Running News Daily

Olympic silver medalist Christine Mboma to undergo hormone therapy

Last week, World Athletics, the global governing body of track and field, announced new regulations to their DSD athletes competition policy, which requires all female athletes with differences of sexual development to reduce their testosterone to not more than 2.5 nmol/L for a minimum of 24 months to be allowed to compete internationally in the female category in any event. According to The Namibian, one such athlete who has achieved prominence, Tokyo 200m Olympic medallist Christine Mboma of Namibia, intends to undergo hormone therapy to continue her career in athletics. 

The new rule reduces the acceptable maximum testosterone limit to half of the previous limit, for twice the length of time.

In an extensive interview with The Namibian, Mboma’s coach, Henk Botha said, “We’ve had disappointments and some obstacles in the past. There’s not a lot that we can do as Namibians, we’ll have to take this one on the chin and do our best to get Christine back on the track.” 

“The one option is to stop with athletics, and the other is to go to court. Then, the third option is to reduce the levels,” said Botha. “The first two were never on our table, since we don’t have the money to go to court, and halting athletics is not something that Christine wants to do. She’s 19 and has a great career in front of her.”

The harsh alternative DSD athletes are faced with is to quit the sport altogether.

Athletics Namibia said they fully support Mboma, describing WA’s new DSD athlete requirements as “discriminatory, unfair, stigmatizing and not safeguarding all women in sport.” 

Mboma is one of five prominent DSD athletes who are or were at the top of their event in the last five years. Others are two-time Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya, 2021 Diamond League champion and 2,000m world record holder Francine Niyonsaba, Nigeria’s Aminatou Seyni and Mboma’s Namibian compatriot, Beatrice Masilingi.

Mboma, who started her career as a 400m runner, has been forced to transition down to the 200m, due to WA limitations barring DSD athletes from racing events between the 400 and the mile.

The new rules will apply across all track events as of April 1, with all five athletes ineligible to compete under the new DSD regulations in major international competitions like the Diamond League and World Championships. All qualified athletes will be eligible for the 2024 Olympic Games provided they are able to maintain their hormone levels over the next 18 months.

Burundi’s Niyonsaba has been quiet on the World Athletics ruling, posting on her Instagram three days after the WA decision, “It’s time to build and achieve progress.” Niyonsaba took the silver medal in the women’s 800m at the Rio Olympics and has since moved up to the 5,000 and 10,000, running her first half-marathon earlier this month in Lisbon in a national record for Burundi of 68:45.

“Every athlete is built differently and has different advantages and disadvantages,” said Botha. “Instead of pointing out our differences, we should be proud that we are all different.”

WXC Bathurst 23 senior women's preview: Gidey goes for gold against tough opposition

Had the World Athletics Cross Country Championships Bathurst 23 gone ahead in 2021 as originally planned, there’s a strong chance that Letesenbet Gidey would already be a world champion at the discipline.

The Ethiopian was in sensational form in 2020 and 2021, setting world records of 14:06.62 for 5000m and 29:01.03 for 10,000m. She had to settle for bronze at the Olympic Games at the longer event, but she prioritized global honors over records in 2022 and was rewarded with her first world title on the track, winning the 10,000m in Oregon in a nail-biting race.

The 24-year-old is now focused on winning her first individual senior world cross-country title. She won back-to-back U20 crowns in 2015 and 2017, joining an elite club of athletes to achieve the feat, alongside Faith Kipyegon and Genzebe Dibaba.

Gidey finished third in the senior women’s race in 2019 and earned gold in the team competition, but this time she heads to Bathurst as one of the big favorites.

If her performance at the Jan Meda Cross Country – Ethiopia’s trial event for the World Cross – is anything to go by, Gidey is certainly in form to challenge for gold in Bathurst. In that race back on 1 January, she bided her time until the last kilometer of the race and then soon opened up a gap of about 20 seconds on a strong domestic field.

It looked as though she was running within herself, too.

As much as individual glory will be Gidey’s biggest goal on Saturday, she will also want to earn gold in the team standings, and Ethiopia will once again be in with a great shout of doing exactly that.

Gete Alemayehu, who has a 1:06:37 half marathon PB, was second in the trial race, just ahead of 30:06.01 10,000m performer Tsigie Gebreselama, bronze medalist in the U20 race in Aarhus in 2019. Fellow Ethiopian Fotyen Tesfaye just missed out on a top-10 placing in Aarhus, so will be keen to improve on that in Bathurst.

But Gidey and her Ethiopian compatriots won’t have an easy ride, as they’ll be up against someone who is undefeated in international cross-country races for more than a year.

Eritrea’s Rahel Daniel has dominated the World Athletics Cross Country Tour and currently tops the season standings thanks to her three victories last month. She won at the prestigious Campaccio meeting in San Giorgio su Legnano, then two days later triumphed in Elgoibar, winning by eight seconds. More recently she won in Hannut, racing in heavy snow, showing she can cope well in any conditions.

Daniel enjoyed a successful 2022 campaign on the track, setting national records for 5000m (14:36.66) and 10,000m (30:12.15), the latter when placing fifth at the World Championships in Oregon.

But the 21-year-old is clearly more at home on cross country, and despite this being her World Cross debut, Daniel will have high hopes for a podium finish.

Beatrice Chebet is just as formidable an opponent, though. The Kenyan took 5000m silver at the World Championships last year and won the U20 women’s title at the 2019 World Cross in Aarhus. She is also the African, Commonwealth and Diamond League 5000m champion, and is a former world U20 champion on the track.

She has raced just twice in cross-country events since the end of the track season, but won both of her races. She won by 13 seconds in Atapuerca in November and by 15 seconds at the Cinque Mulini in January.

In the absence of Chebet at the Kenyan trials, teenager Grace Loibach Nawowuna was a surprising winner of the senior women’s race, beating Olympic semifinalist Edinah Jebitok by four seconds. The Kenyan team also includes two-time world cross-country champion Emily Chebet and Agnes Ngetich.

Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba missed the peak of the 2022 track season through injury, but still managed to win three races on the Wanda Diamond League circuit, and then triumphed at the Venta de Banos Cross Country in December. In her latest appearance, though, she was a distant fifth in Elgoibar, some 47 seconds behind Daniel.

Stella Chesang, the 2018 Commonwealth 10,000m champion, was a dominant winner of the recent Ugandan Cross Country Championships and is keen to improve on her 21st-place finish from the 2019 World Cross. She is joined on the Ugandan team by world U20 5000m bronze medallist Prisca Chesang.

Olympic finalist Nozomi Tanaka, who holds national records for 1000m, 1500m and 3000m, leads the Japanese team. The 2018 world U20 3000m champion placed 39th at the last World Cross when she was still just 19 years of age, so she’ll be hoping for a higher position this time. Ririka Hironaka, who earned U20 team bronze in 2019, will also be flying the Japanese flag in Bathurst.

Ednah Kurgat and Weini Kelati feature on the US team, while Australia’s Rose Davies and Leanne Pompeani will aim to give the home crowd something to cheer for. Other contenders include Canada’s Regan Yee, Mexico’s Laura Galvan, and Britain’s Abbie Donnelly.

Ugandans Joshua Cheptegei and Prisca Chesang reign in Madrid

Two-time world 10,000m champion Joshua Cheptegei and Ugandan compatriot Prisca Chesang were victorious at the San Silvestre Vallecana, a World Athletics Elite Label road race, in ideal conditions in Madrid on Saturday (31).

The men's 10km race had been billed as a thrilling encounter between world 10,000m record-holder Cheptegei and Spain's world 1500m bronze medalist Mohamed Katir. The Ugandan star, who hadn’t competed since the World Championships in Oregon, took command of the pacing duties right from the start and his swift early pace could only be followed by Katir, his compatriot Jesús Ramos and Italy's Ilias Aouani.

The first kilometer, which includes an uphill section of about 350 meters, was covered by the lead quartet in 2:41. The speed then increased over the second kilometer, covered in 2:36 for a 5:17 2km split, with Cheptegei always at the helm. During the third kilometer the two Spaniards briefly took the lead to reach 3km in 8:00, a pace which proved too fast for Aouani.

Over the following kilometers, Katir and Cheptegei ran absolutely even, none of them ahead of the other and the tandem went through halfway in a brisk 13:16, still with Ramos for company. Ramos began to fade about 200 meters later and the race became a fascinating clash between Cheptegei and Katir.

The Ugandan, who holds the second ever quickest 10km performance of all time (26:38), tried to get rid of Katir after reaching 7km in 18:35, but the 24-year-old Spaniard remained in close attendance. The key move came with the clock reading 20:45, shortly before the 8km checkpoint, when Cheptegei finally managed to open up a gap of a few seconds over the Spaniard.

The Kapchorwa native progressively extended his lead over the ninth kilometer – the toughest of the race – and then cruised home in 27:09, the fifth quickest performance in Madrid, to finish 10 seconds ahead of Katir while Ramos managed to keep his chasing Spaniards at bay to finish third in 27:52.

