The 2019-20 La Liga season kicks off this weekend and much of the attention will be on the top three teams fighting it out for the title. Graham Hunter gets you ready for the new campaign with a look at how their offseasons unfolded.

Jump to: Will Felix be La Liga's star? | Can Atletico's new arrivals shine? | Did Real do bad business? | Neymar a distraction for Barcelona?

Atletico Madrid have won the summer, hands down.

Diego Simeone's team having sold over €300 million of talent and brought in over €240m of young, hungry replacements (to date) means that even if either of their La Liga arms-race rivals managed to land Neymar before the window closes on Sept. 2, Barcelona sheepishly pick up the silver medal, with Real Madrid not only third (where they finished the last two La Liga campaigns) but frantically trying to convince everyone that bronze looks awfully similar to gold.

If only there were a trophy to show for it. The transfer-related tag of "Summer Champions" signifies about as much as the increasingly heard but slightly risible tag of "Winter Champions" for those who sit top of the table when the Christmas break arrives.

Nevertheless: a job well begun is a job half done, right? So let's give more than just kudos and a patronising pat on the back to Atleti. They faced what looked like a horrendous challenge, haemorrhaging a mix of experience, winning mentality, club legends and two superb young bucks in Rodri and Lucas Hernandez. Yet their judgment, efficacy of market management, speed of work, ability to spot the revelation of this transfer window (or indeed many previous), Joao Felix, and their net spend of around €8m -- if you factor in the €60m arrival of Rodrigo from Valencia -- suggests that Atleti have spat in the eye of adversity.

Whether it wins them La Liga remains to be seen, but a summer that could have left them fighting an uphill battle now sees them muscular, nimble and potentially able to punch above their weight. This season in Spain is going to be exciting, a real smackdown between the three giants of La Liga -- Barca, Real and Atletico -- so here are some talking points.

Will Joao Felix be La Liga's star?

Felix is only 19, still rather slender and will find it testing to work with Atletico manager Diego Simeone and coaches Mono Burgos and Oscar Ortega. Felix is a La Liga debutant with initiation songs to sing, pranks to put up with, and image-management by the club imposed on him so that expectations are dampened after his €126m arrival.

Yet, this is a kid blessed with such extraordinary talent, such chutzpah, acceleration, positional wit and an exceptional eye for goal that his Atleti teammates are already instinctively looking for him whenever they have the ball. Every single player in that squad has taken one look and said: "We have signed a diamond -- let's get him on the ball."

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If the composer George Frideric Handel were still alive, Atleti would be commissioning him to compose a second Hallelujah chorus. They have found their Messiah.

No matter his talent, a player of Felix's age, carrying such a weight of expectation and responsibility, will encounter bumps along the road in his first complete season in La Liga. That said, the move remains extraordinary for a number of reasons. With Madrid and Barcelona involved in what is both an unseemly and, arguably, unnecessary squabble for Neymar's grossly expensive services, don't they both look stupid for missing the chance to purchase Felix? The answer is a resounding "YES!"

Moreover, Atleti somehow managed to agree with Benfica, the player and his agent, Jorge Mendes, a payment plan where they only have to splash out in the region of €40m (down payment, agent payment, sell-on payment to Porto where he originated) before the rest is paid over the course of his contract. If Felix performs well enough to help Atleti reach at least the Champions League semifinals, the forward could earn his new club the entire remainder of the fee within nine months. That. Is. Utterly. Astonishing. Business.

Can Atletico's other new arrivals replace those who left?

Losing Rodri (€70m to Manchester City) and Lucas (€80m to Bayern Munich) are blows Atletico would have wanted to avoid, but the club have long known they would need replacing at some point.

At the back, even though Diego Godin -- who left for Inter this summer -- was bedevilled by errors last season, it's worth waiting to evaluate the loss of his personality and "win at any cost" attitude. But for Atleti to add the tall, tough Felipe from Porto, as well as the talented Mario Hermoso, for €30m less than Bayern were forced to pay for Lucas, is spectacular.

Kieran Trippier's move from Tottenham came out of the blue, but while he might not be as attentive to details and defensive concentration as Simeone likes, his attitude and crossing ability should give A+ service to what should be a thrilling Atleti front line.

