Citius Mag Podcast

"I basically started my comeback then and said, let's try to get as much fitness as we can until October. I had this whole theory. You know how Norwegian threshold training is so ‘in’? I was like, this basically is threshold training because the only thing [the doctors] tell you is, ‘don't get your heart rate over 85%.’ So I was like, ‘I'm just the pregnant Jakob.’ I'm glad I kind of tempered it. I didn't actually do double threshold, but we did a lot of threshold work… My theme was like, ‘Well, I would never in my career otherwise have two years to do threshold training, so why not now?’" Kate Grace is in the midst of what most mid-30-somethings with a young child could only dream of – a late-career resurgence as a professional athlete. After a 2021 outdoor campaign that saw her go on a sub-two tear across the Diamond League circuit after just missing an Olympic team, Grace’s training and racing was derailed by a bout of injury and long Covid. She then became a mother, giving bi

Chris Chavez and Anderson Emerole chat it up on Memorial Day to bring you a recap of all the sprints + field events action that took place at the Prefontaine Classic. Among the highlights: – Sha'Carri Richardson took down a STACKED field at the Prefontaine Classic and puts any doubts about her early season form to rest with a decisive 10.83 victory in the women’s 100m. Richardson looked smooth while Olympic champ Elaine Thompson-Herah struggled, finishing 9th in 11.30. – Joe Kovacs puts the world on alert with the first 23-meter throw of the season, launching a 23.13m effort in the final round of the men's shot put competition to set a new world lead. – Grant Holloway keeps his incredible 2024 going with a world-leading 13.03 victory in the 110m hurdles. USA puts 3 in front of Olympic champ Hansle Parchment with Daniel Roberts (13.13) and Freddie Crittenden (13.16) rounding out the top spots. – Christian Coleman runs his best 100m of the season, holding off Ferdinand Omanyala 9.95 to 9.98 to clock his

It was a race for the ages. The Prefontaine Classic Bowerman Mile delivered on the hype with 9 men breaking 3:50 and reigning World champ Josh Kerr taking down reigning Olympic champ Jakob Ingebrigtsen 3:45.34 to 3:45.60. No amount of trash talk can trump results, and Kerr has not lost to Ingebrigtsen since June of last year. Chris Chavez, Mac Fleet and Karen Lesiewicz had to record a podcast about it immediately after. We also talk about: – Keely Hodgkinson shows the world why she’s the one to watch in the women’s 800m, clocking a world leading 1:55.78 and defeating reigning World champ Mary Moraa. – Diribe Welteji clocks her fourth sub-4 of the season with a 3:53.75 victory in the 1500m, leading 6 athletes under 4 and holding off a hard-charging Jessica Hull (3:55.97, Australian record). – Elle St. Pierre keeps her incredible 2024 season rolling with a big 3:56.00 personal best in the 1500m, good for 3rd place. St. Pierre moves up from #6 to #2 on the U.S. all-time list. More takeaways from the 1500m. SUPPO

LIVE from Eugene, Oregon! Chris Chavez and Karen Lesiewicz are on-stage at Hayward Field for the 2024 Prefontaine Classic. We'll be previewing some of the day's best races, chatting with some of the athletes and doing fun giveaways with fans. Our coverage kicks off with the Pre-Show on the CITIUS MAG YouTube channel at 9:30 am PT on Saturday and 10 am PT on Sunday! Read our full preview of the meet here: https://citiusmag.com/articles/prefon... The TV window for Prefontaine is 4pm-6pm E.T. on Saturday, May 25 across NBC, CNBC and Peacock. Special thanks to TrackTown USA and the Prefontaine Classic meet organizers.

Another jam-packed weekend of results unpacked by Chris Chavez and Anderson Emerole. This Week In Track and Field – Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Rai Benjamin Dominated At The LA Grand Prix – Noah Lyles ties the American record in the 150m at the Atlanta City Games + highlights – The Rabat Diamond League was a bit of a dud – Kenenisa Bekele Has Been Named To The Olympic Marathon Team For Ethiopia – What We’re Looking Forward To The Most At The Prefontaine Classic Host: Chris Chavez | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@chris_j_chavez on Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Host: Anderson Emerole | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@atkoeme on Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS

