Citius Mag Podcast

Emma Coburn and Courtney Frerichs went 1-2 in the women's 3,000m steeplechase as many expected but it was the battle for the third spot that came down to a dramatic finish between Val Constien and Leah Falland. Chris Chavez, Kyle Merber and Mac Fleet discuss all of the action from Day 5 at the U.S. Olympic Trials live from Eugene, Ore. In this episode, we discuss the men's 1,500m semifinal that didn't take anything out of the favorites, surprising cuts in the women's 800m, another big night for Team Throwvacs and much more... TUNE IN AND LISTEN TO TRIALS TALK WITH CHRIS AND KYLE. Our daily podcast from the Olympic Trials is presented by Tracksmith. We’re excited to partner with Tracksmith, an independent running brand fueled by a deep love of the sport. They celebrate the amateur spirit and seek to inspire the personal pursuit of excellence. Tracksmith is pleased to be supporting 30 Olympic Trials qualifiers in Eugene, including athletes across 14 disciplines, as part of their Amateur Support Program. Check o

Fresh off his 3rd place finish at the U.S. Olympic Trials 10k, Joe Klecker joins hosts Chris Chavez, Kyle Merber and Nick Willis for a conversation about his race and the training that got him there. After graduating from Colorado University, the 7x All-American remained in Boulder to be coached by fellow Buff legend, Dathan Ritzenhein. Since then he has achieved personal bests in ten straight races and a berth to Tokyo in the eleventh. The vision for the On Athletics Club was created and built around Klecker. In its first year as a professional club, the new group has burst onto the scene and solidified its presence — first domestically and now on the world stage. This is an episode bursting with genuine questions of curiosity as Joe shares workout details that took our breath away. Hear what went into his build-up, both mentally and physically, that prepared him for his big breakout in what will certainly be one of your favorite listens yet. TUNE IN AND LISTEN TO TRIALS TALK WITH CHRIS AND KYLE. Our daily p

Heather MacLean joins the podcast after making her first Olympic team with a third place finish in the women's 1,500m final in 4:02.09. Her teammate Elle Purrier St. Pierre took the win in 3:58.03 and Cory McGee took the second spot in 4:00.67. The race truly lived up to the hype and Heather shares a bit of her approach and game plan for it. Chris Chavez and Kyle Merber go through the shocking men's 800m where Clayton Murphy took the win in 1:43.17 and reminded the world just how good he is. They also try to make sense of how Donavan Brazier finished last. We also discuss the women's 5,000 meter final where Elise Cranny and Karissa Schweizer put together a Bowerman 1-2 and pulled Rachel Schneider to join them on their first Olympic team. + Much more... TUNE IN AND LISTEN TO TRIALS TALK WITH CHRIS AND KYLE. Our daily podcast from the Olympic Trials is presented by Tracksmith. We’re excited to partner with Tracksmith, an independent running brand fueled by a deep love of the sport. They celebrate the amateur sp

Chris Chavez and Kyle Merber discuss the third day of the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials live from Eugene, Oregon. We start this episode by reaffirming that we are now big throws guys. Rudy Winkler broke an American record that had stood since 1996 with his 82.71-meter heave in the men's hammer throw. Stay tuned because he will be a guest on the show later this week. Other topics discussed:  – The Trayvon Bromell comeback chatter really started in April after he ran 9.8 and then improved upon that to a 9.77, which ranks as the top time in the world for 2021. He backed it all up and cruised to a 9.80 win in the men's 100m. We also discuss how Fred Kerley's big risk paid off by opting to run the 100m and 200m instead of the 400m, where he won a silver medal at worlds in 2019.  – Allyson Felix's final 100 meters were a thing of beauty and landed her on her fifth U.S. Olympic team and her first as a mother. Quanera Hayes took the win in 49.78 and will be on her first Olympic team alongside with Wad

Chris Chavez, Kyle Merber and Nick Willis sit down with the newly minted and first-ever Tracksmith Olympian, Rachel Dincoff. In Saturday’s competition, Rachel threw the discus 60.21m to finish 3rd overall and secure her spot in Tokyo. After graduating college in 2016, where she was never a first-team All-American, Rachel made the decision to continue pursuing her childhood dream of qualifying for the Olympic Games. She had to work multiple jobs to make it happen, though on Saturday all of the sacrifices proved worth it. This conversation not only dives into her mindset and buildup at the trials but the details of her training, technique, nutrition and lifting numbers that made it all possible! TUNE IN AND LISTEN TO TRIALS TALK WITH CHRIS AND KYLE. Our daily podcast from the Olympic Trials is presented by Tracksmith. We’re excited to partner with Tracksmith, an independent running brand fueled by a deep love of the sport. They celebrate the amateur spirit and seek to inspire the personal pursuit of excellence.

