VT XC & DISTANCE

Kicking to the win! 🦵 Drew Hunter wins his second U.S. 5km title with a 13:28 run in Indianapolis, beating out Dylan Jacobs by hundredths in the final four-way finishing sprint. Hunter and Jacobs secure the two auto spots to the World Road Running Championship ahead of Cooper Teare (3rd in 13:29) and Sam Prakel (4th, also in 13:29).

Running away from the competition 💨 Karissa Schweizer cracks the 15 minute barrier and takes a decisive win with a 14:59 run at the 2026 USATF 5km championships in Indianapolis, separating from runner-up Emma Grace Hurley and the field over the final 800 meters to claim her second career national title.

So this happened right after the USATF 5k Championships in Indianapolis…. 😦🔥💀

Mary Cain's new book "This is Not About Running," should be required reading for high school and college coaches and athletes. It's what happens when we allow the win at all costs mindset to take over, with no checks in place, in an environment that promoted craziness... It's a great read. And Cain doesn't hold back. We're all human. We all mess up. But there are far too many people in this sport who witnessed what occurred with Mary and others, who turned a blind eye because they wanted to win no matter what. They wanted their $$$ or prestige and were willing to do whatever it took to keep chasing that fragile dream. And many of these folks are still in the sport, acting like nothing happened. If you don't speak out, if we don't have folks say this isn't right, the cycle continues. More abuse and cheating follow. So hats off to Cain for speaking out. And shame on those who continue to hide, hoping that folks will just forget that they chose $$$ and status over doing the right thing. Go read Cain's book: This is Not About Running.

The Maurten team took 6 trips to Kenya to work with Sawe over the past year. They developed a “personalized gut training program” for him. Nerdy details here:

🗣️ “Before 41K, I’m enjoying it, relaxed and my body is all great. Exactly at 41K, my body is stuck. I finished my power. I tried to push but my legs were stopped.” We all hit the wall in our first marathon. Yomif Kejelcha didn’t hit it until 41K and STILL managed to break two hours in his FIRST marathon. 1:59:41 at the London Marathon! 🎥 Full interview with Kejelcha on the CITIUS MAG YouTube channel: youtu.be/IEB7sRB0Jzk?si…

Two sub 2 hour marathon performances in the same race, with a third runner under the old world record. The most mind blowing day of performances in maybe any sport. What happened, what were the contributing factors, and how do we make sense of it? stevemagness.substack.com/p/the-2-hour-b…

SHE DOES IT!!! 🥳🎉 Gabby Thomas 🇺🇸 clocked 10.95 seconds (-0.4) to win the women’s 100m at the Botswana Golden Grand Prix. It’s her first time breaking the 11-second barrier with allowable wind.

🚨🚨 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐃𝐔 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐄 ! Un an après, Tigist Assefa remet le couvert et bat son propre record mondial sur marathon (women’s only) en 𝟮𝗛𝟭𝟱’𝟰𝟭, ce matin à Londres 🤯🔥 𝑷𝑺 : C’est une moyenne totalement folle de 3’13/km (soit 18,66 km/h) 😱

During my career, I coached 25+ distance runners who qualified for the Olympic Trials Some ran 60 miles per week. Others 110+ Some maxed out 8 miles of threshold in a session, others 4 The principles of performance are the same. But how each individual gets there is different!

1:59:30. Humanity just got faster. Powered by Adizero. #YouGotThis

HOLY AURA ✨ Quincy Wilson GETS IT DONE at Penn Relays. Anchors Bullis to the win in the high school boys 4x400 Championship of America in 3:10.15‼️ First victory by an American HS over Jamaica in 19 years!

Yomif Kejelcha ran 1:59:41 and didn't win.

How we got to Sub-2 📊 Sabastian Sawe’s world record of 1:59:30 at the 2026 London Marathon was achieved thanks to a massive negative split of 60:29-59:01. Sawe really made his money from 30K on, posting a 27:36 10K from 30K to 40K before picking it up EVEN MORE, closing the final 2.2K on 4:17 mile pace 🤯 In total, that’s 4:33 mile pace for just under two hours 😮‍💨

Watch the finish of Sabastian Sawe’s incredible new 1:59:30 marathon world record. The two-time London champ covered 26.2 miles in 4:33 mile pace, including splitting 59:01 for his second half and running 4:16 pace from 40k to the finish.

Was Sabastian Sawe’s world record not even the craziest marathon performance of the day?? 🤯 Vincent Mauri ran his first marathon the Glass City Marathon in Toledo, OH, this morning… and won in 2:05:54, becoming only the fourth American ever to break 2:06. The 25-year-old @NDXCTF and @SunDevilTFXC alum won by 15 MINUTES running solo on a USATF-certified course. Mauri finished his collegiate career in 2025 with PBs of 3:59.05 (mile), 7:50.33 (3000m), and 13:34.03 (5000m).

UNSTOPPABLE! JACKSON SPENCER CLOSES IN 56.73 TO RUN 3:58.17 AT NIKE JESUIT TWILIGHT RELAYS IN PORTLAND! US HS ALL-TIME #7 OUTDOORS!

OLD MAN RANT I grew up being taught “the real you is who you are when nobody's watching" In 2026 “It doesn’t count (or it didn’t happen) if it’s not documented on social media” I will keep doing things the right way whether it is seen or not.

What happens when you make people take a break from doing what they love? In one study, researchers took regular runners and triathletes and made them take 2 weeks completely off. No exercise. No cross-training. Just rest. The result? Big spikes in feelings of depression,…

Worth the wait! Delayed for a day because of weather, high schooler Jaden Merrick wins the #DrakeRelays 10,000m with the 10th fastest time in prep US prep history! ⏱️ 29:36.67