Christian Coleman and Taoufik Makhloufi Aren't Having A Great Week + Some Good News!

The biggest news of the week involves the 100 meter world champion being forced to miss next year’s Olympics.

A full report was released by the Athletics Integrity Unit on Tuesday that announced a disciplinary tribunal panel upheld Coleman’s two-year suspension for missing three drug tests in a 12-month span. The ban was backdated to start May 14 and will expire on May 13, 2022, which knocks him out of the Summer Games in Tokyo.

Coleman was cited with missing a test on Jan. 16, 2019, recording a filing failure for a test attempt on April 26, 2019 and missing a test on Dec. 9, 2019. He didn’t challenge the first one.

For the April filing failure, Coleman incorrectly filled out his whereabouts to let a drug testing officer know where to find him. His whereabouts said that he would be at his residence in Lexington, Kentucky but he was actually in Des Moines, Iowa to compete in the Drake Relays. When he was contacted by the DCO, he asked to be tested in Des Moines but they could not. He tried updating his whereabouts to a time that already passed. The AIU counted this as a filing failure.

The crushing blow to Coleman’s fight against his third strike ultimately came down to receipts. For the Dec. 9, 2019 missed test, a DCO showed up to the Lexington residence. His whereabouts information said that he would be home from 7:15 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. that day. The DCO and a blood collection assistant proved they were home for that hour and tried ringing his doorbell every 10 minutes. Coleman was actually out shopping. He previously said that he knew he was back at home in time that day because he recalled watching the start of the Monday Night Football Game.

The game started at 8:15 p.m. Shopping receipts showed Coleman went to Chipotle to get some food and paid at 7:53 p.m. He also bought 16 things from Walmart at 8:22 p.m.

Here’s the crux of what the AIU panel determined: “Although the Walmart Center is relatively close to the Athlete's residence, it would have been simply impossible for him to purchase a chipotle at 7:53 pm (the store being 5-9 minutes to his residence), drive home, park the car, go into his residence, eat the Chipotle, then watch the kick-off of the football game which only started at 8:15 pm, and thereafter go out to again in his car, drive to the store and pick up 16 items at the Walmart Supercenter so as to be able to pay for them by 8:22 pm.”

That’s strike three.

Coleman can appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Coleman’s lawyer told NBC Sports that they “will be appealing, and this be resolved well before the U.S. Olympic Trials.”

Here’s my rundown of the case for Sports Illustrated. Matthew Luke Meyer and I will be reuniting on the podcast later this week to unpack the sport’s biggest stories including this one so stay tuned for that.

Boston Marathon Pushed To Fall 2021

This was a bit expected. The Boston Marathon will not be contested next April and has been pushed back to Fall 2021. The announcement from the BAA came on Wednesday afternoon.

“With fewer than six months until Patriots’ Day and with road races prohibited until Phase 4 of the Massachusetts reopening plan, we are unable to host the Boston Marathon this coming April,” BAA CEO Tom Grilk said in a statement. “By shifting our focus to a fall date, we can continue to work with stakeholders to adjust the in-person experience for runners and supporters alike. Prioritizing the safety of participants, volunteers, spectators, and community members, we continue to assess all elements of the race including a potential reduced field size or weekend date.”

This means there will be no spring marathons in 2021. The first major marathon will be the men’s and women’s Olympic races in Tokyo. (People forget those are technically World Marathon Majors).

For more on this decision, here’s the story I put together on Sports Illustrated.

We’ve got a Taoufik Makhloufi Update...But It’s Not Good for Him

It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything about Taoufik Makhloufi but that’s not uncommon until the Olympics roll up. For those who need a refresher, Makhloufi is best known for winning the gold medal in the 1,500 meters at the 2012 Olympics but there was a bit of controversy regarding whether he should have been allowed to compete in that event since he slowed down and then dropped out of the first round of the men’s 800 meters on Aug. 6 to save himself for the 1,500 meter final the next day. That goes against the “honest effort” rule at the Games. The Algerian federation issued an appeal and he was able to compete in the final after recovering from his knee injury*. In that final, he threw a little elbow with 300 meters left in the race and just unleashed a monster kick to win ahead of USA’s Leo Manzano.