“I knew Katir was going to be a tough rival since he has improved a lot over the last few seasons,” said Cheptegei. “Today's race was my first competition in more than five months so my only target was to regain sensations. Of course I also wanted to win so I’m leaving Madrid delighted.”

Chepetegi confirmed that he plans to defend his world cross-country title in Bathurst on 18 February and that he’ll likely make his marathon debut after the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Following the last-minute withdrawal of pre-race favorite Tsehay Gemechu, the early stages of the women's race became a three-way battle between world U20 5000m bronze medalist Prisca Chesang, Burundi's Francine Niyonsaba and Kenya's world steeplechase record-holder Beatrice Chepkoech. That trio covered the opening kilometers at 2:56/km pace, reaching 3km in 8:44, then the Ugandan teenager broke away from her rivals. By midway (14:29) she was six seconds ahead of Chepkoech, herself another 11 seconds clear of Niyonsaba.

The leader maintained her rhythm over the following kilometers but her pursuers' pace decreased. With a quarter of the race to go, Chesang's advantage on Chepkoech had grown to 18 seconds.

At the tape, Chesang was timed at 30:19, the third quickest performance here, bettered only by Brigid Kosgei (29:54) and Hellen Obiri (29:59) in 2018. Further back, Niyonsaba overtook a fading Chepkpech on the last uphill section to take the runner-up place in 30:58 to Chepkoech's 31:06.

Leading results

Men

1 Joshua Cheptegei (UGA) 27:09

2 Mohamed Katir (ESP) 27:19

3 Jesús Ramos (ESP) 27:52

4 Sergio Paniagua (ESP) 28:00

5 Aaron Las Heras (ESP) 28:04

6 Carlos Mayo (ESP) 28:04

7 Ignacio Fontes (ESP) 28:06

8 Carlos Díaz (ESP) 28:08

9 Nassim Hassaous (ESP) 28:13

10 Juan Anronio Pérez (ESP) 28:18.

Women

1 Prisca Chesang (UGA) 30:19

2 Francine Niyonsaba (BDI) 30:58

3 Beatrice Chepkoech (KEN) 31:06

4 Mahelet Mulugeta (ETH) 31:57

5 Naima Ait Alibou (ESP) 32:36

6 Laura Priego (ESP) 32:49

7 Nina Chydenius (FIN) 32:51

8 Laura Luengo (ESP) 32:53

9 Laura Méndez (ESP) 33:06

10 Clara Viñarás (ESP) 33:54.

Chepkoech is set to compete at San Silvestre Vallecana 10k road race

World 3000m steeplechase record holder Beatrice Chepkoech will be lining up against a competitive field at the San Silvestre Vallecana, a New Year’s Eve 10 km road race in Madrid, Spain.

Chepkoech temporarily leaves the track to compete at the world's best 10K and victory will be another milestones in her many achievements. Besides her 2019 World Championships gold, she is also a nine-time Diamond League winner.

However, the iconic race has also attracted other elite athletes including Africa 10,000m champion Tsehay Gemechu from Ethiopia and Francine Niyonsaba, the 2016 and 2018 World 800m indoor champion.

Brigid Kosgei holds the women's course record with 29:54 from 2019. She set the milestone just a few months before achieving her unbelievable and still-standing world marathon record of 2:14:04.

Gemechu comes to the race to extend the Ethiopian winning streak after Yalemzerf Yehualaw and Degitu Azimeraw won the previous two editions. She placed fourth in the 5,000m at the 2019 World Championships and finished sixth at the 2019 World Cross Country Championships.

Niyonsaba, who has been enjoying road race and cross-country success, will also be looking to shine in Madrid. Most recently, Niyonsaba won the Banos International Sales Cross Country. She holds a very fast 5, 000m personal best at 14:25.34 from last year.

The women's elite field will also have Prisca Chesang, the 19-year-old Olympian from Uganda who won the U20 world bronze medal at 5,000m this year, and Mahlet Mulugeta, the Ethiopian.

10 years later: Pamela Jelimo to receive London Olympics bronze

Though out of the public limelight, the history-making Pamela Jelimo is still winning.

Jelimo, the first Kenyan woman to win an Olympic gold medal with her exploits in 800m at the 2008 Beijing Summers Games, is set to receive yet another medal.

Jelimo, the 2008 Africa 800m and 2012 World Indoor 800m champion, who finished fourth in one minute and 57.59 second set to benefit after race winner Mariya Savinova from Russia, was stripped of the gold medal for doping.

Jelimo, who celebrated her 32nd birthday on December 5, is set to receive her bronze medal from the 2012 London Olympic Games on Wednesday at the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOC-K) office, Gallant House, Nairobi.

Legendary Kipchoge Keino, who is an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member alongside NOC-K president, Paul Tergat, will preside over the presentation ceremony.   

South Africa’s Caster Semenya and another Russian Ekaterina Poistogova, who had settled for silver and bronze, were scaled to gold and silver with their times of 1:57.23 and 1:57.53 respectively.

Kenya’s 2007 World 800m champion Janeth Jepkosgei, who had settled eighth in the race in 2:00.19 and Hellen Obiri, who came eighth in women’s 1,500m at the same Olympics, will receive their certificates.

Another Russian Elena Arzhakova, who finished sixth in 1:59.21 in the same race was also banned for having doped too.

With Savinova and Arzhakova banned, Jepkosgei, who had settled eighth in the race in 2:00.19 was upgraded to sixth.

On November 9, 2015, the Independent Commission Investigation of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) asked for a lifetime ban for doping for Savinova, who had won gold and Poistogova, who had won bronze.

In February 2017, it was announced that Savinova was stripped of her gold medal but Poistogova was suspended in 2017 for two years, backdated to October 2014. Her London result, though, was not affected.

Alysia Johnson Montaño (1:57.93) from the United States of America and Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba (1:59.63) finished fourth and fifth in the women’s 800m final.

A record four athletes that finished ahead of Obiri, who had settled 12th, were suspended for doping- Aslı Çakır Alptekin and Gamze Bulut from Turkey, who had won gold and silver respectively, Natallia Kareiva of Belarus, who had finished fifth and Russian Yekaterina Kostetskaya, who came sixth.

Maryam Yusuf Jamal (Bahrain), Tatyana Tomashova (Russia) and Abeba Aregawi (Ethiopia) were all scaled to gold, silver and bronze.

Aregwai, who changed allegiance to Sweden was suspended for doping in 2016.

This is the second time Olympics medals or certificates are being awarded in Kenya years later.

Asbel Kiprop received his gold medal from the 2008 Beijing Olympics in Nairobi in 2011 after the winner,  Rashid Ramzi , was flagged down for doping.

Kenyan Faith Kipyegon sets record in Eugene Diamond League

Two-time Olympic gold medallist Faith Kipyegon of Kenya ran a world-lead time as she won the 1500m race in Saturday's Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon in USA.

Kipyegon timed 3:52.59 on a night where Trayvon Bromell and Elaine Thompson-Herah grabbed 100m victories as eight world-leading performances highlighted the action at Hayward Field.

Kipyegon’s time was the ninth fastest in the 1500m history. She beat Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay who finished second in 3mins and 54.29secs.

Kipyegon, who trains in Kaptagat, Elgeyo Marakwet County, finished second in the 3000m in the season-opening Doha leg behind Burundi's Francine Niyonsaba.

America's Bromell, the fastest man in the world last year, bounced back from a false start disqualification in Birmingham last weekend to win a star-studded men's 100m in 9.93sec.

Jamaica's Thompson-Herah, who won back-to-back Olympic 100m-200m doubles in 2016 and last year, captured the women's 100m in 10.79.

Neither was a world best for 2022, but Thompson-Herah said she was just pleased to hit the line first and healthy on a rainy day in Eugene at the same venue that will host the World Championships on July 15-24.

"I'm excited I crossed the line healthy," Thompson-Herah said. "I don't care about the time. The rain was falling. It was a little cold.

"It shows I'm on a great path," added the Jamaican star, who pulled out of the Birmingham Diamond League meeting with a shoulder injury, testing herself in a lower-level meeting in Kingston last Saturday instead.

Prefontaine Classic promises world record attempts and rich competition despite late losses

It is a measure of Eugene’s Prefontaine Classic meeting - which tomorrow forms the third stop on the Wanda Diamond League tour - that it can lose four Olympic gold medalists at late notice and still remain packed with compelling competition and world record attempts.

The arrangement of all that athletics action was altered today following forecasts of rain and high winds - likely to be blowing into the faces of the sprinters - on Saturday.

Accordingly the men's pole vault, featuring Olympic gold and silver medalists Mondo Duplantis of Sweden and Chris Nilsen of the United States, the women's discus, featuring the US Olympic champion Valarie Allman, and the women's high jump, involving Ukraine's world indoor champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh, have been moved to Friday night's programme, where world record attempts are being made over two miles and 5,000 meters.

