A New App Bringing Us Together to Talk Track

This is the CITIUS MAG Newsletter, a weekly round-up of the biggest stories in the running and track & field community with analysis and commentary by me, Chris Chavez. If you’ve been forwarded this email or stumbled upon a link online, you can sign up and subscribe here:

It’s always interesting when a new social media app pops onto the scene and how quick people are to jump on things. When I was in college, Vine was the six-second app that jump-started the careers of dozens of influencers and YouTube stars but then it was shut down in 2016. I’ve always wanted to either write a book or film a YouTube documentary series that follows the different career paths of people that were on the app. Some pivoted to YouTube and have exploded as millionaires on there like the Paul brothers and Jake Paul. Others totally vanished along with the app. Some have started to resurface with the explosion of TikTok. I feel like I’m in a very niche, social media crowd that finds himself thinking, ‘Whatever happened to the LeBron James kid?’ or ‘How did Trey’s basketball game turn out?’ and ‘What happened to this kid?’ I just want to know what happened next in life.

Because I missed the boat on becoming Vine or TikTok famous, I feel lucky that I’m able to play around on Clubhouse right now while it’s buzzing among Silicon Valley. It’s simply a conference all turned into a social networking app that allows you to pop into various chat rooms to listen to speakers. It’s currently in beta testing. Last Saturday, Kyle Merber and I decided to test it out and see how we could use it during a track meet.

The Prickly Pear Invitational was being streamed on USATF.tv and we know that not everyone has access to be able to watch. So we decided to use Clubhouse as a way to provide our own live thoughts and commentary during the races. It was a ton of fun. We had fellow CITIUS MAG Podcast Network hosts Dana Giordano and David Melly pop on. Declan Murray, who wowed me with his broadcast performance during the Big Ten cross country championship, nailed some play-by-play. We’re able to field questions from other people in the Clubhouse room, where people were able to ask pros like Dana and Kyle (OK, an ex-pro) what stood out to them during the race, where they’d want training to be at during this point in the season and other funny anecdotes from their experience.

Understandably, Facebook and Twitter are already building out their competitor app to rival Clubhouse so we’ll have to see how long this lasts. For now, this totally beats watching a track meet solo and all it takes is having a phone out and practically feeling like you’re on a call with your buddies. While we’re all apart during this pandemic, this is just a little cool way to get creative and bring us together.

That’s a long way of saying: Follow me on Clubhouse @chrischavez.

Hobbs Kessler was the biggest star of last week’s American Track League meet, which aired just before Super Bowl LV. I was unable to watch the men’s mile live since I was assisting with Sports Illustrated’s coverage of the big game but I did notice Twitter erupted when Kessler crossed the finish line in 3:57.66 behind Takieddine Hedelli and Nick Willis. The 17-year-old broke Drew Hunter’s high school indoor mile record (3:57.81) but no one really knew much about him before the race. That’s because he’s fairly new to the sport and has been training with Willis under the guidance of coach Ron Warhurst in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He’s a rock climber! With his 2020 outdoor season scrapped due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he time trialed with Willis last summer and ran 4:08 for the mile – where he hung on after pacing through 1,200m in 3:02. Kessler is committed to running at Northern Arizona. Track and Field News’ Jeff Hollobaugh has a good profile of Kessler.

– Drew Hunter held a Q&A on Clubhouse on Friday and I got a brief chance to ask him a few questions about his initial thoughts on Kessler breaking his record. He deleted the Twitter app from his phone so he was confused when he received a text from his mom that said something along the lines of “I’m sorry, honey. It’s already been a rough week.” He had no idea what she was talking about. (He was a bit down after a stretch of solid training that was followed up by four to five days off since he was dealing with a little bit of swelling in his femoral area. He flew to Delaware to work with a physical therapist and has been given the OK to race on Saturday in New York City.) She told him that Kessler broke his high school record but Hunter wasn’t upset by it at all.

“ I remember when I broke Alan’s record, he was the most congratulatory person,” Hunter says. “He was super kind and felt excited for me. I felt the exact same way. I immediately messaged Hobbs and told him ‘Congratulations’ and that’s awesome. He responded, “Thanks GOAT.’ That was funny.”

In response to Willis’ “Warhurst > Tinman” tweet, Hunter says there’s no beef in full agreement with the assessment. At this point in his career, how many Olympians has Warhurst coached? Probably like 10 plus. Nick Willis, Tim Broe, Nate Brannen and Kevin Sullivan just to name a few. That’s not even up for discussion.”

“You can’t argue with the number of Olympians. There’s no argument there. I would agree with him 100%.

– Tracksmith aired a cool ad to commemorate Nick Willis’ 19-year sub-four mile streak during ESPN’s broadcast of the American Track League.

