Fast Women: Great competition in Nagoya, Natosha Rogers runs 2:23
NCAA depth, missed records, and a loss for the sport
Issue 340
Sheila Chepkirui wins in Nagoya, and Natosha Rogers PRs by 11 minutes
Sunday’s Nagoya Women’s Marathon was really fun to watch, because without other races taking place simultaneously, the coverage had a singular focus. I don’t speak Japanese, so I had no idea what the commentators were saying, but their excitement was infectious. And they got particularly excited about the Japanese athletes.
Up front, the race became a battle between Kenya’s Sheila Chepkirui, Japan’s Sayaka Sato, and Bahrain’s Eunice Chumba. Chepkirui pulled away in the last 10K and won in 2:20:40, but Sato hung on well and took second in 2:20:59. Chumba was third in 2:21:35.
It was also fun to follow Natosha Rogers throughout the race. I had seen her on the start list, but I wasn’t sure she was running, because as far as I had seen, she had not said a word about it on Instagram. She didn’t even drop any subtle hints that she was in Japan. She ran a steady pace early on and went through halfway in 1:11:19. She slowed a little bit somewhere between 30 and 35K, but she hung on and finished seventh in 2:23:51.
Rogers’ first marathon, a 2:34:51 at the Olympic Trials, wasn’t exactly representative of her potential. She took 11 minutes off of her personal best in Nagoya. It’s nice to see her give the marathon another shot after a rough debut. She’s no longer with Puma Elite, and hopefully she’ll get some additional coverage soon, so we can hear more. (Top finishers and splits)
It was harder than ever to get into the NCAA Indoor Championships
The NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships will take place Friday and Saturday in Virginia Beach. The accepted entries were published last week, and for the first time, it took a sub-2:02 800m, a sub-4:30 mile, a sub-8:50 3,000m, and a sub-15:30 5,000m to get into the meet. There was even one sub-4:30 miler who didn’t make the cut (though she made it in the 3,000m).
I gathered data about the progression of the cutoffs last year, updated it this year, and posted it on Instagram last week. I really enjoyed some of the comments, especially from now-pros who also did not make it to the NCAA indoor meet at various points.
Also, I was thrilled to see that NAU’s Ali Upshaw, whom I profiled in January, made the cut in the 5,000m after narrowly missing out last year.
This year’s meet will be fantastic. The schedule and results will soon be available here. According to this, it sounds like you will need ESPN+ to watch live, and there will be replays on ESPNU.
Mandatory sex testing, coming soon?
On February 10, World Athletics announced that they would be consulting with stakeholders about their new eligibility guidelines for competing in the women’s category. They put out a press release, which I noted at the time, and said “widespread consultation will take place with key stakeholders.”
The changes World Athletics was proposing included merging the DSD and transgender regulations, which would effectively bar DSD athletes from competing at the elite level and require sex testing for everyone who wants to compete at an elite level in the women’s category.
I thought that meant that they would be reaching out to people who compete in the women’s category, as they will be directly affected. But based on how many professional athletes were unaware of how they could submit feedback, it did not feel like a good-faith effort on World Athletics’ part.
It turned out that if you read their press release and clicked on the last word, it would take you to a page where you could download the recommendations. And then if you read to page seven of the PDF, you could find the link to submit feedback.
I became aware of this only when Dr. Sasha Gollish tagged me in an Instagram post on Tuesday night, with the deadline less than a day away. The questionnaire itself was disappointing as well. It never directly asked what athletes thought of mandatory sex testing and instead jumped to which would you prefer, a cheek swab or dry blood spot test. They also closed their form and stopped accepting feedback before their published deadline.
In a letter published by the Scandinavia Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports in November, Gollish and 23 other authors wrote that sex testing is not justified, ethical, or viable, and they outlined some of the dangers.
I don’t know where the majority of pro athletes land on this issue, but I’m not convinced any data World Athletics has collected is going to be an accurate representation. Gollish has put together a folder of resources to help educate people about sex testing, and it includes a sample letter that people can send to their national sport organizations. The World Athletics Council will be discussing the feedback at its next meeting, at the end of the month.
If a woman breaks a record and few people notice…
On the afternoon of Sunday, March 2, Heather MacLean ran a 4:17.01 mile at Boston University. That made it into last week’s newsletter. But I went looking for her 1500m split late on Sunday night, and those results still weren’t available.