The news that the United States' Olympic women’s 800 meters champion Athing Mu will not now race against Britain’s Tokyo 2020 silver medalist Keely Hodgkinson, and that Italy’s men’s 100m champion Marcell Jacobs will not be in a field including the man he beat to gold in Japan, home sprinter Fred Kerley, was disappointing.

Also missing from the planned line-up at the new-look Hayward Field, which will stage this year’s World Athletics Championships, are home talents Matthew Centrowitz, the Rio 2016 1500m gold medalist, Tokyo 2020 and world 400m hurdles silver medalist Rai Benjamin and double world pole vault champion Sam Kendricks.

And South Africa’s double Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya, who had planned a first top-level race since 2019, has also withdrawn.

All this means the limelight will shine all the more intensely on stellar performers such as Jamaica’s double Olympic women’s 100 and 200m champion Elaine Thompson-Herah, who runs over the shorter sprint against a field including the American who missed last year’s Olympics because of a three-month suspension after testing positive for cannabis, Sha’Carri Richardson.

Britain’s world 200m champion Dina Asher-Smith, who last Saturday won the Birmingham Diamond League 100m from which Thompson-Herah had made a late withdrawal, is also in the mix, as is Switzerland’s world indoor 60m champion Mujinga Kambundji and Jamaica’s Tokyo 2020 bronze medalist Shericka Jackson.

Thompson-Herah chose to make a low-key start to her outdoor season, choosing to compete in Kingston, where she clocked 10.94sec despite a strong headwind of -1.8 meters per second.

It was on this track last year that she ran 10.54, putting her second on the all-time list.

The men’s 100m is also loaded given the presence of Kerley and his fellow Americans Trayvon Bromell, who will be keen to restore normal working after his early exit in Birmingham because of a false start, world champion Christian Coleman, world 200m champion Noah Lyles and Canada’s Olympic 200m champion Andre De Grasse.

And 18-year-old Erriyon Knighton, who last year became the youngest male athlete to represent the United States since middle distance runner Jim Ryun in 1964 and missed a 200m medal by one place, will seek to break 10sec for the first time.

Knighton already tops this year’s 200m world list with his startling 19.49sec in Baton Rouge last month, which put him fourth on the all-time list.

The women’s 200m will see double Olympic 400m champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo taking on Jamaica’s 35-year-old Beijing 2008 and London 2012 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who won world gold at this distance in 2013 and took silver at the London 2012 Olympics.

The men’s 400m will see Kirani James of Grenada, the London 2012 champion and Tokyo 2020 bronze medalist, take on home athletes including Michael Cherry, Michael Norman – a major talent currently seeking a performance to do himself justice - Vernon Norwood and Kahmari Montgomery.

The absence of Benjamin from the 400m hurdles will offer Brazil’s Tokyo 2020 bronze medalist Alison Dos Santos - who beat Benjamin in the opening Diamond League meeting of the season in Doha – a perfect chance to shine,

In the women’s 100m hurdles, Puerto Rico’s Olympic champion takes on the American who took silver behind her in Tokyo, world record holder Kendra Harrison.

The traditional Friday evening distance racing in Eugene will include a women’s two miles and a women’s and men’s 5000m race.

At the latter, which will be followed by an official Diamond League 5,000m on Saturday, Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei is billed to make an attempt at breaking his own world record of 12min 35.36sec, which he ran in Monaco in August 2020.

On Saturday afternoon the majority of the rivals Cheptegei beat to win Olympic 5,000m gold in Tokyo last year will line up for the Diamond League 5.000m, where Olympic 10,000m champion Selemon Barega of Ethiopia, Olympic 10,000m bronze medalist Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda, Olympic 5,000m silver Mohammed Ahmed of Canada and two-time Olympic 5,000m medalist Paul Chelimo of the United States are the main contenders.

Friday night will also see Ethiopia’s 24-year-old Letesenbet Gidey aiming to lower the women’s 5000m world record of 14:06.62 that she set in Valencia in October 2020.

Gidey has since lowered the women’s 10,000m world record to 29min 01.03sec and the world half marathon record to 1hr 2min 52sec.

Elsewhere on Friday, the women’s two miles will see Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands, the Olympic 5,000 and 10,000m champion, facing Diamond League 5,000m champion Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi.

The latter, who was disqualified at the Tokyo 2020 Games, beat Kenya’s double Olympic 1500m champion Faith Kipyegon over 3,000m in Doha earlier this month.

The world best of 8:58.58, set by Ethiopia’s Meseret Defar in 2007, is sure to be under threat.

Saturday’s middle-distance action will be highlighted by the clash of Olympic 1500m champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen and world champion Timothy Cheruiyot, who renew their rivalry in the Bowerman Mile. 

Ingebrigtsen beat Cheruiyot for the first time in the Olympic final in Tokyo last year but the Kenyan beat his Norwegian rival a few weeks later to win over 1500m at the Diamond League final in Zurich.

Both men will need to be primed, however, to beat Kenya’s Abel Kipsang, who out-kicked Cheruiyot to win in Doha recently and who backed it up with 1500m victory in Birmingham last Sunday.

Kipyegon meanwhile will take on Britain’s Tokyo 2020 silver medalist Laura Muir and Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia in the women’s 1500m.

Hodgkinson faces an 800m field that includes home runner Ajee Wilson, who took the world indoor title earlier this year.

The men’s shot put will involve the respective Tokyo 2020 gold, silver and bronze medalists Ryan Crouser and Joe Kovacs of the United States and New Zealand’s Tom Walsh.

Pre Classic Hit With Withdrawals: Olympic Champs Athing Mu, Marcell Jacobs and Matthew Centrowitz All Withdraw From Meet

Every year the Prefontaine Classic is an incredible meet. Not only is it the lone Wanda Diamond League meeting in the US, but Nike pretty much mandates that its top athletes compete unless injured.

This year’s meet was shaping up to be totally spectacular as it comes less than two months before Worlds are held on the very same track. However, while the meet is going to be amazing, it’s going to be less than amazing than it was looking like a few days ago as a bunch of big-name stars have been taken off the start lists in recent days.

Reigning Olympic 800 champ Athing Mu is no longer listed in the women’s 800. The same is true for Marcell Jacobs in the men’s 100, which this year is supplanting the Bowerman Mile as the last event on the schedule. However, he has been replaced by Trayvon Bromell –the fastest man in the world in 2021. 2016 Olympic 1500 champ Matthew Centrowitz also is off the start lists, meaning he still hasn’t raced at all in 2022.

“Matthew has a knee injury and is unable to race this weekend. Hopefully, he will be back in action soon,” texted Ricky Simms, the agent for Centrowitz, when asked for comment by LetsRun.com.

The Italian federation said that Jacobs picked up a muscle injury during his race in Savona last week and has been told to take 10 days off. No reasons have been given for Mu’s withdrawal and Wes Felix, her agent, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Friday night, the US 10,000 meter champs will be held plus there will be world record attempts in the women’s 2 mile with Francine Niyonsaba and Sifan Hassan as well as 5000s with Letesenbet Gidey and Joshua Cheptegei. Then on Saturday, the normal meet will be held.

Canadian Brandon McBride joins Oregon Track Club Elite

Canadian 800m record holder Brandon McBride has parted ways with his former collegiate coach, Chris Woods, and will be joining Oregon Track Club Elite (OTC) for the 2022 season.

McBride will be joining fellow Canadian middle-distance runner William Paulson and the third-fastest 800m runner of all-time (1:41.73), Botswana’s Nijel Amos, who was second to the great David Rudisha at the 2012 London Olympics. “I am looking forward to this exciting opportunity with OTC,” McBride says. “They have a great middle-distance group.”

The Windsor, Ont. native holds a personal best time of 1:43.20, which is the fastest 800m time ever run by a Canadian. McBride has battled injuries in the last two seasons, which led him to a disappointing finish at the Tokyo Olympics.

Since the Tokyo Olympics, Mcbride has been driven on getting back to 100 per cent “I have my eyes on a return for the outdoor season,” he says.

He will now be coached by Mark Rowland, who has had a lot of success working with middle-distance runners Francine Niyonsaba, Ben Blankenship, Hanna Green and Amos.

For the past five years, McBride was sponsored by Adidas, training under his old collegiate coach at Mississippi State University, with fellow Canadian 800m runner Marco Arop, who came off a career-best season on the Diamond League, with five podium finishes.

McBride is a two-time Olympian (2016 and 2020) and a World Championship finalist (2017).

IOC plans to move away from its current approach to protect and promote intersex and transgender athletes due to conflicting opinions

The International Olympic Committee has delayed its decision on addressing the fairness and inclusion of women’s sports at the Olympic Games, and the protection of transgender athletes during competition.

The IOC wanted to reach a decision before the 2022 Winter Games, but it has now been delayed due to conflicting opinions.

The news was revealed by the IOC’s Science and Medical Director, Dr. Richard Budgett, who wants to prioritize inclusion for international sports federations.