THANK YOU MOMENTOUS

Before we get to some fast performances, I wanted to take a quick moment to thank MOMENTOUS for sponsoring the CITIUS MAG Podcast and newsletter. Over the past couple of weeks, I've been able to try Momentous' ArcFire Strength Recovery Protein as one of the newest additions to my training regimen. I'm someone who initially felt like they could get lost in what's proper fueling or how much protein I should be dialing into my everyday routine. Momentous has made it easy for me. They outline all of their ingredients on their site and their comprehensive blog has expert advice as well as first-hand accounts from pro athletes like Emma Coburn and Ben True.

Try it for yourself. CITIUS MAG Podcast listeners will generously receive 20% off their first order of Momentous by using the promo code CITIUS at checkout on LiveMomentous.com. That’s 20% off your first order of plant protein, whey protein, sleep formula and everything in their store.

NEWS AND RESULTS

Notable results from the Prickly Pear Invitational in Arizona (Photo by Joe Hale):

• In her first race in a Bowerman Track Club uniform, Sinclaire Johnson recorded her first win by taking the women’s 800m in 2:01.70 and beat indoor mile American record holder Elle Purrier.

• 2020 U.S. indoor 1,500m champion Josh Thompson took the men’s 800 meters in 1:49.15.

• Gabriela DeBues-Stafford also recorded a win in her Bowerman Track Club debut by closing her final lap in 61 seconds and pulling away from Colleen Quigley, Karissa Schweizer and Elise Cranny for the in 8:38.51 victory in the 3,000m.

• Marc Scott made it four-for-four by winning the men’s 3,000m in 7:36.09 after a 54.6-second final lap.

– The Bowerman Track Club officially announced the addition of Kieran Tuntivate. He has personal bests of 3:57 for the mile/13:57.60 for 5,000m/28:45.61 for 10,000m while competing for Harvard. He holds their respective school records in the mile, the 3,000m and the 10,000m. He competes internationally for Thailand. He made waves in 2019 when he lost his spike during the Heps and tore up the bottom of his foot but still won the 3,000m and 5,000m title.

– After leaving the Bowerman Track Club, Colleen Quigley went on Instagram Live and announced that she is now being coached by Josh Seitz. He worked with her at Florida State and currently coaches at Portland State, where Quigley is also a volunteer assistant coach. Quigley said that she is not yet ready to announce her new sponsor.

– Keira D’Amato announced that she is now sponsored by Nike. If you listened to the podcast episode where Matt Meyer and I guessed her sponsor, I was right!

An indoor meet in Lievin, France was electric.

• Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay (who earned a bronze in the 1,500m at the 2019 world championships) broke Genzebe Dibaba’s world record of 3:55.17 with a 3:53.09 win. Behind her, Laura Muir was second in 3:59.58, which put her ahead of Jemma Reekie’s 4:00.52 British national record.

• Jakob Ingebrigtsen picked up right where he left off in 2020 by decimating the men’s 1,500m field, which included world record holder Samuel Tefera, by more than five seconds to set a new European record of 3:31.80 for the indoor 1,500m (that puts him at No. 5 all-time with the only people faster than him in history being Tefera, Hicham El Guerrouj, Yomif Kejelcha and Haile Gebrselassie.

• Ethiopia’s Getnet Wale, who was 4th in the steeplechase at the 2019 World Championships, just ran 7:24.98 for 3,000m at the indoor meet in Lievin, France. Daniel Komen’s 7:24.90 world record from 1998 gets a good scare.

• 19-year-old Ethiopian rising star Lemlem Hailu defeated Sifan Hassan in the women’s 3,000m in 8:32.55.

• Grant Holloway (rocking a clean-shaven head) broke his American record in the 60m hurdles with a 7.32 and is just .02 seconds behind Colin Jackson’s world record.

– Joshua Cheptegei starts his 2021 campaign with a road 5K in Monaco on Sunday, which will be available to watch for free on the NN Running Team’s YouTube page. The race is set to go off at around 3:45 a.m. ET. Last year, he ran 12:51 to set the world record.

– The NN Running team is also going to stage an elite marathon in Hamburg on April 11. They will cap the field at 100 participants. The course will be a 10.5-kilometer loop through the city.

– 2016 800m Olympic silver medalist Francine Niyonsaba ran a cross country 10K in Burundi and stated her intention to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics in the 5,000 meters. She will be unable to compete in the 800 because she has a condition that gives her higher levels of natural testosterone and the current rules by World Athletics mean that she would have to lower her natural testosterone levels through medication or surgery to compete in events from 400m to the mile. She has not competed in an 800 since the May 2019 Doha Diamond League meet.