Chris Chavez, Kyle Merber and David Melly discuss the second day of the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials live from Eugene, Oregon, where Sha'Crri Richardson won the women's 100m in 10.86 seconds and is now a top gold medal contender in Tokyo. We also discuss the women's discus where Valarie Allman looks to end an Olympic medal drought. We theorize on how the women's 1,500m final may shake out and much more.  TUNE IN AND LISTEN TO TRIALS TALK WITH CHRIS AND KYLE. Our daily podcast from the Olympic Trials is presented by Tracksmith. We’re excited to partner with Tracksmith, an independent running brand fueled by a deep love of the sport. They celebrate the amateur spirit and seek to inspire the personal pursuit of excellence. Tracksmith is pleased to be supporting 30 Olympic Trials qualifiers in Eugene, including athletes across 14 disciplines, as part of their Amateur Support Program. Check out Tracksmith's essentials for racing and training - including the Strata kits their Trials athletes are racing

Chris Chavez and Kyle Merber discuss the first day of the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials live from Eugene, Oregon, where Ryan Crouser demolished the world record with a 23.37m throw to win the men's shot put.  We slept on Woody Kincaid and paid the price as he won the men's 10,000m in 27:54.62.  We unpack the first round of the women's 1,500m after the controversy regarding Shelby Houlihan's four-year ban, Erik Sowinski out for revenge in the men's 800m and much more.    TUNE IN AND LISTEN TO TRIALS TALK WITH CHRIS AND KYLE. Our daily podcast from the Olympic Trials is presented by Tracksmith.   We’re excited to partner with Tracksmith, an independent running brand fueled by a deep love of the sport. They celebrate the amateur spirit and seek to inspire the personal pursuit of excellence. Tracksmith is pleased to be supporting 30 Olympic Trials qualifiers in Eugene, including athletes across 14 disciplines, as part of their Amateur Support Program.  Check out Tracksmith's es

"I feel completely devastated, lost, broken, angry, confused and betrayed by the very sport that I’ve loved and poured myself into just to see how good I was. I want to be very clear. I have never taken any performance-enhancing substances. And that includes that of which I am being accused. I believe in the sport and pushing your body to the limit just to see where the limit is. I’m not interested in cheating. I don’t do this for the accolades, money, or for people to know my name. I do this because I love it. I have so much fun doing it and it’s always the best part of my day.” On Wednesday afternoon, a virtual press conference was held by the Bowerman Track Club where it was announced Shelby Houlihan, the American record holder in the 1500 meters and 5000 meters, has been suspended for four years after testing positive for the banned substance Nandrolone. The test was taken in December 2020 and she was notified of the positive test in January by the Athletics Integrity Unit. The reason she has not raced in

Valerie Constien is the United States’ third-fastest steeplechaser heading into the Olympic Trials with a personal best of 9:25. That’s also good enough for No. 14 in the world for 2021. She is a graduate of the University of Colorado and now competes for the Tracksmith Amateur Support Program while being coached by Mark Wetmore and Heather Burroughs.  We’ll be featuring a few more Tracksmith athletes before we kickstart our daily podcast series – Trials Talk with Chris & Kyle – live from Eugene, Oregon. Kyle Merber and I will be bringing you a show recapping the biggest performances and surprises from each day of the Trials.  The women’s steeplechase will certainly be one of them. Do not sleep on Valerie for that third possible spot on the Olympic team since there’s still a few question marks around Colleen Quigley since she hasn’t raced since February or steepled since 2019. That race has gotten super interesting in recent weeks with some big performances by Valerie, Mel Lawrence, Marissa Howa