The current guideline from 2015 states that trans-women can compete in the women’s category if they choose to reduce their testosterone levels for 12 months below 10 nanomoles per litre.

However, for the IOC to protect the human rights of an intersex or transgender athlete during competition, the policy needs to shift.

In Tokyo 2020, DSD-athlete Christine Mboma and Francine Niyonsaba had to compete outside of their middle distance events due to high testosterone regulations, and 2016 800m gold medallist Caster Semenya (also a DSD athlete) failed to qualify for the Games outside of her discipline.

The plan is to move away from the current approach to protect and promote intersex and transgender athletes in competitions. The idea is to allow trans-women to compete in the women’s category without having gender reassignment surgery, as long as they can keep their testosterone levels low.

When the IOC and World Athletics choose to make their decision, international federations will have to follow suit to determine specific rules for each sport.

Burundi Francine Niyonsaba breaks 2,000m world record

In her last race of the season, Francine Niyonsaba broke the women’s world record in the 2,000m, running 5:21.56 at the Continental Tour meet in Zagreb, Croatia. Although this distance is uncommon at most track meets, her time is outstanding, as she averaged 2:40 per kilometer during the race, hitting the one-mile marker in 4:17.

This is icing on the cake for Niyonsaba, who made a transition from the 800m to distance running to compete in the Diamond League and Olympics. She remarkably finished fifth in the Olympic 10,000m and has won her last four races, including the Diamond League 5,000m title, where she took down race favorite Hellen Obiri of Kenya.

The previous outdoor 2,000m record was held by Irish runner Sonia O’Sullivan, who ran 5:25.36 in 1994.

The indoor record, which is 5:23.75 (set by Genzebe Dibaba in 2017), was faster. Today Niyonsaba’s 5:21.56 today surpasses both records.

Canadian record holder Matt Hughes competed in the 3,000m steeplechase in Zagreb and finished fifth, in 8:28.14. Hughes caps off a personal best season, finishing sixth in the steeplechase at the Tokyo Olympics in August.

Duplantis, Hassan and Cherry break meeting records in Brussels

Meeting records are hard to come by in the Wanda Diamond League, given it’s the premier one-day meeting circuit in the world, but three such marks fell at the Memorial Van Damme in Brussels on Friday (3), thanks to Mondo Duplantis, Sifan Hassan and Michael Cherry.

When the men’s pole vault got underway, some 40 minutes before the first track event, the King Baudouin Stadium was still filling up. By the time the contest reached its climax three hours later, with all other disciplines having long finished, Duplantis commanded the attention of every single person inside the venue.

Though the world record once again evaded Duplantis tonight, the 28,000 spectators – the largest gathering for an athletics meeting since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic – were treated to a vaulting masterclass from a legend of the sport.

The Olympic champion opened at 5.50m, skipped 5.65m and then got over 5.75m and 5.85m on his first tries. Four other men were left in the competition at this point, but only two of them got over 5.85m; Olympic silver medallist Christopher Nilsen did it on his first try, while US compatriot KC Lightfoot scraped over on his third attempt.

The US duo couldn’t quite manage 5.91m tonight, though, but Duplantis once again went clear at the first time of asking to confirm his victory. The 21-year-old Swede then raised the bar to 6.05m in a bid to add some height to his own 6.00m meeting record from last year. He brought the bar down with his first two tries, but got over it on his third attempt.

The bar was then raised to the would-be world record height of 6.19m. Following a short wait while the technical officials ensured all was set for a record attempt, Duplantis took to the runway but wasn’t particularly close to clearing the bar on his first attempt. His second try was significantly closer, and his third attempt was also decent, but a world record wasn’t to be tonight.

Nevertheless, Duplantis wasn’t disappointed with his winning height of 6.05m. Only he, Sergey Bubka and two-time world champion Sam Kendricks have ever vaulted higher outdoors.

"I was really close to the world record," said Duplantis. "Everything was perfect, it was just up to me. I haven't had such an amazing atmosphere during a competition in a really long time."

Almost a month has passed since Sifan Hassan’s final race at the Olympic Games, where she won two gold medals and one bronze. Having raced just once during that time, the Dutch distance star arrived in Brussels well rested and ready to take on the mile.

She was the only athlete capable of sticking with the pacemakers as they led through the first 400m in 1:02.03. By the time the second pacemaker reached the 800m point in 2:04.97, with Hassan still in close attendance, the rest of the field was about 30 metres adrift.

With a lap to go, it was clear from the wavelight technology that an improvement on Hassan’s 4:12.33 world record was not on the cards in Brussels, though it never really seemed as though that was her ambition for the race anyway. By this stage, her lead had grown to 50 metres and she kicked for the final lap, going on to win by more than six seconds.

Her winning time of 4:14.74, the fifth-fastest performance in history, smashed Faith Kipyegon’s meeting record by two seconds. Ethiopia’s Axumawit Embaye was second in 4:21.08, closely followed by Australia’s Linden Hall, who broke her own Oceanian record with 4:21.38.

“Since the start of the pandemic, we haven’t had such a big crowd and I’m so happy to see them,” said Hassan. “We haven’t experienced it for nearly two years; it makes you feel special. It’s amazing, I really love it.”

In Tokyo last month, Michael Cherry was beaten to the 400m bronze medal by just 0.02 as Kirani James pipped the US sprinter at the line. Today’s race in Brussels was the first clash between the pair since the Olympic final, and Cherry ran like a man with a point to prove.

He went out hard, as did James, and by half way the duo had started to open up a clear gap on the likes of Isaac Makwala and Liemarvin Bonevacia.

James almost drew level with Cherry on the final bend, but Cherry had another gear left and forged ahead down the home straight, crossing the line in a lifetime best of 44.03 to take 0.03 off Michael Johnson’s meeting record from 1998.

James finished second in 44.51 with Makwala taking third place in 44.83.

The meeting record may have remained intact in the women’s high jump, but it proved to be one of the most enthralling contests of the night.

Olympic champion Mariya Lasitskene breezed through the first few heights and hadn’t recorded any failures up to and including 1.98m. World silver medallist Yaroslava Mahuchikh, who needed three attempts to clear 1.95m, also got over 1.98m on her first try, while Olympic silver medallist Nicola McDermott needed two jumps to clear it.

But McDermott was then the first to go clear at 2.00m, getting over on her first try, then Lasitskene did likewise. Mahuchikh succeeded on her second attempt at 2.00m, but then nailed 2.02m on her first attempt, taking the lead at a critical point of the competition.

Lasitskene missed once and then passed to 2.04m, while McDermott had two misses at 2.02m before registering a third failure at 2.04m. Neither of the trio managed to get over 2.04m, leaving Mahuchikh as the winner. It was just the second time in Diamond League history that three women have cleared 2.00m in the same competition.

With Lasitskene having won in Lausanne and McDermott winning in Paris, Mahuchikh’s triumph in Brussels means all three Olympic medallists have achieved Diamond League wins since the Tokyo Games.

Kerley makes Diamond League history

Olympic 100m silver medallist Fred Kerley won the short sprint, becoming the first man to win over 100m, 200m and 400m in the Wanda Diamond League.

World leader Trayvon Bromell blasted into an early lead and held his form well, but Kerley rallied and held off the additional challenge from Michael Norman in lane seven, dipping well on the line to take the victory in 9.94.

Bromell held on to take second place in 9.97, just 0.01 ahead of Michael Norman (9.98), completing a US sweep of the top three places.

Christine Mboma, also an Olympic silver medallist, won the women’s 200m. The Namibian teenager came through strongly in the closing stages to edge in front of Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson and world champion Dina Asher-Smith.

Mboma stopped the clock at 21.84 while Jackson took second place in 21.95. Asher-Smith recorded a season’s best of 22.04 in third, and US 100m champion Sha’Carri Richardson was a few strides adrift in fourth place (22.45).

Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba produced a similarly well-timed finish to win the 5000m.

Once the last of the pacemakers dropped out at 2000m, Niyonsaba took up the running at the front of the pack with two-time world champion Hellen Obiri close behind. The Kenyan led for a brief stint too, passing through 3000m in a swift 8:42.57.

Niyonsaba, who finished fifth over 10,000m at the Tokyo Olympics, led again for most of the final kilometre, but Obiri kicked into the lead when the bell sounded for the final lap. She appeared to be on her way to victory, but Ethiopia’s Ejgayehu Taye came back strongly and briefly led with about 90 metres to go, then a rejuvenated Niyonsaba came back to take the lead in the closing stages, crossing the line in a national record of 14:25.34.

Taye took second place in 14:25.63 with Obiri claiming third in 14:26.23. World silver medallist Margaret Chelimo Kipkemboi set a PB of 14:27.12 in fourth as the top seven women finished inside 14:32 – unprecedented depth for a 5000m race.

Goule, Rotich and McSweyn take middle distances

Exactly one month since her eighth-place finish at the Tokyo Olympics, Jamaica’s Natoya Goule rebounded with a satisfying win over 800m, beating several women who finished ahead of her at the Games.