"That Olympic stamp on my running resume didn't really change anything. That's why 2022 was so hard for me. I had built up these expectations and I felt that I still had to prove to myself because it seemed like it wasn't enough. That pressure didn't bode well for me. I suffered injuries and sickness...At the end of the day, World Championships and Olympics are just another race. If you're racing just to make the team, you're not going to be happy because someone else could get that spot. That's when I changed my mindset. I don't know if you've seen the show Fallout but in the first episode the ghoul says, 'I do this shit for the love of the game.' That's kind of how I feel." Val Constien is a professional runner for Nike and was a member of the 2021 Olympic team in the steeplechase. We had her on the show in the spring of 2021 and it was a memorable episode because she announced herself to the U.S. as a contender to make the team and then backed it up

"I feel like I was underlooked a little bit on social media. Everyone was talking about Cam (Myers) and Olli (Hoare) and Stewy (McSweyn), but I think that kind of worked in my favor. There's no pressure – I had everything to gain and nothing to lose. So I was like, “Alright, let's go out here and have a crack at it.” I think it was kind of a blessing in disguise almost." Wisconsin's Adam Spencer is the Australian 1500m national champion. He was the runner-up in the mile at the NCAA Indoor Championships back in March. In Adelaide, he just narrowly beat out fellow Badger legend and Olympic finalist Olli Hoare. It was widely considered the best 1500m field in Australian history and it delivered with a tactical race that came down to the final 100 meters. Adam has the Olympic standard from his 3:31 personal best at last summer’s London Diamond League. Now, he’s just got to prove his fitness to selectors and he’ll be squared away to make his Olympic debut in Paris. He did represent Australia

Chris Chavez and Anderson Emerole dissect all of the biggest performances from the Doha Diamond League, Sound Running's Track Fest, SEC Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Jamaica Athletics Invitational + some other underrated performances. SEC Championships – Arkansas won the men’s team title for their 23rd in school history. On the women’s side, LSU won the women’s title over Arkansas for their first SEC title since 2012. We break down why this meet rocked. Jamaica Athletics Invitational The biggest performance was Zharnel Hughes beating Fred Kerley in the 200m. He ran a 19.96, which a good sign for this early in the season. Plus more highlights. Sound Running's Track Fest This was supposed to be a meet where people targeted Olympic standards, especially in the women’s 5000m and 10,000m but no one got any. What's this mean for U.S. women's distance runners? What's Up With Leonard Korir? We’ve summed up some of the latest developments after World Athletics’ updated Road To Paris qual

“It's through storytelling that I keep myself going… I've been blessed to be able to stick with it all these years. I had a partial knee replacement in the middle of COVID and we waited until I found a surgeon who told me that I'd run again… When you set your sights on something, it's hard to let go. I always try to finish what I start. I was on that six-star journey and I wanted to complete it.” Joan Benoit Samuelson is a legend in our sport. The first-ever Olympic women’s marathon champion, two-time Boston Marathon champion (1979 & 1983), 1985 Chicago Marathon champion and former American record holder is still running and inspiring at 66 years old. In March, she finally received her Abbott World Marathon Major six star medal after completing the Tokyo Marathon in 3:38:37. Before the pandemic, Benoit Samuelson was looking to extend her sub-three hour marathon streak across six decades. She ran 3:02:21 at the 2019 Berlin Marathon and then underwent a partial right knee replacement surgery

Chris Chavez chats with Anderson Emerole, who is still in the Bahamas after covering the 2024 World Relays. In this episode, they discuss: WORLD RELAYS TAKEAWAYS – 14 teams qualified for each of the five relay events at the Paris Olympics. We decide what we learned about the Olympic connection to World Relays and whether it's easy to understand. – Team USA's women swept the relay titles in the 4x100m and 4x400m to go along with the mixed relay title. – Ireland's Rhasidat Adeleke was maybe the meet's MVP with her 48.45 to lead Ireland to a bronze medal in the mixed 4x400m relay. – Who is the ideal U.S. men's 4x100m relay squad for the Paris Olympics? EMMA COBURN TO MISS 2024 U.S. OLYMPIC TRIALS DUE TO BROKEN FOOT Three-time U.S. Olympian, 2016 Olympic bronze medalist and 2017 world champion Emma Coburn has announced that she will miss next month’s U.S. Olympic Trials after breaking her right ankle in her season opener at the Shanghai Diamond League. Read more about it here: https://citius

