1 00:00:04,560 --> 00:00:07,600 All right, all right, all right, Happy New Year, everyone. 2 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:11,600 Welcome to the first episode of the City of Smack podcast in 3 00:00:11,600 --> 00:00:15,200 2026. Preet and I decided to take a 4 00:00:15,200 --> 00:00:20,760 little bit of downtime over the last week and 1/2 or so, just 5 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:23,960 over the holidays, we thought about recording last week. 6 00:00:23,960 --> 00:00:30,080 Things got a little bit hectic with the holidays and so we are 7 00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:35,520 jumping on here for our 2025 end of year awards. 8 00:00:35,520 --> 00:00:40,200 Is this kind of what you wanted? Do it as pre because we'll do 9 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:43,160 our Bold Predictions episode next week. 10 00:00:43,160 --> 00:00:45,960 But I didn't want to leave the listeners hanging a whole week 11 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:48,680 without an episode. So we had the Jane Heddigren 12 00:00:48,680 --> 00:00:52,200 episode to hold people over during the holidays. 13 00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:57,360 And I think we came up with about 15 different categories. 14 00:00:57,360 --> 00:00:59,400 There was a longer list that was like 25. 15 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:03,600 But we, you know, we know that episode could end up going 4 16 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:06,960 hours or so if we wanted to yap and acknowledge every single big 17 00:01:06,960 --> 00:01:11,000 moment that happened in track and field in 2025 because it was 18 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:15,280 quite the momentous year. So Preet, I guess do you want to 19 00:01:15,680 --> 00:01:18,760 run through really quick what our 15 categories are going to 20 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:20,920 be so that the listeners know what they can expect? 21 00:01:21,320 --> 00:01:22,600 Yeah. Maybe maybe there's a few that 22 00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:24,400 will evolve as we as we go through. 23 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:29,080 But I think maybe let's let's give you first the first few and 24 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:31,720 I think we're going to start off with some of the more obvious 25 00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:36,000 ones, world record of the year, performance of the year, athlete 26 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:39,800 of the year, etcetera, social media moment of the year. 27 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:42,560 So we're going to start off with a few like that and then we'll 28 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:44,000 we'll see where we go from there. 29 00:01:44,920 --> 00:01:48,160 But yeah, let's let's dig in. But happy new Year, Chris. 30 00:01:48,160 --> 00:01:50,320 Hope you had a good break as well. 31 00:01:50,440 --> 00:01:54,640 It's yeah, we've certainly got a very sunny day here in in 32 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:56,720 London, which is surprising for this time of year. 33 00:01:56,720 --> 00:01:59,720 But yeah, good to be starting the year off with a with a 34 00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:02,480 podcast. Yeah, I was, I guess over the 35 00:02:02,480 --> 00:02:06,760 break I was pretty dialed in and, and just cranking away at 36 00:02:07,600 --> 00:02:10,840 my book, which is due now in six months, actually the first 37 00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:14,600 draft. So I got to make some, some 38 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:17,880 progress on it. I'm, I think, I'd like to say I 39 00:02:17,880 --> 00:02:21,640 think I'm halfway through, which is very, very exciting and I'm 40 00:02:21,640 --> 00:02:24,040 in a good groove. I think I shared a little bit 41 00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:26,280 about it and just sort of like the inspiration I got over the 42 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:29,880 last couple months on the, the marathon book Instagram account. 43 00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:33,800 And so encourage people to follow along there because I'm 44 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:37,200 deep into research. I, I feel like I'm reading a 45 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:41,280 new, a different runner's memoir every single week. 46 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:44,520 I think I've read Duel in the Sun and then 14 Minutes by 47 00:02:44,520 --> 00:02:48,640 Alberto Salazar back-to-back. So I had a very Alberto Salazar 48 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:52,440 holiday, for better or for worse. 49 00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:58,200 And then I moved on to now I'm reading Frank Shorter's memoir 50 00:02:58,200 --> 00:03:01,800 from 2015. And then I've got a couple pages 51 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:07,280 also going on Mebs memoir. So lots to go on, lots of 52 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:11,600 marathon memoirs, but we're we're trying to put together an 53 00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:14,280 all-encompassing book that touches on history and so much 54 00:03:14,280 --> 00:03:16,640 more. So that's what that's I guess 55 00:03:16,640 --> 00:03:20,040 like where I snuck off from family for a bit during the 56 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:23,880 holidays to work on that. But I'm excited to to reflect 57 00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:26,040 on, on some of this because we did we did a little bit of a 58 00:03:26,520 --> 00:03:30,880 post World Championships like superlatives moment with you. 59 00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:33,600 But this is going to look at the whole year. 60 00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:35,680 So we're going to start off with world records and there were 61 00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:39,560 quite a few of them this year, both on the track and on the 62 00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:41,440 roads. We're going to include indoor 63 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:48,200 and outdoor world records. So Preet, what is your world 64 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:49,960 record of the year? All right. 65 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:56,040 My world record of the year, I mean it it, it's always a tough, 66 00:03:56,440 --> 00:03:58,000 it's always a tough, a tough choice. 67 00:03:58,000 --> 00:03:59,920 I think there were a few really good contenders. 68 00:04:00,320 --> 00:04:04,280 I think the one that was most impressive and albeit wasn't 69 00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:07,160 entirely unexpected, it was in some ways the magnitude of it 70 00:04:07,160 --> 00:04:10,960 was unexpected was Jacob Kaplimo's half marathon world 71 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:15,880 record 5642. The very start of of last year 72 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:19,000 in in February. But I thought that was just, you 73 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:23,480 know, we're expecting someone to lower it to 5720 or something. 74 00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:27,000 You know, it's 5730 before and we didn't really expect someone 75 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:30,800 to lower it by quite that much. And I'd probably give some 76 00:04:30,840 --> 00:04:33,560 honourable mentions. I think if I was giving 77 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:38,880 rankings, I think Beatrice Chabetz 1358 would, would, would 78 00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:40,440 rank up there. But the problem is she'd already 79 00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:45,560 broken the 40 minute barrier on the roads just a few weeks alike 80 00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:49,640 in at the back end of 2024. So it maybe didn't have quite 81 00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:51,200 the same impact because it was just expected. 82 00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:55,400 And obviously the most epic kind of race we got for the world 83 00:04:55,400 --> 00:04:59,000 record was was Grant Fisher versus Cole Hocker in in the 84 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:00,680 Millwarries game. That's the one I'm going with. 85 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:06,440 I'm going with Grant Fisher's 7223K world record at the Mill 86 00:05:06,440 --> 00:05:07,400 Rose Games. Why? 87 00:05:07,400 --> 00:05:12,920 Because like you said, it comes on as a result of an epic race 88 00:05:12,920 --> 00:05:16,200 against Cole Hawker. You had, you know, the 1500m 89 00:05:16,200 --> 00:05:18,360 Olympic champion, the double Olympic bronze medalist and the 90 00:05:18,360 --> 00:05:22,080 5K10K going at it. And when I was looking at just 91 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:25,400 sort of all these records that were set this year, that one 92 00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:28,120 stands out to me the most is like the byproduct of really 93 00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:30,200 good racing. Yarrid was definitely pushed, I 94 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:34,680 would say to to his 346 indoor mile world record with, you 95 00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:38,480 know, having Hobbs, Kessler and Ken Myers right on his heels. 96 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:40,440 So like that was an entertaining race. 97 00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:44,000 But when you go through the the rest of them, Jakobs indoor 98 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:47,600 15101 a little expected him taking the mile world record 99 00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:51,400 from from Yared would have been better if they both had gone 100 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:54,520 head to head Mondo Duplantis pole vault world record. 101 00:05:54,520 --> 00:05:56,000 If we didn't choose it this year, there's going to be a 102 00:05:56,000 --> 00:05:58,560 chance for us to choose it 3 or 4 times next year. 103 00:05:59,920 --> 00:06:03,040 And then I'm looking at, yeah, like you said, just sort of 104 00:06:03,040 --> 00:06:08,960 faith could be a gun four O 6 for the women's mile at breaking 105 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:10,840 four. I guess people aren't counting 106 00:06:10,840 --> 00:06:12,080 that as an official world record. 107 00:06:12,080 --> 00:06:17,320 But then her 1500 three 48 expected she's done it before. 108 00:06:17,320 --> 00:06:21,520 So that's why it's sort of like maybe not the one I would pick 109 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:27,360 Take us to Safa 215 women's only marathon world record. 110 00:06:27,360 --> 00:06:33,280 If the, if the actual marathon world record wasn't 2211 by her 111 00:06:33,400 --> 00:06:36,920 or two O 2 O 9 by Ruth Chepingettich, whichever 1 you 112 00:06:36,920 --> 00:06:41,520 acknowledge, then I guess it would, it would, it would pop a 113 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:43,120 little bit more. So I'm going to go with the one 114 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:46,480 that was the product of really good racing and that's Grant's 115 00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:50,640 indoor 3K cause indoor 5K was a time trial. 116 00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:57,160 I, I like, I just can't get up for a BU solo. 117 00:06:57,640 --> 00:07:01,320 It's very impressive to see someone just kind of crank away 118 00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:07,600 at 32nd laps and you know, but I like racing. 119 00:07:07,840 --> 00:07:10,720 So that's where I'm going with Grant versus Cole. 120 00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:13,360 All right, moving on to the next one. 121 00:07:13,520 --> 00:07:18,800 Performance of the year. Now this is this is good. 122 00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:22,040 I like that you went with world record and then performance 123 00:07:22,040 --> 00:07:25,640 because many times we get really, really good performances 124 00:07:25,640 --> 00:07:28,560 that aren't necessarily world records. 125 00:07:28,560 --> 00:07:31,520 So I'll go first on this one just so I can claim it first. 126 00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:35,960 I'm going Sidney McLaughlin Liveroni's 400 meter gold medal 127 00:07:35,960 --> 00:07:39,560 run at the World Championships. Why? 128 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:44,800 It's just, again, like we've banged on this drum many times 129 00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:49,200 on the show, just she stepped out of her comfort zone by 130 00:07:49,200 --> 00:07:52,600 taking on the 400. There was just sort of this 131 00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:55,680 question mark we had over just sort of her potential in the 132 00:07:55,680 --> 00:07:58,760 event because she came close to contesting it at the World 133 00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:03,120 Championships in 2023, then got injured and then, you know, kind 134 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:07,640 of secures an easy gold medal at the Paris Olympics. 135 00:08:08,120 --> 00:08:11,720 And this time she was going up against, I guess Sally Ed Nasr 136 00:08:11,720 --> 00:08:16,840 really kicked off the women's 400 in 2025 with that crazy fast 137 00:08:16,840 --> 00:08:20,960 early season run in in April. And so that was like the first 138 00:08:20,960 --> 00:08:24,200 shot and then more Lady Paulino reasserting her dominance in the 139 00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:26,400 event. And so Sydney just sort of 140 00:08:26,400 --> 00:08:30,080 having to go up against two all time greats and then to come 141 00:08:30,080 --> 00:08:33,200 away with the gold, break the American record run, the second 142 00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:39,799 fastest time, move to number two all time and got us excited 143 00:08:39,799 --> 00:08:43,640 about the potential of taking down a sketchy world record. 144 00:08:44,120 --> 00:08:46,400 She accomplished so much in that run. 145 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:51,840 And so I'm going Sydney's gold in the 400 at the World 146 00:08:51,840 --> 00:08:55,320 Championships. Yeah, no, I agree that that one 147 00:08:55,320 --> 00:08:57,080 is probably, you know, right up there, right? 148 00:08:57,120 --> 00:09:00,600 It'll probably be my my number two choice, but I think I'm 149 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:02,200 going to go for one that I was there in. 150 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:04,640 I mean, obviously I was there for Sydney's one as well, but 151 00:09:05,640 --> 00:09:08,080 one that I was there in person to witness. 152 00:09:08,080 --> 00:09:11,520 And because it stretched over 2 days, it kind of made it all the 153 00:09:11,520 --> 00:09:13,640 more meaningful when when you see it all come together. 154 00:09:13,640 --> 00:09:18,280 And that was Anna Hall's 7032 points second all time 155 00:09:18,600 --> 00:09:23,440 performance in the heptathlon at Gutsis back in May. 156 00:09:24,320 --> 00:09:28,960 And it, it, we haven't seen a heptathlon like that in 20 157 00:09:28,960 --> 00:09:33,840 years. And you know, it, it's just, it 158 00:09:33,840 --> 00:09:38,440 was just incredible to see it. And to run 2O1 solo in the 800 159 00:09:38,840 --> 00:09:43,760 at the end of that performance for, you know, completely solo, 160 00:09:43,840 --> 00:09:48,120 having done six other events in the two days before was just 161 00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:50,640 insane. And you can also see how much 162 00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:53,720 more potential she's got. And so I, I, I just think that 163 00:09:53,720 --> 00:09:56,320 was just an incredible performance and it's so 164 00:09:56,320 --> 00:09:57,680 difficult to put it together right. 165 00:09:57,680 --> 00:10:00,960 You can have one good day, but to have a good day across 7 166 00:10:00,960 --> 00:10:05,320 events the way she did was was just insane. 167 00:10:05,880 --> 00:10:08,480 I like that you picked that one because I think we we may be 168 00:10:08,480 --> 00:10:11,800 overlooked it. I think in the lap count last 169 00:10:11,800 --> 00:10:17,080 week when or at the end of 2025 when we I think the lap count 170 00:10:17,080 --> 00:10:18,880 did like top ten moments as well. 171 00:10:18,880 --> 00:10:24,320 And so that one I think kind of was a little bit overlooked, so. 172 00:10:25,360 --> 00:10:27,120 Good call out on that one Preet I think. 173 00:10:27,320 --> 00:10:29,120 Did you have? Any honorable mentions? 174 00:10:29,840 --> 00:10:31,840 Yes, honorable. I mean, I think faith could be 175 00:10:31,840 --> 00:10:36,440 Agon's 807 in the 3K sort of falls to some extent in the same 176 00:10:36,440 --> 00:10:41,520 category as Sydney's 4778 in the sense that second fastest 177 00:10:41,520 --> 00:10:46,000 performance of all time behind what is a sketchy world record. 