With the pacemaker passing through the first lap in 56.99, the field was still relatively tightly bunched with 300 metres to go. Goule held the lead, but Olympic silver medallist Keely Hodgkinson moved on to the Jamaican’s shoulder on the final bend and looked poised to strike.

Goule had saved something for the finish, though, and she held off the challenge from the British teenager, winning in 1:58.09. Hodgkinson was second in 1:58.16 from compatriot Jemma Reekie (1:58.77).

Stewart McSweyn led an Australian 1-2 in the men’s 1500m. The Oceanian record-holder overtook a fading Mohamed Katir on the home straight to win in 3:33.20 with compatriot Oliver Hoare taking second place (3:33.79). Poland’s Michal Rozmys was third in 3:33.96.

Olympic silver medallist Ferguson Cheruiyot Rotich was a comfortable winner of the non-scoring men’s 800m, crossing the line in 1:43.81 to win by more than a second from Belgium’s Eliott Crestan (1:45.24).

Hurdles victories for Dos Santos and Visser

Racing for the first time since taking Olympic bronze and moving to third on the world all-time list, Brazil’s Alison dos Santos won the men’s 400m hurdles with his trademark strong finish.

Kyron McMaster of the British Virgin Islands led for most of the race, making up the stagger on Dos Santos, drawn one lane outside him, by the half-way point. Dos Santos stuck with McMaster around the final bend and drew level with Jamaica’s Jaheel Hyde. McMaster hit the penultimate hurdle, throwing off his rhythm slightly as he went into the final barrier. Dos Santos, meanwhile, came off the 10th hurdle much better and went on to win in 48.23.

McMaster finished second in 48.31 and Yasmani Copello took third place in 48.45.

The closest finish of the day came in the women’s 100m hurdles, in which Nadine Visser won by just eight thousandths of a second from Tobi Amusan, both timed at 12.69 (0.7m/s). Olympic bronze medallist Megan Tapper was third in 12.77.

Elsewhere, Steffin McCarter saved his best for last to win the men’s long jump. His sixth-round leap of 7.99m was not only the best in the ‘final three’ contest; it was also the top mark of the entire competition. Ruswahl Samaai was second thanks to his last-round leap of 7.89m, having jumped 7.95m earlier in the competition.

No world record but Sifan Hassan claims a clear win in Eugene

A willing but weary Sifan Hassan fell short of the women’s world 5000m record she was targeting at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, on Friday (20) as she finished well clear of a stellar field in 14:27.89.

On the traditional Distance Night preface to the Prefontaine Classic that now forms the Wanda Diamond League meeting, the 28-year-old Dutch runner was clearly tired after an epic season, having won the Olympic 5000m and 10,000m titles in Tokyo earlier this month and added a 1500m bronze.

She had announced her intention of eclipsing the mark of 14:06.62 set by her Ethiopian rival Letesenbet Gidey in Valencia last year, but eventually finished outside her own European record of 14:22.12 set in London two years ago.

Had Hassan’s ambitions come to pass in a recently rebuilt stadium that had the welcome atmosphere of a live home crowd it would have been another blow to her rival Gidey, who in June this year ran 29:01.03 at Hengelo to better the world 10,000m record of 29:06.82 Hassan had set on the same track just two days earlier.

Hassan’s response in Tokyo was impressive as she beat the Ethiopian to the Olympic 10,000m title with an unanswerable sprint around the final bend.

But depriving her rival of one of her world records proved an aspiration too far on this occasion for a woman who already held world marks in the 5km road event, mile and one-hour race.

Within the first 1500m the race had become a time trial as Hassan was the only athlete left tracking the two pacemakers who were keeping pace with the blue guide lights on the infield.

By five minutes in there was only one runner ahead of her. And by the halfway point she was running alone with only the green lights of the world record pace for company.

At the 3000m mark, however, she was slipping behind that snake of flashing green, although she kept working.

With less than a mile to go, the snake was gliding ever further away from her, despite the efforts of the spectators sprinkled throughout the stands of an arena that will host the postponed World Athletics Championships next year.

A lap in 70.1 was followed by 71.83 and with three laps remaining she could see her latest ambition moving away from her, although she had already moved well clear of a stellar field at the end of a long and exhausting season.

As the bell rang it was clear how hard the Dutch athlete was having to work, and she grimaced as she set off for one final lap.

Hassan was followed home by two Ethiopian runners, as Senbere Teferi clocked 14:42.25 and Fantu Worku finished in 14:42.85.

The next four runners clocked personal bests as Kenya’s Loice Chemnung finished in 14:43.65, home runners Alicia Monson and Abbey Cooper recorded 14:48.49 and 14:52.37 respectively and Kenya’s Sheila Chelangat was seventh in 14:52.66.

Gidey had finished second in the previous event, the women’s two miles, clocking 9:06.74 behind Burundi’s Rio 2016 silver medallist Francine Niyonsaba, who finished in a meeting record and 2021 fastest time of 9:06.74.

Kenya’s double world champion Hellen Obiri was third in 9:14.55, ahead of Germany’s Konstanze Klosterhalfen in 9:18.16.

Women that have been barred from Olympics for being manly

One day, Annet Negesa was pushing her body to endure and make her the champion she believed she was born to be. On another day, her Olympics dreams were crushed because she was faster, stronger.

Annet Negesa reportedly still harbours intentions to run for her country. She runs every day, with the hope of returning to international competitions one day. 

Hers is a case of unfinished business, a dream that was cut short in June 2012 when she received a call from a doctor from track and field’s world governing body telling her, according to the New York Times newspaper - that “she would no longer be competing in the London Olympics because her testosterone levels were too high for competition,” thereby giving her an unfair advantage over other female athletes.

Negesa, 20 then, was one of Uganda’s top athletes. On the back of her London preparations, she set a national record for 800 metres earlier that year at a meet in Netherlands.

She was a three-time national champion and brought home a gold medal at the 2011 All-Africa Games.

She identifies as female and was born with external female genitalia but also with internal male genitalia that produce levels of testosterone that men do.

Most women, including elite female athletes, have natural testosterone levels of 0.12 to 1.79 nanomoles per litre, according to World Athletics. The typical male range after puberty is reportedly much higher, at 7.7 to 29.4 nanomoles per litre.

After years of litigation, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in 2019 upheld World Athletics’ testosterone restrictions for female athletes in races with distances from 400 meters to the mile after renowned athlete Caster Semenya (we shall get to her later in the article), filed an appeal.

The court ruled by a 2-to-1 vote that the restrictions were indeed discriminatory but also a “necessary, reasonable and proportionate” means of achieving the World Athletics goal of preserving a level playing field in women’s track events.

Therefore intersex athletes (these are said to be roughly one in every 2,000 births), who want to participate in middle-distance women’s track events must take hormone-suppressing drugs and reduce testosterone levels to below five nanomoles per litre (5 nmol/L) for six months before competing, then maintain those lowered levels.

Unfortunately, the intervention seems to have come seven years late for Negesa, who claims World Athletics physician Dr Stéphane Bermon gave her surgery as her first option to reduce testosterone levels in 2012. 

But Negesa has since battled persistent headaches and achy joints that have not allowed her to pursue her career. Her postoperative care, which according to documents seen at the Kampala Hospital by the New York Times should have been recommended in further discussions with Dr Bermon, did not include the kind of hormone treatment that might have helped her body adjust to the change.

After Negesa appeared in a ‘break the silence’ documentary on German television’s ARD network in October 2019, World Athletics issued a statement denying that it participated in or recommended a specific treatment to Negesa.

Third category

Nine years after Negesa’s predicament, another recommendation to World Athletics; to introduce a third category of events in order to allow competitors with high testosterone levels to compete in their preferred disciplines, seems to be gathering steam after Kenyan 800m runner Margaret Wambui was ruled out of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

“It would be good if a third category for athletes with high testosterone was introduced; because it is wrong to stop people from using their talents,” Wambui told BBC Sport Africa.

The sport’s governing body, World Athletics, says it has no plans to introduce such a category and will stick to its current classifications of men’s and women’s events.

The idea of a third category in athletics has been floated before, but Wambui is the first athlete to express outright support for the suggestion.

“We would be the first people to compete in that category - so we can motivate others who are hiding their condition,” she said.

Since World Athletics introduced its latest rules governing DSD (disorders of sex development) athletes in 2018, not one of the three athletes who stood on the 800m podium in Rio has contested the distance at a global international championship.

At the 2016 Games, Wambui was beaten to gold by Semenya and silver by Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba.

“It is sad to see that the whole podium won’t be there.”  “They cut short our careers, because that wasn’t our plan. I feel bad that I won’t be in the Olympics because of World Athletics rules,” says Wambui.

Top athletes Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi left off Namibian Olympic team over high natural testosterone levels

Two of the world’s top female 400m runners have been discretely scratched from their country’s Olympic team after medical tests indicated they have high natural testosterone levels. Namibia’s Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi, both 18 years old, will not be allowed to compete in the 400m in Tokyo this summer.