"It's always good to get athlete feedback. You want athletes to feel confident when they step on the track so that they can execute the demands of where they're placed. So it’s two-way communication. An athlete tells me, I feel good at this leg, but the good thing about it is that their performance can speak for itself.  So, I'm an objective person when it comes to that. If they feel great about a certain leg, if they're executing it, it should correlate." Anderson Emerole reports from Nassau, Bahamas where he is covering the 2024 World Relays. Back in Thomas Robinson Stadium for the first time since 2017, this year's meet features a trimmed-down schedule focused on sprints action. The only races contested will be the 4x100m and 4x400m for men and women, as well as the mixed 4x400m. Despite the slim selection of events, there will still be plenty of stars out to play in the third of four global championship events this year. We had a chance to chat with Team USA's coaches Mec

"My name is “Sintayehu” which means “Someone who saw a lot”... With age, I'm more proud of the meaning of my name. It means what I’ve seen a lot and it's true from an Ethiopian orphanage to a beautiful life, adoption and a beautiful family and then I decided to go to Florida, Mississippi, and now I ended up here (in Boulder) with the best team, living the best life." Sinta Vissa is a member of the On Athletics Club and just opened up her season this past weekend at the Penn Relays. Before turning pro last year, she was the 2022 NCAA 1500m champion and has now competed at two World Championships for Italy. She was last year’s Italian 1500m champion and then had the bad luck of drawing one of the fastest heats in Budapest but did not advance to the semifinals. She did run a 4:01.66 personal best, which also got her the Olympic standard for this year. She’s in a good position to be selected by the Italian Athletics Federation with some good performances this season. What I like about Sinta is

Chris Chavez survived his bachelor party for a track-free weekend as Anderson Emerole updates him on his highlights from the 2024 Penn Relays + takeaways from the Shanghai Diamond League. PENN RELAYS – 16-year-old Quincy Wilson split 44s on the high school boys' 4x400m relay twice and put his Bullis Academy (MD) team in contention against some of the top Jamaican squads. – Harvard's women's team clocked the fastest collegiate DMR in history with a 10:37.55 to win the Championship of America and were anchored in 4:21 by Maia Ramsden. – Villanova's men destroyed the NCAA 4 x mile record of 16:03.24 by Oregon's 2009 squad as they led two other schools under 16:00. The Wildcats won in 15:51.91 capped by a 3:54.32 anchor from Liam Murphy. – Yared Nuguse opened up his outdoor season with a 3:51.06 mile victory and tried to get his teammate Olli Hoare under the Olympic standard but he finished in 3:51.28. SHANGHAI DIAMOND LEAGUE – South Africa's Akani Simbine beat Christian Coleman and Fred K

“I think it’s wide open. I think it’s hard to compete when you know that people have been at that level and they know what it takes to be at that level. That’s one thing that’s super hard about it. When you've been there before, you know it’s a little bit easier to get back there because you’re like, “OK. I know exactly what I need to show up and how I can do it.” But I haven’t been thinking about the big ‘few’ quite as much as maybe in 2021 when I was just starting to run the 800m at this level. I want to sort of like rely and think about ‘Who am I as a runner?’ as opposed to trying to play whoever else’s game or emulate someone. It’s what works best for me.” I really enjoy watching Sage Hurta-Klecker race because each time out, she’s going to put herself in the mix and take big swings. She’s done that each of the last three years since turning pro and joining the On Athletics Club in 2022. She’s fully committed to breaking through and make a U.S. team in the 800m, which is one of the toughest teams to m

"The way I run is my biggest strength but I also think it’s pretty entertaining and I want to be remembered not just for winning but for how I win races. I want people to think like this race is going to be entertaining because he’s in it." 2024 1500m World Indoor Champion George Beamish, who was also just named to New Zealand's Olympic team for Paris in the steeplechase, finally makes his debut on The CITIUS MAG Podcast. He is coming off the best season of his career. In 2023, coach Dathan Ritzenhein decided it was time to go all-in on the steeplechase and it was a season-long experiment. He managed to get his personal best all the way down to 8:13 at the Monaco Diamond League and then put together one of the best performances of his career by finishing 5th in the World Championship final and third in the Diamond League final. Heading into 2024, he has a chance at the medals in the steeplechase. Mac Fleet and George talk about how he's developed in the event, his lethal Textbook George ki