None of Renan Lodi, Hector Herrera or Ivan Saponjic make you fret for Atleti's investments, while Marcos Llorente, signed from hated rivals Real Madrid, is a fine facsimile of Rodri. They aren't identically talented but Llorente was under-priced at €30m, brims with energy, industry and athleticism, is a superb professional and looks ready to make Atleti's central midfield punishingly hard-working.

Then there's the "other Rodri," Rodrigo Moreno. If Atleti wrap up a €60m move for this athletic, relentlessly team-minded striker, who has been playing winning international football with Koke and Alvaro Morata since they were all kids, it's the icing on the cake.

Atletico have had one hell of a summer. But it's not over yet. Spain's transfer market closes on Sept. 2 and there's still time for huge change, though they are already looking in better shape than their rivals.

The fact that several key veterans chose to leave at the end of their contracts had threatened disaster, but it can now be construed as advantageous. Madrid and Barca are replete with players on high wages they'd like to ship out but who are refusing to budge. Not Atleti.

Has Real Madrid's spending addressed their needs?

Atleti's rapier-like approach to business contrasts starkly with Real Madrid's blunderbuss style. Yes, they've splashed out (at the time of writing) €305.5m (gross, not net) and there's quite a lot of "rock 'n roll" glitz to boast about with the likes of Eden Hazard. But have they specifically reinforced the things that went awry last season? Have they done what coach Zinedine Zidane wanted this summer?

In short, no. And an utterly horrific 7-3 thrashing imposed on Zidane's team by Atletico at the ICC tournament in July suggests that Real might not even be favourites in their own city, let alone for the La Liga title.

Left-back Ferland Mendy was indeed a Zizou choice, and has sparked Marcelo's competitive instincts, but at €48m it's not good that Mendy is already out with a thigh injury. Centre-back Eder Militao may turn out to be an ideal buy, but Zidane has been flitting uncertainly between four at the back and a 5-3-2/3-5-2 system, so we'll see how quickly the €50m 21-year-old (a €40m+ profit for Porto just 12 months after buying him) can bring security at the back.

Rodrygo and Kubo (an 18-year-old Japanese starlet who was initially part of FC Barcelona's academy until their FIFA ban was imposed) ooze promise, thrills and a sprinkling of the magic dust of international marketing allure, yet will struggle to make a real impact until they gain a bit more experience.

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Hazard adds the pedigree -- unquestionably a talent of gargantuan proportions -- but why on earth did the €100m winger turn up for work at his new club, one that is in turmoil, in the kind of preseason shape that would have been acceptable in, say, 1978? It's not Madrid's fault but it's certainly emblematic of dipping standards.

And finally, €60m striker Luka Jovic will score goals but looks well short of having the build-up play and savvy that Madrid will need against the elite group of Liga and European clubs they measure themselves against. He's that mythical breed of striker who "only" scores goals. An odd, expensive signing.

The players who have arrived all add their own parts of youth, athleticism, hunger and energy -- valuable commodities in what was a moribund Madrid squad last season -- but there are still more weaknesses in the business that club president Florentino Perez and his right-hand man, Jose Angel Sanchez, have managed to conduct since May.

Gareth Bale, with the Premier League and Chinese transfer markets now closed, has stayed put -- despite Zidane admitting in public that "it would be best" if the Welshman left -- and is likely to stay unless PSG accept him in part exchange for Neymar or he's sent out on loan.

Thus far, there has been no move for Man United midfielder Paul Pogba either. Whether the controversial World Cup winner is or isn't the cure for Los Blancos' midfield ills, Zidane is wedded to the idea of buying him and has been infuriated by Perez's failure to secure that deal.

If Neymar arrives, it will be like salt in the wound. Thus far, Real's best midfield options are Luka Modric, Toni Kroos and Casemiro, which although still full of class, is bemusing. Slow, sometimes disinterested, porous, unable to control possession, lacking athleticism and physicality all last season, it's remarkable that (attempts to sign Pogba aside) no corrective action has been taken to strengthen the midfield.

Will Barcelona be distracted by Neymar pursuit?

Judging them by their own, well-publicised objectives for the close-season, Barca could award themselves a complacent pat on the back, a glass of cava, exchange mutually appreciative smiles among their football executives -- and then their rivals could laugh up their sleeves at the Camp Nou finances.

