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Moving up among some all-time high school greats…

@uctrack (NJ) junior @paige.e.sheppard just ran 4:28.76 for 1600m to lower her own New Jersey state record at the Holmdel Twilight Series.

Here’s where that ranks among Track and Field News’ high school girls combined 1500m/1600m/mile list:

4:23.50 – Jane Hedengren (2025)
4:24.19+ – Mary Cain (2013)
4:26.82+ – Alexa Efraimson (2014)
4:26.99+ – Kate Murphy (2016)
4:27.13 – Sadie Engelhardt (2025)
4:27.71+ – Addy Wiley (2022)
4:28.77 – Paige Sheppard (2026)
+=converted mark

Note: Sheppard ran her time in a race that mixed boys and girls in the same heat.

📸 @jakeweinbergphoto

Moving up among some all-time high school greats…

@uctrack (NJ) junior @paige.e.sheppard just ran 4:28.76 for 1600m to lower her own New Jersey state record at the Holmdel Twilight Series.

Here’s where that ranks among Track and Field News’ high school girls combined 1500m/1600m/mile list:

4:23.50 – Jane Hedengren (2025)
4:24.19+ – Mary Cain (2013)
4:26.82+ – Alexa Efraimson (2014)
4:26.99+ – Kate Murphy (2016)
4:27.13 – Sadie Engelhardt (2025)
4:27.71+ – Addy Wiley (2022)
4:28.77 – Paige Sheppard (2026)
+=converted mark

Note: Sheppard ran her time in a race that mixed boys and girls in the same heat.

📸 @jakeweinbergphoto

The Lap Count’s Guide To Bathroom Use For New Runners 💩

Read the full newsletter at The Lap Count Substack and subscribe to get it in your inbox every Wednesday morning.

The Lap Count’s Guide To Bathroom Use For New Runners 💩

Read the full newsletter at The Lap Count Substack and subscribe to get it in your inbox every Wednesday morning.

The Lap Count’s Guide To Bathroom Use For New Runners 💩

Read the full newsletter at The Lap Count Substack and subscribe to get it in your inbox every Wednesday morning.

The Lap Count’s Guide To Bathroom Use For New Runners 💩

Read the full newsletter at The Lap Count Substack and subscribe to get it in your inbox every Wednesday morning.

The Lap Count’s Guide To Bathroom Use For New Runners 💩

Read the full newsletter at The Lap Count Substack and subscribe to get it in your inbox every Wednesday morning.

The Lap Count’s Guide To Bathroom Use For New Runners 💩

Read the full newsletter at The Lap Count Substack and subscribe to get it in your inbox every Wednesday morning.

The Lap Count’s Guide To Bathroom Use For New Runners 💩

Read the full newsletter at The Lap Count Substack and subscribe to get it in your inbox every Wednesday morning.

The Lap Count’s Guide To Bathroom Use For New Runners 💩

Read the full newsletter at The Lap Count Substack and subscribe to get it in your inbox every Wednesday morning.

The Lap Count’s Guide To Bathroom Use For New Runners 💩

Read the full newsletter at The Lap Count Substack and subscribe to get it in your inbox every Wednesday morning.

The Lap Count’s Guide To Bathroom Use For New Runners 💩

Read the full newsletter at The Lap Count Substack and subscribe to get it in your inbox every Wednesday morning.

The Lap Count’s Guide To Bathroom Use For New Runners 💩

Read the full newsletter at The Lap Count Substack and subscribe to get it in your inbox every Wednesday morning.

The Lap Count’s Guide To Bathroom Use For New Runners 💩

Read the full newsletter at The Lap Count Substack and subscribe to get it in your inbox every Wednesday morning.

The Lap Count’s Guide To Bathroom Use For New Runners 💩

Read the full newsletter at The Lap Count Substack and subscribe to get it in your inbox every Wednesday morning.

The Lap Count’s Guide To Bathroom Use For New Runners 💩

Read the full newsletter at The Lap Count Substack and subscribe to get it in your inbox every Wednesday morning.

The 54th edition of the world’s original women-only road race returns to Central Park on Saturday, June 6 with the 2026 Mastercard New York Mini 10K.

👑 @hellenobiri is the defending champion across the Mini 10K, NYC Half, and NYC Marathon for a NYRR triple crown. She’ll square off against Agnes Ngetich, the world 10K record holder (28:46) and first woman under 29 minutes, who makes her Mini debut fresh off winning the 2026 World Cross Country Championships.

🥊 If you missed the Obiri vs. @shazrine in Boston, this race will fill that void. Lokedi is back in action now as a two-time Boston Marathon champion and looking to improve upon her runner-up finish at the Mini 10K last year.

🇸🇮 @klara_lukan makes her NYRR debut after becoming the first European woman to break 30 minutes in the 10K.