178 00:10:46,360 --> 00:10:49,480 And it's something, again, no one's really come close to it in 179 00:10:49,680 --> 00:10:53,320 however many 20-30 years. So it, it was really good to 180 00:10:53,320 --> 00:10:54,680 see. I mean, Beatrice Chabett also 181 00:10:54,680 --> 00:10:58,920 got close and I would just like to see them both face off in a 182 00:10:58,920 --> 00:11:00,960 race to chase that world record this year. 183 00:11:00,960 --> 00:11:03,880 That would be, that would be my dream race for 2026. 184 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:04,960 Possibly. I won't get into bold 185 00:11:04,960 --> 00:11:07,160 predictions just yet, but but that would be one of the things 186 00:11:07,160 --> 00:11:10,280 I'd love to see because I think that was just so amazing. 187 00:11:11,240 --> 00:11:13,240 And some performances that might, we might have forgotten. 188 00:11:13,280 --> 00:11:16,960 I think Nils Laros and the Baumann Mile was just just 189 00:11:16,960 --> 00:11:20,360 something, something special like it just it was unexpected 190 00:11:20,440 --> 00:11:22,400 and it was such an impressive performance. 191 00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:25,840 Emmanuel Wanjoni. I think that Baumann Mile was 192 00:11:25,840 --> 00:11:29,760 the moment where I think, yes, he had a good Olympic 193 00:11:29,760 --> 00:11:36,160 performance in 2024, but this kind of threw him into the 194 00:11:36,320 --> 00:11:38,520 favorite, not even necessarily the favorite. 195 00:11:38,520 --> 00:11:41,040 It was just sort of like, oh, like, don't forget about this 196 00:11:41,040 --> 00:11:45,920 guy as everyone's kind of, you know, very dead set on Cole 197 00:11:45,920 --> 00:11:51,560 Jacob Josh as like the best in the world in the 1500 yard as as 198 00:11:51,560 --> 00:11:54,320 well. I think Laros winning that 199 00:11:54,320 --> 00:11:58,480 Bowerman Mile was where you got to see him as a true competitor 200 00:11:58,480 --> 00:12:02,560 who could sniff out the win and and run smart, especially given 201 00:12:02,560 --> 00:12:06,000 the fact that a lot of people were blurred by these fast times 202 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:10,680 earlier on in the season by Fanwell Koich and with Azidine 203 00:12:10,680 --> 00:12:16,800 Habs running, you know, 327. But it was that Laros Bauerman 204 00:12:16,800 --> 00:12:19,280 Mile where you're just you you start thinking it's like, all 205 00:12:19,280 --> 00:12:21,840 right, yeah, we got to we got to look at this guy a bit more 206 00:12:22,240 --> 00:12:26,360 seriously, especially because he, you know, out kicked the OR 207 00:12:26,560 --> 00:12:29,840 not necessarily out kicked, but sniped down the Olympic bronze 208 00:12:29,840 --> 00:12:33,240 medalist in the 1500s. So that's that's a good one. 209 00:12:33,400 --> 00:12:36,000 I know that people might be listening to some being like 210 00:12:36,520 --> 00:12:40,120 we've I haven't mentioned like one of the craziest race at 211 00:12:40,120 --> 00:12:42,200 USA's yet. That's because I want to save it 212 00:12:42,200 --> 00:12:44,880 for race of the year exact. And I know you just highlighted 213 00:12:44,880 --> 00:12:47,280 it in the sheet. So we want to give that one it's 214 00:12:47,280 --> 00:12:49,920 it's proper dues. So what are some of the other 215 00:12:49,920 --> 00:12:51,640 ones that that you wanted? To highlight, yeah, and the 216 00:12:51,640 --> 00:12:54,200 other honourable mention I really had was Emmanuel Wanji's 217 00:12:54,200 --> 00:12:58,160 performance at GST in the 1500 where he beat the entire Olympic 218 00:12:58,160 --> 00:13:00,520 podium. Possibly not when they're at 219 00:13:00,520 --> 00:13:03,840 their peak, but Even so, it was a very impressive performance 220 00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:06,720 for an 800 guy to beat all of them. 221 00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:10,880 And yes, he's the best and meet a guy out there and you know, 222 00:13:10,880 --> 00:13:14,080 he's he's clearly very good at at the longer distance as well, 223 00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:17,080 given he briefly held the bride my world record as well. 224 00:13:17,080 --> 00:13:20,680 So, you know, but again, it's the kind of thing where it it 225 00:13:20,680 --> 00:13:23,160 sets something up that's exciting for this year that 226 00:13:23,440 --> 00:13:27,440 maybe we'll hopefully we get to see him in in some more 1500s 227 00:13:27,440 --> 00:13:29,920 and and see what he can do. Yeah, I guess like that, that. 228 00:13:29,960 --> 00:13:33,440 Can if it was a very impressive performance. 229 00:13:34,920 --> 00:13:37,440 And I think like there's a lot of those that we can consider 230 00:13:37,440 --> 00:13:42,200 like fun races, which I guess like wasn't a category that we 231 00:13:42,200 --> 00:13:46,000 came up with, but like most fun race of the of the year. 232 00:13:47,280 --> 00:13:52,760 But we'll, I'm sure we'll be able to dive into some more of 233 00:13:52,760 --> 00:13:54,800 these as we go on. All right, next category was 234 00:13:55,760 --> 00:13:57,640 athlete of the year, which I feel like it's something we 235 00:13:57,640 --> 00:14:01,520 should save for like the very, very end, but we're we'll hit it 236 00:14:01,520 --> 00:14:06,840 right here at the top. We've we kind of discussed a 237 00:14:06,840 --> 00:14:10,840 little bit of this when World Athletics fumbles their athlete 238 00:14:10,840 --> 00:14:15,960 of the year finalists. And I, I think I still feel the 239 00:14:15,960 --> 00:14:20,920 same way that I did a couple months back in thinking that 240 00:14:21,280 --> 00:14:24,800 Melissa Jefferson Wooden is my athlete of the year. 241 00:14:25,440 --> 00:14:33,280 The dominance all throughout the season, just just consistency 242 00:14:34,080 --> 00:14:37,640 and then being able to run as fast as she did, peaking at the 243 00:14:37,640 --> 00:14:42,120 right time and at this and throughout all of it, just 244 00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:45,680 competing with with joy. She's like this personality that 245 00:14:45,680 --> 00:14:50,720 I feel like because of, you know, the bright lights around. 246 00:14:50,720 --> 00:14:54,600 Shakari Richardson and Julian Alfred's success in 2020. 247 00:14:54,600 --> 00:14:57,880 Four with the goal that, you know, she kind of gets. 248 00:14:58,720 --> 00:15:03,280 You know, brushed over and no, I think like this is one of those 249 00:15:03,280 --> 00:15:07,640 people who is super, super kind with her time. 250 00:15:07,640 --> 00:15:10,840 The number of times we were able to interview her throughout the 251 00:15:10,840 --> 00:15:13,640 season and then at the and she's so thoughtful. 252 00:15:13,640 --> 00:15:16,600 I think that you don't necessarily get that a ton in 253 00:15:16,960 --> 00:15:20,520 the sprints where the top stars are willing to sit down with you 254 00:15:20,520 --> 00:15:24,520 and break down a race and and tell you exactly the points of 255 00:15:24,520 --> 00:15:26,760 where, you know, they've made these improvements. 256 00:15:26,760 --> 00:15:30,280 And Melissa was able to do that all throughout the year on big 257 00:15:30,280 --> 00:15:34,520 stages. And so even though you can, 258 00:15:34,560 --> 00:15:39,880 there are athletes who ran world records, like to me, it's just 259 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:42,480 what she was able to do in the 100. 260 00:15:42,600 --> 00:15:46,280 Again, track and field's, you know, diamond event. 261 00:15:47,920 --> 00:15:49,640 I'm going with Melissa Jefferson Wooden. 262 00:15:51,840 --> 00:15:54,000 Yeah. And and for me, I think I said 263 00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:56,840 it at the time, which is why I think I put the year up here 264 00:15:56,840 --> 00:15:59,280 because I think we have discussed most of this before is 265 00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:03,840 it's probably Betrice Chabat because again, I don't know what 266 00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:08,680 more you could ask her to do. And I know that perhaps maybe 267 00:16:08,680 --> 00:16:11,160 some of the other wards don't count, but you know, she she 268 00:16:11,520 --> 00:16:15,520 don't count some things, but she'll be see ban 1354 on the 269 00:16:15,520 --> 00:16:19,080 roads right at the back end of 2024, which wouldn't have 270 00:16:19,080 --> 00:16:21,240 counted in the 2024 awards roughly of the year. 271 00:16:21,240 --> 00:16:22,560 So I'm going to bring that in here. 272 00:16:22,960 --> 00:16:25,080 I think then she won two gold medals. 273 00:16:25,080 --> 00:16:27,280 She broke the 5K world record on the track. 274 00:16:28,320 --> 00:16:30,840 She did everything that she she came close to the 3K world 275 00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:33,000 record. She ran a very impressive 1500. 276 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:35,680 So she also demonstrated her range. 277 00:16:36,840 --> 00:16:40,200 And I think, you know, and I think one of the more impressive 278 00:16:40,200 --> 00:16:46,240 things we saw her do was closing 26 point in, in one of the 279 00:16:46,240 --> 00:16:48,520 Chinese diamond leagues back in April. 280 00:16:48,520 --> 00:16:52,960 And, and it just tells you what, you know, insane levels of, of 281 00:16:52,960 --> 00:16:56,000 ability she has. So I, I just think she's 282 00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:57,800 demonstrated it on every level this year. 283 00:16:57,800 --> 00:17:01,400 And and she deserves, you know, she deserves, because I don't 284 00:17:01,400 --> 00:17:04,160 know what more she could do. Like, yeah, I think it's very 285 00:17:04,160 --> 00:17:07,440 tricky for her to like she didn't win it in 2024 or 2025. 286 00:17:07,880 --> 00:17:09,000 Like when is she going to win it? 287 00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:11,160 Because those, those years were were incredible. 288 00:17:11,160 --> 00:17:15,280 So. Yeah, and I guess because people 289 00:17:15,480 --> 00:17:19,839 also listen to this show as sort of, you know, their news fix for 290 00:17:19,839 --> 00:17:22,480 the week. She's not competing at the 291 00:17:22,680 --> 00:17:24,280 world's cross country championships. 292 00:17:24,280 --> 00:17:27,920 So that news came out, I think a a day ago when Kenya announced 293 00:17:27,920 --> 00:17:30,880 its team for world cross in Tallahassee. 294 00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:34,480 Beatrice Chibet is out. She even posted about it, I 295 00:17:34,480 --> 00:17:38,040 think as well on her Instagram, but didn't necessarily state if 296 00:17:38,040 --> 00:17:40,120 there was an injury or anything like that. 297 00:17:40,120 --> 00:17:44,160 But it'll be Agnes and Getich, who was the bronze medalist at 298 00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:47,640 the last World Cross Country Championships, leading Kenya's 299 00:17:47,640 --> 00:17:51,840 team, trying to go for three straight on the women's side. 300 00:17:52,160 --> 00:17:56,560 So it's unfortunate because like, you know, she's such a 301 00:17:56,560 --> 00:18:00,280 tremendous talent. And it honestly, you know, if 302 00:18:00,280 --> 00:18:03,640 it, it could make for a better race too, just 'cause, you know, 303 00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:07,320 you have someone like Nadia Batacliti who has come so close 304 00:18:07,320 --> 00:18:12,800 multiple times. And I think this this could be a 305 00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:15,920 chance for her to win on the on the world stage too. 306 00:18:15,920 --> 00:18:21,040 So, yeah, that's the update on on Beatrice Tribet. 307 00:18:22,320 --> 00:18:24,960 All right, so. Well the the one thing I wanted 308 00:18:24,960 --> 00:18:27,880 to say about her Instagram post which worried me slightly, was 309 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:31,440 it said see you in 2027 and I hope that was just a typo. 310 00:18:31,640 --> 00:18:33,920 Really. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 311 00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:36,280 I don't know if it's been updated since, but when I first 312 00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:38,960 saw it, the post actually said see you in 2027. 313 00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:41,480 So I really hope that doesn't mean she's taking the year off, 314 00:18:41,480 --> 00:18:44,000 but. Yeah, that's the interesting 315 00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:48,440 thing about 20. 20. 6 is that like we let me see if it's been 316 00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:50,080 up. No, actually it says see you in 317 00:18:50,080 --> 00:18:52,640 2027 still and it's been up for a whole day. 318 00:18:54,760 --> 00:18:57,480 Oh, Preet, that's probably means see you in 2027. 319 00:18:57,480 --> 00:19:02,360 Is there a world cross in 2027? No, there, no, there isn't. 320 00:19:02,360 --> 00:19:05,600 So this is the other thing, because Wild Cross is going, is 321 00:19:05,600 --> 00:19:09,200 meant to now be in sort of the odd years so that it doesn't 322 00:19:09,200 --> 00:19:12,160 clash with world indoors. So this is a change in schedule. 323 00:19:12,320 --> 00:19:15,360 But what what they have done apparently is that we're 324 00:19:15,360 --> 00:19:18,760 skipping 2027 entirely. So the next World Cross will now 325 00:19:18,760 --> 00:19:22,000 be in 2029. So we're going to have a big 326 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:24,360 gap, we're going to have a three-year gap till the next 327 00:19:24,360 --> 00:19:25,320 World Cross. Yeah, why? 328 00:19:25,480 --> 00:19:28,240 Why did you say 2027? Why did it stay up so? 329 00:19:28,680 --> 00:19:30,320 All right. Yeah, well, maybe she thinks 330 00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:32,080 there's Wild Cross in 2027. Who knows? 331 00:19:32,280 --> 00:19:33,000 Yeah. But. 332 00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:35,760 All right, let's hope that's what that's what it is, but. 333 00:19:37,040 --> 00:19:39,160 Always something to keep us on our toes. 334 00:19:40,320 --> 00:19:45,280 OK, moving on. Most entertaining athlete of the 335 00:19:45,280 --> 00:19:47,920 year. OK, All right, I'll let you go 336 00:19:47,920 --> 00:19:49,200 first on this one. Who you got? 337 00:19:50,880 --> 00:19:53,320 This is the one that I was, I, I came up with a category and that 338 00:19:53,320 --> 00:19:56,520 I didn't, I didn't necessarily come up with with any great 339 00:19:56,520 --> 00:20:00,280 ideas. So I, I've actually swapped out 340 00:20:00,280 --> 00:20:02,640 the category in my, in my, in my schedule now. 341 00:20:03,920 --> 00:20:06,760 And I, I kind of replaced it with track race of the year 342 00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:09,400 because we just touched on that. So that I was going to skip over 343 00:20:09,400 --> 00:20:11,200 this one. Most entertaining, though. 344 00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:13,320 Let's give it some thought. Publicly, I guess because like 345 00:20:13,840 --> 00:20:19,240 in like who was someone that you always wanted to tune in and see 346 00:20:20,880 --> 00:20:23,280 for me, I guess like that could have been Sydney. 347 00:20:23,280 --> 00:20:26,680 Sydney was entertaining in the sense that like she did so so 348 00:20:26,680 --> 00:20:30,200 many different things, right? Like with Grand Slam, she was 349 00:20:30,200 --> 00:20:33,680 doing 404 hundred hurdles, OK, expectedly, but then when she 350 00:20:33,680 --> 00:20:39,880 would drop down to do the 101 hundred hurdles, that was 351 00:20:39,880 --> 00:20:42,320 entertaining. And then in addition to that, 352 00:20:42,800 --> 00:20:47,320 every single time she stepped on the track at the World 353 00:20:47,320 --> 00:20:50,720 Championships, it felt like it was must watch to see what 354 00:20:50,720 --> 00:20:53,160 exactly she would do. Even in the semi finals running 355 00:20:53,160 --> 00:20:59,280 as fast as she did. It was sort of a good like her 356 00:20:59,280 --> 00:21:02,920 own sort of shot at Paulino and Nasir as to what could come in 357 00:21:02,920 --> 00:21:05,640 the finals. So there's you could go with 358 00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:08,360 that. Yakka brought his own sort of 359 00:21:08,360 --> 00:21:12,040 like different intrigue as entertaining in a sense of just 360 00:21:12,040 --> 00:21:13,400 one there's. He. 361 00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:19,600 Did great on YouTube this year, but then also he was 362 00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:22,560 entertaining in the sense that you were just like what it what 363 00:21:22,560 --> 00:21:25,720 which Jakob was going to show up when he eventually did get back 364 00:21:25,720 --> 00:21:28,960 onto the track and and he had us wondering so. 365 00:21:30,040 --> 00:21:31,800 I I would go. I would. 366 00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:34,360 Throw in a random. I'm going to go with a random 367 00:21:34,360 --> 00:21:37,760 one. Maya McCoy, who showed up at 368 00:21:37,760 --> 00:21:40,840 pretty much every single race on the circuit this year, was 369 00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:45,000 thoroughly entertaining. And she did a podcast earlier in 370 00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:50,480 the year about her brief stint as a Liberian athlete as well, 371 00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:53,320 which is which is also thoroughly she's an absolutely 372 00:21:53,320 --> 00:21:56,320 like hilarious athlete as well. If you if you go and listen to 373 00:21:56,320 --> 00:21:59,880 that interview. But yeah, so she she was, she 374 00:21:59,880 --> 00:22:01,520 was basically, she got into one Diamond League. 