Ben Flanagan returns to the podcast! He first came on in 2018 after winning his NCAA title in the 10,000m. Now he’s a professional runner for the Reebok Boston Track Club and he’s currently quarantined in Canada before he competes at their respective Olympic Trials in Montreal later this month. We’re all fairly familiar with what it takes to make the U.S. Olympic team with a top three finish at each event but it’s a little more complex with Canada. He explains why. His personal best in the 5,000m is 13:20, which was run at the Platinum PT Qualifier put on by Tracksmith at the end of May. I was behind the mic for that race and while I saw it was a four-second personal best, he tells us why it was a much bigger deal in his hopes for Tokyo. We also catch up on life since his last podcast appearance, he’s got some nice things to say about Mason Ferlic and much more.  You can watch Ben compete in the men's 5,000m on Saturday, June 26 at 8:30 p.m. ET. Athletics Canda said the event will be streamed for free on

"I have a really unique privilege of being able to do both worlds. I don't know if anyone's been able to work out with pros and do their easy runs with their high school team. It's super cool. It just works because of the circumstances of my dad being the coach and Ron (Warhurst) being the assistant coach at Skyline. I definitely wish a lot of people knew I'm not just training like a pro. I work out with those guys but I'm a high schooler and I treat running like I'm a high schooler. I just have fun with my teammates and jump in the river on runs and stuff." Hobbs Kessler is a high school senior competing for Skyline High School in Ann Arbor. He just made history this past weekend by running 3:34.36 for a new U.S. high school 1,500m record but it’s also now faster than the recent 3:34.68 NCAA record. Kessler’s time is faster than Jim Ryun’s U-20 record of 3:36.1 that was run back in 1966. And of course, this guarantees Kessler’s spot at the U.S. Olympic Trials later this month. What’s next for him? Well, he’s

"We sat down and [Jerry Schumacher's] big thing was that he thinks everyone kind of has their ideal race distance. For some people, it's the 1,500m. For other people, it's the 5K. For some people, it's the 3K so if you're going to run the 3K at the professional level, you also need to be able to hurdle. He said he didn't really know what that was going to be for me, but he thought the steeplechase could be something that I'd be potentially good at and would maybe want to experiment with if I join the team. I kind of knew where his head was at before I joined the team." Sean McGorty is a member of the Bowerman Track Club. Way before that he was a standout runner out of Virginia who went on to become an NCAA champion at Stanford. Since graduating in 2018, he’s run personal bests of 3:36.61 for 1,500m, 3:55.21 for the mile, 13:06.45 for the 5K and most recently 8:20.77 for the 3,000m steeplechase. His win in his steeplechase debut at the USATF Golden Games gave him the Olympic standard and now an option to possi

"Nike was trying to offer me less than what they offered me when I came out of college. To me, it was just a slap in the face. I was like, ‘I've made the Olympic team. I'm pretty much, you know, not to sound cocky, but like I'm probably going to make another Olympic team. I've made five USA teams since I graduated. How could I possibly be worth less than I was when I came out of college?’ They were able to come up a little bit when I was just straight up, like, ‘No. That's not a starting point.’ And they came up a little bit, but I'm still making almost three times what that was, with the same bonus structure, with the same incentives and no reductions. So now I don't have to worry about ‘Oh you didn't race ten races this year.’ Yeah like I've raced eight. Who really cares? I didn't make it off by doing things like the local turkey trot to get my tenth race. Lululemon isn’t ticky tacky and counting every little thing. They want me to be happy. They want me to live the values that their brand holds to be impor

“I’m thankful for the opportunity I have to make the U.S. Trials. It’s always easy to talk about things you don’t have but I’m so thankful for this club. For the first time in my career, I feel like I have opportunities to run times that I dreamed of when I was 13 or 14 years old and first started the sport. If you told my sophomore year high school or 15-year-old self that I’d have an opportunity to run 3:55 or 3:54 (for the mile), I probably wouldn’t believe you. But now I 100% believe it." Eric Holt is a member of Empire Elite, a new pro group in New York coached by John Trautmann and Tommy Nohilly who used to be part of Frank Gagliano’s coaching staff with the New Jersey-New York Track Club. In this episode, you’ll get to know Eric a bit better after he recently won the Trials of Miles Kansas City Qualifier men’s 1,500. He’s one of the guys on the cusp of break 3:40 and trying to get into the U.S. Olympic Trials. Eric went to Binghamton, where he was a six-time America East track and field champion. Eric

Jarret Eaton is a world championship silver medalist in the 60m hurdles. He’s a two-time national champion in the event. At this weekend’s Trials of Miles Kansas City Qualifier, he finished second in the men’s 110 hurdles. In this episode, he takes us through what it’s been like for him to push himself in this event since 2012 through some ups and downs, why he goes after it unsponsored, how to size up the 110 hurdles at the Olympics Trials and much more. We recorded this a week before the race in Kansas City.