The American contingent is comprised of:
– @weini_kelati, who has run the fastest-ever 10K by an American woman and is coming off breaking her own American half marathon record (1:06:04) in Barcelona.
– @jesstonn — top American at the 2026 Boston Marathon, who just broke the American women’s course record
– @emmagracehurley — American 8K record holder and two-time national champion
– Other notables include: @anniefrisb3, @dakotahlindwurm, @ednah_kurgat, and @a_vestri.

📺 You’ll be able to watch it all on ESPN+, WABC-TV and NYRR’s YouTube channel.

The 54th edition of the world’s original women-only road race returns to Central Park on Saturday, June 6 with the 2026 Mastercard New York Mini 10K.

👑 @hellenobiri is the defending champion across the Mini 10K, NYC Half, and NYC Marathon for a NYRR triple crown. She’ll square off against Agnes Ngetich, the world 10K record holder (28:46) and first woman under 29 minutes, who makes her Mini debut fresh off winning the 2026 World Cross Country Championships.

🥊 If you missed the Obiri vs. @shazrine in Boston, this race will fill that void. Lokedi is back in action now as a two-time Boston Marathon champion and looking to improve upon her runner-up finish at the Mini 10K last year.

🇸🇮 @klara_lukan makes her NYRR debut after becoming the first European woman to break 30 minutes in the 10K.

The American contingent is comprised of:
– @weini_kelati, who has run the fastest-ever 10K by an American woman and is coming off breaking her own American half marathon record (1:06:04) in Barcelona.
– @jesstonn — top American at the 2026 Boston Marathon, who just broke the American women’s course record
– @emmagracehurley — American 8K record holder and two-time national champion
– Other notables include: @anniefrisb3, @dakotahlindwurm, @ednah_kurgat, and @a_vestri.

📺 You’ll be able to watch it all on ESPN+, WABC-TV and NYRR’s YouTube channel.

🗣️ “This becomes an issue for those surprise athletes who make the top three and it’s a fairytale story and we sort of lose a little bit of that possibility.” — @preet_athletics

Your resident World Rankings nerds jumped on the mics after yesterday’s 2027 World Championship qualifying process announcement by World Athletics. We unpacked the changes, the pathways to qualify and what it all means.

🎧 For those of you confused, you can now stream, download or listen to the full breakdown on The CITIUS MAG Podcast. Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your shows.

🎥 You can also watch it on The CITIUS MAG YouTube channel.

World Athletics’ qualification process for the 2027 World Championships in Beijing has effectively put an end to professional runners flocking to Boston University’s famously-fast indoor track to knock out qualifying standards.

Per the new process: “Indoor Track performances for races of 200m and longer, will not be accepted for Entry Standards. But will be
accepted for World Rankings.”

However, many meets at Boston University are not worth many World Rankings points. Athletes will have to seek out opportunities at higher tier outdoor meets throughout the spring and summer.

In 2025, 5000m world champion Cole Hocker and World championship bronze medalist Jimmy Gressier were among the many athletes that secured their marks at BU and then did not need to spend much of their outdoor season chasing the standard or focusing on their World Ranking.

Boston University will still be valuable for college athletes chasing NCAA qualifying standards or pros targeting the World Indoor Championships.

The 2027 qualifying window opens up on Aug. 23, 2026.

It just got a bit harder to qualify for the World Championships 😅

World Athletics has changed its goal for Beijing 2027 and is looking to land 40% of qualifiers via the qualifying standard and 60% via World Rankings. As a result, they have made the time standards much faster — except in the women’s 10,000m, where it was pushed back to 30:40.00.

Here’s a look at how the 2027 standards compare vs. the 2025 World Championship qualifying standards for Tokyo.

🚨 Within the announcement of the qualifying standards for the 2027 World Championships this morning, World Athletics laid down a new rule that could have significant ramifications for throwers:

“Discus Throw performances for Entry Standards must be achieved within the confines of a traditional athletics
facility unless otherwise approved at least one month in advance by World Athletics Competition Unit. But
will be accepted for World Rankings.”

In what seems to be a direct counter to the rise of @throw_town_ramona over the last three years, marks outside of a “traditional athletics facility” will no longer be eligible to attain qualifying standards.

The biggest questions this raises are:
1) What is a “traditional athletics facility”?
2) What does “within the confines” mean exactly? Does this mean that only sectors and rings on the infield of a 400m track are eligible to throw standards from?
3) What will it take to get “otherwise approved”?

This move also falls in line with World Athletics’ shift to a qualifying system more reliant on World Rankings than standards, with a target field that features 40% of athletes qualified by the standard and 60% qualified by Ranking.

If this truly does take Ramona marks out of contention for qualifying standards, it makes it impossible to have something like one of the best moments of the 2024 season, where @joethethrower hit a PB and the standard in Ramona, which is the only reason he was qualified for the Olympics after finishing third at U.S. Trials later that month.