375 00:22:01,520 --> 00:22:04,120 She won it or came, came pretty high. 376 00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:06,240 And then she was invited to all of them. 377 00:22:06,240 --> 00:22:10,280 And she just wherever she was invited, she showed up and she 378 00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:12,600 obviously she because she's converting back from being 379 00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:15,080 Liberian to US athlete. She can't race. 380 00:22:15,360 --> 00:22:20,320 She couldn't race USA. But yeah, she she was definitely 381 00:22:20,480 --> 00:22:22,760 out there entertaining us on the circuit and doing really well. 382 00:22:23,880 --> 00:22:26,760 So so that was quite fun. And and in the same vein, Josh 383 00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:30,720 Hoey, I think he's, he's kept us entertained all the way through 384 00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:33,200 the year, hasn't he, with his crazy exploits. 385 00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:36,720 Like he's just kept on rolling and he's been rolling up until 386 00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:38,240 December. So you've got to give him some 387 00:22:38,240 --> 00:22:43,840 credit. 600 meter world record mile in Hawaii, like, you know, 388 00:22:43,840 --> 00:22:46,080 even in December. But he just hasn't stopped the 389 00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:47,480 whole year. You know, he's been running 390 00:22:47,480 --> 00:22:49,800 diamond leagues, he's running 15 hundreds, he's been running 8 391 00:22:49,800 --> 00:22:51,160 hundreds. He's been doing all sorts. 392 00:22:51,160 --> 00:22:54,920 And yeah, and just his determination. 393 00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:57,680 I I think it's also been been really entertaining to watch. 394 00:22:59,080 --> 00:23:01,600 This episode of the City Smack podcast is supported by 395 00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:04,360 Lollipop, the official soda of smarter sipping. 396 00:23:05,040 --> 00:23:08,320 OK, I don't know how much of A hot take this is, but before we 397 00:23:08,480 --> 00:23:13,240 get into it, I feel like in 2025 we talked way too much about 398 00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:15,880 protein and not nearly enough about fiber. 399 00:23:16,320 --> 00:23:19,120 Fiber is a kind of unsung hero in your digestive system. 400 00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:23,160 It keeps things moving, beats a good gut bacteria, and yet most 401 00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:25,080 of us aren't getting nearly enough of it. 402 00:23:25,320 --> 00:23:29,760 If you're thinking, OK, but what even is fiber or how do I get it 403 00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:32,960 without eating a bowl of twigs, congratulations, you're normal. 404 00:23:33,280 --> 00:23:36,960 Enter lollipop Lollipops, a better for you soda that puts 6 405 00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:39,080 to 9 grams of fiber in every single can. 406 00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:42,520 And it's not just any fiber. 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It was a track race of the year. 470 00:27:20,360 --> 00:27:24,360 Easy. It was the easy the 800 at the 471 00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:28,720 US Outdoor Championships for Donovan Brazier. 472 00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:32,880 I mean, you can go down the whole, you can watch this again, 473 00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:36,360 like I think when you want to get someone into track and 474 00:27:36,360 --> 00:27:40,040 field, I think one of the races to show somebody is an 800 475 00:27:40,040 --> 00:27:42,480 because it's 2 minutes long, very snackable. 476 00:27:42,480 --> 00:27:46,840 And then in the past, that has been the David Rhodesia 800 at 477 00:27:46,840 --> 00:27:52,280 the Olympics just to showcase just how impressive a world 478 00:27:52,280 --> 00:27:54,080 record being run wire to wire could be. 479 00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:59,440 It could be the 2008 US Olympic Trials 800, which also had its 480 00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:02,320 dramatics. And Nick Simmons in that race, 481 00:28:02,320 --> 00:28:05,040 Christian Smith diving at the at the finish line. 482 00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:08,480 That that was always one that I was like, pick a different 483 00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:12,920 person re watch this race and you'll come away just so 484 00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:16,840 entertained every single time. And that could also kind of be 485 00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:20,120 the case with this US final. There were so many people in 486 00:28:20,120 --> 00:28:25,640 contention for the three spots. You had Josh Hoey trying to do a 487 00:28:25,640 --> 00:28:29,200 Johnny Gray esque, take him into the Twilight Zone and make him 488 00:28:29,200 --> 00:28:33,880 hurt, run for it from the to try and take it wire to wire. 489 00:28:34,360 --> 00:28:38,280 And with how well he was running all throughout the season, he 490 00:28:38,280 --> 00:28:41,520 thought that would be his best way to try and win. 491 00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:45,520 And then Donovan Brazier reminding the world just how 492 00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:49,680 talent he is given the fact that he wasn't even really running 493 00:28:49,680 --> 00:28:53,560 until March. Donovan Brazier is the most 494 00:28:53,560 --> 00:28:57,840 listened to interview of the City Smack podcast in in 2025. 495 00:28:58,760 --> 00:29:01,160 Great episode. I think it's my favorite of the 496 00:29:01,160 --> 00:29:06,600 year as well. And to run faster than he did in 497 00:29:06,600 --> 00:29:10,560 2019 when he broke the American record back then and won gold, 498 00:29:11,560 --> 00:29:16,240 just an amazing way to cap the comeback but also secure his 499 00:29:16,240 --> 00:29:18,800 place at the World Championships and get people excited for that. 500 00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:22,520 Then you had Bryce Hopple, you know, finding his way to make 501 00:29:22,520 --> 00:29:25,880 yet another team. And then Cooper Lechenhaus just 502 00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:28,760 is. I mean, I think we had something 503 00:29:28,760 --> 00:29:35,840 written down for the U20 or young star of the year. 504 00:29:36,640 --> 00:29:41,880 It's him to run as fast as he did and put himself so far up on 505 00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:47,280 the all time list, the US all time list, the world list was 506 00:29:47,280 --> 00:29:51,360 remarkable. And it just felt like it was it 507 00:29:51,360 --> 00:29:55,200 was magic happening over those those days where he had nothing 508 00:29:55,200 --> 00:29:59,880 to lose. And his interviews afterwards 509 00:29:59,880 --> 00:30:03,040 were were great, where just sort of like he treated it like he 510 00:30:03,040 --> 00:30:05,600 was a kid in middle school, middle school tactics. 511 00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:09,400 I think is is the quote that he had used and to shock himself 512 00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:12,600 and the world and then express that on on national TV. 513 00:30:14,040 --> 00:30:18,400 You can again watch this race over and over and over again and 514 00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:22,080 be blown away. So it's the US men's 800 meter 515 00:30:22,080 --> 00:30:24,240 final. Just an amazing race from start 516 00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:26,840 to finish. Yeah, and, and I, I don't think 517 00:30:26,840 --> 00:30:28,520 I can entirely disagree with that. 518 00:30:28,520 --> 00:30:31,680 I mean, it, it was, it was an incredible race and there was 519 00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:35,680 just so much there. And even if you're not AUS, you 520 00:30:35,680 --> 00:30:38,200 know, AUS fan necessarily, you know, you're like me, you're 521 00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:41,040 kind of, you know, watching everything and, and sort of not, 522 00:30:41,040 --> 00:30:43,800 I'm a Brit, so I'm not, you know, I'm not necessarily biased 523 00:30:43,800 --> 00:30:46,920 towards USA, but that race was, was something else. 524 00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:50,360 And it was really just the storylines and, and everything. 525 00:30:50,360 --> 00:30:51,680 You, you captured that perfectly. 526 00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:54,120 But there were a few, I think that deserve a couple of 527 00:30:54,120 --> 00:30:58,000 honourable mentions. Obviously the 3K world record 528 00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:01,080 that Grant Fisher ran at Millrose Games and the way that 529 00:31:01,120 --> 00:31:03,480 that Grant Fisher and Kolhaka squared off and we're going to 530 00:31:03,480 --> 00:31:06,320 see them do that again in a few weeks again this year over the 531 00:31:06,320 --> 00:31:10,000 two mile that was, you know, just to see a world record run 532 00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:12,160 in that fashion was was incredible. 533 00:31:12,760 --> 00:31:17,640 I think the world's women's 400 meters, just because of how 534 00:31:17,640 --> 00:31:20,800 meaningful it was. It's not that long ago that we'd 535 00:31:20,800 --> 00:31:25,040 see world medals won, won in 49, five in the 400 meters. 536 00:31:25,480 --> 00:31:32,760 To medal in this race, you had to run 48.19 and, and you had 537 00:31:32,760 --> 00:31:37,240 two women under 47 seconds. We have not seen a 400 meter 538 00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:43,440 race like this ever before. And yeah, and, and it, it was 539 00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:46,240 just, yeah, it was just truly special in that sense. 540 00:31:46,560 --> 00:31:48,960 And I think the other thing that I wanted to give an honourable 541 00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:53,160 mention too, was the world's men's 4 by 400 meters because 542 00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:58,240 again, it's a relay. And there was just, you know, 543 00:31:58,240 --> 00:31:59,360 there was so much back and forth. 544 00:31:59,360 --> 00:32:03,120 There was so much drama leading into it with the way the US team 545 00:32:03,120 --> 00:32:07,800 kind of got DQ D in the first round, had to run the rerun, and 546 00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:09,880 then had to turn up to the final. 547 00:32:10,320 --> 00:32:14,160 And then you had Botswana, who had three guys in the men's 400 548 00:32:14,160 --> 00:32:16,640 meter final, and it was always going to be a square off between 549 00:32:16,640 --> 00:32:19,600 the two of them. And it delivered on every front. 550 00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:22,160 They ran really, really fast. I mean, I think the weather was 551 00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:26,000 a little bit of a downer, but you know, and, and just having 552 00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:30,640 the world 400 meter champion just overtake the 400 meter 553 00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:35,080 hurdle world champion in the final stretch was again, it was 554 00:32:35,080 --> 00:32:38,200 just everything you want. It gave us a bit of intrigue in 555 00:32:38,200 --> 00:32:40,480 these races where normally it's the USA running away with them, 556 00:32:40,480 --> 00:32:42,800 and I thought that was a fantastic race to actually kind 557 00:32:42,800 --> 00:32:44,720 of look back on as well. Yeah, I'm trying to get out of 558 00:32:44,720 --> 00:32:49,520 the trap of just regurgitating world championship results and 559 00:32:50,160 --> 00:32:54,040 like, you have to throw Cole Hawker's 5K in there as well, 560 00:32:54,040 --> 00:32:57,440 just given the context. Like some races require further 561 00:32:57,440 --> 00:33:02,600 context around them in order for people to fully grasp, like why 562 00:33:02,800 --> 00:33:06,600 it was so good. Like the men's 1500 in a way it 563 00:33:06,600 --> 00:33:08,720 like the context around just. The. 564 00:33:08,720 --> 00:33:14,840 Cole Hawker, DQ, the Josh Kerr injury, the Jake Whiteman 565 00:33:14,840 --> 00:33:18,160 comeback, the Isaac Nader shock. Like that's another race that's 566 00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:22,600 sort of like people can say it. It was it was thrilling in the 567 00:33:22,600 --> 00:33:24,680 sense of how unpredictable it was. 568 00:33:25,560 --> 00:33:29,240 But was it just sort of, I mean, it was it was a in the end, it 569 00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:31,080 was a great race. Did it live up to just sort of 570 00:33:31,080 --> 00:33:36,520 what we expected from it? Not at all where we wanted to 571 00:33:36,520 --> 00:33:39,600 see just more of like the heavy, like the Niels Larosa versus 572 00:33:39,920 --> 00:33:44,320 Josh Kerr in the final. Like it just just took a whole 573 00:33:44,320 --> 00:33:46,640 entire left turn that no one saw coming. 574 00:33:46,640 --> 00:33:48,800 And maybe some people could think like, all right, that's 575 00:33:48,800 --> 00:33:51,640 what made it so good. So this one's up for 576 00:33:51,640 --> 00:33:54,760 interpretation. I'm actually like in the Spotify 577 00:33:54,760 --> 00:33:57,320 comments, this is the one I want to hear the most from the 578 00:33:57,320 --> 00:33:59,800 listeners. And it's like, I would love to 579 00:33:59,800 --> 00:34:03,680 hear people agree or disagree on any of these categories. 580 00:34:03,760 --> 00:34:05,160 Chime in on the comments section there. 581 00:34:05,160 --> 00:34:07,800 And then we can probably touch on them in the next episode as 582 00:34:07,800 --> 00:34:10,320 to like, oh, maybe we overlooked this or that. 583 00:34:10,520 --> 00:34:14,040 But track Race of the Year is definitely one that I think I'd 584 00:34:14,040 --> 00:34:19,639 love to hear people touch on a bit more in a similar way, like 585 00:34:19,639 --> 00:34:22,199 we can move over and treat the marathon a little bit 586 00:34:22,199 --> 00:34:27,920 differently. Marathon of the year, it's when 587 00:34:27,920 --> 00:34:32,880 you have something that the spread between 1st and 2nd is 588 00:34:32,880 --> 00:34:36,400 less than the men's 100m final at the World Championships. 589 00:34:36,400 --> 00:34:39,239 The the world championship marathons delivered on both 590 00:34:39,239 --> 00:34:41,960 fronts. Just with, you know, how close 591 00:34:41,960 --> 00:34:45,320 the men's one was where you have a race that's, you know, decided 592 00:34:45,320 --> 00:34:50,320 over 26.2 miles and it comes down to the final, you know, 300 593 00:34:50,320 --> 00:34:53,920 meters or so on the track and then a photo finish. 594 00:34:54,239 --> 00:34:58,320 You just don't get that. And on the women's side, with 595 00:34:58,320 --> 00:35:04,040 Julia Patternan just getting her shock bronze medal and. 596 00:35:04,320 --> 00:35:07,680 Well, the other, the other, the other part of that was the top 597 00:35:07,680 --> 00:35:11,440 two were two of the best marathoners to ever do it in a 598 00:35:11,440 --> 00:35:15,280 Sprint finish in the stadium. And then you had the additional 599 00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:17,160 storyline of Julia Paternan just behind. 600 00:35:17,480 --> 00:35:19,840 And I think for us that was also quite a special one because 601 00:35:19,840 --> 00:35:24,320 obviously Jasmine, who edits this podcast, is a training 602 00:35:24,320 --> 00:35:28,080 partner of Julia. And actually what happened was 603 00:35:28,080 --> 00:35:30,640 she wasn't even going to go to the stadium because we only had 604 00:35:30,640 --> 00:35:33,000 tickets for the evening sessions for for all the team. 605 00:35:33,240 --> 00:35:36,040 And then the night before, I was like, oh, why don't we just sort 606 00:35:36,040 --> 00:35:39,240 out tickets for the morning session as well? 607 00:35:39,240 --> 00:35:41,920 And we did that. And I didn't even know at that 608 00:35:41,920 --> 00:35:45,000 point that that, you know, she had a training partner in the 609 00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:46,800 race. I think that someone mentioned 610 00:35:46,800 --> 00:35:50,000 it and it was like, OK, let's oh, that's even better Then we 611 00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:53,360 should definitely do this. So we got, we got Jasmine and 612 00:35:53,360 --> 00:35:58,640 Audrey tickets to that race. And I think, you know, it was, 613 00:35:58,680 --> 00:36:02,600 it became all the more meaningful because it it, it was 614 00:36:02,600 --> 00:36:05,560 such a special kind of finish in the stadium and, and they were 615 00:36:05,560 --> 00:36:07,520 there to see it as well. And so it was a special one for 616 00:36:07,520 --> 00:36:12,400 the serious Mag team as well. I think also, I mean, again, we 617 00:36:12,680 --> 00:36:16,160 worlds are so good that like we're just there's, there's 618 00:36:16,880 --> 00:36:21,360 Tokyo 2025 is sweeping and and all of these these categories. 619 00:36:21,640 --> 00:36:24,360 But the New York City Marathon this year in particular, I think 620 00:36:24,360 --> 00:36:26,920 on both sides, I think especially on the women's side 621 00:36:27,480 --> 00:36:34,080 when they assembled their deepest ever field, you had just 622 00:36:34,080 --> 00:36:40,080 another even by inserting Sifan Hassan, we ended up with yet 623 00:36:40,080 --> 00:36:43,800 another classic Helen versus Sharon battle. 624 00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:47,400 And so I want more of that for as long as we can continue to 625 00:36:47,400 --> 00:36:49,680 have Helen O'beary versus Sharon Loquetti. 