Mboma is currently ranked number one in the world at the 400m, after she ran won the 400m at the Irena Szewinska Memorial/Byrdgoszcz cup in Poland on June 30 in a world-leading time of 48.54. Masilingi ran 49.53 at a meet in Zambia in April, which still stands as the third-fastest time run this year.

Both women have been found to have naturally high levels of testosterone, but are not DSD athletes and both have XX chromosomes. Still, their hormone levels have rendered them ineligible to compete in any distance ranging from the 400m to the mile. This is the same rule that prevents DSD athletes like South Africa’s Caster Semenya, Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba and Kenya’s Margaret Wambui from competing in the 800m at the elite level.

The Namibian Athletic Committee has said in a statement that neither athlete was aware they had this condition, and the country’s athletic federation has said both women will now focus their full attention on the 200m.

Since they were introduced in 2018, the World Athletics testosterone regulations have been hotly debated in the world of elite sports, and Semenya has appealed the decision in several courts. The two-time Olympic 800m champion has lost two appeals, but is currently waiting on a third hearing. For now, however, the rule stands, and all athletes affected by the rule will be forced to compete in different events.

Barred from competing in her preferred event of the 800m, Burundi´s Francine Niyonsaba has now qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in both the 5,000m and 10,000m

Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba, the 800m silver medallist at the Rio Olympics, qualified for the 10,000m at the Tokyo Games on Tuesday after running under Olympic standard at the Ethiopian Trials in Hengelo, the Netherlands.

The race was Niyonsaba’s first at the distance, but her 31:08.51 finish beat the Burundian national 10,000m record by 20 seconds. Longer races are still quite new to the previously middle-distance specialist, but a 2019 World Athletics ruling now prevents Niyonsaba and other athletes with DSD (differences of sexual development) from competing in any event between 400m and the mile, as officials determined that the higher-than-usual (but natural) testosterone levels in these athletes gives them an unfair advantage over their competitors. 

Niyonsaba has had an amazing past few weeks. World Athletics’ DSD athlete ruling gave her three options: compete in races shorter than 400m, jump up to events longer than the mile or take medications to lower her testosterone levels. She picked the long route, and after not racing at all in 2020 and the first half of 2021, she jumped into the first 5,000m race of her career in late May at an event in Spain. 

At that race, Niyonsaba came close to the Olympic standard of 15:10.00, running 15:12.08. Just over a week later, she was back in action, this time in France, where she not only managed to beat standard, but also broke 15 minutes with a 14:54.38 run. Both of Niyonsaba’s 5,000m races broke the Burundian national record in the event.

She wasn’t done there, though, and although it was a big jump from the 800m up to the 5,000m, Niyonsaba took another leap on Tuesday and committed to a 10,000m race. With her ticket to the Tokyo Games already booked and nothing to lose, she stunned everyone with yet another Olympic-qualifying run, dipping well under the standard of 31:25.00 with her 31:08.51 finish in Hengelo (in the same race that Letesenbet Gidey broke the 10,000m world record with her 29:01.03 performance). 

As listed on Niyonsaba’s WA profile, her two latest races bring her national record tally to seven. She has competed in eight different events throughout her career as an elite runner, and she failed to run a Burundian record in only one of them, the 600m. She is without a doubt one of the greatest athletes Burundi has ever produced, and she’s still fighting for more as she races toward the Tokyo Olympics. 

Burundi's Francine Niyonsaba, who changed events due to testosterone rule, runs Olympic qualifier

She ran a time of 14 minutes 54.38, which is also a new national record, as she finished fourth in the race to easily better the Olympic qualifying time of 15:10.00.

It was just her second race over the distance having just missed out on the qualifying standard when she ran 15:12.08 at a meeting in Spain last month.

"A challenge is not a barrier. It's an opportunity to do better. Heading to Tokyo with a great qualifying time," she posted on Twitter.

The race was won by Kenya's Beatrice Chebet, who finished just over two seconds ahead of Niyonsaba.

The 28-year-old, who won silver over 800m at the 2016 Games in Rio, has decided to move up to the long distance event rather than taking testosterone-reducing drugs.

Under the latest World Athletics regulations Niyonsaba is classified as having 'Differences of Sexual Development' - or 'DSD' - and so is not allowed to compete in events between 400m and a mile without taking testosterone-reducing drugs.

At the same meeting on the outskirts of Paris Burkina Faso's Hugues Fabrice Zango continued his good form with another win on the triple jump with a leap of 17.67 metres.

Ivory Coast's Marie Josee Ta Lou won the women's 100m in a time of 11.06 seconds just ahead of The Gambia's Gina Bass in 11.30.

Ta Lou's compatriot Arthur Cisse was victorious in the men's event clocking a time of 10.11 seconds.

Kenya's Abel Kipsang was the other African winner on the night in the men's 1500m as he finished ahead of compatriot Charles Simotwo, with Morocco's Brahim Kaazouzi in third place.

On Friday South Africa's Caster Semenya, Niyonsaba's great rival over 800m and another athlete classified as DSD, finished outside the qualifying mark for the 5,000m.

The 30-year-old finished in 15 minutes 32.15 seconds at meeting in Durban - 22.15secs outside the qualifying time.

It was her second bid to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

South African Caster Semenya runs PB, misses 5,000m Olympic standard by 22 seconds

Olympic and world 800m champion Caster Semenya raced a 5,000m on Friday at a race in her home country of South Africa, and while her 15:32.15 run was a 20-second PB, it was still well off the Olympic standard of 15:10.00. 

A 2019 World Athletics ruling bars Semenya, who is an athlete with DSD (differences of sexual development), from competing in races from the 400m up to the mile, so she has set her sights on the 5,000m for the upcoming Tokyo Games.

Since the WA ruling blocked Semenya and other DSD athletes (who have higher-than-normal levels of testosterone) from competing in anything from the 400m to the mile, it gave her a couple of options: drop down to sprint races or jump up to longer runs. A third option offered by WA was for DSD athletes to take medications to lower their testosterone, but Semenya refused to do so. 

At first, Semenya dabbled in sprints, and in 2020, she got her 200m PB down to 23.49 seconds. This was still well off the Olympic 200m standard of 22.80, though, and Semenya shifted gears once more, this time jumping up to the 5,000m (which is the next-shortest race available to her and other DSD athletes in the Olympic program). She has raced the 5,000m three times in 2021, improving with each run. 

First, she ran 16:14.43 in March, finishing more than a minute off Olympic standard. A few weeks later, she broke 16 minutes for the first time in her career, posting a huge PB of 15:52.28. Unfortunately for Semenya, despite the big step toward Olympic standard, this time was still 42 seconds slower than she needed to run. On Friday, she got closer to standard, but she still sits well away from 15:10.00. The Olympic qualifying window closes at the end of June.

One piece of good news for Semenya is the fact that only one South African woman has hit Olympic standard during this current qualifying period. Dominique Scott ran 14:59.08 at a race in the U.K. in July 2019, which gives her by far the best result among South African women since the qualifying window opened in May of that same year.

This is good for Semenya because it means she doesn’t have to compete with other South African Olympic hopefuls. Each country can only send three men and three women per event to the Olympics, and if three South African women had already hit standard, it would likely mean that Semenya would have to not only run under 15:10.00, but also beat the slowest of those athletes. 

Semenya is not the only DSD athlete looking to make the Tokyo Games in the 5,000m — Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba has also made the jump up in distance. Niyonsaba won silver behind Semenya in the 800m at the Rio Olympics in 2016 and the 2017 world championships. While Semenya was the stronger of the two in the 800m, it looks like Niyonsaba is better at the 5,000m, as she recently ran a Burundian national record of 15:12.08. This time won’t get her into the Olympics, but seeing as she’s just two seconds off standard, she appears to have a much better shot at making it to Tokyo than Semenya does.

Francine Niyonsaba runs 5,000m debut, finishes just off Olympic standard in 15:12.08

World and Olympic 800m silver medallist Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi raced a 5,000m in Spain on May 22, and she finished with a national record of 15:12.08.

Niyonsaba’s result was just off the Olympic standard of 15:10.00, and it was her first official race over 5,000m. Like South Africa’s Caster Semenya, Niyonsaba is an athlete with DSD (differences of sexual development), and a 2019 World Athletics ruling prevents her from competing in any events from 400m up to the mile. 

Niyonsaba, Semenya and other DSD athletes (who have higher-than-usual rates of testosterone) had to make a tough decision when WA barred them from competing in certain events. They could take hormone-suppressing drugs to lower their testosterone levels, drop down in distance to compete in sprinting events like the 100m and 200m or jump up to races longer than a mile. Refusing to take any hormone suppressants, Semenya has spent the past couple of seasons testing out both ends of the racing spectrum, running races as short as 200m and as long as 5,000m. 

