fifth was rapidly shrinking and with virtually no runway left, MacLean surprised both Elle and a hard-closing Josette Norris to win her first national title in 4:06.09.
The dynamic of having to balance one’s competitive nature with friendship is a fascinating aspect of professional running that more PHD candidates in sports psychology need to look into. It’s completely different than in college where there are conference titles to chase and where a teammate’s success is your own. Instead, you’re pushing each other in workouts to make each other better, while personally always hoping to be 1% better than your training partners on race day. After all, trying to be the best is part of the job description!
The New Balance Boston training group is an international collection of some of the top middle distance runners in the world. I find they’re one of the easiest groups to cheer for, not because they’re so talented, but because they seem to legitimately all get along — it’s not some put-on for social media. With that said, Elle was certainly the favorite coming into the 1500. It was obvious in the moments immediately post-race that even Heather was stunned, even if she was presumably elated to have secured her first national title.
Not to make MY newsletter entirely about ME, but in 2017 I had one of the most disappointing races of my career when I failed to make the US 1500 final. But at the same time, my dear friend, training partner and college teammate, Johnny Gregorek, did make it through. From my perspective, this was entirely unfair because up until that point I was supposed to be the faster one in our relationship. Despite my protests, USATF officials did not see this as reasonable grounds to push me through to the next round.
After an evening of pouting I pieced myself together to keep him company on shakeouts and the warm up. If I could no longer make the team then the next best person would be the guy who ran all the same steps as me. What followed was probably one of the more confusing emotional experiences of my life. I was simultaneously bursting with joy for Johnny, who went on to make the team for Worlds, while also deeply jealous of his success that I had wanted for myself. But the light at the other end of my self-loathing tunnel was the fact that if my best friend was good enough then maybe, just maybe, one day I could be too.*
Fortunately for the duo of Heather and Elle, their existential crisis was short-lived as redemption came on Sunday for Elle in the 3000. The New Englanders each have a travel companion and the opportunity to stay on the same training schedule leading into the World Championships. And everyone lived happily ever after!**
* I wasn’t.
** Except for me. 😕
Do you want to support our sport’s elite athletes? Then subscribe to our Friday morning premium newsletter! This week we’ll be speaking with unsponsored Dillon Maggard after his third place finish in the 3000m at the USATF Indoor Championships. Get to know Dillon before he heads to Belgrade for the World Indoor Championships! Sign up to receive an interview in your inbox every week to support this initiative, which has now raised over $18,300, with all proceeds going towards those whose stories we share.
The British Champ Record Holder 🇬🇧
RANDOM NEIGHBOR NEIGHBOUR: ‘Wow congratulations on winning with the national title, Piers! So you’re the fastest 1500m lad in the whole of Great Britain?’
PIERS COPELAND: ‘Well…’
PAUSE SCENE
This is an excerpt from an off-off-off-Broadway one-act play I am writing. In it, we witness a conversation between the 2022 British Indoor 1500m champion, Piers Copeland, and one his kindly Welsh neighbors.
And before you ask, yes, this work of theatre draws inspiration from true events!
At the real British indoor champs, after a pedestrian opening half mile in 2:13, the tactical affair swiftly became an all out sprint which Copeland won to secure his guaranteed selection for the World Indoor Championships. It was a good ol’ fashioned case of racing in Birmingham, and his final time of 3:49.01 is irrelevant minus the fact that it was faster than everyone else’s in the field.
But what if the time people are talking about came from another race altogether, a race contested across the Atlantic in a prominent city in a former English colony?
ENTER JOSH KERR, STAGE RIGHT
And that’s all I got for the play.
Exactly 32 years to the day after Peter Elliot ran 3:34.20 for 1500m, Josh Kerr scribbled ‘BRITISH RECORD’ on his fancy new Brooks spikes and smashed the long standing mark. After coming through 1500m in 3:32.86, he continued pressing for another 109m to grab both Elliot’s British mile record (3:52.02) and Eamonn Coghlan’s European record (3:49.78) by crossing the line in 3:48.87.