If there’s any consolation, World Athletics is also negating standards run in distance races during the indoor season, which wipes out the distance runner’s Ramona at Boston University.

What do you all think about this?

📸 @audreyallen17

QUALIFYING STANDARDS FOR BEIJING 2027 ARE OUT! 🇨🇳

World Athletics has published the qualification framework for the 2027 World Championships in Beijing, continuing the hybrid model that combines entry standards with world rankings. Rankings now carry more weight than ever before.

The system is designed so roughly 40% of athletes qualify via entry standards and now 60% via world rankings, which is a deliberate shift toward rewarding consistent performance across a full season rather than a single peak result.

Four ways to qualify:
– Achieve the entry standard during the qualification window
– Finish in a designated position at select competitions
– Receive a wild card
– Qualify via world rankings position at the end of the ranking period

Qualification windows:
– Marathon: November 3, 2025 – May 2, 2027
– 10,000m, race walks, combined events, relays: February 23, 2026 – August 22, 2027
– All other disciplines: August 23, 2026 – August 22, 2027

Wild cards go to:
– Defending 2025 world champions
– Winners at the 2026 World Athletics Ultimate Championship
– Winners of the 2026 World Race Walking Tour and World Combined Events Tour
– Leading hammer performers on the 2026 Continental Tour
– Winners of the 2027 Wanda Diamond League

Marathon pathway: The top five finishers at Platinum Label marathons during the qualification window automatically qualify, as do winners of Gold Label marathons held in 2027 up to May 2.

The world rankings formula now places more weight on results scores and less on placing scores, which is seen as a deliberate move to level the playing field for athletes with limited access to high-ranking competitions.

USA Track & Field has announced its team for the 2026 World Athletics Road Running Championships, set for September 19-20 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Three American record holders headline the squad across the mile, 5K, and half marathon disciplines.

The women’s half marathon team has been confirmed after the lead vehicle went off course with just over a mile remaining, misdirecting several athletes at the USATF Half Marathon Championships. scoring will be limited to American record holder Weini Kelati and the three athletes who were misdirected –Jess McClain, Emma Grace Hurley, and Ednah Kurgat.

The top three finishers at the U.S. Championships — Molly Born, Carrie Ellwood, and Annie Rodenfels — will compete under a special World Athletics exception but are ineligible for medals or prize money, though performances count toward rankings points.

FULL ROSTER
🇺🇸 @weini_kelati (Women’s Half Marathon)
🇺🇸 @jesstonn (Women’s Half Marathon)
🇺🇸 @emmagracehurley (Women’s Half Marathon)
🇺🇸 @ednah_kurgat (Women’s Half Marathon)
🇺🇸 @born_molly (Women’s Half Marathon)
🇺🇸 @carrie.ellwoody (Women’s Half Marathon)
🇺🇸 @andrearodenfels (Women’s Half Marathon)
🇺🇸 @connermantz (Men’s Half Marathon)
🇺🇸 @wkiptoo1 (Men’s Half Marathon)
🇺🇸 @bor.hillary (Men’s Half Marathon)
🇺🇸 @ahmedmuhumed14 (Men’s Half Marathon)
🇺🇸 @karissaschweiz4 (Women’s 5K)
🇺🇸 @courtneyfrerichs (Women’s 5K)
🇺🇸 @drewhunter00 (Men’s 5K)
🇺🇸 @dylan_jacobs24 (Men’s 5K)
🇺🇸 @addywiley (Women’s Mile)
🇺🇸 @graciedhyde (Women’s Mile)
🇺🇸 @yaredthegoose (Men’s Mile)
🇺🇸 @vincentciattei (Men’s Mile)

📸 @kevmofoto + @audreyallen17

🗣️ “In 2022, when she ran fast, everyone had an opinion…now that the times have filled in these last few years since Eugene, suddenly that world record is legit.”

After Masai Russell’s blazing start to 2026, @kylemerber makes the case that it’s time to make amends with Tobi Amusan, whose 100m hurdles world record at the 2022 World Championships got buried under doubt and controversy instead of celebrated.

🎧 Full discussion on the CITIUS MAG Podcast’s latest “This Week In Track and Field” episode. Available to stream, download and listen to on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

The Enhanced Games somehow figured out how to make sprinters slower by doping them.

On the women’s side, the winner ran 11.25 and won $250,000 for a high school level time.

🎧 Full discussion on the CITIUS MAG Podcast’s latest “This Week In Track and Field” episode. Available to stream, download and listen to on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Learning from every race ✍️

Cooper Lutkenhaus runs 3:45.10 for 1500m at LA Track Fest, finishing 9th in his first race since winning the 800m World Indoor title in March. His heat was won by Team GB’s Ryan Martin in 3:37.97.

📸 @audreyallen17