Semenya has made progress in both arenas, but her PBs of 23.49 seconds in the 200m and 15:52.28 in the 5,000m are well off the Olympic standards of 22.80 and 15:10.00. Niyonsaba, however, has set her sights solely on the 5,000m, and her undivided focus on the longer race seems to have paid off, as she is now just a couple of seconds away from qualifying for the Tokyo Games. 

Niyonsaba announced her plans to compete in the 5,000m in February, and she now has a little over a month to lower her PB by a couple of seconds in order to qualify for the Summer Games. (The Olympic qualifying window closes on June 29.) After the race, Niyonsaba took to social media to express her excitement in the run, writing, “So happy to be back in international competition with a great debut of 15:12 in the 5K..it was a big challenge but I faced it with great determination and perseverance.” 

2016 Olympic 800m silver medalist Francine Niyonsaba bids to race 5,000m at Tokyo Olympics

Francine Niyonsaba, the 2016 Olympic silver medalist in the women’s 800m, announced this week that she will be attempting to qualify for the Tokyo 2021 Olympics in the 5,000m after being barred from running any event between 400m and the mile unless she takes testosterone-suppressing measures.

The 27-year-old from Burundi finished in second place behind Caster Semenya at both the 2016 Olympics and the 2017 world championships, and both athletes (along with 2016 Olympic bronze medallist Margaret Wambui) have been at the centre of an ongoing and heated debate about hyperandrogenism in women’s sport. In April 2018, the IAAF announced that any athlete who has Differences of Sexual Development (DSD) will be ineligible to compete in any event between the 400m and the mile. Having DSD means that the athlete has levels of circulating testosterone (in serum) that are five nanomoles/litre or above and is androgen-sensitive.

According to the regulations, if an athlete with a DSD wishes to compete in any of the restricted events, she must fulfill the following criteria:

(a) she must be reconized at law either as female or as intersex (or equivalent);

(b) she must reduce her blood testosterone level to below five nmol/L for a continuous period of at least six months (e.g., by use of hormonal contraceptives); and

(c) thereafter she must maintain her blood testosterone level below five nmol/L continuously (ie: whether she is in competition or out of competition) for so long as she wishes to remain eligible.

In light of these new restrictions, many DSD athletes, including Semenya and Niyonsaba, have instead chosen to compete in other events. Semenya has previously said she is bidding to make the Tokyo Olympics in the 200m, while Niyonsaba has chosen to jump up in distance. In 2019 she alluded to this decision in an interview with the Olympic Channel. When the interviewer asked her what she would do if she was forced to move up in distance, her response was “I can even run the marathon.”

“Running to get good results is just about training,” she said. “Nothing else. I’m always saying ‘be what you are, whatever you do.’ That’s how you get to success.”

She added that she will keep her vision and her passion because she loves running, and she will not stop. According to her Instagram, Niyonsaba recently ran a 10K cross-country race in 33:45, and while it doesn’t translate directly to the track, she was not far off the Olympic 10,000m qualifying standard of 31:25. Certainly the world of track will be watching to see what she does next, but with her determination, we expect great things.

“In my dream, I want to retire with the gold medal,” she said. “I know… I want to retire with the gold medal.”

OTC Elite runners hoping for late-summer meets

The coronavirus pandemic has postponed the Tokyo Olympics for a year and put the 2020 track and field season on hold indefinitely.

That doesn’t necessarily mean the work has stopped for the athletes.

Several members of the Eugene-based Oregon Track Club Elite professional training group have continued to train, albeit with a modified schedule.

Gyms are closed, as are several local tracks, but the trails are still open, and OTC Elite’s team of middle distance and distance runners are taking advantage.

“Not much has changed for me fortunately,” said Ben Blankenship, a 2016 Olympian in the 1,500 meters. “It’s just going out there alone and being self-disciplined.”

Blankenship has been plotting his return to the Summer Games since his eighth-place finish four years ago in Rio de Janeiro.That didn’t change on Tuesday when the International Olympic Committee and the Japanese government agreed to move the Olympics to 2021.

“I was really ready to do something,” Blankenship said. “We were looking at some of those early (spring) Stanford meets to get ready. But now it’s kind of catch your breath and restart. It could almost be looked at as a bonus year, right? So what can you do this year as kind of a bonus?”

Blankenship wasn’t the only runner on OTC Elite gearing up for a spot on the starting line at the Summer Games. Among its 15 members, there are six Olympians, including marathoner Sally Kipyego, who had already qualified for Tokyo with her third-place finish at the women’s U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials last month in Atlanta.

USA Track & Field has not yet announced whether Kipyego, as well as former Oregon star and men’s marathon winner Galen Rupp, will be able to keep those qualifiers for the 2021 Games or if the marathon qualifier will have to be raced again. The top three finishers in both races in Atlanta qualified for Tokyo.

Also for OTC Elite, Francine Niyonsaba was the 2016 silver medalist in the women’s 800 for Burundi, Hassan Mead (U.S.) and Tom Farrell (Great Britain) were in the men’s 5,000 that year, and Nijel Amos won silver in the men’s 800 for Botswana in 2012 when he was just 18 years old.

Amos had his best season on the track last year since his success in London. He ran under 1:45 in all but one race, and twice broke 1:43, including his season-best of 1:41.89.

Amos wasn’t the only one who excelled in 2019.

Hanna Green is coming off a breakout season as she made her first World Outdoor Championship team for the United States in the women’s 800 after running 1:58.19 for a second-place finish at the U.S. Outdoor Championships.

That success fueled high expectations coming into the 2020 Olympic season.

“Definitely disappointed because I felt like I had a pretty good start and was kind of rolling into another good season,” she said. “You just have to think positive right now because you don’t know what’s going to happen so you don’t want to get into a negative thought process where you’re just worrying. You have to go with the flow.”

Like Blankenship, Green is taking advantage of the trails to get her work in and try and maintain some fitness.

“We’ve definitely stepped back in our training, just to be safe and so our immune systems aren’t being damaged by hard workouts,” Green said. “Once we know if or when there are going to be races we’ll start to build up again.”

The sooner the better, both Blankenship and Green said.

World Athletics said earlier this week it was still hoping to host several one-day meets later in the summer.

“If they could get in those later Diamond League meets that would be awesome, or any meet in general,” Green said. “You just have to stay ready for whatever’s next whenever that may be.”

Your guide to this year's Prefontaine Classic

The Prefontaine Classic relocated, temporarily, and it brought the best fields of the Diamond League season with it to Stanford, California on Sunday June 30.

That includes the world’s fastest man and woman this year (Christian Coleman and Elaine Thompson), the athlete who has made the most worldwide headlines this season (Caster Semenya) and a bevy of other reigning Olympic and world champions.

Notably, Olympic 10,000m champion Almaz Ayana of Ethiopia and Olympic 1500m champion Faith Kipyegon will compete for the first time since 2017. World 100m champions Justin Gatlin and Tori Bowie are in their first Diamond League meets in more than one year. It’s the first Diamond League in two years for 2008 Olympic 400m champ LaShawn Merritt. It’s also the first race of 2019 for Olympic 1500m champion Matthew Centrowitz.

NBC and NBC Sports Gold air live coverage Sunday from 1-3 p.m. Pacific.

The Pre Classic has been held annually since 1975 in Eugene, Ore. But Hayward Field’s reconstruction ahead of the 2020 Olympic Trials forced a move to Cobb Track and Angell Field at Stanford.

Here are the Pre Classic entry lists. Here’s the schedule of events (all times Pacific):

Here are 10 events to watch:

Men’s Pole Vault — 12:43 p.m.The Big Three of the event meet for the first time this season: 2012 Olympic champion and world-record holder Renaud Lavillenie of France, 2017 World champion Sam Kendricksand 2018 and 2019 world leader Mondo Duplantis of Sweden, who just turned pro after his freshman year at LSU. Lavillenie has competed just once this season due to injury. Duplantis was beaten at NCAAs by Chris Nilsen (also in the Pre field). But Kendricks has been hot, winning the first three Diamond League pole vaults this season (though Lavillenie and Nilsen weren’t in any of those fields and Duplantis just one).

Women’s High Jump — 1:08 p.m.U.S. champion Vashti Cunningham takes another crack at Russian Mariya Lasitskene, who has just two losses in the last three years. Cunningham is 0-7 versus Lasitskene but has this spring already bettered her top clearance of 2018. Lasitskene, though, appears in top form after taking three attempts at a world record 2.10 meters in Ostrava last week.

Women’s 3000m Steeplechase — 1:11 p.m.Six of the eight fastest in history, headlined by world gold and silver medalists Emma Coburn and Courtney Frerichs. The only time either Coburn or Frerichs won a steeple that included any of the four fastest Kenyans in history was at those 2017 Worlds. Another chance Sunday.

Women’s 100m — 1:27 p.m.NCAA champion Sha’Carri Richardson would have been the favorite here in her pro debut if not for what happened Friday. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, a two-time Olympic 100m champion, clocked her fastest time in six years (10.73 seconds) to become the fastest mom in history and No. 2 in the world this year behind Rio gold medalist Elaine Thompson. Also watch reigning world champ Tori Bowie, who is coming back from a quad tear and coaching change.

