Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
You know the feeling. Many Australians will be familiar with it.
You go away for a Gold Coast holiday, lie on the beach, soak up the sun, feel good about yourself and life in general; then, it’s back to grey skies and wintry weather. Sometime it...
Ethiopian marathoner Kebede Balcha was one of those runners you wouldn’t know was there until they passed you – usually within sight of the finish line. He did it to Dave Chettle in the World Cup marathon in Montreal in 1979 and threatened to do it to Rob de...
A column by Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
For half-a-century, Ralph Doubell’s Australian record for 800 metres had defied all-comers. Now, with Joseph Deng running 1:44.21 in Monaco on Friday night, it is gone.
The king of Australian records is dead. Long live the king!
The queen – Charlene Rendina’s women’s record...
About the only English people feeling less than devastated about England’s World Cup exit are the people staging England’s World Cup this weekend (14-15 July).
How’s that, you ask. Well, England lost in football’s World Cup semi-finals to Croatia and won’t be further involved, the third/fourth place playoff aside. Instead...
Not even the internet had heard of teenage Australian sprinter Jake Doran before he ran 10.15 for 100 metres in Finland last Sunday (1 July).
Even once Doran had run that time – an Australian U20 record, second-fastest in the world this year by an U20 eligible athlete my internet...
What’s that sound you hear? Well, if you’re anywhere near a national federation’s high performance unit it could be the sound of numbers crunching.
The IAAF is moving to a new system of qualifying for the world championships and, assuming the IOC is totally on board with it, presumably the...
A column by Len Johnson
Asbel Kiprop decides not to continue his quest to prove his innocence of an alleged doping infraction and suddenly all’s well in the war against doping.
Except, of course, it really isn’t, the case exposing worrying flaws in the system and, publicly at least, glossing over...
I’ll never get to see Hayward Field, or the Hayward Field of my vicarious memory, at least. If I get there for the 2021 world championships it will be to a totally new facility. No stomping feet on the wooden steps of the famous East Stand.
For those of us...
Performances often tend to bunch up around a perceived barrier, the men’s four-minute mile being the most famous historical example.
As we see the increased number of performances approaching the barrier, there is a tendency to assume one athlete will inevitably crash through it. Let’s call it the clump theory.
Of...
A column by Len Johnson | Runner's Tribe
All weeks have seven days, but some weeks seem to cram more in than others.
The last week of May, 2018 was one such week. It began with Linden Hall setting an Australian record for 1500 metres at the Prefontaine Classic Diamond League...