"I do think that it's important for athletes to consider different revenue streams. I'm still trying to get my finger on the pulse of what even lands a sponsorship 15 years into this. I don't know if it's potential, if it's past times, if it's making teams, if it's Instagram followers, if it's marketability – whatever that means, if it's age, I still can't figure it out. I just think it's important for athletes to make their own way, make their own brand and use their voice. Hopefully, you find a brand that aligns with you, which is kind of what I've done with &Mother and Cadenshae." Sara Vaughn is a 1,500m specialist dipping her toes back in the steeplechase soon. You can catch her in action at this weekend’s Trials of Miles Kansas City Qualifier on May 1. Sara will be in the steeplechase for the first time since 2014. Since then, she’s made the US national team for the 2017 world championships as a mother of three, added another baby and then announced her plans to chase the US Olympic Trials for T

"I was talking to my mom the other day and she said, 'It's important to be who you are so that the right people love you.' I was like, 'Yeah. That's what it is.' I just felt like it is really important to continue to show up as myself in all areas of my life so the right people are on my side, the right people are following me and I can lean into that more than anything." Nikki Hiltz is now a two-time guest on this show. Our first episode together April 17th, 2019 during the Boston Marathon weekend. For this one, I’m joined by David Melly, the host of the Run Your Mouth Podcast, for another crossover episode. April 2019 was just the start of Nikki’s hot streak that year. They finished third at the U.S. Championships and qualified for the world championships. They went on to make the final in Doha and ran a personal best of 4:01.52. Expect Nikki to be in the mix for that Olympic team in the 1,500 meters, which is shaping up to be one of the must-watch events at Hayward Field during the Trials. We touched on Ni

Conner Mantz is a junior at BYU and just won the NCAA Cross Country Championships last month. Right from the start of the race, he went with the hot pace established early by Iowa State’s Wesley Kiptoo and eventually pulled away to win by 22 seconds. Mantz is the first American man to win the NCAA individual title since 2008. He was BYU’s first champion since 2006.  Just two weeks or so after that race, he went on to run 13:24.78 for 5,000 meters in the men’s 5000m at the Hayward Premiere – the first meet held at the newly renovated Hayward Field. The time is a school record and a U.S. Olympic Trials qualifier.  Hear more about his development at BYU (and way before that since he ran his first half marathon at 12 years old), his plans for the rest of the season, thoughts on turning pro and much more.

48 miles in 48 hours and more than $48,000 raised for the Release Recovery Foundation over the weekend in New York City. On national tv, Zac Clark opened up about his history with drug addiction/substance abuse and his recovery. In 2017, he co-founded Release Recovery to help others reclaim their lives from addiction. His foundation is a non-profit that helps provide scholarships to those who may not have the financial means to go and recover. A few months back, he convinced my, Ryan Welsh and Zac Price to embark on the David Goggins Challenge of running 4 miles at the top of the hour every 4 hours for 48 hours. The goal was to use running as a way to raise awareness on addiction and mental health four miles at a time. In this episode, we talk about all the highs and lows from the weekend and the power running can have for good.

"I do some of my best thinking when I'm on my long runs. Today, we've talked a lot about my recovery and my sobriety. Running is one of the greatest tools I've been given because any time I can go reset the mind. People in my life know that. They'll say, 'Dude, go for a run. Let's talk after.' Because it's such a release for me." Some of you might be familiar with Zac Clark since he won the most recent season of The Bachelorette and is currently engaged to Tayshia Adams. In this episode, you’ll learn a lot about Zac’s come-up in New Jersey and the many struggles along the way in his life that really spiraled after he underwent surgery to remove a brain tumor and got addicted to pain medication shortly thereafter. Drinking, drugs and partying took a toll on him and his relationship at the time. There’s a lot in his life story, which was shared a bit on national TV last fall. Zac went to rehab and got his life together and now serves as the co-founder of Release Recovery, which is a 501c3 non-profit dedicated t