Barcelona's self-set task sheet was: add competition at left-back, augment possession-control and passing in midfield and then, a year late, add French flair up front. Junior Firpo, Frenkie de Jong and Antoine Griezmann (was there really any doubt where he was going?) tick those boxes.

Throw in some measurable progress from their young talents (Jean-Clair Todibo, Carles Alena, Ricki Puig and Carles Perez) and the outward signs are decent. However, even with the departures of Malcom, Andre Gomes, Marc Cucurella and Denis Suarez, Barcelona need to sell ... and profitably.

Rafinha, Philippe Coutinho and Juan Miranda must be calculating how long it'll take them to unpack their training ground lockers, while if the right price were offered for Arturo Vidal then the Camp Nou bean-counters would produce their abacuses in Olympic time.

The club has vastly strained its financial muscle for three reasons. 1) expensive contract extensions; 2) investment in the Camp Nou renovation project; 3) President Josep Maria Bartomeu's public promise that his parting gift (before summer 2021, which is the latest there can be elections to determine his successor) will be another lengthening of Lionel Messi's contract.

Messi craves Champions League victories, not because Cristiano Ronaldo has more of them but because he's a natural-born competitor who has also suffered a series of brutal European disappointments in recent years at the hands of Atletico, Juventus, Roma and Liverpool.

If Bartomeu wants "Team Messi" to look indulgently on the opening of contract negotiations, he'll do well to re-patriate Neymar. Messi, whether you concur or not, believes that his Brazilian pal will add incisor teeth to Barca's European bite (Luis Suarez hasn't scored a Champions League goal away from home for nearly four years and hit the net only five times in the last 29 UCL matches).

However as long as PSG keep insisting on cash only for Neymar, whether that sum is €120m or €220m, Barcelona can't afford to buy him back. I believe it's that simple. Nor, it seems increasingly clear, can they persuade Ivan Rakitic or his Sevilla-born wife that the footballing life (and climate) is anything but worse any further north than Barcelona. PSG want the Croatian, but like Bale at Madrid, he's not keen to depart.

All of which leaves both Barcelona and Madrid desperately thrashing around for a means to secure a Brazilian they can't afford, didn't budget for and who'll also cost them dearly in terms of existing playing staff (Vinicius Jr., Isco, Karim Benzema and Rodrygo at Real; Ousmane Dembele and Coutinho at Barca) who'd be required to drop to the bench or leave altogether.

Meanwhile, over at Atletico, Felix may still only hint at the potential to reproduce what Neymar has achieved in his career, but the Portuguese is impressing with a new cadre of athletic and hungry teammates around him.

Atleti win the summer. Now, can they add the La Liga title?

Hold tight, this battle has the potential to be immensely entertaining, explosive, and potentially embarrassing for some.

Ravi Shastri will remain head coach of the India men senior team, with his new contract extending up to the 2021 T20 World Cup in India.

The BCCI's Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) spent all of Friday interviewing five candidates for head coach, with a sixth - Phil Simmons - pulling out of the race. The CAC rated the candidates on five separate categories - coaching philosophy, experience, achievements, communication, and "knowledge of modern coaching tools".

The three members of the CAC - former India captain Kapil Dev, former India coach Anshuman Gaekwad and the former India women captain Shanta Rangaswamy - agreed "unanimously" to retain Shastri's services, Kapil announced, with Mike Hesson, the former New Zealand and Kings XI Punjab coach, and Tom Moody, the former Sri Lanka and Sunrisers Hyderabad coach, coming a close second and third respectively.

Apart from Shastri, Hesson and Moody, the CAC also interviewed Robin Singh, who has coached at four-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians and was formerly India's fielding coach, and Lalchand Rajput, India's manager during their victorious World T20 campaign in 2007 and more recently coach of Afghanistan and Zimbabwe.

Hesson, Robin and Rajput made their presentations to the CAC in person, while Moody and Shastri - who is with the India team in the West Indies - appeared via teleconference.

The interviews for the remainder of India's backroom staff will commence next week, tentatively from August 19-22. India's senior selection panel was supposed to pick the head coach's support staff, as per the BCCI's new constitution, but ESPNcricinfo understands that the CAC wanted to have a say, and expressed its interest and wrote to the BCCI to get involved in the process.