626 00:36:49,680 --> 00:36:53,560 And I feel like as a by a consequence of, you know, just 627 00:36:53,560 --> 00:36:58,400 how world majors work with returning champions getting 628 00:36:58,400 --> 00:37:03,120 these heavy appearance fees like, and I think like what they 629 00:37:03,560 --> 00:37:08,480 proved in both of those stages, Boston and New York is like, you 630 00:37:08,480 --> 00:37:11,040 don't need to go out to London to go. 631 00:37:11,040 --> 00:37:15,160 I mean, it is nice when you can go on a flat fast course that is 632 00:37:15,160 --> 00:37:19,920 known for really fast times. But you throw them against one 633 00:37:19,920 --> 00:37:23,160 another, they're going to push each other to break the course 634 00:37:23,160 --> 00:37:27,040 record in Boston, break the course record in New York, throw 635 00:37:27,040 --> 00:37:31,360 Stefan Assan in there to scare everybody and that'll get the 636 00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:36,240 juices flowing, I think. And so I both New York and 637 00:37:36,240 --> 00:37:38,920 Boston were, were really good this year as well. 638 00:37:40,440 --> 00:37:45,160 So I'm going to go, I adjusted to not entirely give World 639 00:37:45,160 --> 00:37:48,640 Championships every single award. 640 00:37:49,040 --> 00:37:53,360 I'll go with New York women's side from Marathon of the Year. 641 00:37:54,400 --> 00:37:57,960 I want to flag New York on the men's side because one and two 642 00:37:58,200 --> 00:37:59,880 finished within the 2nd of each other. 643 00:38:00,160 --> 00:38:04,200 Three and four that was Benson Caprito and Alexander Mutiso and 644 00:38:04,200 --> 00:38:07,440 then three and four Albert Career and Paddy Diva. 645 00:38:08,080 --> 00:38:11,720 Paddy Diva in his debut for GB also finished within a second of 646 00:38:11,720 --> 00:38:16,880 each other and then 5th and 6th place and and 7th place in fact 647 00:38:17,080 --> 00:38:18,880 finished within 3 seconds of each other. 648 00:38:20,080 --> 00:38:24,400 So it was it was a really yeah, that that was a fabulous race 649 00:38:24,400 --> 00:38:26,720 with some fabulous finishes all the way down the field. 650 00:38:27,680 --> 00:38:30,400 That was just a fun watch. If you want to say what was a 651 00:38:30,400 --> 00:38:33,200 great race to watch because we obviously had, you know, 652 00:38:33,240 --> 00:38:37,480 Sebastian Saway and Jacob Palimo running really impressive times 653 00:38:37,480 --> 00:38:41,440 in various races and John career in Valencia like we had and 654 00:38:41,440 --> 00:38:44,840 Paris Church here again in in Valencia at the end of the year, 655 00:38:44,840 --> 00:38:47,920 like, you know, we had Justin and Chuck Costco in fact, who 656 00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:49,160 ran the fastest marathon in the year. 657 00:38:49,160 --> 00:38:53,440 But those were, you know, in the end, they were time trials where 658 00:38:53,440 --> 00:38:57,080 people sort of were dropping off at fairly early stages. 659 00:38:57,080 --> 00:39:01,120 And and so it was just kind of it was less of a competition 660 00:39:01,440 --> 00:39:03,920 than than perhaps some of these other races, which we're really 661 00:39:03,920 --> 00:39:06,000 exciting to watch. And I think that's where where 662 00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:09,160 we're going with this category, you know, in, in this context, I 663 00:39:09,160 --> 00:39:12,320 think is what we're going with. Yeah. 664 00:39:12,320 --> 00:39:15,520 And one sort of thing to also note, I think, and this is fresh 665 00:39:15,520 --> 00:39:19,160 in my mind because I wrote about it a little bit in in a draft 666 00:39:19,160 --> 00:39:25,640 for a chapter, is that. We don't have a category for 667 00:39:25,640 --> 00:39:29,840 this, but sort of there's like a fair play award, I think that is 668 00:39:29,840 --> 00:39:33,960 done at the Olympics or like that, that impactful moment, the 669 00:39:33,960 --> 00:39:35,840 sportsman moment or whatever it is. 670 00:39:35,840 --> 00:39:38,720 And in a way, like, I don't know, you could change the 671 00:39:38,720 --> 00:39:40,600 criteria around this whole entire thing. 672 00:39:40,600 --> 00:39:44,920 But Sebastian Salway undergoing all of that drug testing, what 673 00:39:45,040 --> 00:39:49,560 was it, 25 or 23 tests like? In the two months leading up to 674 00:39:49,560 --> 00:39:55,520 Berlin to try and. Allow people to believe what 675 00:39:55,520 --> 00:39:57,440 they see and not have any questions. 676 00:39:58,200 --> 00:40:01,600 It was something that one is very expensive. 677 00:40:01,720 --> 00:40:07,200 It takes a lot to coordinate and be, you know, on on the side of 678 00:40:07,200 --> 00:40:11,200 like the AIU and, and the drug testers and all that stuff. 679 00:40:12,080 --> 00:40:16,680 But in in efforts for transparency and and. 680 00:40:17,120 --> 00:40:20,280 And when we've had these dark moments, which I guess we'll get 681 00:40:20,320 --> 00:40:23,240 to in a category which I'm looking at on the sheet says 682 00:40:23,240 --> 00:40:29,240 doping bust of the year. I, I think that is something 683 00:40:29,240 --> 00:40:31,480 that should get applauded a bit more. 684 00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:36,040 It sounds like. I guess I just listened to the 685 00:40:36,160 --> 00:40:40,320 head of the AIU on the Science of Sport podcast and it sounds 686 00:40:40,320 --> 00:40:43,680 like Sebastian Salway might have agreed to do it again. 687 00:40:44,440 --> 00:40:50,080 In the lead up to his next marathon and big ups to Adidas I 688 00:40:50,080 --> 00:40:54,520 guess for also footing the bill for for that so. 689 00:40:55,280 --> 00:41:00,080 I don't know if it's a model that can be replicated for so 690 00:41:00,080 --> 00:41:02,520 many different athletes, because there are. 691 00:41:02,520 --> 00:41:05,760 So many different, like so many top athletes, especially in the 692 00:41:05,760 --> 00:41:13,000 marathon, that it'd be so hard to get the top 25 to agree to do 693 00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:17,240 that much drug testing. But if we if if someone feels so 694 00:41:17,240 --> 00:41:19,640 confident that they're going to try and break the world record 695 00:41:20,240 --> 00:41:23,760 and they don't want to have any doubt cast over it whatsoever, 696 00:41:23,920 --> 00:41:27,520 given the fact that Kenya's been dealing with this doping crisis 697 00:41:27,520 --> 00:41:28,560 for the last. Decade. 698 00:41:29,520 --> 00:41:32,720 That was something I think that did it because he didn't break 699 00:41:32,720 --> 00:41:35,720 the world record and he ran 2O2 and it was a hot day in in in 700 00:41:35,720 --> 00:41:37,920 Berlin. It probably didn't get as much 701 00:41:38,240 --> 00:41:39,960 light. As it should have so. 702 00:41:41,160 --> 00:41:43,920 I'm going to applaud that. I think as like a some sort of 703 00:41:43,920 --> 00:41:45,480 Fair play award that we're going to give. 704 00:41:45,880 --> 00:41:48,240 Yeah, agreed. And I think that performance in 705 00:41:48,240 --> 00:41:51,120 Berlin actually went a bit under the radar, partly because the 706 00:41:51,120 --> 00:41:53,080 Berlin Marathon was during the World Championships, that's 707 00:41:53,120 --> 00:41:55,320 true. And also because it was a hot 708 00:41:55,320 --> 00:42:00,000 day and he still ran 2/02/16. Was it or something? 709 00:42:00,320 --> 00:42:04,640 And he, and I think from, from what I've kind of heard and seen 710 00:42:04,640 --> 00:42:08,480 of the race since he would have scared the world record had he 711 00:42:08,760 --> 00:42:12,000 had it been a slightly call a day is, is, is the consensus 712 00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:15,680 around that performance. So, you know, I think the fact 713 00:42:15,680 --> 00:42:19,600 that he did all the drug testing and delivered that performance 714 00:42:19,640 --> 00:42:22,800 is what makes it kind of all the more special, I think. 715 00:42:22,800 --> 00:42:26,160 And, and that, that, and I think it's a really good, it's a good 716 00:42:26,160 --> 00:42:29,360 signal to send, I think, to to the community that actually 717 00:42:29,600 --> 00:42:33,080 maybe we should be trying to to do this for the credibility of 718 00:42:33,080 --> 00:42:35,160 the sport. It's a good move to make. 719 00:42:35,160 --> 00:42:36,720 It's a lot of. Blood and urine, you got to give 720 00:42:36,720 --> 00:42:40,080 up. Yeah, it's not the easiest thing 721 00:42:40,080 --> 00:42:41,600 to like in the burn up to a race actually. 722 00:42:41,600 --> 00:42:44,640 You know that obviously that does that could impact your 723 00:42:44,640 --> 00:42:47,200 preparation as well. But I think if it's just part of 724 00:42:47,200 --> 00:42:50,000 the game and people are ready for it, then then I think that's 725 00:42:50,000 --> 00:42:53,280 kind of, I don't think that's an unreasonable ask. 726 00:42:53,680 --> 00:42:54,920 All right, let's go to social media. 727 00:42:54,920 --> 00:42:58,520 Moment of the year. What do you got? 728 00:42:58,520 --> 00:43:03,320 Where are you going on this one? Oh well, I've got and to be 729 00:43:03,320 --> 00:43:05,560 honest, there's only one winner. There's only one winner. 730 00:43:05,600 --> 00:43:08,680 There is only one winner. There could only be 1 winner and 731 00:43:08,680 --> 00:43:13,680 that is Chris Robinson in Australia with his equipment 732 00:43:13,680 --> 00:43:19,240 failure, shall we say. And if you want a detail 733 00:43:19,240 --> 00:43:22,200 breakdown, you can listen to the Eric and I show Off the Rails 734 00:43:22,200 --> 00:43:26,240 podcast where they do a detail breakdown of of the race. 735 00:43:26,240 --> 00:43:28,080 It was a wardrobe malfunction. And the incident? 736 00:43:28,960 --> 00:43:33,160 Indeed, indeed. But yes, that that I think 737 00:43:33,480 --> 00:43:35,920 that's probably the most memorable moment that I think 738 00:43:35,920 --> 00:43:40,000 everyone's going to remember as a social media moment from from 739 00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:44,520 this year, I think. So I'm trying to think of like 740 00:43:44,520 --> 00:43:47,520 social media moment of the year, how to define this. 741 00:43:48,160 --> 00:43:52,240 And it's like, is it moments that we all laughed and and had 742 00:43:52,240 --> 00:43:54,240 fun with and went viral? Yes. 743 00:43:54,760 --> 00:43:59,120 Chris Robinson's hog like was plastered on several tabloids 744 00:43:59,120 --> 00:44:04,760 and blurred out, of course. And it was funny to people and 745 00:44:05,400 --> 00:44:08,120 it made a couple articles, but it was kind of done with over 746 00:44:08,720 --> 00:44:11,080 like a day or two. Like people watch the clip and 747 00:44:11,080 --> 00:44:14,400 they're like, oh, Yikes, that's unfortunate. 748 00:44:14,720 --> 00:44:16,960 And then you kind of move on. I was trying to think of like 749 00:44:16,960 --> 00:44:23,400 things that had like a bigger impact and lasted a bit more I 750 00:44:23,400 --> 00:44:27,640 think. Noah versus Kenny, the shove led 751 00:44:27,640 --> 00:44:29,840 to a lot. A lot of. 752 00:44:31,040 --> 00:44:35,640 A lot of views on the interviews that they did immediately after, 753 00:44:36,160 --> 00:44:39,280 a lot of theorizing over what was it that spurred the whole 754 00:44:39,280 --> 00:44:41,640 entire thing. Which you can also, I guess, tie 755 00:44:41,640 --> 00:44:45,480 in another social media moment of Gabby Thomas versus Track 756 00:44:45,480 --> 00:44:50,640 Spice and kind of the Internet sleuthing that she did to kind 757 00:44:50,640 --> 00:44:55,120 of hint to the world that it was someone close. 758 00:44:55,120 --> 00:45:00,960 To Kenny Benarc, although I we never got just sort of like. 759 00:45:01,760 --> 00:45:06,240 The. Smoking gun to directly connect 760 00:45:06,240 --> 00:45:09,480 the two. There's a lot of bread crumbs 761 00:45:09,480 --> 00:45:13,160 that would lead one to assume that it was someone close to 762 00:45:13,600 --> 00:45:18,000 Kenny and so that. Maybe had an impact because of 763 00:45:18,000 --> 00:45:23,440 Track Spice's posts on how they talked about Noah Lyles and his 764 00:45:24,160 --> 00:45:30,400 fiance Janelle Braunfold. Brumfeld, right? 765 00:45:31,120 --> 00:45:32,400 Or is that I'm getting it right, Right. 766 00:45:32,400 --> 00:45:35,960 Yeah. So I think like, when you take 767 00:45:35,960 --> 00:45:38,880 all of those things, like that was something that lived very 768 00:45:38,880 --> 00:45:41,080 prominently, but it was on track. 769 00:45:41,080 --> 00:45:44,120 Twitter. I'll say that if we want a 770 00:45:44,120 --> 00:45:47,760 social media moment that broke through to the greater sports 771 00:45:47,760 --> 00:45:50,320 landscape, it's faith. Kit Jagan's breaking 4. 772 00:45:50,320 --> 00:45:54,200 Honestly. Nike played a big role in that 773 00:45:54,200 --> 00:45:57,720 too, because of just how accessible they made their whole 774 00:45:57,720 --> 00:46:01,520 stream to watch how they tapped influencers and creators to be 775 00:46:01,520 --> 00:46:06,120 on site for it or also to or to create content that was 776 00:46:06,120 --> 00:46:07,920 reactionary to the whole entire thing. 777 00:46:09,640 --> 00:46:15,720 We the track nerds like us and and, you know, let's run and the 778 00:46:15,720 --> 00:46:21,080 people online, we're more just sort of into the whole, yeah. 779 00:46:21,080 --> 00:46:23,360 What was the exact time and when did she go? 780 00:46:23,360 --> 00:46:25,520 What was the final time? That none of that. 781 00:46:25,520 --> 00:46:30,880 Mattered to just sort of like the impact that people on TikTok 782 00:46:31,240 --> 00:46:37,080 watching a woman attempt to break 4 fall short but then be 783 00:46:37,080 --> 00:46:41,720 proud of her effort and speak so openly about, like chasing big 784 00:46:41,720 --> 00:46:46,480 goals in these moonshots. I think that had bigger reach 785 00:46:46,480 --> 00:46:51,160 than Noah versus Kenny or Chris Robinson, you know, wardrobe 786 00:46:51,160 --> 00:46:54,400 malfunction. So that's when I think of just. 787 00:46:55,280 --> 00:46:58,120 Social reach and what was the track moment that I think like 788 00:46:58,120 --> 00:47:01,680 hit the most people it probably. Might be that, I think. 789 00:47:03,440 --> 00:47:05,480 And yeah, I mean, it was a big marketing. 790 00:47:05,480 --> 00:47:07,680 It's not by Nike, but kudos to them. 791 00:47:07,680 --> 00:47:10,160 Like that's one thing that they do really, really well. 792 00:47:10,160 --> 00:47:12,480 So that's what I'm going to go with. 793 00:47:13,640 --> 00:47:15,840 As I'm going to go with breaking 4 but also. 794 00:47:15,840 --> 00:47:19,000 I'm going to go no versus Kenny and all of the context around 795 00:47:19,000 --> 00:47:21,320 Gabby Thomas and Trackspice included. 796 00:47:21,560 --> 00:47:25,280 So yeah. So that's a long answer for two 797 00:47:25,280 --> 00:47:27,240 of them. We did have, I guess, like a 798 00:47:27,240 --> 00:47:29,680 couple other moments on social that you wanted to highlight. 799 00:47:29,680 --> 00:47:32,280 I guess you were on hand for one of these. 800 00:47:32,520 --> 00:47:35,240 Yeah, so I I guess for me personally, and it may not be 801 00:47:35,240 --> 00:47:38,080 for everyone else, but it went moderately viral was the moment 802 00:47:38,080 --> 00:47:40,520 that I was. I was just about to interview 803 00:47:40,520 --> 00:47:42,560 Gina Alfred ahead of the Osley Diamond League. 804 00:47:42,800 --> 00:47:45,800 She comes up, we say hello, she grabs the microphone and then 805 00:47:45,800 --> 00:47:47,720 she starts screaming and I'm like, what on Earth's going on? 806 00:47:48,360 --> 00:47:50,360 And we hear this Jamaican voice over the tunnel. 807 00:47:50,360 --> 00:47:52,800 I think I, I told this story on the, on the podcast near the 808 00:47:52,800 --> 00:47:56,920 near the time, but you know, she starts going, we heard this 809 00:47:56,920 --> 00:48:00,720 Jamaican version of Hanoi and we're like, I don't really know 810 00:48:00,720 --> 00:48:03,280 any famous Jamaican people. There's only one famous Jamaican 811 00:48:03,280 --> 00:48:05,280 person whose voice I would instantly recognise. 812 00:48:05,280 --> 00:48:08,360 I was like, it can't be. But it turned out it was Usain 813 00:48:08,360 --> 00:48:10,360 Bolt. He'd attended his first track 814 00:48:10,360 --> 00:48:14,480 event outside of Jamaica in basically since he retired. 815 00:48:15,520 --> 00:48:18,840 So, and then in the middle of the interview, we sort of tried 816 00:48:18,840 --> 00:48:20,560 to restart the interview after that. 817 00:48:21,280 --> 00:48:23,040 She had never met Usain Bolt, you see. 818 00:48:23,040 --> 00:48:26,120 And so she went, she always then called down to meet Usain Bolt. 819 00:48:26,120 --> 00:48:28,880 She then very kindly came back and finished the interview. 820 00:48:29,200 --> 00:48:31,840 So Chris, you then went and clipped that together into a 821 00:48:31,840 --> 00:48:35,280 really cool reel which which has got over 1,000,000 views on 822 00:48:35,280 --> 00:48:38,960 Instagram, which is pretty cool. My first ever viral moment as a 823 00:48:39,280 --> 00:48:42,960 content creator, I guess. So so that was pretty fun. 824 00:48:44,000 --> 00:48:46,120 And yeah. And then the the other moment, 825 00:48:46,120 --> 00:48:49,680 which also I had a small part to play in was or subsequent part 826 00:48:49,680 --> 00:48:53,040 to play in was when Brittany Brown was interviewed by an 827 00:48:53,040 --> 00:48:55,920 interviewer in was it at the Lezander? 828 00:48:55,920 --> 00:48:59,200 Who did he? Know track. 829 00:48:59,640 --> 00:49:03,080 He didn't seem to know that much about what was going on, didn't 830 00:49:03,080 --> 00:49:05,280 realise Brittany was not going to World Championships. 831 00:49:05,400 --> 00:49:08,560 Asked about that and and then she said Oh no, I'm not going to 832 00:49:08,560 --> 00:49:13,160 world, I'm I'm going for the buy in the Dublin league obviously 833 00:49:13,160 --> 00:49:15,440 is what she was referring to. The interviewer thought she was 834 00:49:15,440 --> 00:49:20,760 going to Dubai and that sort of became went a bit viral. 