Apparently that night MacLean’s coach, Mark Coogan, learned that her 1500m split was 3:59.60, which meant that she had broken Regina Jacobs’ American record, which had stood for 22 years. Jacobs tested positive for a designer steroid later that year and was revealed to be part of the BALCO doping scandal. So it’s good to see that record go. (And Coogan confirmed that MacLean was planning to get drug tested last Monday, so the record could be ratified.)
I also wrote about Taylor Roe running a 1:07:22 half marathon the same day and mentioned that the performance put her fifth on the U.S. all-time list. But because Sunday was hectic and it never occurred to me to check, I missed the fact that it was an American record for a women’s-only race. I didn’t find out about that one until I saw this post on Tuesday. Apparently some people were aware of it; it made it into the fourth paragraph of this USATF press release on Sunday, but it wasn’t widely publicized.
And three weeks ago, when Oregon’s Şilan Ayyildiz broke the collegiate record in the mile, it took the FloTrack announcers a couple of heats to catch on. I was at BU for that one. I was too busy taking photos to look at the clock, but I knew it had gone down just from watching her coach, Shalane Flanagan, and the other Oregon runners react. Two heats later, they did briefly pause the meet so Ayyildiz could pose with the clock. She knew all along, but I’m not sure many people in the crowd were aware of it when it was happening.
There are logical explanations for all of these things, but this is a recurring theme, and it doesn’t happen as often on the men’s side. Learning about a record after the fact is never as exciting, whether it’s 10 minutes or two days late. And everyone’s failure to recognize the records in the moment takes away from the excitement.
Something I’ve felt many times in attending events for the last 25 years is that there is almost always more excitement surrounding men’s records and record attempts. When a man goes after a middle-distance or distance record, facilities are more likely to be crowded, the finish area becomes more packed with young men with cameras, and more people at the venue are likely to know what the record is and recognize when it goes down.
Yared Nuguse’s mile world record attempt was the unofficial main event at the Last Chance National Qualifier at BU. He didn’t get the world or American record, but fans did get to see an American record from MacLean. They just didn’t know it at the time.
I’ve contributed to this. As I said, I should have noticed Roe’s record at the time. I’d like to see us collectively be better about knowing what the women’s records are ahead of time, knowing whether courses are record-eligible (even if they’re tough courses, like Atlanta’s), and recognizing records in real time. I hope this doesn’t come up again, but statistically speaking, it’s likely to happen again soon.
Sarah Lorge Butler leaves Runner’s World
She hasn’t made a public announcement, because that’s not her style, but I can’t let this moment pass without recognizing it. Sarah Lorge Butler, who has spent the last 12 years reporting on the sport for Runner’s World, has taken a job with a local digital news startup based in Eugene, Oregon, where she lives.
While that might occasionally involve writing about running (there’s a lot of that in Eugene), this is a big loss for the sport. There are very few running journalists, period. And even fewer who are willing to tackle serious topics. Sarah hasn’t ruled out doing some occasional freelance work, and she’ll continue to host our podcast, Fast People, and edit this newsletter. But Sarah leaving Runner’s World means we’re all going to be less well informed about running.
I think back to a recent episode of the Nobody Asked Us podcast where, in discussing Nike’s Swoosh TC announcement, Des Linden said, “It will be fun, and interesting, to watch, follow, and see if Sarah Lorge Butler drops more knowledge on us.” Kara Goucher replied, laughing, “I know, give us some more, give us some more deets, Sarah.” We’re mostly going to have to rely on someone else to get the deets now, sadly.
Recently, Sarah has reported on the role of agents in professional running, broke the news that Mike Smith was leaving NAU to become a Nike coach and later provided more details. (Fun fact: She and Smith went to the same high school, though they didn’t overlap.) In writing about Parker Valby, Sarah pointed out that NIL deals include right-to-match clauses. She also had the best info when Valby signed with New Balance. As mentioned above, she shared some interesting details about the Swoosh TC when that was finally announced. She also broke the news that Matt Choi was banned from the New York City Marathon.
Over the years, Sarah has reported on Max Siegel making $3.8 million, written about the criminal investigation into the financial relationship between USATF and Nike, the B.A.A.’s semi-secret membership organization, and workplace issues at NYRR. She wrote about soapy sponges and the lack of water at the 2016 Olympic Trials. She broke the news that Smith would be Galen Rupp’s new coach. She also wrote a lot of lighthearted pieces, like this one about Craig Engels and his mullet.
And as someone who has had Sarah as an editor for 10 years, I know what an incredible job she does in that role, too. She edited Cindy Kuzma’s reporting on the CU investigation and top college programs moving away from body composition testing. She also helped edit Kit Fox’s 2016 piece on people cheating to get into the Boston Marathon.