The contracts of Shastri and his support staff were meant to expire at the end of the 2019 World Cup, but they were given a 45-day extension keeping in mind the West Indies tour. Ahead of the team's departure for the Caribbean, India captain Virat Kohli made a public announcement that he would prefer if Shastri was to continue as head coach.

When Shastri was appointed head coach in July 2017, the CAC at the time - comprising Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman - had consulted Kohli during the selection process. This time, the CAC did not seek Kohli's opinion on the matter.

"Absolutely not," Kapil said, when asked if the CAC had been in touch with Kohli before it made its pick. "If we had asked him, we would have had to ask the whole team their opinion too."

The previous CAC had also tried to sort out the differences between Kohli and Anil Kumble, who had stepped down as head coach in fractious circumstances before Shastri's 2017 appointment. It subsequently emerged that Kohli had refused to budge in that instance, which eventually resulted in Kumble opting to walk away.

Shastri first joined India's backroom staff as team director during the 2014 tour of England, and remained director in the absence of a head coach, when Duncan Fletcher's tenure ended after the 2015 World Cup. Shastri was out of the set-up when Kumble became head coach in June 2016, but he returned as head coach after Kumble's resignation.

Since then, Shastri has overseen Test match wins in South Africa and England, and a maiden Test series win in Australia, in 2017-18. Under Shastri, India most recently reached the semi-finals of the 2019 World Cup in the UK, topping the round-robin phase of the tournament before exiting with a loss to New Zealand.

Eoin Morgan has hinted that he may step down as England's white-ball captain due to a back injury.

Morgan suffered a back spasm during the World Cup, leaving the field during the win against the West Indies in Southampton, and his training was limited throughout the tournament in order to manage the injury.

"I need more time to think, that's the honest answer," Morgan told Test Match Special when asked if he would lead England into the T20 World Cup next year. "It's a big decision, a big commitment.

"Given the injury that I went through in the World Cup, I need time to get fully fit.

"I actually need the season to end pretty soon so I can have that time to physically get fit and guarantee that it's not an injury risk between this year and next, and then I'll be able to make a call on that."

Morgan said that he "absolutely" wanted to lead the side next year, but said "it's just that I don't want to let anybody down.

"When you lead, you have to lead from the front," he said. "And you have to be physically fit at the start, and then finding form is another thing.

"Hopefully, that works itself out."

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Morgan has been playing for Middlesex in the T20 Blast after a two-week break from the game, though missed a defeat against Sussex because of the injury.

And he admitted that he felt "physically and mentally cooked" after the World Cup. "As captain, you take a little bit more on board than probably just being a player," he said.

Morgan is likely to be available for the rest of the Blast, but it seems unlikely that he will play in the final three Championship games of the season. He was due to play for Dublin Chiefs in the Euro T20 Slam before the tournament was postponed, and will return to the T10 League in Abu Dhabi in November.

Several of Morgan's team-mates, including Ben Stokes, Liam Plunkett, and Jos Buttler have spoken about the emotional comedown that followed the final against New Zealand, and he suggested that it was only natural for them to feel mentally fatigued.

"The comedown from the high of that final is bound to tire guys out a little bit," he said. "The selectors and the coach would have sat down and given the guys who needed a rest as much as they can.

"There's only so much you can do in preparation for an Ashes series, but I think they've done what they can. Naturally, it's going to feel different. You're never going to be able to replicate what happened again, or the high, but it's an Ashes series - people don't need firing up for it. I'd lose my left arm to play in it and everybody knows that. To be in that changing room now with the opportunity of contributing in the series and hopefully winning it is huge."

Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov has officially agreed to sell his remaining stake in the Brooklyn Nets and full ownership of Barclays Center to Joe Tsai, the team announced Friday.

Tsai, who paid $1 billion for a 49% share of the Nets in 2018, is paying an additional $1.35 billion for the remaining 51% share, sources confirmed to ESPN earlier in the week.

This purchase by Tsai, the co-founder of Alibaba, one of the world's largest e-commerce companies, still needs approval from the NBA's Board of Governors, which has already approved the first transaction.