– Athletics Canada announced some major changes to its plans for its Olympic team selection process. No spectators will be allowed at their trials, which will be held from June 24 to 27 in Montreal. They also noted that competing at the Trials will no longer be a requirement for Olympic nomination. The winner of each able-bodied event at the Trials, if qualified and eligible, will be automatically nominated for the Tokyo Olympic Games. “Entries by invitation only; number of competitors per event will also be limited.” I did see a follow-up tweet that the no spectators decision is based on the current state of the pandemic in Canada. If things miraculously get better, maybe they allow people to watch. For those wondering about what this could mean for the United States Olympic track trials, to my knowledge, no decision has been made on whether spectators will or will not be allowed. There is no timeline for that decision to be made. Eugene is in Oregon’s Lane County, which is considered “extreme risk” through February 25. Max group size for Outdoor Recreation and Fitness Establishments is 50 people. Feels like we might have a long way to go until people can gather outdoors. Just this week the University of Oregon announced that its graduation is going to be virtual.

– With some positive news, Dr. Fauci says April is going to be open season for vaccination shots available for all groups. Sign me up! There is hope on the way.

Something to watch this weekend! The New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, which is typically held in Boston, will take place on Saturday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. ET on NBC. Here are a few things to watch for…

• Olympic bronze medalist Hagos Gebrhiwet opens up his 2021 season against Eric Jenkins, Joe Klecker, Justyn Knight and Morgan McDonald in the men’s two-mile. Could this be a little preview of the men’s 5,000m in Texas? Maybe… Did Gebrhiwet also enter the Texas Qualifier? If you’re reading this, you’re the first to find out…Yes.

• Sydney McLaughlin vs. Queen Claye (nee Harrison) and Kendra Harrison will go at it in the 60m hurdles.

• Heather MacLean took the women’s mile at the American Track League and now she’ll be challenged by Nikki Hiltz, Cory McGee and Alexa Afraimson in the women’s 1,500m.

• Will Bryce Hoppel break David Torrence’s 2:16.76 American record from 2014? He’s got it on his mind.

• I think Elinor Purrier will break Jenny Simpson’s 9:18.35 American record for the women’s two-mile, which was set in 2017. Purrier ran 9:29.17 in January of last year so this could be big.

• Nobody has ever run faster than Michael Norman in an indoor 400 since he holds the world record of 44.52 from March 2018. If he PRs in the men’s 400, that means it’s a new world record. That’s so weird to think about.

• Matt Centrowitz pulled out of the men’s 1,500m but we’ll still have a strong field that features Craig Engels, Jake Wightman, Drew Hunter and Johnny Gregorek.

• A year ago this weekend, Donavan Brazier torched the men’s 800m field at the Millrose Games. Six men have signed up to have him do it again for his 2021 season opener.

• The Noah Lyles Show season premiere will be in a 200.

Join me and Kyle Merber on Clubhouse for live analysis, commentary and banter during the meet.

ON THE CITIUS MAG PODCAST NETWORK

“One of the things I feel that I’m pretty good at is the competition side of things. When I do get put up against people like that, the true competitor side comes out in me. It’s like I’m almost pushing my body beyond what it can do just because I don’t want to lose”

Bryce Hoppel is one of Team USA’s stars to watch in the Olympic year since he’s the second-fastest American 800 meter runner indoors and the seventh-fastest American outdoors for the same distance. He’s run 1:43.23 and finished fourth at the World Championships. At the University of Kansas, he was a two-time NCAA champion and a five-time All-American. In this episode, you’ll get to know him a little bit better before he takes a swing at David Torrence’s 2:16.76 American record in the indoor 1,000 meters and then you’ll be able to see him in action at the Trials of Miles Texas Qualifier men’s 800 on Feb. 27.

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!

FULL SHOW NOTES & QUOTES UP ON CITIUS MAG

– I also published a bonus episode of the CITIUS MAG Podcast alongside Ryan Sterner and Stephen Kersh to peel back the curtain a bit more on the movie-making process for “A Time and A Place.” Sterner calls it the “most fulfilling” project that they’ve ever worked on.

– On Runners of NYC, Leigh Anne Sharek and I spoke with U.S. Olympic fencer Race Imboden, who has taken up running during the pandemic to stay in shape in his preparation for the Tokyo Olympics. This episode unpacks a lot. We discuss gun violence awareness through his work with Everytown, athlete activism, Rule 50 silencing people at the Summer Games and the whiteness in running and fencing. When I first connected with Race last fall for a Sports Illustrated story, he was just getting into running. Now he’s thinking of doing the New York City Marathon. For those in the New York City area, Race will be speaking at the next Running to Protest event on Feb. 21 @ 10 a.m. in Washington Sq. Park.

– If you need an energy boost, Nini Meyer of Positive Tracks brings it on the latest episode of “More Than Running with Dana Giordano” on how running and movement can create so much good in our lives and the lives of others.

– Trail Runner Magazine’s Zoë Rom joined Emma Zimmerman on Social Sport to discuss climate change and environmental justice in sports journalism.

That’s it from me in the latest edition of the CITIUS MAG Newsletter. Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this, learned something new or have any questions or commentary on anything featured in this issue, feel free to hit my inbox: [email protected]

As always, I’m grateful if you decided to forward this to a friend or five. If you’d like to share this article, click the button below:

Chris Chavez | Twitter | Instagram