I could go on. It’s a sad day for running journalism, but I’m really lucky that I get to continue working with Sarah.
Other News and Links
In their latest YouTube video, Nikki Hiltz goes into detail about their decision to stay with Lululemon and be coached by Juli Benson. I thought it was interesting that both Hiltz and their previous coach, Mike Smith, initially thought they would be able to continue working together when he committed to becoming a Nike coach. (I knew from Sarah’s reporting that there was initially confusion over that, but I didn’t realize they were among the confused.) I was also interested to learn that Benson is already coaching Hiltz’s partner, Emma Gee. (And apparently Colleen Quigley now, too. I already knew about Madie Boreman.) And Hiltz and Gee confirmed that they will remain in Flagstaff. But there are lots of good details in the video, so I highly recommend watching.
Last Sunday, the U.S. held its selection race for the World Athletics Road Running Championships, which were to take place in San Diego at the end of September. Three days later, World Athletics announced without any explanation that the event would no longer be taking place in San Diego. This article from Ken Stone has the most information, but still no concrete explanation. The U.S. invested a lot into its selection races this year, and I’m assuming that’s partially because the championship was a home event. This takes a little wind out of the sails of the 1 Mile and 5K selection events, scheduled for April 22 and May 3, respectively. Hopefully World Athletics will announce the new location and date of the championship soon.
Des Linden and Kara Goucher have been teasing their 10,000m race at Mt. SAC for a while now, but last week, they officially announced the event, which will take place on May 3. I appreciate the detail that all high school students get free admission to the event. They’re offering $25,000 in prize money, with $5,000 for the winners. There’s a virtual race that anyone can sign up for and it’s going to be interesting to see who takes advantage of this opportunity. The USATF 5K Championships are the same day, and it’s TBD how much one will affect the other.
This is a nice TV interview with Joetta Clark Diggs about her recent American age-group record in the 200m.
She hasn’t posted about it as of Sunday night, but her friends have. Athing Mu got married on Saturday.
Italy’s Eleonora Curtabbi, who was a DII standout for West Texas A&M, has signed with On and joined the Union Athletics Club.
Andrew Greif wrote about bicarb for NBC News. (And if you’re wondering what bicarb is, this is a good starter article.)
Emilia Benton wrote about Aliphine Tuliamuk for Outside Run and the detail in there that I hadn’t seen elsewhere is that now that she’s with Brooks, she plans to spend more time training in Kenya.
This article about American University’s track team showing support for the trans community while competing at Liberty University was nice, but I’m including it because it’s the first time I’ve heard of a nonbinary track & field coach in Division I. I imagine there are others, but this was the first time I’ve seen it come up. The NCAA publishes demographics data on coaches and athletes, and as of last year, the did not a include nonbinary category.
Thanks to a $100 million donation, starting in 2026 and going through at least 2032, every U.S. Olympic and Paralympic athlete will receive $200,000 in financial benefits for each Games in which they compete.
Femke Bol returns, Agathe Guillemot surprises, and Sarah Healy gets Ireland’s first gold
Femke Bol of the Netherlands announced in January that she would be sitting out the indoor season, to give herself a bit of a break. But the one exception to that was that she wanted to run the European Indoor Championships, which took place in Apeldoorn, in her home country.
On the opening and closing days of the meet, Bol anchored the Netherlands to gold in both the mixed 4x400 and the women’s 4x400m relays. No rust to bust there. And I love the detail that when this meet was held in Amsterdam in 2016, Bol, then 16, volunteered as a ticket taker.
France’s Agathe Guillemot is hardly an unknown. She ran 3:56 at the Olympic Games and finished ninth in the final. But Georgia Hunter Bell (who added the Hunter when she got married in October) was the favorite heading into the 1500m final, so it was a surprise when Guillemot went by her on the final turn and powered to a 4:07.23 win. Hunter Bell ended up fourth and later said she was dealing with an ear infection.