Do you now see the conundrum that Piers Copeland theoretically finds himself in with his theoretical, unnamed neighbor? Kerr ran one mile faster than he ran 1500m! Obviously a championship race and time trial are not fair comparisons. But if winning the national championship isn’t the best measure of being able to call oneself the fastest man in the nation, then what is? It’s not fair to Piers for his claim to the throne to be called into question just because Josh didn’t want to fly in from Seattle or because the contract bonuses more generously reward running fast inside of a vacuum.
Look, I don’t blame Kerr — running 3:48 is cool as hell! Granted, we’re all sort of fast-time junkies these days. It took all of 5 minutes for my brain to start wondering why he didn’t try to run faster to break the world record. (Josh only had a rabbit through 800m in 1:56! Could Yomif Kejelcha’s 3:47.01 have fallen if Kerr had a pacer through 1200m in 2:49?)
With so much attention given to national and world records, and so little given to non-Olympic year championships, it’s safe to say that when it comes to high-profile athletes favoring the pursuit of the former, it’s the system’s fault. Look, if Steph Curry skipped the NBA Finals to post a video of him making thirty consecutive 35-foot three pointers we’d be confused as hell and Warriors fans would be irate. And in track and field, where Kerr just pulled the equivalent, we all understand why he did it.
I’m here to celebrate Josh Kerr’s amazing run. He’s very good at running and his season’s goals are much bigger than winning a national title, an accomplishment that is so common that not only did 30+ British athletes achieve it this weekend, but countless others did at their respective country’s championships. But at the same time I think Piers Copeland should stand proud and tell his neighbor, ‘YES! I am the fastest young chap in all of Great Britain!’ since he’s the one who showed up and won the race that gives him bragging rights to do so.
That’s it? 🤷♂️
As he hit the the last straightaway of the 3000m, Cole Hocker was looking around more than usual. Without his training partner in crime there by his side, there was more time to take in the sights (Cooper Teare was a late scratch with Covid). But even Hocker seemed startled at how much he was winning by!
After the field came through the first 1600m in an unremarkable 4:13 something weird happened. They didn’t really pick it up. There were some lead changes, but the pace stayed restrained. Hocker’s winning time of 7:47:50 came with a final two laps of 55.9 (29.21 - 26.69) and that was enough for him to completely run away with it.
I’m going to try and navigate this “take” delicately here, but…what happened to everyone? Only one guy ran a season’s best (Graham Crawford ran 7:51, which is 12 seconds faster than he ran in January, but he also ran 13:22 a couple weeks ago). A field of 16 professional men at the national championship just seemed to collectively struggle to close off of an extremely normal pace. I am legitimately trying to figure out how a 57.5 last quarter to run 7:49 got on the podium.
The hypocrisy of always talking about how time doesn’t matter in a championship race and then talking about the times here isn’t lost on me —however, closing hard does matter.
Here is a breakdown of how a few of the bigger names who ended up outside the medals fared at USA’s vs. earlier season performances.
Conner Mantz - 7:49.4 (57.5) vs. 7:41.4 (56.7) @ Millrose
Drew Hunter - 7:49.8 (58.0) vs. 7:42 (57.1) @ Millrose
Brian Barraza - 7:50.7 (58.5) vs. 7:45.1 (57.8) @ BU
Willy Fink - 7:52.3 (61.0) vs. 7:44.2 (58.1) @ BU
Joshua Yeager - 7:52.5 (60.2) vs. 7:46.1 (58.x) @ Husky
People have “off” races all the time, even the pros. And it’s not statistically impossible for most of an assembled field to have an off race all at once.