Chris Chavez and Anderson Emerole unpack the first big weekend in track and field as the Diamond League and Continental Tour kicked off. In this week's round-up of performances, they discuss: Xiamen Diamond League – Mondo Duplantis’ 6.24m world record and what it could mean for the rest of the season – Gudaf Tsegay nearly breaks the 1500m world record with a 3:50.30; Did the women’s 1500m suddenly get more interesting? – Torrie Lewis beats Sha’Carri Richardson in the 200m; Is there reason to be concerned? – Marco Arop vs. Emmanuel Wanyonyi needs to be a thing to bring back the men's 800m to prominence – Is the U.S. having a moment in the men’s high jump? Shelby McEwen wins in Xiamen, JuVaughn Harrison jumps a world lead at LSU – Paulino wins 400m and says this may be the year to break the 400m World record – Christian Coleman wins the 100m in only 10.13s ahead of Fred Kerley; another slow year for the 100m? Results from around the world – Courtney Lindsey beat Letsile Tebogo in a 200m at the Kip Keino

"I was surprised and really proud people were chanting 'USA!' just like they were last year chanting my name. And I’m like they 'Do know I’m not gonna win this right?' But there was so much excitement. I feel like they really wanted it for me and still believe I could do something really special on that day so that was huge. When you’re completely crumbling and people are still in awe of you that’s wild, that’s again what makes Boston a unique and special place." My guest for today’s episode is Emma Bates fresh off another top American finish at the Boston Marathon in 2:27:14. For much of the first 20 miles, Emma led the pack with the confidence of a seasoned marathoner. You could not even tell that she was forced to heartbreakingly scratch from the 2024 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials due to a torn plantar. Before the race, she told me that she was confident in her fitness and believed she was back stronger than ever. Race day proved all of that. With every high-five exchanged and ever

“The biggest learning experience was definitely Worlds. I feel like the other races are races I’ve done a lot before and I know how they go. Worlds was something I’ve only really done one other time. A big thing I wanted to take away from Worlds was just framing my mindset in a way that’s ‘You are as good as you think you are. You just have to go out there and act like it.’ … I gained a lot of success really quickly so it’s been a bit surprising. I’m trying to focus on who I am as a runner and where I’m supposed to be in a race.” Yared Nuguse, the American record holder in the mile, claimed his first global championship medal with a runner-up finish for silver in the 3000m at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow last month. Nuguse will open up his 2024 outdoor campaign with the mile at the Penn Relays. He was also announced as one of the headliners for the Bowerman Mile at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon on May 25th.  The former Notre Dame star is considered one of the favorites to represent th

“When I was running the race, I really didn’t have a time in mind. I knew when I crossed that line that it was going to be a decent time…When I looked at the time, that was not what I was expecting to see there. That was pretty surreal. I’m super, super grateful.” Texas A&M junior Sam Whitmarsh popped onto our radar with a 1:44.46 at LSU’s Battle on the Bayou meet on March 30th, which moved him to No. 7 on the all-time collegiate list.  When we put the call out on the CITIUS MAG team for bold predictions for the 2024 season, Kyle Merber predicted that Whitmarsh would make the U.S. Olympic 800m team. Only U.S. champion and World Indoor champion Bryce Hoppel and 2023 NCAA champion Will Sumner ran faster than 1:44.46. The reason that people may not be as familiar with Whitmarsh is that his 2022 season was cut short as a freshman because he was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome –  a heart condition that leads to periods of rapid heart rate. In 2023, he was the SEC Championship runner-up and

Mary Ngugi-Cooper has been a formidable force in the Kenyan marathon scene within the past decade. Mary's journey is not just about her remarkable achievements on the roads; it's about her unwavering commitment to empowering women through the sport she loves. In the wake of a tragic loss that shook the running community to its core, Mary took action by responding to the heartbreaking murder of Agnes Tirop by founding Nala Track Club in October of 2022. Named after the Swahili word for a powerful, successful woman, Nala Track Club is a sanctuary for female athletes.  But it's more than just a club; it's a beacon of hope. Mary's vision extends beyond the finish line, providing not only a safe haven for young women to train but also covering housing and education costs for those in need. Additionally, Nala Track Club has pioneered a groundbreaking coaches training program, empowering women to lead and mentor the next generation of Kenyan athletes. Nike has come on board with the to assist wit