On the final day of the meet, Sarah Healy became the first Irish woman to win gold at the European Indoor Championships when she kicked past Great Britain’s Melissa Courtney-Bryant to win the 3,000 meters, 8:52.86 to 8:52.92. Poland’s Anna Wielgosz won the 800m in 2:02.09. (Results | 1500m replay | mixed 4x400m replay | final day highlights)
Additional Results
Ethiopia’s Tsige Gebreselama won Sunday’s Lisbon Half Marathon in 1:04:21, a 53-second personal best. Moments after she crossed the finish line, she threw up. As one of the Grand Slam Track racers, she’ll be dropping down in distance soon. Kenya’s Ruth Chepngetich finished second in a perfectly respectable 1:06:20, but since running the marathon world record last October, she hasn’t been able to hit her marathon pace in any of the shorter races she has done. But she still has seven weeks until the London Marathon. Abeba Aregawi finished third in a Swedish record of 1:06:36. (Race replay | Results)
Georgia Griffith ran 2:34.50 in the 1,000m at the Box Hill Burn and shaved 0.13 seconds off of the Australian record that Abbey Caldwell set in 2023. Eleanor Fulton, who is spending some time in Australia, finished second in 2:41.17. Taylor Werner won the 5,000m in 15:44.41. (Results)
The ACC Indoor Track & Field Championships ended last Monday, and I was particularly impressed by the conference’s depth in the mile and the 800m. The meet record in the mile was previously 4:33.80, but Virginia’s Margot Appleton (4:26.21), Clemson’s Judy Kosgei (4:26.32), and NC State’s Grace Hartman (4:26.82) all smashed it. Stanford’s Roisin Willis led the way in the 800m (2:01.31), and Clemson’s Gladys Chepngetich (2:01.39), NC State’s Makayla Paige (2:01.50), and Miami’s Gabriella Grissom (2:01.60) also impressed. And Stanford’s Sophia Kennedy won the 3,000m in 8:47.38. (Results)
Keira D’Amato ran the River City Half Marathon in Richmond, Virginia, as a workout, and won it in 1:13:56. (Results)
Podcast Highlights
I’m excited for tomorrow’s episode of the Fast People podcast; make sure you’re subscribed so it will show up in your queue.
I thought New Balance Boston’s Millie Paladino was excellent on The Injured Athletes Club podcast. I’ve been curious about what happened to her for a while now, and this episode had all the answers. People who go through a lot of tough stuff (and therapy) often accumulate a lot of wisdom, and Paladino had many insightful things to say. I also appreciated the crash course on the different types of Haglund’s surgeries, and the explanation of why some people come back relatively quickly and others don’t.
It was fun to hear from Tristin Colley on the Ali on the Run Show, and I appreciate that her offhand comment about Amanda Vestri running 6:40 pace on her easy days sparked a few amusing exchanges after the fact in their Instagram stories. (Vestri denies this is the case.)
I appreciated getting a Molly Huddle update on Hear Her Sports. She said she still has a contract with Saucony at the ambassador level, her second child is due in May, she’s hoping to get back to racing by the fall, and she’s hoping to avoid injury this time. And I appreciated how frank she was, because I’m sure others experience this as well. “You do definitely notice, as you get into semi-retirement and retirement as an athlete, just how steeply your value drops,” she said. “People are just like not even answering you anymore.”
It was good to learn a little more about Taylor Roe on Citius Mag. “I will not be running a marathon for a while,” she said. “I will go down kicking and screaming.”
Jess McClain talked more about how she started working with coach David Roche on Hurdle. (She was also on The Running Effect last week.)
On Unexpected Curves, Kate Grace said she’s studying for the exam that will allow her to become a registered financial advisor.
On The Fueling Forward Podcast, Allie Ostrander talked about eating disorder recovery and said that she thinks about 80 percent of her college team was struggling with disordered eating. It was interesting to hear her speak in more detail about essentially going straight from eating disorder treatment to the 2021 Olympic T&F Trials.
On The Lane 9 Podcast, Neely Spence Gracey talked about how her relationship with running has changed over time, and her two quite different postpartum experiences. I also appreciated what she had to say about what she got out of running in Division II collegiately, because there are a lot of good collegiate running experiences to be had outside of Division I.
On I’ll Have Another, Calli Hauger-Thackery told a story about Sara Hall throwing up the first time they worked out together, but still coming back for future workouts. I also appreciated that she spoke honestly about her past experiences with various coaches.
Lauren Gregory was on Lactic Acid and she talked a little about leaving New Hampshire.
Additional Episodes: Erika Kemp on Keeping Track | Innes FitzGerald on Fitter, Faster, and Happier | Maia Ramsden on Coffee Club (I thought the most interesting parts came after the 51 minute mark.) | Ida Nilsson on The Trail Network Podcast
I’m all out of words. Thanks to all of you who support this newsletter via Venmo or Patreon. I hope you all have the best week possible.
Alison
Lovely tribute to Sarah 🫶
Thanks for the section on Sarah Lorge Butler. Her contribution to running journalism has been significant, and will be missed. I’m so glad she’s still editing Fast Women. Also, the first two episodes of the podcast have been terrific.