835 00:49:20,760 --> 00:49:24,800 And then obviously when she did get the buy at the the Diamond 836 00:49:24,800 --> 00:49:30,000 League final in Zurich, I then started my interview by saying, 837 00:49:30,000 --> 00:49:31,440 you know, you're not going to Dubai. 838 00:49:31,920 --> 00:49:34,640 You have the buy. That was quite fun. 839 00:49:34,640 --> 00:49:35,720 That was again, quite a fun moment. 840 00:49:35,720 --> 00:49:39,120 It's obviously again, a very sort of track Twitter, you know, 841 00:49:39,120 --> 00:49:41,840 inside baseball kind of thing. But it was a lot of fun for us 842 00:49:41,840 --> 00:49:45,640 at the time. Yeah, I just pulled up my The 843 00:49:45,680 --> 00:49:50,360 Cities Mag Instagram Analytics to see like, what were the 844 00:49:50,360 --> 00:49:53,040 biggest posts of the year. If we're talking social here, 845 00:49:53,960 --> 00:49:58,680 the number one post is actually the breaking news graphic about 846 00:49:58,960 --> 00:50:02,440 Sydney not being able to do the double in Los Angeles with the 847 00:50:02,440 --> 00:50:07,560 four 400 and 400 hurdles. Then we've got Quincy Wilson's 848 00:50:07,560 --> 00:50:12,320 college announcement. After that, it's the outrage of 849 00:50:12,320 --> 00:50:17,120 over the four rounds of the women's 100 meters at the LA 850 00:50:17,120 --> 00:50:21,000 Olympics. You got a Sarah Hall marathon 851 00:50:21,000 --> 00:50:24,160 finish photo from CIM that's up there as well. 852 00:50:24,880 --> 00:50:27,920 Jane Hedrigan has a post here in the top 10. 853 00:50:27,920 --> 00:50:32,000 Ruth Chapin Getich's text messages are in here as well. 854 00:50:33,360 --> 00:50:37,280 So yeah, I mean, there were. But I guess that's one thing I'm 855 00:50:37,280 --> 00:50:40,600 always curious about. And we, we, we don't post race 856 00:50:40,600 --> 00:50:43,040 footage because we don't have the rights to those things. 857 00:50:43,320 --> 00:50:45,960 But I'm, I'm sometimes wondering, it's like what was 858 00:50:45,960 --> 00:50:48,720 the most watched race of the year? 859 00:50:48,720 --> 00:50:52,160 We could probably just look at the NBC Sports YouTube channel 860 00:50:52,160 --> 00:50:56,040 to see what it was. I'd be shocked if it wasn't like 861 00:50:56,040 --> 00:51:00,280 the, it's either a Sydney race. I would say Sydney's 400 from 862 00:51:00,280 --> 00:51:08,120 worlds or Noah Lyle's 200 just because those names always have 863 00:51:08,120 --> 00:51:14,200 some some pop online. But I mean oblique Seville 864 00:51:14,200 --> 00:51:18,960 winning the the 100 and putting Jamaica back on top probably 865 00:51:18,960 --> 00:51:20,560 also gets a lot of views as well. 866 00:51:20,560 --> 00:51:25,760 So all right, let's move on over to heartbreak moment of the 867 00:51:25,760 --> 00:51:28,800 year. I'll go first on this one. 868 00:51:29,800 --> 00:51:35,040 I think it's just for me how the hype around the men's 1500 869 00:51:35,040 --> 00:51:39,160 slowly fell apart. Well, and it started at the US 870 00:51:39,160 --> 00:51:43,280 Championships with Yard and a Goose not making the team. 871 00:51:44,160 --> 00:51:49,000 Then you had Cole Hawker's DQ. Then or first before that you 872 00:51:49,000 --> 00:51:52,240 had Yakabinga Britain being hurt, not making it out of the 873 00:51:52,240 --> 00:51:55,680 heats. Then you had the Cole Hawker DQ. 874 00:51:56,680 --> 00:52:02,440 Then you had the Josh Kerr injury and it just kind of 875 00:52:02,440 --> 00:52:05,080 fizzled out. We got, we still got a good race 876 00:52:05,080 --> 00:52:08,120 and I'm super happy for Jake Whiteman's comeback and the 877 00:52:08,120 --> 00:52:15,520 silver medal that he got. But it just like for as much 878 00:52:15,520 --> 00:52:19,240 attention as we spent on the event all throughout the year, 879 00:52:19,240 --> 00:52:22,840 it fizzled out a little bit. So I think that's why. 880 00:52:22,840 --> 00:52:29,640 And Josh Kerr hobbling all the way to the finish line and it it 881 00:52:29,640 --> 00:52:32,480 doesn't seem like he aggravated the injury any worse than than 882 00:52:32,480 --> 00:52:38,800 it was his calf. But yeah, that one I think was 883 00:52:38,800 --> 00:52:42,760 was it for me. Is the 1500 just not quite it? 884 00:52:42,800 --> 00:52:44,800 It was it. It broke my heart that it didn't 885 00:52:44,800 --> 00:52:47,880 just live up to the Great Expectations we had. 886 00:52:48,240 --> 00:52:52,440 Yeah, I mean, yeah, agreed that it as an event, it, it, it 887 00:52:52,440 --> 00:52:55,560 fizzled, unfortunately, you know, after all the hype and all 888 00:52:55,560 --> 00:52:58,200 the build up. But yes, it was I, I, I think, 889 00:52:58,200 --> 00:52:59,920 you know, for me, yes, it was, it was definitely pretty 890 00:52:59,920 --> 00:53:03,000 heartbreaking seeing Josh Kerr hobble to that finish line, 891 00:53:04,520 --> 00:53:07,680 particularly knowing, you know, the way he puts himself out 892 00:53:07,680 --> 00:53:12,160 there of as how focused and how kind of he's given up and put 893 00:53:12,160 --> 00:53:16,480 everything else to one side just to achieve that kind of, you 894 00:53:16,480 --> 00:53:19,200 know, to, to kind of achieve that goal and, and the way he 895 00:53:19,200 --> 00:53:20,800 kind of kind of puts himself out there for that. 896 00:53:21,440 --> 00:53:25,200 But I think, you know, if you were there watching some of the 897 00:53:25,200 --> 00:53:29,440 events, I think some of the most heartbreaking kind of moments 898 00:53:29,480 --> 00:53:33,960 that that we maybe saw behind the scenes, and I think probably 899 00:53:33,960 --> 00:53:36,800 the biggest 1 was Haruka Kittaguchi. 900 00:53:36,800 --> 00:53:40,560 If you were in Tokyo, you would have seen her face plastered 901 00:53:41,000 --> 00:53:43,280 absolutely everywhere. Some really cool subway ads. 902 00:53:43,360 --> 00:53:46,480 Yeah, they had with her. You know, she was the face that 903 00:53:46,480 --> 00:53:47,840 she was. You know, she's the defending 904 00:53:47,840 --> 00:53:50,640 Olympic world champion in in the javelin. 905 00:53:51,520 --> 00:53:55,320 You know, the women's javelin didn't really have many, you 906 00:53:55,320 --> 00:53:57,280 know, top contenders, as it were. 907 00:53:57,280 --> 00:54:00,440 It was a very open event and she'd been pretty consistent 908 00:54:00,440 --> 00:54:04,400 over the last few years. And obviously she'd clearly been 909 00:54:04,400 --> 00:54:07,280 suffering with injury this year that that was pretty obvious 910 00:54:07,280 --> 00:54:09,600 because her results across the Diamond League and stuff were 911 00:54:09,600 --> 00:54:11,800 not anywhere near as consistent as they had been previously. 912 00:54:12,120 --> 00:54:18,080 But to not make it out of the, you know, out of the out of the 913 00:54:18,120 --> 00:54:20,920 qualification. And when she came through the 914 00:54:20,920 --> 00:54:25,080 mix zone, she was absolutely devastated. 915 00:54:25,120 --> 00:54:27,720 And obviously there were 1,000,000 Japanese journalists 916 00:54:27,720 --> 00:54:29,800 there obviously wanting to talk to her as well. 917 00:54:30,400 --> 00:54:33,960 And it just, it was so hard to watch like that whole, that 918 00:54:33,960 --> 00:54:35,720 whole thing was, was was really tough. 919 00:54:36,680 --> 00:54:38,280 So that that was really heartbreaking. 920 00:54:39,440 --> 00:54:43,520 Sufianel Bakali in the 3000 meter steeplechase along along 921 00:54:43,520 --> 00:54:46,840 similar lines. He was devastated. 922 00:54:46,840 --> 00:54:49,360 Yeah, he was devastated, but I. Feel like more people were 923 00:54:49,360 --> 00:54:50,400 happy? For, I mean, he's still got a 924 00:54:50,400 --> 00:54:51,960 silver medal. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 925 00:54:52,080 --> 00:54:55,720 We, we were obviously very happy for George, but you know, he, 926 00:54:55,800 --> 00:55:00,560 but just in terms of he like, I suppose for him like that was 927 00:55:00,560 --> 00:55:03,560 the most obvious, like someone else might turn up to a final 928 00:55:03,560 --> 00:55:06,120 and go, oh, I got, I got a silver medal, right. 929 00:55:06,120 --> 00:55:08,000 And then we like there's some silver medals where you're 930 00:55:08,000 --> 00:55:09,360 really happy to get a silver medal. 931 00:55:09,360 --> 00:55:11,800 And we'll probably come on to some of those we mentioned Jake 932 00:55:11,800 --> 00:55:15,520 Whiteman, for example, And there are some others where, you know, 933 00:55:15,720 --> 00:55:19,080 it is, it is heartbreak. And, and in his case, he was, he 934 00:55:19,080 --> 00:55:20,960 was, he was absolutely devastated. 935 00:55:22,480 --> 00:55:25,000 And another one that I saw in person, but there was, you know, 936 00:55:25,000 --> 00:55:28,640 kind of there was some really tough to watch TV pictures that 937 00:55:28,640 --> 00:55:30,640 for some reason got replayed quite a lot. 938 00:55:31,480 --> 00:55:32,760 And so that was pretty devastating. 939 00:55:32,760 --> 00:55:36,840 Was was Amber Anning. She got DQ D in the Euro indoor 940 00:55:38,840 --> 00:55:43,880 European indoors in the heats for a slight lane infringement. 941 00:55:44,080 --> 00:55:46,360 And, you know, it was a clear DQ. 942 00:55:46,360 --> 00:55:48,040 There was nothing, you know, she'd stepped over the line a 943 00:55:48,040 --> 00:55:50,000 couple of times. That was that was that it was a 944 00:55:50,000 --> 00:55:51,520 clear DQ. But she was absolutely 945 00:55:51,520 --> 00:55:53,520 devastated because she was the favorite pretty much. 946 00:55:53,560 --> 00:55:58,120 You know, and actually what it meant was it spurred her to go 947 00:55:58,120 --> 00:56:00,120 to world indoors, which she wasn't originally going to do. 948 00:56:00,320 --> 00:56:02,200 And then she became world indoor champion instead. 949 00:56:02,360 --> 00:56:05,000 So, you know, it, it all came to a happy ending. 950 00:56:05,000 --> 00:56:07,160 But but that was another devastating moment that we kind 951 00:56:07,160 --> 00:56:09,360 of got to see, right. There's a lot of these 952 00:56:09,360 --> 00:56:11,480 devastating moments that happened behind the scenes as 953 00:56:11,480 --> 00:56:14,600 well for athletes to get injured at other points in the year. 954 00:56:14,760 --> 00:56:19,480 But I think the moments that are really, you know, in public in 955 00:56:19,480 --> 00:56:22,560 front of the world, they're some of the toughest ones to watch. 956 00:56:23,840 --> 00:56:26,800 And, you know, and then those, I think were some of the biggest 957 00:56:26,800 --> 00:56:30,520 examples this year. Yeah, I think heartbreak too. 958 00:56:30,520 --> 00:56:34,080 You could you could throw in here just sort of the passing of 959 00:56:34,280 --> 00:56:38,120 several legends at least like here in the United States. 960 00:56:38,120 --> 00:56:42,160 Like on the coaching front, you had Jack Daniels, the legendary 961 00:56:42,600 --> 00:56:47,120 coach out of Flagstaff. You had Joe V Hill also pass 962 00:56:47,120 --> 00:56:50,600 away this year. And so there were some deaths as 963 00:56:50,600 --> 00:56:54,320 well. So yeah, I'm trying to think of 964 00:56:54,320 --> 00:56:59,200 what other heartbreak there could be people missing teams. 965 00:56:59,400 --> 00:57:01,800 I'm trying to like Trayvon Burmell was was heartbreaking 966 00:57:01,800 --> 00:57:04,600 because he had just sort of like this remarkable comeback this 967 00:57:04,600 --> 00:57:10,240 year and just just misses out on on making it to the World 968 00:57:10,240 --> 00:57:15,040 Championships. So yeah, I mean, those there, 969 00:57:15,720 --> 00:57:19,960 there were some, some some downer storylines throughout the 970 00:57:19,960 --> 00:57:22,960 year as well. All right, let's move on over to 971 00:57:22,960 --> 00:57:25,760 people who had quite a bit of success and that's coaches of 972 00:57:25,760 --> 00:57:30,920 the year for this. One, I think this is an easy 973 00:57:30,920 --> 00:57:32,520 one. This is an easy one for me. 974 00:57:32,520 --> 00:57:36,000 This is absolutely an easy one. Go for it. 975 00:57:36,000 --> 00:57:38,400 It's Amy, and I think it's Amy and Alistair Crack. 976 00:57:38,400 --> 00:57:40,520 OK, Yeah. I just didn't want it to be just 977 00:57:40,520 --> 00:57:43,600 sort of like, I think more of a American biased here because I 978 00:57:43,600 --> 00:57:46,160 thought you would. I mean, the bias isn't American 979 00:57:46,160 --> 00:57:49,360 because actually their biggest success stories were in fact not 980 00:57:49,720 --> 00:57:52,920 well, they're they had some big American success stories, but 981 00:57:52,920 --> 00:57:56,480 actually their biggest success story is Dorcas Ewar, 29 years 982 00:57:56,480 --> 00:58:00,760 old, became world silver medallist in the 1500, having 983 00:58:00,760 --> 00:58:07,560 not broken 4 until earlier. This earlier in 2025 out there 984 00:58:07,560 --> 00:58:09,640 about Diamond League was the first time she ever broke 4. 985 00:58:09,640 --> 00:58:14,920 She ran 359 and then second time she broke 4 was to run 354 to 986 00:58:14,920 --> 00:58:17,480 win the silver medal at the World Championships. 987 00:58:17,640 --> 00:58:19,840 So that was an incredible breakthrough. 988 00:58:20,480 --> 00:58:25,880 They had Paddy Diva come forth at the New York City Marathon in 989 00:58:25,880 --> 00:58:28,320 his debut marathon, who's obviously a Brit. 990 00:58:29,040 --> 00:58:31,800 On the other side, they had Fiona O'Keefe, who obviously 991 00:58:32,080 --> 00:58:35,920 they had great success with her in 2024 with her winning the 992 00:58:36,320 --> 00:58:39,840 Olympic Trials, but then obviously suffering with injury 993 00:58:39,840 --> 00:58:43,000 and having to to withdraw from the, you know, drop out of the 994 00:58:43,000 --> 00:58:45,960 Olympic marathon after less than a mile. 995 00:58:46,200 --> 00:58:51,160 But then coming back this year with again also a fourth place 996 00:58:51,280 --> 00:58:54,480 in New York, again, hugely impressive. 997 00:58:55,480 --> 00:58:58,520 But then they also had huge successes elsewhere with Alex 998 00:58:58,520 --> 00:59:03,240 Mayer and and Taylor Rowe, who both won the the half marathon 999 00:59:03,720 --> 00:59:06,520 US champs and it's shamed. The road running champs didn't 1000 00:59:06,560 --> 00:59:10,440 then got cancelled, which they had obviously qualified for, but 1001 00:59:10,560 --> 00:59:13,840 Taylor, Taylor Rowe went on to, to make the team in the 10,000 1002 00:59:13,840 --> 00:59:17,400 meters and Alex Mayer went on to win. 1003 00:59:17,400 --> 00:59:19,640 I think it was the Dusseldorf marathon or something, or 1004 00:59:19,640 --> 00:59:25,080 Hamburg Marathon. And yeah, they're both, you 1005 00:59:25,080 --> 00:59:28,120 know, it was just a hugely successful year for any number 1006 00:59:28,120 --> 00:59:31,840 of members of their team. So I, I, I think this was a very 1007 00:59:31,840 --> 00:59:33,520 easy one. If you're, if you're talking 1008 00:59:33,520 --> 00:59:36,680 about a coach who's who'd had such a huge impact on athletes, 1009 00:59:37,000 --> 00:59:40,280 on a lot of athletes that we perhaps hadn't been talking 1010 00:59:40,280 --> 00:59:43,400 about before 2020 five. I think I think that's the 1011 00:59:43,400 --> 00:59:45,960 point, right? That and that's where I kind of 1012 00:59:46,000 --> 00:59:50,400 it then maybe is a sign that, you know, if they've had so much 1013 00:59:50,400 --> 00:59:52,720 success with athletes that we maybe otherwise hadn't really 1014 00:59:52,720 --> 00:59:56,240 been talking about they that they have got an impressive 1015 00:59:56,240 --> 00:59:58,880 coaching set up and team set up going. 1016 00:59:59,560 --> 01:00:03,440 Yeah, I all agree with you entirely on Alistair and Amy. 1017 01:00:04,160 --> 01:00:08,840 I think some honourable mentions in this one, Jenny and Trevor 1018 01:00:08,840 --> 01:00:12,080 Painter. Jenny Meadows and Trevor Painter 1019 01:00:12,200 --> 01:00:16,400 because of you know one how they managed to handle Kaylee 1020 01:00:16,400 --> 01:00:22,360 Hodgkinson's return from injury, being able to continue to mold 1021 01:00:22,360 --> 01:00:25,880 Georgia Hunter Bell as like this dual threat in both the 800 and 1022 01:00:25,880 --> 01:00:31,120 the 1500 Sarah Healy competing at the World Championships. 1023 01:00:31,400 --> 01:00:35,640 So you can you can make a case for them. 1024 01:00:36,720 --> 01:00:40,960 Dathan Ritzenheim, like OHC, ended up having a good showing 1025 01:00:40,960 --> 01:00:44,040 at the World Championships. You get a little bit of of 1026 01:00:44,120 --> 01:00:46,480 points knocked off or a couple of votes. 1027 01:00:46,480 --> 01:00:49,160 Probably if you put this up to a committee, you would lose a 1028 01:00:49,160 --> 01:00:53,240 couple of votes because someone like Yara didn't end up making, 1029 01:00:53,560 --> 01:00:55,960 you know, the world championship team. 1030 01:00:55,960 --> 01:00:58,840 And Ali Whore also had his shortcomings. 1031 01:00:58,840 --> 01:01:04,160 But when you've got George winning, Sage finishing, you 1032 01:01:04,160 --> 01:01:09,040 know, 5th, Kai finishing fourth, Josette finishing sixth, like 1033 01:01:09,040 --> 01:01:11,920 that was a really good World Championships for them. 1034 01:01:13,160 --> 01:01:17,000 I was trying to think of some other potential coaches to throw 1035 01:01:17,000 --> 01:01:19,480 in here. Oh, also, I guess like with 1036 01:01:19,480 --> 01:01:23,440 Dathan, you include Helen O'beery and, you know, winning 1037 01:01:23,440 --> 01:01:26,040 the New York City Marathon as well. 1038 01:01:28,040 --> 01:01:30,760 Who else could be coach of the year? 1039 01:01:32,440 --> 01:01:37,840 I guess which which of the Lewandowski brothers is the is 1040 01:01:38,160 --> 01:01:41,040 Niels Laros's coach? Is it Marcin Lewandowski? 