But things weren’t that different in the 1500m either. Cole Hocker won the race in 3:39.09 and behind him, a 27-second last lap proved enough to make the squad. It was great to see Josh Thompson finish second in 3:39.24 to make his first US team. He finished third outdoors in 2019, but didn’t have the standard and then won indoors in 2020, but there was no international team at stake. Unfortunately, with Thompson as the team’s only representative at the meet, the streak of a Bowerman athlete winning a national title at every track meet since the team’s inception in 2013 has ended.
With Hocker ultimately opting out of both the 1500 and 3000 at Worlds, it’s truly exciting to see a new slate of dudes getting to rep the US in international competition — I do think we are sending a solid team! But I don’t think the men’s distance races from this past weekend really did these guys justice, and I have some theories as to why these races didn’t pop like some of the others.
While Spokane isn’t officially at altitude, it sits close to 2,000 feet, and maybe that’s enough to make the body feel weird without getting any benefit from conversions. Perhaps it’s just a nod to how fast tracks like Boston University and The Armory can be that our concept of time is just totally warped. And most likely it’s that jostling for position and running tactically is a bit different than getting wound up by a rabbit, that the nerves that come with a championship race can sap you a bit physically as well, and Kyle is over-analyzing splits because he is trying to rationalize a world in which he could have pulled off the double.
Unasked for critiques and jokes aside, I’d always prefer to watch dudes race for a US Championship instead of making up some story about how the meet doesn’t line up with their plans for the year. Somehow four unnamed college invitationals did though?
Farewell to a legend 🇳🇿
‘We should take ownership of the integrity of our sport, and take every opportunity to learn about the rules and the structures in place to protect our sport’s integrity.’
Having won four Olympic medals (two gold), and eight world titles for her home country of New Zealand, Valerie Adams has announced her retirement. As one of only three women to have won a world championship on the youth, junior and senior levels, she has been a stalwart of the international throwing scene for a solid two decades.
Adams’ career is a testament as to why our sport is best measured by victories and medals rather than personal bests. We aren’t going to cast any stones, nor put any shots directly at anyone, but no other athlete has thrown further than Adams in the past 20 years. Ok, maybe we’ll cast one stone! Adams initially finished second at the London Olympics, but after her rival Natallia Mikhnevich of Belarus failed a test for banned substances, was upgraded to gold.
With a career best toss of 21.24m, Valerie is only ranked 22nd on the all-time shot put list. But in the eyes of 2020 Olympic silver medalist, Raven Saunders, Adams is the rightful world record holder. And we certainly won’t disagree with her long-time teammate, Nick Willis, who referred to her as the greatest shot putter of all-time. There’s a reason Adams has always been such an outspoken advocate for clean sport and doping control!
In partnership with WCH Oregon22
In 135 days the best athletes in the world will be heading to Oregon, but are you? The likes of Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Elaine Thompson-Herah and Neeraj Chopra will be competing in your backyard at the World Athletics Championships — this isn't just must-watch TV, it is a must-see LIVE event!
Catching up with Trevor Bassitt 🚧
Amongst the many Nike and Adidas uniforms at the USATF Indoor Championships was one from Ashland University. Although Trevor Bassitt is best known as a 400 meter hurdler with a personal best of 48.80, he is also fast when presented with a oval void of obstacles! On Sunday he broke the tape in 45.75 to win his first national title and qualify for the World Championships in both the open 400m and the 4x400m relay. After seeing this tweet on my timeline, I knew he was someone The Lap Count readers needed to hear more from.
Congratulations on the win this weekend! Was that your expectation going in? When you were looking at the field beforehand did you consider Brazier as a threat being such an X factor?
I felt like if I went in and ran a season's best, then I’d have a chance to win. In an absolute worst case scenario I felt like I should make the relay. When I was checking the entries I thought it was interesting, but I didn’t think about it until I watched his prelim. He was in last and then the final 200, he did what 800 runners do and finished really strong. And I was like, okay, I need to keep my eye on him to see where he's at after the first lap because I knew he wasn't going to get out as fast as me.
