The CITIUS MAG Podcast | A Running + Track and Field Show

This week in track and field, Chris Chavez and Preet Majithia cover: – The World Cross Country Championships showcased impressive performances but faced broadcasting challenges. Preet explains his experience with watching. – Houston’s half marathon saw the U.S. men’s half marathon list get totally re-written and then a strong run by Taylor Roe to move to No. 2 on the U.S. list. – Zouhair Talbi run...

Join Chris Chavez, Aisha Praught-Leer and Eric Jenkins as they unpack all of the action at the 2026 World Cross Country Championships in Tallahassee. Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo continued his reign at the World Cross Country Championships, cruising to a third consecutive title in commanding fashion. Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi claimed silver for the third time in his career, while Kenya’s Daniel Simiu Eb...

The World XC Championships return to the U.S. for the first time since 1992, with Saturday’s races in Tallahassee offering a chance to reignite global attention on the best distance runners in the world. How to watch: The races will be broadcast on Peacock (starting at 9:35 a.m.) and will be televised on CNBC (starting at 10 a.m. ET). Schedule (All times ET): 9:45 a.m. – Mixed 4x2K Relay 10:20 a.m...

Chris Chavez and Preet Majithia break down the 2026 calendar in track and field how certain athletes are targeting specific events in the lead-up to the debut of the World Ultimate Championships. Plus: Gut reactions to the release of the 2026 World Cross Country Championship entries and how the Valencia 10K isn’t the only event taking talent away. Chris and Preet are then joined by Anderson Emerol...

Chris Chavez and Preet Majithia unpack the people who made track and field special in 2025. Categories include: – World Record of the Year – Performance of the year – Athlete of the year – Most entertaining athlete of the year – Social media Moment of the Year – Heartbreak Moment of the year – Coach of the Year – Best event of the year – Marathon of the year – Celebration of the year – Breakout at...

“That is the fun part for me – being able to be pushed to my limits, be out there doing it with other strong women, working off each other, and having a great coach and support staff. That’s so fun to me: the really, truly hard work. There’s just so much I love about this sport and this team, but that’s definitely how I would describe this first semester so far. It’s just been so much fun. I’m rea...

“One of the things we talk about on our team is if everyone is giving 51% or more and never taking more than 49%, your ecosystem is always going to be in balance. But if everyone isn’t willing to give more than 49% and they’re always taking more than 51%, then the ecosystem is never going to be in balance. We just try to keep an environment where people are waiting for other people to go to the ba...

Our guest for today’s episode is one of the most exciting sprinters in the world right now. Julien Alfred is the reigning Olympic champion in the 100m, a World Indoor champion in the 60m, and the athlete who is rewriting history for St. Lucia on the biggest stages in track. On February 1st, 2026, Julien will return to The Armory in New York City to headline the women’s 60m at the Millrose Games —...

In this week’s episode, Chris, Mac and Preet discuss: – Grand Slam Track declares for bankruptcy – Our partnership with them and being owed $272K – The impact of the bankruptcy declaration and the athletes – Recapping the European Cross Country Championships – Athing Mu has parted ways with coach Bobby Kersee – Highlights from the Merrie Mile and Honolulu Marathon weekend – Interview with Ben Rosa...

Chris Chavez and Preet Majithia unpack all the biggest highlights from this weekend in the running world: - US Cross Country Championships Recap – Who made Team USA for Tallahassee? - Valencia Marathon Recap | Joyciline Jepkosgei – 2:14:00 (Course Record, World Lead) + John Korir – 2:02:24 - California International Marathon (CIM) Highlights | Molly Born and Futsum Zeinesellassie take the wins + 5...

“As much as I wanted to win – what I really was after, what really drove me was finding out how good I could be. And it turns out I did. I found out how good I could be. I had a four or five-year stretch where seventh place in Boston was as good as I could be and 2:09:02 and 2:08:52 – right in that range was as fast as I could run. So, I found out. And it wasn’t good enough to win a major, but it...

Chris Chavez and Preet Majithia are back at it to preview the USATF Cross Country Championships in Portland this Saturday as well as the Valencia Marathon on Sunday. They also unpack the L.A. 2028 Olympics schedule, dive into some of the updates surrounding Grand Slam Track's financial situation, and lots more. ____________ Hosts: Chris Chavez | ⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@chris_j_chavez on Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ + P...