1041 01:01:41,240 --> 01:01:44,120 I think it's Marcin but I can't remember because one of them is 1042 01:01:44,120 --> 01:01:46,440 a run up more of AI guess and then. 1043 01:01:46,440 --> 01:01:51,120 For they would probably be like on the watch list for 2026 1044 01:01:51,120 --> 01:01:53,400 potential coaches of the coach of the year. 1045 01:01:53,400 --> 01:01:59,800 Because if Niels Laros storms back to top form and, you know, 1046 01:01:59,800 --> 01:02:02,520 stuns people at the world Ultimate Championships, he could 1047 01:02:02,520 --> 01:02:05,760 be it. If Isaac Nader fully joins the 1048 01:02:05,760 --> 01:02:10,440 group, then you've got the you. You get to track his sort of 1049 01:02:10,560 --> 01:02:14,520 progression as well. And then Timothy Cheriot had a 1050 01:02:14,520 --> 01:02:17,360 really good 2025 S Watch out for him. 1051 01:02:17,400 --> 01:02:19,520 Oh, Justin Rinaldi. It's Thomas. 1052 01:02:19,560 --> 01:02:21,240 It's it's Oh, yeah, sorry, Justin. 1053 01:02:21,240 --> 01:02:23,240 I was just going to say before we went, it's Thomas. 1054 01:02:23,240 --> 01:02:25,760 Lewandowski is the person we're talking about rather than 1055 01:02:25,760 --> 01:02:28,880 Martin. So it's the brother, but yes. 1056 01:02:28,880 --> 01:02:32,360 Justin Rinaldi is another one just I would I would throw in as 1057 01:02:32,360 --> 01:02:34,280 an honorable mention for coach of the year. 1058 01:02:35,400 --> 01:02:38,680 It's really coach over the over the last two years and just sort 1059 01:02:38,680 --> 01:02:42,080 of like how he's just sort of rewritten so many of the top 1060 01:02:42,080 --> 01:02:47,040 lists and and records in the 800 for various different countries 1061 01:02:47,400 --> 01:02:53,960 from the United States with Josh Hoey to mark English and when he 1062 01:02:53,960 --> 01:02:56,920 held the the Irish record for some time this year, the 1063 01:02:56,920 --> 01:02:59,520 Australian record with pure Bowl. 1064 01:02:59,520 --> 01:03:04,000 So, yeah, he's he's continuing to master that. 1065 01:03:04,880 --> 01:03:07,760 And I just find it really fun that he was like a thing. 1066 01:03:07,760 --> 01:03:10,400 MO really wants to get serious. Give me a call. 1067 01:03:11,640 --> 01:03:14,320 So I thought that was fun. We still don't know where a 1068 01:03:14,360 --> 01:03:16,480 thing has landed yet for for coaching. 1069 01:03:17,920 --> 01:03:20,480 This episode of the City of Smack podcast is also supported 1070 01:03:20,480 --> 01:03:23,640 by Gnomeo. I promised that I'd be back to 1071 01:03:23,640 --> 01:03:28,120 share my experience with taking Gnomeo shots over the past two 1072 01:03:28,120 --> 01:03:31,080 months. Gnomeo is a concentrated shot 1073 01:03:31,080 --> 01:03:34,400 made from broccoli sprouts. And yeah, that sounded strange 1074 01:03:34,400 --> 01:03:37,360 at first, but it was developed by endurance researchers in 1075 01:03:37,360 --> 01:03:40,840 Sweden who have spent years studying how the body adapts to 1076 01:03:40,840 --> 01:03:43,800 heart training. This isn't a stimulant, and it's 1077 01:03:43,880 --> 01:03:46,360 not something you would take mindlessly everyday. 1078 01:03:46,680 --> 01:03:49,280 It's designed specifically for hard days. 1079 01:03:50,000 --> 01:03:53,280 Here's how I use it on workout days that really matter. 1080 01:03:53,440 --> 01:03:57,760 Long threshold efforts, hard track sessions, race pace work. 1081 01:03:58,000 --> 01:04:01,280 I take one shot about 3 hours before the session. 1082 01:04:01,640 --> 01:04:04,520 Personally, I ration a bit and I don't need to take it before 1083 01:04:04,520 --> 01:04:06,680 easy runs. I don't take it on rest days, 1084 01:04:06,680 --> 01:04:10,000 but I will sometimes take it as a recovery tool from a hard 1085 01:04:10,000 --> 01:04:12,400 workout before I go to bed. Following one of those tough 1086 01:04:12,400 --> 01:04:17,960 sessions, I intentionally use it during heavier training blocks. 1087 01:04:18,240 --> 01:04:21,560 What stood out to me is that I felt it from the very first 1088 01:04:21,560 --> 01:04:26,640 session not as a surge of energy, but as a difference in 1089 01:04:26,640 --> 01:04:30,280 how my legs stayed responsive once things started to get 1090 01:04:30,280 --> 01:04:32,640 uncomfortable. I tested this a couple times 1091 01:04:32,640 --> 01:04:36,720 with some 400 meter repeats, and overtime that's shown up as 1092 01:04:36,960 --> 01:04:39,800 better feeling workouts and smooth recovery between those 1093 01:04:39,800 --> 01:04:43,240 hard efforts. The science behind Gnomeo is 1094 01:04:43,240 --> 01:04:45,920 still emerging, but it's genuinely interesting. 1095 01:04:45,920 --> 01:04:50,480 It contains naturally occurring compounds called ITC, which 1096 01:04:50,680 --> 01:04:54,680 early research suggests may help the body manage oxidative stress 1097 01:04:54,720 --> 01:04:58,320 and regulate lactate during sustained, demanding efforts. 1098 01:04:58,520 --> 01:05:01,800 That's why it's quietly showed up among elite endurance 1099 01:05:01,800 --> 01:05:04,200 athletes, people who care about that adaptation. 1100 01:05:04,440 --> 01:05:06,400 No shortcuts. And I'm talking about the likes 1101 01:05:06,400 --> 01:05:09,920 of Andreas Olmgren, Cole Hawker, Graham Blanx, Sage Herde 1102 01:05:09,920 --> 01:05:12,240 Klecker, and most recently they announced that they've been 1103 01:05:12,240 --> 01:05:15,960 working with Conor Mance, who took it before his American 1104 01:05:15,960 --> 01:05:19,680 record at the Chicago Marathon. Practically speaking, it's easy 1105 01:05:19,680 --> 01:05:21,720 to use. I keep mine refrigerated, It's 1106 01:05:21,720 --> 01:05:24,320 easy to transport, and it's simple to work into your 1107 01:05:24,320 --> 01:05:27,080 routine. No mixing, no timing stress. 1108 01:05:27,600 --> 01:05:29,840 If you want to learn more about how it works, you can check out 1109 01:05:29,840 --> 01:05:32,200 Drink gnomeo.com. We also had a really fun episode 1110 01:05:32,200 --> 01:05:34,560 with Evan Jaker, who is now working for them, and he 1111 01:05:34,560 --> 01:05:37,600 explains just sort of how he got familiar with the product. 1112 01:05:38,440 --> 01:05:41,920 And for our US listeners, Noemio is exclusively available at 1113 01:05:41,920 --> 01:05:45,800 thefeed.com with some quick home delivery if you want to start 1114 01:05:45,800 --> 01:05:47,240 implementing it into your training. 1115 01:05:47,640 --> 01:05:49,560 No caffeine, no sketchy substances. 1116 01:05:49,560 --> 01:05:51,800 It's literally three ingredients, broccoli, sprouts, 1117 01:05:51,960 --> 01:05:54,560 lemon and sugar. No daily dependency. 1118 01:05:54,760 --> 01:05:57,840 You still have to put in the work in training, but Noemio 1119 01:05:57,960 --> 01:06:01,440 just helps you meet your hardest days a little bit more prepared. 1120 01:06:01,840 --> 01:06:04,520 Check them out today. That's drink noemio.com. 1121 01:06:04,520 --> 01:06:12,200 Or shop for it at thefeed.com. All right, let's go to best 1122 01:06:12,200 --> 01:06:15,400 event of the year. Which event are you going with 1123 01:06:15,640 --> 01:06:17,720 pre? God, I was, I must admit, I was 1124 01:06:17,720 --> 01:06:21,400 really struggling this one because the obvious answer would 1125 01:06:21,400 --> 01:06:24,040 have been the men's 1500. But as we've already talked 1126 01:06:24,040 --> 01:06:27,120 about, the build up was incredible. 1127 01:06:27,200 --> 01:06:33,040 We had every storyline going, but then the final maybe didn't 1128 01:06:33,040 --> 01:06:36,320 live up to, you know, that the the sort of combination of that 1129 01:06:36,320 --> 01:06:41,200 world maybe didn't live up to the live up to that. 1130 01:06:41,880 --> 01:06:48,320 I think the women's 400 was a strong contender as well with 1131 01:06:48,320 --> 01:06:52,080 the final that we got. But I think what was a little 1132 01:06:52,080 --> 01:06:54,320 bit of a shame was that we saw some really great matchups 1133 01:06:54,320 --> 01:06:57,880 between Paulino and NASA all the way through the year. 1134 01:06:57,880 --> 01:07:01,480 But we never saw, we didn't get any sort of preview of Sydney 1135 01:07:01,480 --> 01:07:06,080 racing either of those two prior to that, which I think would 1136 01:07:06,080 --> 01:07:09,320 have added then to the event as a whole being kind of really, 1137 01:07:10,200 --> 01:07:13,400 really exciting and kind of, you know, building that anticipation 1138 01:07:13,400 --> 01:07:18,560 a little bit more. So, yeah, I don't know, I was 1139 01:07:18,560 --> 01:07:22,800 struggling a little bit. I mean, I think to to actually 1140 01:07:22,800 --> 01:07:25,600 give this one a, you know, was there any? 1141 01:07:26,000 --> 01:07:28,600 And I think part of it was because so many events were so 1142 01:07:28,600 --> 01:07:31,480 impressive, like the men's 800 meters was insanely impressive 1143 01:07:31,480 --> 01:07:36,400 this year if you hadn't had last year's men's 800 meters, which 1144 01:07:36,400 --> 01:07:39,760 was just on another level entirely, you know, So I, I 1145 01:07:39,760 --> 01:07:42,040 think there's a few events like that which sort of suffer a 1146 01:07:42,040 --> 01:07:45,760 little bit from having really great Olympics, Olympic years. 1147 01:07:46,040 --> 01:07:49,280 And then, you know, the men's 4 hurdles as well, 400 hurdles 1148 01:07:49,480 --> 01:07:51,280 similar. We had some really good races 1149 01:07:51,320 --> 01:07:53,400 throughout the year, some really great matchups between the big 1150 01:07:53,400 --> 01:07:57,800 three as well. And then the final again didn't 1151 01:07:57,800 --> 01:08:03,280 quite deliver the climax we were perhaps hoping for, but it was 1152 01:08:03,280 --> 01:08:06,160 it was still it was that was still a pretty good event as 1153 01:08:06,160 --> 01:08:08,880 well. Yeah, so we, we, we, we're 1154 01:08:08,880 --> 01:08:12,720 working on this little thought experiment around this that 1155 01:08:12,720 --> 01:08:16,800 maybe ends up being a social graphic or two on our channels. 1156 01:08:16,800 --> 01:08:20,920 Or I maybe Paul Hoff Mahoney writes a little bit about this 1157 01:08:20,920 --> 01:08:27,080 in next week's newsletter. We observed the top 100. 1158 01:08:27,279 --> 01:08:33,080 We go to mark #100 in each of these events and we see what are 1159 01:08:33,080 --> 01:08:36,399 the top five events of the year in terms of this. 1160 01:08:36,399 --> 01:08:39,439 So this takes into account just like the depth of each one of 1161 01:08:39,439 --> 01:08:42,399 these events. And when we crunched numbers and 1162 01:08:42,399 --> 01:08:45,160 looked at just what what the performance score was for Mark 1163 01:08:45,200 --> 01:08:52,240 the 100th marker time, then the top five events on the track for 1164 01:08:52,240 --> 01:08:58,800 2025 would have been the men's 800, the women's 5000, the men's 1165 01:08:58,800 --> 01:09:03,760 1500, the men's 5K and then the women's 800. 1166 01:09:04,680 --> 01:09:07,960 But again, to your point, just sort of, if I'm thinking of like 1167 01:09:08,880 --> 01:09:12,160 what was the best event of the year, which had more, you know, 1168 01:09:12,160 --> 01:09:14,160 crazy moments that thrilled? Yeah. 1169 01:09:14,880 --> 01:09:18,520 The men's 800 would have been epic had you not had 2024. 1170 01:09:18,520 --> 01:09:21,399 So I agree with you on that. So if I'm looking at the top 1171 01:09:21,399 --> 01:09:24,439 five based on those scores, yes, it is like a little bit of a 1172 01:09:24,439 --> 01:09:29,080 distance fest there. I guess I'd go with the women's 1173 01:09:29,080 --> 01:09:33,640 800 because it had some really cool storylines. 1174 01:09:35,319 --> 01:09:39,120 The comeback of Keeley Hodgkinson, what will Georgia 1175 01:09:39,120 --> 01:09:42,399 Hunter Bell do? Then the shock by Lillian Odira 1176 01:09:42,680 --> 01:09:45,760 at the World Championships. Even some Americans, you know, 1177 01:09:45,760 --> 01:09:50,560 had good momentum heading into the World Championships and 1178 01:09:50,560 --> 01:09:54,080 coming off of USAS. It was an event where like there 1179 01:09:54,080 --> 01:09:58,040 just wasn't that one dominant figure and then we got a 1180 01:09:58,040 --> 01:10:00,840 championship record. When it counted the most. 1181 01:10:00,840 --> 01:10:06,560 So I think that event over performed compared to 1182 01:10:06,560 --> 01:10:10,960 20/25/2024. When we line up the rest of 1183 01:10:10,960 --> 01:10:15,760 them, men's 1500, yes, you had people running very, very fast 1184 01:10:16,280 --> 01:10:19,120 earlier on in the season compared to 2024. 1185 01:10:20,520 --> 01:10:25,480 But did the event provide as many of those top awesome 1186 01:10:25,480 --> 01:10:31,840 moments and especially when the spotlight was the brightest, how 1187 01:10:31,840 --> 01:10:34,040 did it perform? I guess that's where it loses, I 1188 01:10:34,040 --> 01:10:40,240 think a little bit of points. So I'll go with women's 800 as 1189 01:10:40,240 --> 01:10:43,800 the best event of the year, although, oh, actually, Nah, 1190 01:10:44,440 --> 01:10:46,120 women's 400 I'm. Thinking about the women I'm. 1191 01:10:46,600 --> 01:10:49,840 Thinking about Women's 4. 100, I think women's 400, probably the 1192 01:10:49,840 --> 01:10:52,000 women's 400 I should say. The only other one I throw in 1193 01:10:52,000 --> 01:10:57,280 the mix actually was possibly the women's 100 where again, you 1194 01:10:57,280 --> 01:10:59,360 know, we had some really impressive performances from 1195 01:10:59,360 --> 01:11:03,000 both Melissa Jefferson Wooden and Julian Alfred, but we had so 1196 01:11:03,000 --> 01:11:05,360 many other really good storylines in there with Shelly 1197 01:11:05,360 --> 01:11:10,320 Ann Fraser Price, which Kerry Richardson, you know, there were 1198 01:11:10,320 --> 01:11:13,000 quite a few storylines in there that were were pretty cool. 1199 01:11:13,800 --> 01:11:17,280 So so I think that was and and it, you know, the end end result 1200 01:11:17,280 --> 01:11:21,120 was a really impressive win from Melissa Jefferson Wooden in a 1201 01:11:21,120 --> 01:11:23,480 championship record as well for the World Championships. 1202 01:11:23,480 --> 01:11:27,600 So that that could also be up there as an event which gave us 1203 01:11:27,600 --> 01:11:32,000 a couple of top stars, couple of returning legends or, or trying 1204 01:11:32,000 --> 01:11:33,440 to people trying to get back to their best. 1205 01:11:33,480 --> 01:11:35,400 I I think there was, there was quite a few storylines there as 1206 01:11:35,400 --> 01:11:36,440 well. Do you want to know what the 1207 01:11:37,160 --> 01:11:44,840 lowest the the five lowest events are in terms of we, our 1208 01:11:44,840 --> 01:11:47,520 mantra here is that we love track and field and so we love 1209 01:11:47,880 --> 01:11:52,520 all these, we love all the events, but there are five that 1210 01:11:52,560 --> 01:11:55,920 if you take the 100th best performance, the 100th best 1211 01:11:55,920 --> 01:12:00,680 performance of 2025, the world ranking score was the lowest, so 1212 01:12:01,160 --> 01:12:04,000 5th from the bottom. Can I can I take a guess before 1213 01:12:04,000 --> 01:12:06,120 before you should announce them? Can I take a guess so you can 1214 01:12:06,120 --> 01:12:08,040 see how close I can get a couple? 1215 01:12:08,040 --> 01:12:10,640 Of OK, All right, You you try and guess the five and I'll tell 1216 01:12:10,640 --> 01:12:12,960 you where they landed. Go ahead. 1217 01:12:14,080 --> 01:12:17,360 Women's Javelin. Women's javelin is not one of 1218 01:12:17,360 --> 01:12:21,840 the five lowest events. Men's high jump. 1219 01:12:22,560 --> 01:12:27,680 That is the technically the worst event of 2024-2025. 1220 01:12:28,720 --> 01:12:34,680 All right, so you got 1. One OK, well, I I guess yeah, 1221 01:12:34,680 --> 01:12:37,360 then yeah, then I'm struggling beyond that those those are my 2 1222 01:12:37,360 --> 01:12:41,480 obvious picks I think yeah, those those are probably the 1223 01:12:41,480 --> 01:12:42,200 most. Obvious. 1224 01:12:42,280 --> 01:12:46,600 So it's the worst event is the men's high jump, second worst 1225 01:12:46,760 --> 01:12:49,960 men's triple jump, even though the competition at the World 1226 01:12:49,960 --> 01:12:53,000 Championships was thrilling. But again, we're we're going 1227 01:12:53,480 --> 01:12:58,960 over all depth of the event. Men's shot put is the third 1228 01:12:58,960 --> 01:13:04,600 worst women's high jump, 4th, which is kind of nuts cause like 1229 01:13:04,800 --> 01:13:10,840 Olsligers versus Mehuchik is always very entertaining. 1230 01:13:11,880 --> 01:13:16,320 But again, what else is happening beyond the top 10 1231 01:13:16,320 --> 01:13:21,120 athletes? Men's discus throw was the fifth 1232 01:13:21,120 --> 01:13:23,200 worst event. And then of course, that 1233 01:13:23,200 --> 01:13:24,680 competition at the World Championships. 1234 01:13:24,680 --> 01:13:26,040 But we talked about heartbreak of the year. 1235 01:13:26,160 --> 01:13:28,120 Maybe it's that this is the sham. 1236 01:13:28,400 --> 01:13:31,480 The sham that was the men's discus throw competition at the 1237 01:13:31,480 --> 01:13:35,600 World Championships in the rain. Yeah. 1238 01:13:35,600 --> 01:13:37,960 I mean, they they've got, they've got to think about ways 1239 01:13:37,960 --> 01:13:41,200 and making sure that they at least have a backup plan if for 1240 01:13:41,200 --> 01:13:43,200 events that could be affected by the weather in that way. 1241 01:13:44,960 --> 01:13:47,160 Yeah, it's tricky because you always, you know, you want, you 1242 01:13:47,160 --> 01:13:49,040 have to have some field event finals on the final day. 1243 01:13:49,040 --> 01:13:51,520 But, but there are so many, you know, the women's hydrant was 1244 01:13:51,520 --> 01:13:53,440 also severely affected. There were a couple of events 1245 01:13:53,440 --> 01:13:55,480 that were that were quite badly affected by the weather. 1246 01:13:55,840 --> 01:13:58,960 OK, let's move on to breakout athlete of the Year. 1247 01:13:59,200 --> 01:14:02,160 I think I kind of already handed this to Cooper Luckenhouse. 