A statement from the Nets said the transaction should be finalized by the end of September and that Brett Yormark, who has served as CEO of the Nets since 2005, will step down from his post after overseeing the transition to new ownership.

"I've had the opportunity to witness up close the Brooklyn Nets rebuild that Mikhail started a few years ago," Tsai said in the statement. "He hired a front office and coaching staff focused on player development, he supported the organization with all his resources, and he refused to tank. I will be the beneficiary of Mikhail's vision, which put the Nets in a great position to compete, and for which I am incredibly grateful."

Prokhorov bought the Nets from real estate developer Bruce Ratner in 2010, allowing the team to complete its move into Brooklyn, and Barclays Center, in 2012.

"It has been an honor and a joy to open Barclays Center, bring the Nets to Brooklyn, and watch them grow strong roots in the community while cultivating global appeal," Prokhorov said in the statement. "The team is in a better place today than ever before and I know that Joe will build on that success, while continuing to deliver the guest experience at Barclays Center that our fans, employees, and colleagues in the industry enjoy."

The $2.35 billion total value of the deal for the team, not including the arena, makes it the largest purchase price of an American professional sports team, surpassing the $2.2 billion paid by David Tepper to buy the Carolina Panthers and by Tilman Fertitta to buy the Houston Rockets.

Yormark came to the Nets from NASCAR and helped usher the franchise to Brooklyn from its prior homes in East Rutherford and Newark, New Jersey. Having initially come aboard under Ratner, Yormark stayed in his post during Prokhorov's ownership over the past nine years.

"Without Brett's innovative foresight and leadership, we would not be where we are today with the Nets and Barclays Center," Prokhorov said. "Brett had always made it clear to me that when the arena and team sold, he would move on and begin his next journey. Thank you to Brett, who has been a true partner and friend over the past 15 years."

The team spent big early in Prokhorov's tenure, racking up a record luxury tax bill in 2013-14, before retrenching in recent seasons after the failure of the trade with the Boston Celtics for Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce in 2013. This summer, however, the team made a huge splash in free agency, signing Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan.

Earlier this year, an investment group led by Tsai purchased the WNBA's New York Liberty from James Dolan.

ESPN's Tim Bontemps contributed to this report.

Darius Bazley has heard the question.

It's almost always the first thing anyone wants to ask the rookie.

"You get some people here and there they'll just ask you about it, 'Yo, like how was it not going to college?'" Bazley told ESPN recently. "I know when I was going through the whole pre-draft process traveling from team to team before we'd go out and work out [the other players would] all be talking about college. And someone would pop up and say 'Well, how was it, just sitting out?'"

It was a little more than a year ago when Bazley decided to forgo a scholarship at Syracuse for a potential path to the NBA via the G League. He then opted to skip the G League as well to instead focus on preparing for the draft.

Bazley isn't the first player in the one-and-done era to bypass the traditional college route before entering the NBA. But the Oklahoma City Thunder forward did something almost entirely unprecedented. After his brief flirtation with joining the G League, Bazley signed an endorsement deal with New Balance that included a one-year internship with the Boston-based sneaker company.

During that year, when he wasn't working out at the company's facility in preparation for his eventual jump into the draft, he was immersing himself in the business side of basketball. He spent time working directly with multiple divisions at New Balance, ranging from marketing to apparel to product testing. He was involved in the design process as New Balance built its first basketball performance shoe since the late 2000s, and got an up-close look at the manufacturing process at New Balance's factory.

While some endorsers get a taste of that with their sneaker companies, Bazley got far more up-close experience, not just getting a tour on a quick visit, but having the opportunity to spend days sitting in meetings, doing product testing and contributing in meaningful ways beyond just picking a sneaker he liked.

In true 21st century NBA fashion, Bazley also got to learn about building a personal brand from New Balance's digital and social teams, even using his Instagram account to provide insight into what his internship was like.

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Episode 2! Lawrence was really cool and so was being hooked in the sports lab! (Peep my AirPods?)

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But with New Balance, Bazley wasn't just learning, he was teaching as well, giving New Balance's product team insight into what young players want. He had a direct hand in designing the player exclusive colorways he'll be wearing this season, coming up with the "Fresh Prince"-inspired colorway that he wore at the draft combine. He also designed an exclusive edition of the New Balance 997 and helped pick out the additional items that were in the seeding kit sent to members of the media.