You obviously have no problem getting out. Could you tell me a little bit about your background and how you ended up at Ashland? I saw you ran 55 seconds for 400 meter hurdles in high school, which is obviously good, but it doesn't necessarily say, I'm going to be world class one day!
I ended up at Ashland mainly because of Coach Clark and Judd. The culture was unbelievable, but also hardly any Division 1 schools wanted me. But at Ashland I knew I could develop. I had never run the 400 hurdles before that race at nationals because we run the 300 hurdles in Ohio. It also was a month after state so I wasn’t in any sort of 400 hurdles shape. I didn’t want to do the 400 hurdles as it’s not necessarily as fun of a race to run. But my coaches kept saying that I’d be good at it so I just kept doing it and piecing it together. And now we're here.
Looking back at the Olympic Trials, you fell a bit short of making the team, but as a collegian were just happy to be there or was that a disappointing experience?
It was definitely disappointing. I went 48.80 at the beginning of June and I had the standard. I thought 48.30 was the number I’d need to make the team. But at practice that following Tuesday I had this shooting pain in both ankles. It turned out to be tendinitis — the tendon and sheath were both inflamed. My ankles were screaming, like, please stop running! So all I did for the month of June leading up to it was assault bike workouts.
I didn't run again until that day of the first round of the 400. I tried to do a shake out in the hotel parking lot the morning of the first round and was in excruciating pain. I didn’t know if I’d be able to run it. I was taking every anti-inflammatory you can think of. I warmed up in my normal running shoes, but for some reason, when I put my spikes on the pain was gone.
Maybe it was like my range of motion or something, but God helped me out. I was like, okay, I can run with little to no pain. That's all I need! I made it through the first two rounds, and by the final round, I felt good enough that I thought I could make the team. But it was the third day and I hadn’t run in forever. I left disappointed, but looking back, it's cool to be there, although I should have finished better.
With the World Championships in Eugene this year, what do you now have to do to step up to that next level? Not only in the US, but to be in the medal conversation with the likes of Karsten and Rai?
I'm very much a speed based runner. You can kind of see that this past weekend. I need to become a better hurdler. I have split 44.3. The typical buffer between your flat and hurdles time is supposed to be around like 2-2.5 seconds. And if I can get there, I’m going 47-mid, 47-low. And then I’m putting my name right in there. I need to keep getting better the second half of the race. That second curve at 200 or 300 is super tricky for me because that’s when you’re first getting tired. And if I can pick apart one microcosm of the race it’s that eighth hurdle. It freaks me out like I am going to hit someone else’s.
I’m getting excited to see you hurdle again! But first, what are your goals for World Indoors? Being the man coming out of the US Champs, I'm assuming there are medal hopes.
I've always kind of gone by the philosophy that it's not about running a personal best, it’s about who crosses the line first. The goal is to leave there with two gold medals and if I run fast times with it, awesome. If not, I won two World Championships.
You just finished your MBA and have one season of eligibility left. Scrolling through your Instagram feed it appears that you’ve taken advantage of the new NCAA NIL rules. How’s that been going?
I reached out to just about every company because the worst thing they can say is no. I have three main sponsors right now: BOSU, Breath Belt, and Vantrition. Each one is a bit different whether it’s a discount code with commission or a monthly stipend and product. It’s not too much, but it’s nice to make a little extra money as a college kid, especially as a Division II track athlete.
Hey, I saw you like my short-shorts.
Oh we do! Anytime sprinters rock a pair it wins over the distance crowd. When did that start?
I was going back and forth about it because I thought my legs were too big — I didn't know if I could pull it off. But I just said screw it and started wearing them. I love it, they’re incredible. It feels free and there is a nice breeze!
I’m not sure if I’ll wear them at Worlds because I tried on the USA speed suit at team processing and it was awesome.