1248 01:14:02,640 --> 01:14:04,920 Yeah. I mean, I, I, I think in, in a 1249 01:14:04,920 --> 01:14:09,040 sense that's an obvious one. I, I kind of want to take this a 1250 01:14:09,040 --> 01:14:12,240 minute because Cooper, obviously he had some good performances as 1251 01:14:12,240 --> 01:14:16,440 far as high school athlete goes and then he had that one insane 1252 01:14:16,440 --> 01:14:21,760 performance at USA. If you are maybe kind of saying, 1253 01:14:21,760 --> 01:14:27,520 well, athletes who kind of performed a bit more throughout 1254 01:14:27,520 --> 01:14:32,280 the year as well. I think Jane Haddengren is, is 1255 01:14:32,280 --> 01:14:35,840 probably another who who kind of then has been performing all the 1256 01:14:35,840 --> 01:14:39,080 way through breaking all these high school records, breaking 15 1257 01:14:39,480 --> 01:14:45,200 back in the summer and then and then coming back, you know, to 1258 01:14:46,040 --> 01:14:51,640 get second NCAA's as freshman run that 1444 time. 1259 01:14:51,640 --> 01:14:54,480 So, you know, I think she's she's performed throughout the 1260 01:14:54,480 --> 01:14:58,800 year and really kind of established herself fully as 1261 01:14:58,800 --> 01:15:01,080 like someone we expect to carry on with. 1262 01:15:01,080 --> 01:15:03,400 Cooper, I very much hope he continues to perform at that 1263 01:15:03,400 --> 01:15:05,960 level, but there's every possibility that, you know, 1264 01:15:06,000 --> 01:15:08,880 running 142, could that be the best moment of his career? 1265 01:15:08,880 --> 01:15:10,920 It could be, right? It's because it was just such a 1266 01:15:10,920 --> 01:15:14,440 stand out moment that, you know, he has broken out. 1267 01:15:14,440 --> 01:15:17,160 But but it's obviously a tough one to live up to as well. 1268 01:15:17,160 --> 01:15:19,120 So we wish him all the best for that. 1269 01:15:19,120 --> 01:15:23,160 But yeah, in terms of other athletes, I wanted to give a 1270 01:15:23,160 --> 01:15:26,880 quick mention. I think Amy Hunt, who obviously 1271 01:15:26,960 --> 01:15:29,200 broke through eventually to get get a silver medal, I mean, 1272 01:15:29,200 --> 01:15:31,680 she's been around for a while, but but she has been sort of 1273 01:15:31,680 --> 01:15:35,440 breaking out very much across the circuit this year. 1274 01:15:35,720 --> 01:15:39,720 Isaac Nader obviously is another obvious one who, you know, he's 1275 01:15:39,720 --> 01:15:43,600 not obviously that early in his career, but he obviously won the 1276 01:15:43,600 --> 01:15:48,480 Oslo Diamond League and then, you know, won worlds and he kind 1277 01:15:48,480 --> 01:15:50,800 of been posting some pretty decent results. 1278 01:15:50,800 --> 01:15:54,280 But people, I guess, weren't paying that much attention to 1279 01:15:54,280 --> 01:15:58,200 him, which is what kind of made came to his advantage at worlds 1280 01:15:58,200 --> 01:16:02,040 that, you know, he's someone who has a solid kick and people 1281 01:16:02,040 --> 01:16:03,640 didn't expect to see him coming and. 1282 01:16:03,880 --> 01:16:06,480 Well, yeah, I guess like. I guess we throw a Dorcas Eli in 1283 01:16:06,480 --> 01:16:08,960 this one as well. Yes, Dorcas Eli. 1284 01:16:08,960 --> 01:16:12,320 Yep, absolutely. I was trying to think if there 1285 01:16:12,320 --> 01:16:16,000 was anyone in the marathon I mean. 1286 01:16:16,080 --> 01:16:19,520 There's obviously people in the field, events that were kind of 1287 01:16:19,680 --> 01:16:24,440 kind of breaking out as well. I think, you know, there's, I 1288 01:16:24,440 --> 01:16:26,200 think Kate O'Connor in the heptathlon. 1289 01:16:26,600 --> 01:16:32,320 Absolute breakout. She managed to win medals at 1290 01:16:32,640 --> 01:16:37,920 European indoors, wild indoors and the world outdoors in that 1291 01:16:37,920 --> 01:16:43,000 Teflon, which or pentathlon as it was indoors as well as I 1292 01:16:43,000 --> 01:16:47,440 think which she also yeah, so she she she had I think for I 1293 01:16:47,440 --> 01:16:49,720 think she also won the World University Games in between as 1294 01:16:49,720 --> 01:16:51,520 well. So she's like been performing 1295 01:16:51,520 --> 01:16:53,640 across the multi events again through the year and just 1296 01:16:53,640 --> 01:16:54,760 getting better and better and better. 1297 01:16:54,760 --> 01:16:57,920 So that was one. Kim Mcphillips is the other one 1298 01:16:57,920 --> 01:17:01,800 that I wanted to say 4th placer in the 800 Worlds who again sort 1299 01:17:01,800 --> 01:17:04,200 of broke out massively on the biggest stage. 1300 01:17:05,000 --> 01:17:08,800 If he hadn't fallen at the World Championships, Fanwell Koich 1301 01:17:09,320 --> 01:17:14,520 also someone who ran 327 super young born in 2006. 1302 01:17:16,640 --> 01:17:22,120 Like I guess we we forget just how good he was in a lead up to 1303 01:17:22,120 --> 01:17:25,640 that that now that he has, I think a bit more, you know, 1304 01:17:25,640 --> 01:17:29,640 experience at the Diamond League and at the World Championships. 1305 01:17:29,680 --> 01:17:35,040 If he continues to progress, then 20262027 Fanwell coach 1306 01:17:35,040 --> 01:17:38,720 could be Kenya's big hope in the 1500. 1307 01:17:39,400 --> 01:17:42,960 And you know, for heartbreak of the year, which we keep coming 1308 01:17:42,960 --> 01:17:48,840 back to East Africa and just how bad they were, I guess on the 1309 01:17:48,840 --> 01:17:53,440 men's side being shut out of gold. 1310 01:17:54,640 --> 01:17:58,760 Yeah, I think like Fanwell Co, which would be their their, 1311 01:17:58,800 --> 01:18:03,400 their next big star, especially because like if we go who's 1312 01:18:03,400 --> 01:18:06,360 Europe's next big star? It's Niels Laros, who's 1313 01:18:06,360 --> 01:18:09,640 America's next big star. I mean, Cole Hawker's still 1314 01:18:09,640 --> 01:18:14,120 pretty young. Then who's Africa's next big 1315 01:18:14,120 --> 01:18:17,960 star? He'd probably go with Fanwell 1316 01:18:17,960 --> 01:18:23,960 Kowich in the 1500 down there. So man, it's crazy how quick the 1317 01:18:23,960 --> 01:18:26,640 the tide turns in, in, in track and field. 1318 01:18:28,200 --> 01:18:33,440 All right, then we've got late career resurgence of the year. 1319 01:18:34,880 --> 01:18:41,880 So this is a way to honor some vets who had a really good 2025. 1320 01:18:42,760 --> 01:18:45,720 At the top of this list is Delilah Muhammad, right, who 1321 01:18:46,040 --> 01:18:49,600 announced back in April in Kingston, Jamaica, that this 1322 01:18:49,600 --> 01:18:51,960 would be her final year. And then all of a sudden, she's 1323 01:18:52,080 --> 01:18:55,160 having one of her best years in recent memory. 1324 01:18:56,400 --> 01:18:59,880 So much so that, like, even at the World Championships, had it 1325 01:18:59,880 --> 01:19:03,520 not been for, like, an injury that popped up late, probably 1326 01:19:03,520 --> 01:19:05,960 would have been a contender for a medal. 1327 01:19:06,040 --> 01:19:10,600 And she did hint at maybe walking back the decision. 1328 01:19:10,720 --> 01:19:13,760 And when I checked back in, I think toward the end, it was 1329 01:19:13,760 --> 01:19:17,080 right after Femka Bowl's decision to run the 800 in 2026. 1330 01:19:17,080 --> 01:19:19,360 She's still I think was undecided. 1331 01:19:19,360 --> 01:19:22,360 So might be worth checking back in and and seeing if we can get 1332 01:19:22,360 --> 01:19:26,080 an update. I I do see videos of her at the 1333 01:19:26,080 --> 01:19:30,920 track in Arkansas. So like, is she going to be 1334 01:19:30,920 --> 01:19:35,840 running indoors or, or at least give it one more year? 1335 01:19:35,960 --> 01:19:40,840 We shall see because the World Ultimate Championships is wide 1336 01:19:40,840 --> 01:19:45,320 open if Sydney doesn't go back to the 400 hurdles and Femcabola 1337 01:19:45,320 --> 01:19:47,520 has already said that she's not going to be running the 400 1338 01:19:47,520 --> 01:19:50,600 hurdles this year. There's good Delilah could go 1339 01:19:50,600 --> 01:19:56,800 out on top with a World Ultimate gold medal and a really nice 1340 01:19:56,800 --> 01:19:59,680 payday, so could be worth rethinking. 1341 01:20:01,760 --> 01:20:04,000 So yeah, I think that's that's the top pick. 1342 01:20:04,120 --> 01:20:06,280 Oh, but then of course, Donovan Brasher, right? 1343 01:20:06,280 --> 01:20:09,120 Like, and we, we, we already kind of mentioned his comeback, 1344 01:20:09,560 --> 01:20:12,280 but it's not even late, late career for him. 1345 01:20:12,280 --> 01:20:15,600 He's still so young. Absolutely, absolutely. 1346 01:20:15,600 --> 01:20:18,000 And if we're going to give the feel about some love, Sean 1347 01:20:18,000 --> 01:20:22,160 Walcott, that's a good one. 2012 Olympic champion comes back and 1348 01:20:22,160 --> 01:20:27,160 wins the 2025 gold medal and he hasn't won a gold medal in 1349 01:20:27,160 --> 01:20:28,440 between. I don't know if he's even won 1350 01:20:28,440 --> 01:20:32,400 any other, well, haven't won any other global medals in between, 1351 01:20:33,800 --> 01:20:36,920 you know, in that intervening 13 years, which is which is crazy, 1352 01:20:37,000 --> 01:20:39,600 right? So amazing kind of look, I mean, 1353 01:20:39,600 --> 01:20:44,960 he won the gold medal at 19 in 2012 and he's now what, 13 years 1354 01:20:44,960 --> 01:20:46,200 on? So he's 32. 1355 01:20:46,720 --> 01:20:48,720 Yeah, that's the one where it's sort of like if you wrote the 1356 01:20:48,720 --> 01:20:54,080 headline as 2012 Olympic medallist medals again at the. 1357 01:20:54,640 --> 01:20:57,840 2025 World Championships, Like, you would think that this was 1358 01:20:58,080 --> 01:21:02,920 someone much older, but he's still, Yeah, in his early 30s. 1359 01:21:04,800 --> 01:21:07,760 I see that you listed Jimmy Gressier as late career 1360 01:21:07,760 --> 01:21:09,400 resurgence. The dudes 28. 1361 01:21:11,800 --> 01:21:14,560 Yeah. I mean, I think, well, I think 1362 01:21:14,560 --> 01:21:17,560 it's more saying like he's someone who's been around for a 1363 01:21:17,560 --> 01:21:20,840 while, but it's kind of he's been around for years and years 1364 01:21:20,840 --> 01:21:24,880 and years, right? And he's never kind of been all 1365 01:21:24,880 --> 01:21:26,840 that close to meddling on the global stage. 1366 01:21:27,320 --> 01:21:30,960 And this year he comes out and he walks away with two global 1367 01:21:30,960 --> 01:21:33,400 medals so. Yeah, but he's done so much I 1368 01:21:33,400 --> 01:21:36,240 guess like in the Europe on the European stage over the last 1369 01:21:36,240 --> 01:21:38,400 couple years. So it's like he's not, he's 1370 01:21:38,400 --> 01:21:41,640 researching on the global stage, but he hasn't he's been around. 1371 01:21:42,000 --> 01:21:45,640 I guess like this is a this is a way to give him a nod like in in 1372 01:21:45,640 --> 01:21:50,920 our 2025 year awards, Like because he did have a really 1373 01:21:50,920 --> 01:21:55,280 good showing at in Tokyo. He deserves a mention at some 1374 01:21:55,280 --> 01:22:00,480 point in this 2 hour podcast. So yeah, I guess I could throw 1375 01:22:00,480 --> 01:22:02,200 him in here. Anyone else? 1376 01:22:02,520 --> 01:22:06,760 Well, Jake Whiteman, obviously, I think we mentioned and then 1377 01:22:07,360 --> 01:22:10,520 you know, the last person I was going to mention, you know, 1378 01:22:11,280 --> 01:22:14,640 whether you're happy about it or not, Shelby Houlihan, coming 1379 01:22:14,640 --> 01:22:20,480 back from her four year doping suspension, has had a career 1380 01:22:20,480 --> 01:22:23,080 year. She's won a wild indoor medal 1381 01:22:23,720 --> 01:22:30,160 and then come silver in the 3K and then she's come forth in the 1382 01:22:30,160 --> 01:22:33,800 five pair of Worlds, you know, and so it's a hugely impressive 1383 01:22:33,960 --> 01:22:36,240 comeback from from four years out of the sport. 1384 01:22:36,240 --> 01:22:38,880 Yeah. And it's, I'd be curious to 1385 01:22:39,760 --> 01:22:43,920 know, I guess what she's thinking for 2026 and making use 1386 01:22:43,920 --> 01:22:49,920 out of this off year where there is like, if she does still 1387 01:22:49,920 --> 01:22:54,520 believe that the 10K where she, you know, was always just sort 1388 01:22:54,520 --> 01:22:58,520 of like pointing towards having this crazy aerobic engine. 1389 01:22:59,520 --> 01:23:03,760 If she takes a stab at that at the 10 or something like that in 1390 01:23:03,760 --> 01:23:07,240 a couple months in March to see what, you know, how she fares 1391 01:23:07,400 --> 01:23:11,720 and then makes a decision as to where she'll lean for 2027 and 1392 01:23:11,720 --> 01:23:16,000 2028. Yeah, I'd be like, there's some 1393 01:23:16,000 --> 01:23:19,640 intrigue around, like what does Shelby choose to do with the off 1394 01:23:19,640 --> 01:23:23,480 year a bit? Or she could try and crack the 1395 01:23:23,960 --> 01:23:27,800 Ethiopian and Kenyan contingent that is going to make up the 1396 01:23:27,800 --> 01:23:31,200 World Ultimate Championships 5K field. 1397 01:23:31,200 --> 01:23:33,960 But that's a that's that's a tall order, too. 1398 01:23:33,960 --> 01:23:35,760 You're going to have to run really, really fast. 1399 01:23:38,480 --> 01:23:40,400 Actually, there's one last one I wanted to mention. 1400 01:23:40,400 --> 01:23:44,800 Renault La Villainy 2016 Olympic champion in the pole. 1401 01:23:44,800 --> 01:23:47,600 Yeah, What did he finish it? Came back this year, I don't 1402 01:23:47,600 --> 01:23:50,760 know what I, I, I, he didn't have a great world, but he 1403 01:23:50,760 --> 01:23:56,360 jumped 5.91 meters, which is kind of the furthest he has 1404 01:23:56,360 --> 01:24:04,240 jumped since 2021 when he jumped over 6 meters last time. 1405 01:24:04,240 --> 01:24:09,200 So he, he kind of really kind of upped his game and he had a lot 1406 01:24:09,280 --> 01:24:13,520 of, you know, he's 39 years old. It's just, yeah. 1407 01:24:14,360 --> 01:24:19,920 So let's see. At worlds, he he was eighth in 1408 01:24:19,920 --> 01:24:25,320 the final with 5.75 meters. But still, you know, he, he was 1409 01:24:25,320 --> 01:24:29,520 really, you know, he's jumping consistently over 55580 this 1410 01:24:29,520 --> 01:24:31,840 year, which obviously he hasn't done in years. 1411 01:24:31,840 --> 01:24:35,240 And, you know, that's hugely impressive at his age. 1412 01:24:35,840 --> 01:24:37,720 So that was really great to see see him back. 1413 01:24:37,720 --> 01:24:40,880 And it was a real shame he didn't make it to to that his 1414 01:24:40,880 --> 01:24:44,000 home Olympics because if he had this kind of year last year, 1415 01:24:44,000 --> 01:24:46,400 that would have been that would be a fairy tale storyline. 1416 01:24:46,440 --> 01:24:49,960 But yeah, he's he's a fan favorite as well and and so on. 1417 01:24:49,960 --> 01:24:51,560 He's great to to see succeed again. 1418 01:24:52,920 --> 01:24:55,480 All right, next one's a dark one. 1419 01:24:55,840 --> 01:25:03,240 Doping bust of the year. For this one, again, it's top of 1420 01:25:03,240 --> 01:25:07,000 mind because I spent some time writing about it in the last 1421 01:25:07,000 --> 01:25:08,760 couple weeks, Ruth Chepingaddich. 1422 01:25:10,360 --> 01:25:15,680 And this is one that just like makes bigger headlines and sends 1423 01:25:15,680 --> 01:25:21,880 shock waves globally and, and into the greater sports and news 1424 01:25:23,720 --> 01:25:27,840 media ecosystem because the marathon just holds so much 1425 01:25:28,640 --> 01:25:33,320 prestige. Like, more people know about 1426 01:25:33,320 --> 01:25:38,360 this one than they do Marvin Bracey or Fred Curley. 1427 01:25:39,520 --> 01:25:45,120 And it's because, one, the world record was crazy and then 1428 01:25:45,120 --> 01:25:48,560 everyone had their doubts and their suspicions. 1429 01:25:49,200 --> 01:25:56,680 And then although this wasn't a bust for EPO or something like 1430 01:25:56,680 --> 01:26:01,760 Stanzinole or whatever it was, it was a masking agent that got 1431 01:26:01,760 --> 01:26:05,520 her done. And we still have questions over 1432 01:26:05,520 --> 01:26:08,360 like, what was it masking? Then the AIU releases the 1433 01:26:08,360 --> 01:26:11,280 findings of its investigation and you're left with further 1434 01:26:11,280 --> 01:26:15,520 questions and honestly, discomfort around the fact that, 1435 01:26:15,760 --> 01:26:19,680 you know, illegal substances were being discussed months 1436 01:26:19,680 --> 01:26:25,400 before she broke the world record, and yet that world 1437 01:26:25,400 --> 01:26:29,760 record stands. So the Ruth Chapin Getich 1 is 1438 01:26:30,120 --> 01:26:34,120 one that I think is lingering over 2026 as well. 1439 01:26:34,120 --> 01:26:37,800 Because when the AIU comes out with their report and says, you 1440 01:26:37,800 --> 01:26:42,960 know, we were able to gather more information from copying 1441 01:26:42,960 --> 01:26:47,520 her phone and we're going to release more later on. 1442 01:26:47,520 --> 01:26:51,520 Like you're just now waiting and waiting to see like what it what 1443 01:26:51,520 --> 01:26:57,240 else was discovered and is it going to have any ramifications 1444 01:26:57,240 --> 01:27:03,760 on the world record or is that going to just sit atop the all 1445 01:27:03,760 --> 01:27:07,800 time list for some for, you know, years to come? 1446 01:27:09,000 --> 01:27:15,240 So that one's the one that I think is yes, it it. 1447 01:27:15,280 --> 01:27:20,920 I mean, there were doubts at the end of 2024 and then people felt 1448 01:27:20,920 --> 01:27:24,520 validated once there was a positive test, but it wasn't 1449 01:27:24,520 --> 01:27:27,840 for, you know, a big substance like EPO. 1450 01:27:28,560 --> 01:27:30,840 So yeah, I think it's rich, hip and yadic. 1451 01:27:31,640 --> 01:27:33,800 Yeah. I mean, obviously in terms of 1452 01:27:33,800 --> 01:27:37,680 that global significance, I think yes, Ruth Chapgetic has to 1453 01:27:37,680 --> 01:27:39,280 be it. She was a world record holder 1454 01:27:39,720 --> 01:27:44,560 and this came so relatively soon after, even though she she was 1455 01:27:44,560 --> 01:27:47,280 obviously caught for for that masking agent instead of an 1456 01:27:47,280 --> 01:27:49,640 actual kind of performance enhancing drug. 1457 01:27:50,720 --> 01:27:54,720 You know, it, it really is, you know, a really big storyline. 