Women’s 800m — 1:47 p.m.Caster Semenya races her trademark event for the first time since a Swiss Supreme Court ruled her eligible while it deliberates on her appeal against a Court of Arbitration for Sport decision to uphold an IAAF rule capping testosterone in women’s events from the 400m through the mile. The Swiss court ruling applies only to Semenya and not the other Rio Olympic medalists, Francine Niyonsaba and Margaret Wambui, who are also affected by the new rule. So Semenya’s closest threat at Pre is American record holder Ajeé Wilson, but Semenya has won 30 straight 800m races dating to 2015.

Men’s Shot Put — 2:01 p.m.Olympic champion Ryan Crouser had a sterling record at Hayward Field, taking NCAA, Pre Classic and Olympic Trials titles. He’s pretty strong in California, too, recording his personal best (22.74 meters) in Long Beach in April. Nobody has been within a foot and a half of that this season, but the last two world champions (New Zealand’s Tom Walsh and American Joe Kovacs) will try to snap his undefeated 2019 on Sunday.

Men’s 400m — 2:19 p.m.Lost some sizzle with the withdrawal of 2012 Olympic champion Kirani James, who has missed time with Graves’ disease and, more recently, his mother’s death. Instead, the three fastest Americans of the last decade line up — 2018 and 2019 world leader Michael Norman (43.45 from April 20), 2017 world No. 2 Fred Kerley and 2008 Olympic championLaShawn Merritt.

Women’s 200m — 2:25 p.m.Strongest sprint field of the meet: 2016 Olympic champion Elaine Thompson, 2015 and 2017 World champion Dafne Schippers and 2018 world leader Dina Asher-Smith. Should produce the fastest time in the world this year, which is currently 22.16, and the favorite for world champs.

Men’s 100m — 2:39 p.m.Justin Gatlin and Christian Coleman go head-to-head for the first time since the 2017 Worlds, where Gatlin took gold, Usain Bolt silver and Coleman bronze. Coleman is the world’s fastest man this Olympic cycle (9.79) and this year (9.85). Gatlin, 37, hasn’t broken 10 seconds since beating Bolt but has a bye to defend his title in Doha in September.

Men’s Mile — 2:51 p.m.Olympic 1500m champ Matthew Centrowitz races on the track for the first time since July 22, eyeing his first win in the Pre mile in his sixth try. The foes are formidable, including the top two milers since Rio — Kenyans Timothy Cheruiyot and Elijah Manangoi — Norwegian brothers Filip and Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha, who on March 3 broke the 22-year-old indoor mile world record. Nobody has been within four seconds of the outdoor mile word record (Hicham El Guerrouj‘s 3:43.13 in 1999) since 2007.

Caster Semenya is going to run the 3000m at the Pre Classic, a distance she can race without reducing her testosterone levels

South African's Caster Semenya is scheduled to compete in the 3,000m at the Diamond League's Prefontaine Classic in Stanford, California on June 30.  This is a distance she can race without reducing her testosterone levels, however it is not really her distance at least not at this point.

Semenya, who has won two Olympic gold medals over 800m, has made it very clear that she will not take medication to lower her testosterone levels to comply with the new IAAF rules.

This race will be her first since the new rules went into effect.

Under the new regulations, female athletes with high natural levels of testosterone wishing to compete in events from 400m to a mile must medically limit that level to under 5 nmol/L, double the normal female range of below 2 nmol/L.

Barring an appeal, Semenya can no longer compete in her specialist event after she lost her appeal against the new rules, stating that the regulations were necessary to ensure fair competition.

Semenya will be part of a world class field at the Prefontaine Classic that includes world 5,000-metres champion Hellen Obiri, 2016 world indoor 1,500-metres champion Sifan Hassan, and 2018 world indoor 1,500 and 3,000-metres champion Genzebe Dibaba.

“It was a request from Caster Semenya’s agent asking if she could run a 3,000,” meet director Tom Jordan told Reuters. “Of course we said yes.”

Semenya became South African national champion over 5,000m in April, but her time is way off the leading runners in the world over that distance.

Semenya has a personal best of 9:36 for 3,000m, the slowest in the field.  Dibaba is the quickest in the field with a best of 8:16. 

The South African’s last race over 800 meters was in the Diamond League in Doha on May 3, when she cruised to victory in 1:54.98, nearly three seconds ahead of Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba.

“I’m a crazy athlete, 800 meters is my calling, I believe in it, and that’s what I want to do,” she said after winning in Doha.

“I will switch races when I want to — no man can tell me what to do. I’m here for a purpose, if I want to switch events I switch them, but if someone wants me to switch them, that’s their own problem, not mine."

The Prefontaine Classic is being staged in Stanford, California this year while a new stadium is built in Eugene, Oregon for the 2021 world championships.

Double Olympic champion Caster Semenya, who lost her appeal over a controversial gender ruling, will not race at this month's Diamond League meeting in Stockholm

The South African, 28, who won gold in Rio in 2016 and London four years earlier will not lineup for the 800m after winning her most recent appearance over the distance in Doha on May 3.

Burundi's Francine Niyonsaba and Kenya's Margaret Nyairera Wambui, who are among the star female athletes affected by the International Association of Athletics Federation's (IAAF) ruling this month and who completed the Olympic podium in Brazil will also not race in Sweden.

Wambui said on Thursday her future was uncertain due to the IAAF's decision.

Semenya's case has provoked a furious debate across sport around the globe about gender and "hyperandrogenic" athletes, those with "differences of sexual development" (DSD).

The decision on May 1 by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland, means female athletes with elevated testosterone will have to take suppressive treatment if they wish to compete as women in certain events.

South Africa's government on Monday said it would lodge an appeal against the IAAF's decision which came into operation on May 8 and applies to distances from 400m to a mile, and includes the heptathlon.

"The onus is on the athletes to ensure they do not agree to attend track meets or put themselves forward for events they are not eligible to compete in," Stockholm meet director Jan Kowalski said.

"If they do compete in events for which they are not eligible, then - consistent with the approach taken in any case of athlete ineligibility - their results may be disqualified and any medals, points, or prize money forfeited," Kowalski added.

That leaves world bronze medallist Ajee Wilson from the US as the highest ranked runner in the women's 800m in Stockholm.

Caster Semenya says she won't take hormone-reducing medication

Caster Semenya was defiant in every way at what could be her last 800-meter race.

With her raised fist at the start. With her unstoppable victory. With her reply Friday to the big question of whether she will submit to new testosterone regulations in track and field and take hormone-reducing medication.

"Hell, no," the Olympic champion from South Africa said.

Semenya responded to her defeat in a landmark court case against track and field's governing body two days earlier with a resounding win in a place where she has done nothing but win the past four years -- over two laps of the track.

She won the 800 meters at the opening Diamond League meeting of the season in Doha, Qatar, with a meet record of 1 minute, 54.98 seconds. It was her fourth-fastest time ever. The only person ahead of her at any time during the race was the pacemaker.

Semenya's nearest challenger, Olympic silver medalist Francine Niyonsaba, was nearly three seconds and about 20 meters behind her -- barely in the picture. Ajee Wilson of the United States was third.

It was Semenya's first 800-meter race this year and first since she lost her case against the IAAF this week.

"Actions speak louder than words," Semenya told the BBC. "When you are a great champion, you always deliver."

Friday's win was her 30th straight in the 800, continuing a run that started in late 2015. But Semenya's four-year dominance over two laps might be at an end.

It would be an end brought not by another competitor but by new regulations set to come into effect Wednesday. They require the South African star and other female athletes with high levels of natural testosterone to medically lower them to be eligible to compete in events ranging from the 400 meters to the mile.

Semenya failed to overturn those rules in her appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Now her career appears to be at a crossroad: Does she take medication to lower her testosterone? The medication probably would inhibit her athletic performance and could blunt her dominance. Or does she switch events and run in long-distance races not affected by the regulations?

She was emphatic when she told reporters after Friday's race that she wouldn't take the medication.

"That's an illegal method," she said.

Semenya didn't give a clear idea of what she would do next. She said she wouldn't move up to the 5,000 meters, and she wouldn't retire.

"God has decided my career. God will end my career," she said in the BBC interview. "No man, or any other human, can stop me from running. How am I going to retire when I'm 28? I still feel young, energetic. I still have 10 years or more in athletics.

Olympic silver medallist Francine Niyonsaba also has the hyperandrogenism condition that gives her high levels of naturally occurring testosterone

The woman who finished second behind Caster Semenya at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics says she also has a condition that gives her high levels of naturally occurring testosterone and would be affected if the IAAF implements its hormone policy.

Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi, an Olympic and world championships silver medallist in the 800 metres, said in an interview with the Olympic Channel that she has hyperandrogenism.

She says "I didn't choose to be born like this. What am I? I'm created by god. So, if someone has more questions about it, maybe they can ask god. I love myself. I will still be Francine. I will not change."