While wary of the coronavirus, Pete Julian’s elite runners continue to train for the Olympics – OregonLive
Coach Pete Julian said his group of elite distance runners mostly have hunkered down in Portland and are continuing to train with the Olympics in mind.
The coronavirus pandemic has caused speculation about the future of both the U.S. Olympic trials, scheduled for June 19-28 at Hayward Field in Eugene, and the Olympics. But neither has been canceled at this point.
“There are going to be a lot of opportunities for racing that we won’t have,” Julian said Monday looking at the vanishing competition schedule for this spring. “We’ll have to find a way to sharpen these athletes in practice and things like that.”
Many sporting events and seasons have been canceled, including the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The Pac-12 is among the college conferences to have shuttered their spring sports seasons.
Stanford has canceled the Stanford Invitational that had been set for April 3-4. The Stanford Invitational has a distance carnival that many elite runners traditionally enter in an attempt to attain qualifying standards for championship meets such as the Olympic trials.
Most of Julian’s runners were members of the Nike Oregon Project, which Nike discontinued in October after the Court of Arbitration for Sport determined NOP coach Alberto Salazar had broken doping rules. Julian was an assistant with the Oregon Project.
The rules Salazar was found to have broken did not involve intentionally doping athletes. None of the Oregon Project athletes have been accused of doping nor failed a drug test. Julian has not been accused of breaking rules either.
Julian’s group includes some of the best young runners in the world, including 2019 men’s world outdoor 800-meter champion Donavan Brazier and 2019 men’s U.S. outdoor 1,500 champion Craig Engels.
German star Konstanze Klosterhalfen, bronze medalist in the women’s 5,000 at the 2019 World Outdoor Championships, is a member of Julian’s group. So is former University of Oregon runner Jessica Hull, who recently made the 2020 Australian Olympic Team in the women’s 5,000 meters.
It’s unclear what the immediate future holds for any of them.
Pete Julian chats (left) is pictured with three-time Shannon Rowbury in 2015. (Thomas Boyd/File)LC- The Oregonian
“We’re making adjustments,” Julian said. “I canceled massages. We’ll evaluate in two weeks. We’ll try to do our part to reduce transmission. We’ll avoid group settings and team meetings.”
Two of Julian’s athletes are overseas. Marathoner Suguru Osako is in Japan and Paul Tanui in Kenya. Hull was bound for Australia recently until she discovered while connecting in Los Angeles, she would be subject to a mandatory 14-day quarantine upon arrival and wouldn’t be able to train. She returned to Portland.
“This is a very interesting time, especially for a team like ours,” Julian said. “We’re pretty global. It’s a unique situation. One positive, with our sport we can get outside. If we stay out of groups, and as long as we’re aware and following the advice, we can get in some good training.”
— Ken Goe
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