An Odyssey 🌊
As the 2019 World Champion at 800m, Donavan Brazier expected to have some fun working on his speed this indoor season by focusing on the 400m. After winning his prelim on Saturday (46.68), Brazier was later told he had been disqualified for a lane infringement. However, this wasn’t communicated until the opportunity to run the 800m had passed.
After his initial appeal was denied, Brazier had a late night out, presumably enjoying the world famous Spokane nightlife. Then after failing to get on the first flight out Sunday morning, he was made aware of new video evidence that had exonerated him of any lane-based crimes. With only three hours to prepare, it took some convincing from his coach Pete Julian to still line up. But line up he did!
Donavan Brazier finished second in a new personal best of 46.14 to qualify for the World Championships. Third place finisher, Marqueze Washington shared on Twitter that he had been selected to run the open 400 in Serbia. Sources* say that Donavan Brazier will focus exclusively on the 4x400m relay.
*I asked Pete and Donavan to confirm and they did.
Rapid Fire Highlights 🔥
Ethiopia’s Yalemzerf Yehualaw broke the 10K world record by 24 seconds running 29:14 in Spain this weekend. Here is the recap of why this was so long overdue!
In what has become a recurring segment for this newsletter, Kentucky’s Abby Steiner broke her own 200m collegiate record running 22.09 at SECs. Tune in next time for more Steiner Watch updates!
After an opening 400m of 54 seconds, Yared Nuguse took a tumble in the final moments of the ACC DMR, allowing Virginia Tech to cruise past for victory.
Six men broke four minutes in the mile during the Big Ten conference meet prelims.
Continuing the trend of top-tier half-milers stepping down this season to sharpen their speed, Olympic 800m silver medalist, Keely Hodgkinson, finished second at the British Champs in the 400m (52.42).
I can’t believe the New York Times is covering #poopgate. Sources alerted The Lap Count to this story well before it went national. Apparently our editor is more stringent about what’s worth publishing than whoever they have running things over at the Gray Lady.
Yemaneberhan Crippa broke the Italian half marathon record in Napoli winning in 59:26.
The greatest threat to the United States’ 400mH dominance is the Netherlands’ Femke Bol, who just ran 50.30 to break her own national indoor 400m record.
Former Texas A&M standout Devin Dixon (1:44.76) has joined the Brooks Beasts.
Nicholas Kosimbei and Dorcas Tuitoek of Kenya won the Atlanta Half Marathon in 1:00:36 and 1:08:22, respectively.
The Australian legend, John Landy, passed away at 91 years old. He was the second man to ever break four minutes in the mile and previously held both the 1500m and mile world records.
The TEN will be streamed via PPV for $5.99 on March 5th and will feature an international star-studded field. National records will fall!
3:33/3:52 man Colby Alexander has signed a three year deal with Adidas.
We loved Jessica Beard’s post celebrating her sixth national team! She finished second in the 400m to Lynna Irby (51.88).
Lee University’s Christian Noble broke a 36 year old Division II mile record running 3:56.10. Then 90 minutes later he followed it up by breaking his own 3000m record in 7:50.98.
In response to the invasion of Ukraine, World Athletics has sanctioned the federations from Russia and Belarus (including approved neutral athletes) and the countries will be ineligible to compete in all World Athletics Series events.
And here is the final list of NCAA qualifiers!
What a magical year we have spent together! Thanks for humoring my recap and takes every Wednesday morning. Hopefully you have learned, laughed, and occasionally disagreed! If you want to take a walk down memory lane, here is the first issue of The Lap Count. Oh, how things have changed!
You have the blurb about Yalemzerf Yehualaw in the Rapid Fire Highlights twice (first and second-to-last), and they both appear to be incorrect. She ran 29:14 for a 24-second world record (old record 29:38), if this is to be believed: https://worldathletics.org/athletes/ethiopia/yalemzerf-yehualaw-14893581 Excellent newsletter!