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● Road Racing ● USA Track & Field is concentrating more prize money into the selection races for the World Athletics Road Running Championships, taking place in San Diego from 26-28 September 2025.
The Road Champs include three events each for men and women: Mile, 5 km and Half Marathon, and USATF will designate selection races for each distance. Federations can send two athletes per gender for the Mile and 5 km races and four per gender for the Half.
On Friday, USA Track & Field announced that the $150,000 in final-standings prize money paid in 2024 for the 11-event USATF Running Circuit will be split into two parts for 2025:
● $100,000 to be split between men and women and among the top placers for the selection events in the Mile ($25,000), 5 km ($25,000) and Half Marathon ($50,000).
● $50,000 remaining will be used for the 2025 USATF Running Circuit final-placing prizes, with $15,000-7,500-5,000 for each gender. This is down from the five-place prizes paid in 2024 from $30,000 to $5,000.
USATF wants to name the selection events for all three distances by 1 October and bidding is open, and submissions will be reviewed beginning on 15 September.
● Track & Field ● Kenya’s Pulse Sports reported on a prize offered by now-former men’s 3,000 m world-record holder Daniel Komen, who set the mark at an unbelievable 7:20.67 back in 1996. He had offered a new Mercedes automobile and title to a plot of land in Eldoret to any Kenyan who broke his record.
But in 2021, after 25 years, he ended the offer. Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen took the record on Sunday with his sensational 7:17.55 win at the Diamond League meet in Chorzow (POL). In 2023, Komen told the Daily Nation:
“I even challenged my competitors then, including Ethiopia’s legends Haile Gebrselassie and Kenenisa Bekele, among others, and I wanted to give them the prize, but no one came close.
“No one came close to what I had registered then. After 25 years, my offer has expired and it’s unfortunate that Kenyan athletes missed it.”
● Track & Field ● More on the fabulous Silesia Kamila Skolimowska Memorial in Chorzow on Sunday, with two different views of the men’s shot put, won by two-time World Champion and three-time Olympic silver medalist Joe Kovacs of the U.S. at 22.14 m (72-7 3/4):
“This is one of my favorite meets especially because the Polish people know the throws and the field events; there is such a history here. It is really one of the best places to throw because when the ball lands on the 22 m, people in the stands know what it means thanks to the history.
“So I am glad I got the 22 m throw, pushed Ryan [Crouser] back and forth. I have my family here with me, my twin babies, they are going to be two years old in October, so it is certainly challenging but it just makes me feel it is worth it and I am glad to be here.
“We are going to stay here one extra day and then heading to the Rome Diamond League. We are trying to make a fun trip, looking for the things that kids can enjoy, so it is kind of a holiday but it is still a work trip. I feel like I am doing better when I am enjoying my life and when having the kids with me.
“In Paris, it was definitely weird to me because I felt like I underperformed. I thought I could have won and that was actually my first Olympics when I realized that they could be my last Games. I felt the emotions.
“In Rio [in 2016], it was logistically overwhelming, Tokyo with no fans, so this time, to see my wife in the stands, to have my family there; it was the Olympic experience I have always dreamed of.”
Crouser, the three-time Olympic champ, who took the lead in the fifth round at 22.12 m (72-7), only to see Kovacs win on the next throw, didn’t enjoy Chorzow quite as much:
“It is frustrating to lose by such a small margin, but this was a really bad day for me. I came in from the U.S. and yesterday was my first full day in Europe. I was jetlagged and did not sleep well.
“I totally missed the first throw, had to do a safety throw in the second round, then missed again, so it was essentially a three-throw competition for me. Still, it is encouraging that I can still do 22 meters on a bad day.
“I still have more competitions coming up and I know I can only go up from here. I still feel good physically, I just could not execute today.”
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Norway’s world-record-holder Karsten Warholm won the men’s 400 m hurdles in a meet record of 46.95, and is looking ahead, as well as remembering his Paris experience:
“I wanted to do this race well before the Diamond League final so it feels nice to come out and to see the momentum going after the Olympics. It has been tough getting up after such a big competition but today felt good.
“After an Olympics, it is even worse if you get a gold medal; I have done that before as well. So many things happen afterwards, but I am starting to get used to it. To me, it is getting back to the rhythm quite fast.
My highs and lows are much more stable now. I do not go really high and I do not go really low. So it is easier when you are getting older [he’s 28]. I would rather have the silver that the bronze or fourth or fifth place, so it was the second-best option. It was not my best race in Paris and Rai [Benjamin] had a really good one. So the best man got it that day, but I know I can match that time, so it is of course a bit disappointment.
“But still, I did not have it in me in the most important day of the year. We need to go back to work and to make sure it does not happen again. As long as I have the fire in me, which is still burning right now, I will keep on going.”
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And there may be another world record coming this season, according to men’s 800 m victor Marco Arop of Canada, who won in 1:41.86 after seconds at the Olympic Games and the Lausanne Diamond League:
“Finally, I get the win. I think this is my first win over [Olympic champ Emmanuel] Wanyonyi since last year at the World Champs, so it was a good race today. Fast track and amazing atmosphere. I managed to run fast; just wanted to see how fast I could go.
“Pacing was perfect, I stayed in lane one this time so that kind of helps a little bit. I am just glad I am able to step on the line and to be able to compete. After the Olympics, I was gathering myself and was ready to race again. It was not that hard, I ran the best race of my life and even thought that I could not win in Paris, I keep my head up and I know I gave it my all.
“I am going to do 1,000 m in Zagreb and I want to try to break the world record and will be back in Brussels for the Diamond League final.
“The [800 m] world record, it is definitely going to go. I think in Brussels [at the Diamond League final]. Honestly, all three of us [Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati and Wanyonyi] could win the race. It is very possible. So it is very exciting to be a part of the 800 m.”
That record is one of the best on the books, the famed 1:40.91 by Kenyan Daniel Rudisha to win the London 2012 Olympic title. But where they had been 15 sub-1:42 performances in history at the start of 2024 – seven by Rudisha – there have been 12 so far this year alone, led by Wanyonyi’s 1:41.11 to win in Lausanne!
The remaining Diamond League meets are on Friday, 30 August in Rome, 5 September in Zurich, and the final on 13-14 September in Brussels.
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