You could make the case that he only races and trains to peak when it matters but it’s so strange to see him only really show up in an Olympic year and the year that precedes it. In 2013, he only raced once at the Prefontaine Classic and was absent from most races that you’d think an Olympic champion would try to cash out on appearance fees. He had a full season in 2014 and 2015. In 2016, he took silver in the 800 and 1,500 meters. After that...nothing. No races on his record in 2017 and 2018 that I could find.

Last year, he put together four 800 meter races and then really showed up at the world championships to take silver behind Timothy Cheruiyot. He didn’t offer up any specifics as to why he was absent or why he says his coach couldn’t work with him for two years when he spoke with reporters in Doha.

So what’s the latest? France’s Stade 2 aired a report that French authorities are investigating whether a bag containing syringes and other doping products found at the National Institute of Sport, Expertise & Performance belong to Makhloufi. The search took place in early September and the bag also reportedly contained documents that belong to Makhloufi.

This sounds a bit similar to the 2016 raid in Sabadell, Spain that led to the arrest of coach Jama Aden. Authorities in Spain raided hotel rooms and found syringes of EPO and other anabolic steroids. Aden used to coach Makhloufi until 2014 and was also mentioned several times by British media in recent years when he was photographed with Mo Farah.

Makhloufi ended up responding on Wednesday when he told the Algeria Press Service: "I am a clean athlete” and the allegations are "an unhealthy attempt aimed at damaging my reputation and the image of an Olympic champion. It is a slanderous campaign."

Blake Leeper Ineligible to Compete in World Athletics-Sanctioned Events

Double-amputee Blake Leeper will not be able to compete against able-bodied athletes in World Athletics sanctioned events, which puts an end to his hopes of competing at the Tokyo Olympics. The decision came down from the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which determined his prosthetic legs made him 15 centimeters taller and gave him a competitive advantage. He would measure up at 5’9” with biological legs but the prosthetics put him at 6’8”.

His representatives issued a statement on Monday afternoon that claimed the Maximum Allowable Standing Height limits set by Paralympic organizations are “racially discriminatory and thus against public policy...The MASH height limits, by contrast, were exclusively derived from data on the height proportions of Caucasians and Asians. As a result, the MASH height limits do not account for the fact that Black athletes may have different height proportions and should not be required to run at heights that may not be natural to them. These points of racial bias were presented to the CAS panel, but were ignored.”

According to his reps, Leeper is planning on filing legal action to challenge “this racially discriminatory decision.”

Leeper was fifth at the U.S. Outdoor Championships last year in 44.38, which would have put him in the running to participate in the relay pool for the world championships. However, World Athletics didn’t allow him and noted “rules permit competitive use of aids such as prosthetics if they do not give the user an artificial competitive advantage over those not using such aids”but Leeper’s did.

Leeper was hoping to join Oscar Pistorius in history as double amputees to compete at Worlds and the Olympics. He was born without lower legs and earned a bronze medal in the 200 meters and a silver medal in the 400 meters at the 2012 Paralympics in London. He missed the 2016 Paralympics after he served a ban for testing positive for cocaine in 2015.

DK Metcalf Wows Most of Us

Every once in a while you’ll get an NFL highlight that stirs some track and field discussion. On Monday Night Football, Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf chased down and prevented a pick-six from Budda Baker, who was a high school state champion in the 100 meters with a 10.77 personal best. One of the funniest clips that came out of it was Baker mic’ed up and wondering, “How’d he catch my ass?”

