Parker Valby Is Back, BU Is Banned, Andrew Greif on the Enhanced Games

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Parker Valby made a triumphant return to outdoor track with a 14:49 personal best victory in the women's 5,000, her first professional outdoor race in nearly two years. Brandon Miller got the men's 800 at LA Track Fest rand aised questions about Donovan Brazier, while Josh Kerr posted an 800 PB fueling mile world record speculation.

World Athletics dropped bombshell 2027 World Championship standards — 1:43 flat for the men's 800, 3:30 for the 1500, 12:50 for the 5K — and banned BU's indoor track for qualifying.

The episode closes with NBC's Andrew Greif (author of Beyond Fast) talking about his experience at the Enhanced Games, where $250,000 first-place prizes couldn't overcome Father Time.

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LINKS

• LetsRun.com - the home of running
• Marius Bakken's New Book: The Norwegian Method Applied Is a Must-Read
• LetsRun.com Supporters Club — (code GOAT50)
• World Athletics Announces Super-Hard Qualifying Standards for 2027 World Championships
• Hot Rumor: WA Will No Longer Accept Times From BU Indoors (LetsRun Forum Thread)
• Enhanced Games: Drugs Don't Get Athletes Banned, They Get Rich — Andrew Greif, NBC News
• Beyond Fast by Andrew Greif and Chris Lear (Amazon)
• LetsRun.com Training Talk Live with Marius Bakken (Monday 1:00 PM Eastern, Supporters Club members only)

TIMESTAMPS

• 00:05 Sponsor and Supporters Club Plug
• 01:09 Intro and Episode Preview
• 06:29 LA Track Fest: Biggest Winners and Losers
• 07:08 Parker Valby's Triumphant Return
• 11:57 Is Parker Valby's 14:49 Good Enough?
• 15:11 Most Disappointing Performances
• 18:22 Men's 800: Brazier, Kerr, and Kessler
• 22:51 Hobbs Kessler's Ceiling and Parker Wolfe's Rise
• 27:14 Josh Kerr's 800 PB and Mile World Record Talk
• 30:26 Weldon's World Cup Team and Soccer Tangent
• 36:09 Steeplechase Roundup and Cooper Lutkenhaus
• 42:14 2027 World Championship Standards Are Insane
• 45:39 BU Indoor Track Banned for Qualifying
• 53:01 Will These Standards Kill the US Trials?
• 56:04 Quota Reallocation and the Future of Team Selection
• 59:39 Sound Running, Track Meets, and Quick Hits
• 66:08 AI, Princeton Reunions, and Random Banter
• 68:38 The Enhanced Games Recap
• 69:19 Andrew Greif Joins: Inside the Enhanced Games
• 74:39 The Money That Lured Athletes Out of Retirement
• 77:28 The Spectacle in Las Vegas
• 82:55 Why Clean Athletes Competed at the Enhanced Games
• 85:00 Fred Kerley and the Olympic Eligibility Question
• 88:11 Did the Drugs Actually Work?
• 92:59 The Protocol Problem and What Comes Next
• 98:19 Father Time Is Undefeated
• 102:13 The Emotional Cost of Crossing the Line
• 103:44 Doping in the NCAA and Closing Thoughts
• 109:03 Outro and Supporters Club

CONTACT

• Email: podcast@letsrun.com
• Call or text: 1-844-LETSRUN (1-844-538-7786)

ABOUT THE LETSRUN.COM PODCAST

Since 2000, LetsRun.com has been the independent home of elite running. Described by the New York Times as the "influential website that serves as something of a superego for American running," the podcast is the weekly deep dive into the world of track and field and elite distance running. The show is hosted by LetsRun.com co-founders Weldon Johnson, a 2-time Team USA member, and Robert Johnson, a former Cornell coach who helped pace the marathon world record, along with award-winning senior writer Jonathan Gault. Together they move beyond PR headlines to provide insider