"We found not only a great partner in Darius and someone who wanted to treat this very seriously and do this for real," said Patrick Cassidy, New Balance's global director of consumer marketing. "So we worked pretty hard to make sure that this was an actual thing. And to Darius' credit he went all in on it."

Now that Bazley has transitioned fully from "intern" to "endorser," Cassidy's goal is for his former intern to be "the most knowledgeable, insightful athlete in the game about the shoe industry and how things are made and developed and get on the feet of elite athletes and what the industry is like." But for Bazley, the internship went far beyond just basketball and shoes.

"The main thing I really took away from that is just learning how to be professional," he said. "That was my first job ever so having to go into work and being in an office space with a lot of middle-aged people -- you got to learn to be professional. You got to learn to communicate with different people."

Bazley is now moving on to his second job ever, forward for the Thunder. It's a job that has already seen its description change, thanks to Oklahoma City's offseason trades of Paul George and Russell Westbrook. While Bazley won't have the opportunity to learn from George, his relationship with his own agent gave him access to one of the most sought-after mentors in the NBA: LeBron James.

Throughout his year away from organized basketball, Bazley had multiple conversations with James, though the topic rarely focused on basketball itself.

"It's more like -- we're at Top Golf or something and we're just having a good time stuff like that," Bazley said. "Sometimes you don't even have to have a one-on-one. You can just sit down and listen. If you listen more than you speak, you'll learn a lot. And with my situation, I was lucky enough to be around greatness every day."

The Thunder are hoping some of that greatness will rub off on Bazley as he joins a suddenly rebuilding team led -- for the time being -- by another member of James' inner circle, Chris Paul. Bazley got off to a delayed start with the Thunder this summer, as he'd been officially drafted by the Utah Jazz, then had to wait to make his Las Vegas Summer League debut as a backlog of agreed-upon trades got processed in a particular order.

"His ability to handle the ball at his size is really, really unique, and defensively he's got great range for a young player at that size, as well," Thunder GM Sam Presti said. "It's going to be a process with him. We'll have to be patient. We understand that. But at that range of the draft, to be able to get a player that has those ball-handling skills at 6-foot-9 is pretty unique."

Bazley was able to show off some of those skills in Las Vegas, but the initial steps of his transition to the NBA game were not without difficulties. Having not played in a formal setting since the 2018 McDonald's All-America Game, Bazley looked rusty in his Thunder debut, going scoreless and attempting just two shots. However, he showed steady improvement in his four summer league outings, eventually putting up 11 points and making 3-of-5 3-point attempts in OKC's final game of the summer.

Because of the Thunder's roster turnover, Bazley has a unique opportunity to contribute in OKC as a rookie. Last season, the Thunder's four rookies combined to play just 769 minutes, ranking 19th in the NBA. The last rookie to be a regular part of the Thunder rotation was Domantas Sabonis, who started 66 games for OKC in 2016-17. The last Thunder rookie before Sabonis to play at least 20 minutes per game in his first season was James Harden all the way back in 2008-09.

Bazley might not hit that 20-minute-per-night milestone, but he's excited for the opportunity to prove himself.

As Bazley begins to adjust to the NBA game, he does so with no regrets on how he got there. He knows that people will always question his decision to skip college and the G League, but he is appreciative of the route he chose and the work it took to get him through.

While his path took him away from organized basketball for a year, it also gave him an early start on the off-court transition to being a professional. He learned much-needed skills like money management and communication, and said he feels better prepared for the adversity that every NBA rookie faces.

"There's going to be times where you hit a roadblock in the league where you're not getting the minutes you wanted or say you're injured and you're not able to play and you don't know how to handle that," he said. "I do."

Bazley said he doesn't feel any added pressure to succeed to prove that his path to the NBA works, but he already has people following in his footsteps in one way or another. RJ Hampton, a projected top-10 pick in the 2020 NBA draft, has chosen to bypass college, though he'll play professionally in Australia's National Basketball League. He also has already landed a sneaker endorsement deal with Li-Ning, a year earlier than his high school classmates who attended college will be able to. And high school senior MarJon Beauchamp has announced his intention to skip college next year and enter a 12-month training program to prepare for the 2021 draft.

