Parker Valby Is Back, BU Is Banned, Andrew Greif on the Enhanced Games
LetsRun.com's Track Talk: The Home of Running and Track and FieldShow Notes
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Parker Valby made a triumphant return to outdoor track with a 14:49 personal best victory in the women's 5,000, her first professional outdoor race in nearly two years. Brandon Miller got the men's 800 at LA Track Fest rand aised questions about Donovan Brazier, while Josh Kerr posted an 800 PB fueling mile world record speculation.
World Athletics dropped bombshell 2027 World Championship standards โ 1:43 flat for the men's 800, 3:30 for the 1500, 12:50 for the 5K โ and banned BU's indoor track for qualifying.
The episode closes with NBC's Andrew Greif (author of Beyond Fast) talking about his experience at the Enhanced Games, where $250,000 first-place prizes couldn't overcome Father Time.
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LINKS
LetsRun.com - the home of running
Marius Bakken's New Book: The Norwegian Method Applied Is a Must-Read
LetsRun.com Supporters Club โ (code GOAT50)
World Athletics Announces Super-Hard Qualifying Standards for 2027 World Championships
Hot Rumor: WA Will No Longer Accept Times From BU Indoors (LetsRun Forum Thread)
Enhanced Games: Drugs Don't Get Athletes Banned, They Get Rich โ Andrew Greif, NBC News
Beyond Fast by Andrew Greif and Chris Lear (Amazon)
LetsRun.com Training Talk Live with Marius Bakken (Monday 1:00 PM Eastern, Supporters Club members only)
TIMESTAMPS
00:05 Sponsor and Supporters Club Plug
01:09 Intro and Episode Preview
06:29 LA Track Fest: Biggest Winners and Losers
07:08 Parker Valby's Triumphant Return
11:57 Is Parker Valby's 14:49 Good Enough?
15:11 Most Disappointing Performances
18:22 Men's 800: Brazier, Kerr, and Kessler
22:51 Hobbs Kessler's Ceiling and Parker Wolfe's Rise
27:14 Josh Kerr's 800 PB and Mile World Record Talk
30:26 Weldon's World Cup Team and Soccer Tangent
36:09 Steeplechase Roundup and Cooper Lutkenhaus
42:14 2027 World Championship Standards Are Insane
45:39 BU Indoor Track Banned for Qualifying
53:01 Will These Standards Kill the US Trials?
56:04 Quota Reallocation and the Future of Team Selection
59:39 Sound Running, Track Meets, and Quick Hits
66:08 AI, Princeton Reunions, and Random Banter
68:38 The Enhanced Games Recap
69:19 Andrew Greif Joins: Inside the Enhanced Games
74:39 The Money That Lured Athletes Out of Retirement
77:28 The Spectacle in Las Vegas
82:55 Why Clean Athletes Competed at the Enhanced Games
85:00 Fred Kerley and the Olympic Eligibility Question
88:11 Did the Drugs Actually Work?
92:59 The Protocol Problem and What Comes Next
98:19 Father Time Is Undefeated
102:13 The Emotional Cost of Crossing the Line
103:44 Doping in the NCAA and Closing Thoughts
109:03 Outro and Supporters Club
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Since 2000, LetsRun.com has been the independent home of elite running. Described by the New York Times as the "influential website that serves as something of a superego for American running," the podcast is the weekly deep dive into the world of track and field and elite distance running. The show is hosted by LetsRun.com co-founders Weldon Johnson, a 2-time Team USA member, and Robert Johnson, a former Cornell coach who helped pace the marathon world record, along with award-winning senior writer Jonathan Gault. Together they move beyond PR headlines to provide insider
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