1458 01:27:55,000 --> 01:27:56,920 But I think, you know, if you look at it in a slightly 1459 01:27:56,920 --> 01:27:59,400 different way, maybe, you know, we said doping bust of the year, 1460 01:27:59,720 --> 01:28:03,760 but downfall of the year. Surely from the heights of, you 1461 01:28:03,760 --> 01:28:08,440 know, where Fred Curley had been that his his comeback in 2024, 1462 01:28:08,880 --> 01:28:13,600 you know, after being the world champion 2022, you know, not 1463 01:28:13,600 --> 01:28:18,600 making the final in 2023 and having all that very public 1464 01:28:18,600 --> 01:28:24,160 drama of leaving his sponsor ASICS in in June 2024 and kind 1465 01:28:24,160 --> 01:28:27,600 of coming back and winning the bronze medal at the Olympics. 1466 01:28:27,960 --> 01:28:31,600 And we thought, look, Fred's back and we were kind of 1467 01:28:31,600 --> 01:28:33,640 expecting him to kind of continue on the directory in 1468 01:28:33,640 --> 01:28:37,320 2026, in 2025. And obviously at the very start 1469 01:28:37,320 --> 01:28:40,480 of 2025, he gets arrested. Oh yeah, I mean it. 1470 01:28:40,480 --> 01:28:44,960 Was for the first time it was and then yeah, he gets arrested 1471 01:28:45,120 --> 01:28:51,240 a second time at the Grand Slam meet and he then tests well, he 1472 01:28:51,240 --> 01:28:55,280 then ends up with three whereabouts failures and gets 1473 01:28:55,280 --> 01:28:59,480 suspended and then goes off and joins the hearts games. 1474 01:29:00,800 --> 01:29:04,840 So it's it's been quite a roller coaster year for Fred Curley. 1475 01:29:06,240 --> 01:29:10,680 And yeah, from someone who was an Olympic bronze medallist and 1476 01:29:10,680 --> 01:29:14,960 you know, one of one of, you know, career high in in 2024 to 1477 01:29:14,960 --> 01:29:17,280 to kind of but yeah, it. It's all kind of it was a 1478 01:29:17,280 --> 01:29:18,960 career. Low in 2025. 1479 01:29:19,000 --> 01:29:21,280 Yeah. I mean, all things considered, 1480 01:29:21,280 --> 01:29:25,560 it was a terrible year for Fred Curley with the rest the I mean, 1481 01:29:25,920 --> 01:29:28,440 in the one, one or two competitions that he did, he 1482 01:29:28,440 --> 01:29:31,720 underperformed even though it was early season. 1483 01:29:31,720 --> 01:29:35,800 And then, you know, Bale gets withdraws from the US 1484 01:29:35,800 --> 01:29:38,440 Championships. We later get the whereabouts 1485 01:29:38,440 --> 01:29:40,840 failure, Yeah. And then the enhanced games to 1486 01:29:40,840 --> 01:29:45,240 top it all off. Now what'll be interesting and I 1487 01:29:45,240 --> 01:29:47,760 guess like this could be discussed a little bit more in 1488 01:29:47,760 --> 01:29:51,360 the bold predictions episode that will come is the enhanced 1489 01:29:51,360 --> 01:29:56,360 games will enter this this year in 2026. 1490 01:29:56,360 --> 01:30:00,360 It's still it's planned for May and it's going to be I guess 1491 01:30:00,360 --> 01:30:04,680 like talked about I think a bit more later on in the spring. 1492 01:30:05,400 --> 01:30:08,520 I'll save sort of some some of my thoughts for the bold 1493 01:30:08,520 --> 01:30:12,120 predictions episode. But the one interesting thing is 1494 01:30:12,120 --> 01:30:16,000 that when Fred got suspended, it was for whereabouts. 1495 01:30:16,080 --> 01:30:17,600 And then he joins the enhanced games. 1496 01:30:17,600 --> 01:30:20,960 He's never actually tested positive for like a a, a banned 1497 01:30:20,960 --> 01:30:25,640 substance and and has yet to it seems like USADA continues to to 1498 01:30:25,640 --> 01:30:29,960 test him. So World Athletics has not come 1499 01:30:29,960 --> 01:30:35,520 down as hard on participants of the enhanced games and the 1500 01:30:35,520 --> 01:30:37,200 athletes who have signed up as some other. 1501 01:30:38,600 --> 01:30:41,480 It's sports where I think it might be swimming, where it's 1502 01:30:41,480 --> 01:30:43,680 like if you sign up for the enhanced games, like you're 1503 01:30:43,680 --> 01:30:47,080 suspended and you're you're banned entirely. 1504 01:30:48,920 --> 01:30:53,160 It seems like World Athletics is off operating more under the 1505 01:30:54,160 --> 01:31:00,000 until you test positive for something then like or you have 1506 01:31:00,000 --> 01:31:04,680 whereabouts failures in the lead up to the enhanced games and 1507 01:31:04,680 --> 01:31:07,560 like they they won't suspend you just quite yet. 1508 01:31:07,560 --> 01:31:12,720 So as of right now, Fred hasn't tested positive for anything. 1509 01:31:12,720 --> 01:31:17,160 Now the other case of I think we we briefly mentioned was Marvin 1510 01:31:17,160 --> 01:31:19,400 Bracey. Now, he did test positive and 1511 01:31:19,400 --> 01:31:21,160 then it was like this whole thing. 1512 01:31:21,760 --> 01:31:25,400 Similarly to Ruth Chepingettich, it seems like there's a lot of 1513 01:31:25,400 --> 01:31:28,600 Intel and information that was gathered throughout that process 1514 01:31:28,600 --> 01:31:31,240 and there may be more to come from it. 1515 01:31:31,240 --> 01:31:34,440 So this one may also linger into 2026. 1516 01:31:35,360 --> 01:31:37,280 My thought with this doping category is you should have come 1517 01:31:37,280 --> 01:31:41,920 up with the dumbest doping excuse of the year because we 1518 01:31:41,920 --> 01:31:44,480 always get some of those. And I think for me, it's the, 1519 01:31:45,600 --> 01:31:50,760 the guy who from Kenya who said that it would, it came as a 1520 01:31:50,760 --> 01:31:55,640 result of an injection from that he got from a bus driver or 1521 01:31:55,640 --> 01:31:57,760 like, or just that he came clean about it. 1522 01:31:57,760 --> 01:32:00,760 At least that he's like, he procured EPO from a bus driver 1523 01:32:00,760 --> 01:32:02,960 and injected himself, but didn't know that it was illegal. 1524 01:32:02,960 --> 01:32:08,960 And it's like, in what world are you a, a, a professional Rd. 1525 01:32:08,960 --> 01:32:12,640 racer, marathoner, half marathoner with success and 1526 01:32:12,640 --> 01:32:16,880 don't know that EPO is illegal in 2025? 1527 01:32:16,880 --> 01:32:19,680 Like, so I thought that that was maybe like the dumbest doping 1528 01:32:19,680 --> 01:32:25,120 story of of 2020, maybe Mocheteer falsifying boarding 1529 01:32:25,120 --> 01:32:27,760 passes and all this stuff. That was, yeah. 1530 01:32:28,760 --> 01:32:31,080 Well, Ruth chapping Getich was quite impressive with her 1531 01:32:31,080 --> 01:32:35,920 blaming it on medication she got from her maid was and that was 1532 01:32:35,920 --> 01:32:38,480 what resulted in her her band getting extended. 1533 01:32:39,360 --> 01:32:42,400 So that was pretty, yeah. I haven't seen the movie The 1534 01:32:42,400 --> 01:32:45,840 House Maid, but I read the book and and I I was thinking it was 1535 01:32:45,840 --> 01:32:49,040 like, oh, the house maid could also be the title of a Ruth 1536 01:32:49,040 --> 01:32:55,120 chapping Getich like tell all book that would come out all 1537 01:32:55,120 --> 01:32:57,560 right, next one. And is this the last one? 1538 01:32:57,560 --> 01:32:59,960 I think retirement of the year. Yeah. 1539 01:33:00,800 --> 01:33:01,800 So who? Who? 1540 01:33:02,840 --> 01:33:08,480 I mean, there's actually, there's two huge ones and it was 1541 01:33:08,600 --> 01:33:14,960 Shelly Ann Fraser Price, who I think she gets retirement of the 1542 01:33:14,960 --> 01:33:18,000 year over Elliott Kipchogi because she made the world 1543 01:33:18,000 --> 01:33:23,440 championship final and like had a good showing, all things 1544 01:33:23,440 --> 01:33:29,080 considered in Tokyo. And then also the poetic 1545 01:33:29,080 --> 01:33:32,440 beautiful hand off to the next generation in the relay, right? 1546 01:33:32,440 --> 01:33:36,040 Like, what a way to go out, Kipchogi. 1547 01:33:36,040 --> 01:33:40,280 It was a bad New York performance. 1548 01:33:41,880 --> 01:33:44,520 He once again got exposed on a hilly course. 1549 01:33:45,240 --> 01:33:49,920 And it's sort of with, with Kipchogi, yes. 1550 01:33:50,040 --> 01:33:55,440 Then he tries to salvage it with the announcing the seven 1551 01:33:55,440 --> 01:33:58,560 marathons and seven continents over the next two years. 1552 01:34:01,120 --> 01:34:05,040 I I, yeah, I give the nod to Shelly Ann Fraser Price for 1553 01:34:05,040 --> 01:34:10,520 having the more beautifully crafted bow out from the sport. 1554 01:34:11,200 --> 01:34:13,040 Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think, yeah. 1555 01:34:13,040 --> 01:34:16,440 Shirley Ann Fraser Price, you know, I mean, and Eddie 1556 01:34:16,440 --> 01:34:18,640 Khashoggi, obviously both giants of the sport. 1557 01:34:19,600 --> 01:34:21,320 But Elliott Khashoggi's retirement, it's just been 1558 01:34:21,320 --> 01:34:24,520 coming for a while. We kind of the, the trajectory 1559 01:34:24,520 --> 01:34:29,200 of the last couple of years has not been, you know, he wasn't 1560 01:34:29,200 --> 01:34:32,280 kind of going out on, you know, he, as I say, he wasn't, it 1561 01:34:32,280 --> 01:34:34,840 wasn't, he was running badly. He still came up at 6th in 1562 01:34:34,840 --> 01:34:38,480 London earlier this year. But given the levels and the 1563 01:34:38,480 --> 01:34:42,840 heights which he had reached previously, it, it was tough to 1564 01:34:42,840 --> 01:34:46,160 kind of, it was, it was not unexpected that he would retire 1565 01:34:46,160 --> 01:34:49,400 from kind of, you know, elite level competition. 1566 01:34:50,760 --> 01:34:54,480 And he's obviously not retiring from his role, which it kind of 1567 01:34:54,480 --> 01:34:56,560 seemed like he was moving towards over the last couple of 1568 01:34:56,560 --> 01:34:58,880 years as a ambassador for the sport. 1569 01:35:00,040 --> 01:35:03,600 So I, you know, I think he will still be there in our social 1570 01:35:03,600 --> 01:35:08,160 media feeds on our TV screens as that ambassador. 1571 01:35:08,160 --> 01:35:10,640 I'm sure we'll see him at a number of the the world majors 1572 01:35:11,080 --> 01:35:14,360 as well in a more honorary role, I imagine, or maybe even just 1573 01:35:14,360 --> 01:35:16,760 running them in the, in the mass field or something. 1574 01:35:17,360 --> 01:35:18,920 I wouldn't be surprised. That would be that would be 1575 01:35:18,920 --> 01:35:21,760 quite fun. But Shane Ann Fraser Price, as 1576 01:35:21,760 --> 01:35:25,520 you say, you know, scripted that fairy tale ending with a silver 1577 01:35:25,520 --> 01:35:29,480 medal mirroring the silver medal with which she began her career 1578 01:35:29,640 --> 01:35:32,640 in Osaka, also in Japan back in 2007. 1579 01:35:32,960 --> 01:35:35,520 So, you know, that was, that was a beautiful retirement. 1580 01:35:36,120 --> 01:35:38,880 I mean, but I, I want to give out an award for most 1581 01:35:38,880 --> 01:35:42,760 entertaining retirement as well. And that would be Charles 1582 01:35:42,840 --> 01:35:48,120 Filibert Thibodeau, who ran in the 1500 years at Worlds, then 1583 01:35:48,120 --> 01:35:53,160 decided to run 1 elite marathon in New York prior to retiring. 1584 01:35:54,440 --> 01:35:59,400 So that was the most random and bizarre retirement That was 1585 01:35:59,400 --> 01:36:00,720 quite entertaining. That's a good one. 1586 01:36:00,720 --> 01:36:02,400 Yeah. A couple of the retirements we 1587 01:36:02,400 --> 01:36:05,120 had, we had Clayton Murphy, the Olympic bronze medalist in the 1588 01:36:05,120 --> 01:36:10,640 800 from 2016, Evan Jaeger, 2016 Olympic silver medalist in the 1589 01:36:10,640 --> 01:36:13,680 3K steeple, Scott Faubel, friend of the pod. 1590 01:36:14,080 --> 01:36:17,640 We had exit interviews with all three of those guys on this 1591 01:36:17,640 --> 01:36:23,200 podcast. But yeah, I think I wonder what 1592 01:36:23,200 --> 01:36:26,480 are the retirements we might get in 2026. 1593 01:36:26,480 --> 01:36:29,120 No one's announced, I guess like a pre emptive like this is my 1594 01:36:29,120 --> 01:36:31,840 final year. So actually we we also don't 1595 01:36:31,840 --> 01:36:34,560 know if we throw the little Mohammed into to this category. 1596 01:36:34,560 --> 01:36:36,680 Just quite, yeah. That was a mystery. 1597 01:36:36,800 --> 01:36:39,480 Mystery retirement of the year. Yeah. 1598 01:36:40,680 --> 01:36:42,800 Well, well. Famkeable retired from the 400 1599 01:36:42,800 --> 01:36:43,800 hurdles. You. 1600 01:36:43,800 --> 01:36:45,680 Could, yeah, you could. You could say that. 1601 01:36:45,880 --> 01:36:49,440 One too. Arguably, yeah, but and Sydney 1602 01:36:49,440 --> 01:36:50,840 may have done, but we don't really know. 1603 01:36:51,920 --> 01:36:55,600 So from the 400 hurdles or just using in general and, and really 1604 01:36:55,600 --> 01:36:58,240 would be just your bet, maybe retired 'cause it seems like 1605 01:36:58,240 --> 01:37:03,920 it's not gonna run till 2027. All right, I think that does it 1606 01:37:03,920 --> 01:37:09,520 for our awards. We'll send actual physical 1607 01:37:09,520 --> 01:37:14,400 trophies to all these people in the mail over the next couple 1608 01:37:14,400 --> 01:37:18,400 weeks. And yeah, next episode we will 1609 01:37:18,400 --> 01:37:21,120 do our bold predictions for 2026. 1610 01:37:21,160 --> 01:37:27,480 Maybe we can have someone go and we'll see if Jasmine has time to 1611 01:37:28,000 --> 01:37:32,880 clip up some of our predictions from 2025 and see how we did. 1612 01:37:33,880 --> 01:37:37,240 Although I I can actually, let's end with acknowledging maybe 1613 01:37:38,120 --> 01:37:45,800 what was your most freezing cold take on that you shared on this 1614 01:37:45,800 --> 01:37:50,840 podcast in 2025? Because I think for me, I'll 1615 01:37:50,840 --> 01:37:53,640 hand up. I think I talked way too much 1616 01:37:53,640 --> 01:37:56,600 about Beatrice Chibet's potentially Beatrice Chibet 1617 01:37:56,640 --> 01:38:00,080 potentially breaking the 1500 world record in her first try at 1618 01:38:00,080 --> 01:38:02,120 the distance. And then I also I think maybe 1619 01:38:02,120 --> 01:38:07,520 got too carried away with 100m world record talk after Oblique 1620 01:38:07,520 --> 01:38:12,080 Seville's win at the World Championships. 1621 01:38:12,080 --> 01:38:16,480 So hand up, I think I got too carried away with world records 1622 01:38:16,480 --> 01:38:23,320 that I don't think will fall to either of those people quite 1623 01:38:23,320 --> 01:38:25,600 yet. I mean, I, I, I predict, I 1624 01:38:25,600 --> 01:38:29,080 predicted the 400 metre had 400 metre men's world record would 1625 01:38:29,080 --> 01:38:31,440 go down. That was pretty freezing cold 1626 01:38:31,440 --> 01:38:33,960 because both of the guys who I thought could get close in 1627 01:38:33,960 --> 01:38:37,160 Quincy Hall and Matt Hudson Smith both got injured this 1628 01:38:37,160 --> 01:38:39,960 year. So that Kevin is miserably. 1629 01:38:39,960 --> 01:38:41,600 How did we meet? We made this whole podcast as a 1630 01:38:41,600 --> 01:38:43,120 breakout. Started you Kevin and Chippy. 1631 01:38:43,480 --> 01:38:45,160 Yes, that is true. Yeah, sorry. 1632 01:38:45,400 --> 01:38:48,400 I did think of him and then I I forgot to put him on the list 1633 01:38:48,400 --> 01:38:51,000 after I thought of him belatedly. 1634 01:38:51,080 --> 01:38:53,080 But. Celebration of the year, I mean, 1635 01:38:53,080 --> 01:38:57,840 you probably could throw in Botswana, celebrating the men's 1636 01:38:58,000 --> 01:39:03,680 4 by 4 gold medal in there. Heartbreak of the year is USA 1637 01:39:03,680 --> 01:39:07,000 running in the rain in that 4 by 4 finals. 1638 01:39:07,000 --> 01:39:09,360 So you could look at that race in two different ways. 1639 01:39:10,840 --> 01:39:13,040 Yeah. I mean, it was a great year of 1640 01:39:13,360 --> 01:39:19,320 track and field and I'm excited for so much more in 2026. 1641 01:39:19,320 --> 01:39:22,920 So we'll come at you guys with our bold predictions early next 1642 01:39:22,920 --> 01:39:24,960 week. We'll get back to more 1643 01:39:24,960 --> 01:39:29,080 interviews on the show. Thanks again to everyone who has 1644 01:39:29,720 --> 01:39:33,800 left us a review or rating on Apple Podcasts like those don't 1645 01:39:33,800 --> 01:39:37,240 go unnoticed. So thanks again to everyone who 1646 01:39:37,240 --> 01:39:40,680 listened in 2025. We will have so much more in the 1647 01:39:40,680 --> 01:39:44,320 year to come. I didn't, I guess, publicize 1648 01:39:44,320 --> 01:39:48,760 like our top ten list of most listened to guests, but maybe it 1649 01:39:48,760 --> 01:39:52,280 was #1 was was Donovan Brasier. I will, I guess, reveal that. 1650 01:39:53,280 --> 01:39:56,360 But yeah, maybe we'll we'll share that over the next week or 1651 01:39:56,360 --> 01:39:58,000 so. But we want to hear from you 1652 01:39:58,000 --> 01:39:59,240 guys. If you made it this far into the 1653 01:39:59,240 --> 01:40:02,400 podcast, like what we're as you listen through, drop some 1654 01:40:02,400 --> 01:40:06,600 comments on Spotify on any of these categories and we'll admit 1655 01:40:06,600 --> 01:40:08,880 where we maybe overlooked a couple things. 1656 01:40:08,920 --> 01:40:12,600 So thanks again for listening. We'll see you guys next week. 1657 01:40:15,080 --> 01:40:16,640 Right, that's a wrap on today's episode. 1658 01:40:16,920 --> 01:40:19,640 Thanks for listening, for the time, the curiosity, and for 1659 01:40:19,640 --> 01:40:22,360 making this show part of your routine or your run. 1660 01:40:22,880 --> 01:40:25,720 A big thanks to our producer Jasmine Fair and to everyone 1661 01:40:25,720 --> 01:40:28,720 behind the scenes who helps make the Sidious Mag podcast happen. 1662 01:40:29,240 --> 01:40:31,160 If you enjoyed today's episode, a quick five star review on 1663 01:40:31,160 --> 01:40:35,040 Apple Podcast or Spotify helps people find this show and we 1664 01:40:35,040 --> 01:40:36,920 read every single one. You can find 1665 01:40:36,920 --> 01:40:40,760 muchmoretrackandfieldcoverage@sidiousmag.com and you can follow along across 1666 01:40:40,760 --> 01:40:42,320 all of Sidiousmag's social channels. 1667 01:40:42,520 --> 01:40:44,640 We'll see you next time. Thanks again for listening.