But Rich Paul, Bazley's agent, said players looking to take this path can't be doing it solely for the money. Just like it was for Bazley, it has to be with a bigger goal in mind.

"For those chosen few that decide to take another route, there's an alternate route, but the steps are very, very strategic and you have to embrace the process," he said. "It can't be about anything besides 'I'm willing to do the work and position myself to take on the challenge that I have ahead.' And if you do that you tend to reside on the side of success."

ESPN.com's Dave McMenamin and Royce Young contributed to this story.

Jakob, Filip and Henrik hope to help Eliud Kipchoge break two hours for the marathon in Vienna in October

Famous running brothers Jakob, Filip and Henrik Ingebrigtsen have been confirmed as part of the pacemaking team for Eliud Kipchoge’s INEOS 1:59 Challenge in Vienna this October.

In a recent interview, world marathon record-holder Kipchoge described breaking the two-hour barrier for the 26.2-mile event as “like the first man to go to the moon” and so far eight athletes have been announced as being part of the ‘pacemaking family’ which will hope to help the Kenyan to achieve it.

READ MORE: Eliud Kipchoge shoots for the stars

Last year, aged just 17, Jakob won both 1500m and 5000m titles at the European Championships and this autumn the Norwegian – who will then be 19 – will be the youngest of Kipchoge’s pacemakers, 25 years younger than USA’s Bernard Lagat who at 44 years old will be the oldest.

“To be a teenager and to be part of this project is really amazing,” said Jakob. “As a family we are used to running together and to be able to run together, alongside other great athletes to help Eliud Kipchoge try to break two hours will be something very special.”

READ MORE: Eliud Kipchoge targets sub-two-hour marathon in INEOS 1:59 Challenge

Filip added: “Kipchoge was so close last time he tried at Breaking2 and he has improved since then.

“If he is in the sort of form he was in when he broke the world record in Berlin last year – and with three hares flying in from Norway to help – I expect there to be a record.”

Joining the ‘three hares’ will be Lagat, Kenyans Augustine Choge and Victor Chumo and Australians Jack Rayner and Brett Robinson.

Further pacemakers are set to be announced in the coming weeks.

BARRE, Vt. — Matt White barreled to his first Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl win in more than two years by taking the Maplewood/Irving Oil Late Model victory on Thursday night.

White dove underneath Washington’s Ricky Roberts for the lead early in the 50-lap feature and never let go of the top spot.

The veteran bounced back from a last-place finish the week before by making a bold move to get out front. White was running third when the event’s only caution flew on lap five for an incident involving Tyler Cahoon.

On the restart, White got a huge bite off turn two, along him to drive inside both polesitter Ricky Roberts and runner-up Brendan Moodie. White completed the pass a lap later to take over the point.

From there, no one could touch White. A lengthy duel eventually developed for second that included Boomer Morris, Jason Corliss, Cody Blake, and Kyle Pembroke. When Corliss had to back off after trying the inside line of second on lap 30, Blake jumped to the outside, and he found the bite that Corliss had been unable to get earlier.

Blake eventually cleared Morris for the second spot himself with 15 laps to go. But White was long gone by then, taking his seventh late model win by more than a straightaway.

Barre’s Blake finished second with Morris taking his first podium of the year in third. Corliss held off a late bid from Kyle Pembroke to finish fourth and unofficially retain the points lead.

Brandon Lanphear continued his second-half hot streak by grabbing his first feature win of the year in the Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers. Lanphear charged from 12th on the starting grid to third just past halfway in the 40-lap feature but was more than a straightaway behind leader Cooper Bouchard.

However, Kevin Streeter ended up in the turn-three wall to bring out the second caution on lap 24, which allowed the field to close up.

Lanphear got past Colin Cornell for second just before Cornell spun on lap 26 to bring out the third caution. After another yellow when Brian Delphia got turned around on the restart, Bouchard and Lanphear went at it for seven laps before Lanphear was able to complete the pass for the lead. Just seconds later, Bouchard broke a wheel, coming to a halt in turn four and drawing yet another yellow.

The sixth and final caution on lap 35 for a three-car incident set up a battle to the checkers between Lanphear and rookie Stephen Martin. The two locked horns and swapped the lead multiple times before Lanphear got clear on the final lap for the win.