Metcalf was clocked at 22.6 miles per hour before taking down Baker. A stat like that combined with the video footage obviously had some fans wondering what he could do on the track. USATF also had fun with it and tweeted: “For everyone asking if we have a spot open on our relay team for @dkm14, @NFL players are welcome to come test their speed against real speed next year at the Olympic Trials.” Metcalf responded with “See you there.”

NBC sprints analyst Ato Boldon, who works with NFL players, squashed any sort of belief that Metcalf would be competitive against track athletes.

Over on the CITIUS MAG Instagram, we asked what you thought Metcalf could run for 100 meters. We tagged Noah Lyles for his thoughts and he commented: “He won’t make it out of the first round.” I agree.

Good News

Tommy Rivers Puzey posted on Instagram for the first time since his cancer battle started in July. He wrote: ““Cancer is hard. I’ve been away for so many weeks. Not gone... My heart is full. I’ll keep moving forward. I am sustained by your love and kindness. Even in this there is beauty.”

Michigan Pro Half Marathon

Major props once again to Keith and Kevin Hanson for organizing last week’s ekiden and this week's half marathon. (For more on them and how they’ve done their part to advance American distance running, feel free to revisit my live podcast with them from February. I miss doing live shows.)

Keira D’Amato won the women’s race in 68:57. Next up for her, she will attempt to break Janet Cherobon-Bawcom’s 10-mile US record of 52:12 in a women’s-only race in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 23. Emma Bates, who had a COVID scare shortly after the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, took second in 69:43. D’Amato and Bates will be competing in December’s Marathon Project.

The men’s race had a super tight finish. Triathlete and former Colorado Buffaloes cross country standout Morgan Pearson took the win in 62:15. The top five men were separated by just eight seconds. Tyler Day and Frank Lara duked it out for second and third. Scott Fauble was fourth in 62:18. After the race, Pearson told Lee Troop that he ran the race while training about 65 miles per week and only decided to do it in the last 10 days. He is debating doing a 70.3 triathlon or hopping back onto the track next month.

Galen Rupp Race Alert

It appears Galen Rupp could be racing soon. The Eugene Marathon teased a showdown against Suguru Osako for this fall. This would be Rupp’s first race since winning the 2020 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in late February.

PODCAST PALOOZA

"I was a competitive snowboarder but seeing what I'm doing in running right now is above and beyond what I thought I was doing in that sport. Finding a sport this late in life and seeing that constant progression, which is what I lost in snowboarding, I hit this point where I don't want to hit jumps anymore. I just want to have fun on the mountains. You stop seeing yourself become better at a point. You're not learning new tricks. You're skiing and snowboarding on the same trails. With running, I'm continuing to get faster and PR in different events and progress. I mostly get messages from friends saying, 'I can't believe how fast you've gotten' or 'What kind of running shoes should I buy?' or even 'Hey! You've really inspired me to sign up for a race.' It's pretty cool, especially to have people who I looked up to for so many years to reach out to me and ask for my advice on running."

If you enjoyed last week’s motivational episode with Pat Jeffers about his marathon progression after some time away from the sport, I offer up another inspirational story but this time it’s someone who found the sport much later in life.

Brian is a super nice guy who I met in Boulder a few months ago. He’s a member of the Tinman Track Club and he’s run 2:30:14 for the marathon. He ran his first marathon in 3:18 just four years ago. His background doesn’t have much running. He was a snowboarder growing up and then really partied in college. He decided to make a change in his life when he stepped on the scale and wasn’t happy with where he was at. It led him to boxing, which then led him to running following an injury. It’s all interesting to me and I think you’ll enjoy it as well.

You can catch the latest episode of the podcast on iTunes so subscribe and leave a five-star review. We are also on Stitcher, Google Play and Spotify!

Follow Brian on Instagram at @schroy.

-----

Let me know what you thought of this week’s newsletter. Is Wednesday better for sending this out? I hope you learned something new. If you have any comments, feedback, questions, corrections or if you’ve got anything to share with me.

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Cheers,

Chris Chavez