In this episode of "Running: State of the Sport," George and Amby chat with Merhawi Keflezighi, younger brother of Meb Keflezighi. "Hawi" is also an important agent-manager to top track and marathon elites. He fills us in on the current financial state of the sport--who’s earning significant money, and who’s not.
He also proposes that every winner at the World Championships should receive a $1 million first-place prize. In an emotional retelling, he relives his brother’s famous win in the 2014 Boston Marathon--the year after the bombings.
Before speaking with Merhawi, George and Amby discuss the amazing results at the Chicago Marathon. George notes that Kelvin Kiptum is only 23, and has only run 3 marathons (all in the last year). At Chicago, Kiptum borke the tape in a world record 2:00:35. In both of his last two marathons, he has run the second half in sub 60 minutes. Also Sifan Hassan has incredible range--from a 1:56 in the 800 meters to 2:13 in the marathon. It's hard to predict which events she will run next summer at the Paris Olympics.
Amby talks about the age-group results at Chicago, including world records (3:34:32) by 75-year-old Jeannie Rice, and a 2:49:43 by 60-year-old Jenny Hitchings. Gene Dykes set an American record in the 75-79 age group (3:17:01), but fell 10+ minutes short of Ed Whitlock's world record 3:04.53.