Martin finished second and unofficially took over the points lead from Jason Woodard, who got nipped at the line by Barre’s Jason Pelkey for third.

Keegan Lamson roared to his first career Thunder Road victory in the 25-lap Allen Lumber Street Stock feature. The 14-year-old got the jump on polesitter Royce Lussier at the drop of the green to take the lead. Tanner Woodard followed him to second and soon began to apply the pressure as the two walked away from the field.

Kasey Beattie eventually broke out of the pack and caught the two leaders with nine laps remaining in the caution-free event. But try as they might, neither Woodard nor Beattie could find a way around Lamson as the rookie earned the victory.

Woodard and Beattie, a pair of 15-year-olds, took second and third.

Juan “Paco” Marshall also became a first-time winner in the Marvin Johnson Memorial. Marshall started sixth in the 19-lap event and suddenly found himself in second after a multi-car backstretch tangle on the second circuit.

The sophomore competitor then got the jump over Royce Lussier on the restart and held off East Kingston, NH’s Bryan P. Wall through two more restarts, including one for Derek Farnham’s head-on trip into the frontstretch wall, to claim the victory. Wall finished second followed by Kasey Collins.

Brian Putney capped the night with his second win of the year in the Burnett Scrap Metal Road Warriors. Putney pulled away from the field following two early cautions. Berlin’s Haidyn Pearce started to reel Putney in down the stretch, but Putney had enough to hold on for the win.

Pearce earned his first career podium result with a second-place finish.

URBANA, Mo. – Ryan Gustin earned the 100th victory of his career in United States Modified Touring Series competition on Thursday night at Dallas County Speedway.

Gustin had to fend off a determined Dereck Ramirez in the inaugural Bullring Bash, with Gustin beating Ramirez in a photo finish.

“That was one heck of a race,” Gustin said in victory lane. “I thought he (Ramirez) took it away from us, but we gave each other a lane and always race each other clean.

“I wasn’t sure we were going to get number 100 this year or not,” Gustin said. “It’s a milestone, man, and it feels good. Looking forward to tomorrow.”

The winner never had a moment to rest as action was constant from the front of the field back.

From the pole position, Terry Phillips took charge at the drop of the green flag and ran the low line while Gustin churned the loose clay lining the long way around the track.

The lead duo found the back of the pack by lap 12 and Gustin was able to squeak by to lead for the first time on lap 18 just before a caution flag waved and let everybody catch their breath.

Phillips continued to challenge Gustin for the lead for the next 10 laps until the two made contact in turn four and Phillips wound up smacking a yuke tire near the exit of the corner.

Another yellow flag waved as Phillips saw his night come to an end, and on the restart Marriott followed Gustin but Ramirez stuck his nose underneath and claimed the second position.

The final 10 laps were intense as Gustin and Ramirez raced wheel-to-wheel lap after lap while four more cautions slowed the pace.

The final caution waved with three laps to go, and Ramirez edged in front of Gustin at the flagstand to lead lap 38 and again the next time around as they drag-raced beneath USMTS flagman Ryne Staley’s white flag.

The pair exited the final corner door to door as they raced to the checkered. Despite sending a shower of sparks off of the front-stretch concrete wall, Gustin nipped Ramirez by less than five one-hundredths of a second.

“This is a small deal, it’s elbows up,” Gustin added. “It doesn’t matter what you do to your car, you just have to get up on the wheel at these small little places and get after it.”

The win was worth $2,500 to the 28-year-old from Marshalltown, Iowa.

For Ramirez, it was his fifth runner-up finish in seven races during the Casey’s Hunt for the USMTS National Championship while Marriott, Rodney Sanders and Dean Wille completed the top five.

The finish:

Ryan Gustin, Dereck Ramirez, Hunter Marriott, Rodney Sanders, Dean Wille, Jake O’Neil, Jason Pursley, Terry Schultz, Stephen Muilenburg, Colson Kirk, Travis Saurer, Mike Striegel, Mickey Burrell, Mark Simon, Joe Duvall, Chris Clark, Jimmy Ray, Greg Skaggs, Terry Phillips, Adam Kates, Lance Mari, Austin Siebert, Ed Griggs, Tyler Wolff.