Each week, two of our contributors or special guests face off in The XC's Top 5 Running Show, dissecting five stories from the week in the world of distance running and track and field. They offer their best and hottest takes to the host, Michael Doyle, who rewards them in points.

The panelist with the deepest knowledge and hottest takes will emerge from this five-lap sprint of ideas the victor. The prize? We give them the mic atop the podium to tell us something important or exciting they want to share with you. And seven days of bragging rights, of course.

This week's topics:

What is going on with the Tokyo Olympics?

Heartbreak, as a 100K world record is missed by just 12 seconds

The London Marathon is going big this October

Racing is back, sort of

And one running streak for the ages

We’ll be pushing this show out both as a podcast on The XC’s feed each Monday, and as a video on our YouTube and IGTV channels, at around 7 p.m. ET. So be sure to follow us @thexcorg and subscribe to our YouTube channel.

This week:

This third episode of the Top 5 Running Show pits two of The XC's regulars against each other: Alex Cyr and Andrew Cruickshank.