“I've been thinking about it for a while… It was pretty apparent. I think because I'm very happy with how my career went, it made the decision easy. Realizing that I'm not in the mix for making teams anymore, I didn't want to keep running just to try to make USAs year in, year out. I felt good about everything and it felt like the right time.” Evan Jager, a two-time Olympian for Te...

The 2025 NCAA Cross Country Championships delivered on the hype! Isaac Wood and Paul Hof-Mahoney recap all the biggest takeaways from an action-packed morning in Columbia, Missouri, including: - Women’s individual champion: Defending champion Doris Lemngole puts her championship experience to use, running 18:25.4 to win over Jane Hedengren’s 18:38.9. - Men’s individual champion: New Mexico’s Habto...

“You get these really unique matchups that you probably wouldn’t get in the lead-up to a championship, but you can in a lead-up to Millrose because people are looking to race and have some fun.” - Grant Fisher Buckle up because one of the greatest indoor matchups that we've ever seen is officially coming back to the Armory. Today's episode is all about a rematch that we already have to loo...

Chris Chavez and Isaac Wood preview the 2025 NCAA Cross Country Championships set to take place in Columbia, Missouri this weekend. - The NCAA Cross Country Championships are Isaac’s Super Bowl - Key Regional performances and takeaways - The Case For and Against NC State, BYU, Florida, New Mexico, Notre Dame and Oregon on the women’s side - The Case For and Against Oklahoma State, Iowa State, New...

“My biggest thing has been remembering that I’m not Dathan, I’m not Kelsey, but that’s why I was hired. The three of us all have very different experiences, we bring different things to the table, and we’re just hoping to give the athletes this well-roundedness in support and resources... That’s the really cool part about what OAC is doing. We’re trying to help this next wave of incredible athlete...

“ I had worked too damn hard to get back to the line to just accept defeat and sit there and not even finish the race. I didn’t even have to think about it. I just got straight back into it… I think it was a bit of a blessing in disguise since I didn’t know what my fitness was like coming in. I thought it was decent, but this was almost an extra test of, ‘Can you fall in the last lap and still mak...

“Sometimes you have these workouts on paper that look pretty intimidating. To be able to get them done and feel strong towards the end of them is always an exciting feeling. Obviously you don’t always nail it, but doing things that maybe you haven’t done before or that you’re not quite sure if you can do is always exciting.” My guest for today's episode is Fiona O'Keefe : the reigning U.S....

“I've heard over and over that you have to respect the distance. I kind of understood that, but you need to experience it to have respect for it and the emotional waves that you go through during it. I had heard that and it made sense to me, but the true understanding of that hit later. That was humbling a little bit. It’s not an easy race. You can't fake a marathon.” My guest for today&#3...

The 54th New York City Marathon is in the books, and what a race it was. Nearly 60,000 runners took to the streets of the Big Apple, and near-perfect weather conditions meant that times were fast and racing was fierce. We got to witness both historically-fast and historically-close races, as three women broke the 22-year-old course record and the men’s race was decided by a photo finish, the small...

“[The marathon] rewards people that are patient, consistent, and build up strength. I’ve got a good engine, so late in the race I feel like my cardio holds up very well. As long as the body holds up, it’s going to be a good day!” My guest for today’s episode is Joel Reichow , who could be viewed as a surprise story of the New York City Marathon and the top American finisher in 2025. In a race pack...

The 54th running of the New York City Marathon is shaping up to be a great one. The women’s race features four of the most exciting road racers on the scene today, all duking it out for claim to the title of world’s top active marathoner. The high-quality men’s field looks wide open, and the masters battle between two of the sport’s GOATs is sure to keep things interesting. And you can always coun...

Hillary Bor will be making his marathon debut in Sunday's New York City Marathon. He is taking great confidence from a healthy training block and a runner-up finish at the US 20K Championships, where he ran 56:32 for No. 2 on the U.S. all-time list. He stopped by the HOKA Flagship Store on 5th Avenue in New York City to discuss his preparation for the race. ____________ Host: Chris Chavez | ⁠...

Jessica Warner Judd suffered a tonic clonic seizure at the European track and field championships in 2024 and stuggled with symptoms in early 2025. She decided to leave the track to focus on making her marathon debut in New York City. She stopped by the HOKA Flagship Store on 5th Avenue to discuss her preparations for the race. ____________ Host: Chris Chavez | ⁠ ⁠⁠⁠@chris_j_chavez on Instagram⁠⁠⁠...