A) It was Farah's British record he was going for.
damn that's even worse. not continental record but island record
Yeah he wasn’t going for Jakob’s 3:27.14 European Record. Obviously had he achieved that it would have been hugely significant. As is I don’t think he could have run a 3:28.80 NR that day even with good pacing, but credit to him for trying and keeping the pace going after the pacers failed him; there’s no shame in that performance the week after Worlds. There is shame in using Zurich as an excuse to drop out of the DL final, assuming that’s actually what he’s done (a link would be nice). His performance in NYC today pretty much proves that’s BS.
He should be using the opportunity to chase Steve Cram’s 38 year old British mile record of 3:46.32, which converts to ~3:29.55.
damn that's even worse. not continental record but island record
Yeah he wasn’t going for Jakob’s 3:27.14 European Record. Obviously had he achieved that it would have been hugely significant. As is I don’t think he could have run a 3:28.80 NR that day even with good pacing, but credit to him for trying and keeping the pace going after the pacers failed him; there’s no shame in that performance the week after Worlds. There is shame in using Zurich as an excuse to drop out of the DL final, assuming that’s actually what he’s done (a link would be nice). His performance in NYC today pretty much proves that’s BS.
He should be using the opportunity to chase Steve Cram’s 38 year old British mile record of 3:46.32, which converts to ~3:29.55.
That's also the European record, which Jakob missed last year in Oslo
A) It was Farah's British record he was going for.
damn that's even worse. not continental record but island record
When the 'island record' is 3:28 and it's the 6th fastest national record on earth; it's not exactly a walk in the park that you can achieve in a meaningless meet a week after worlds. Particularly when both pacers have a nightmare and drop out early. How many 3:28s have you run?
He should be using the opportunity to chase Steve Cram’s 38 year old British mile record of 3:46.32, which converts to ~3:29.55.
That's also the European record, which Jakob missed last year in Oslo
Yes, but I’m assuming that if Kerr were to run under 3:46.32 in Eugene it would be thanks largely to having another European to chase through the finish line.
I don't see why people care that Kerr is ducking Ingebrigtsen. It was Jakob's job to beat him at Worlds, which he did not. No-one thinks that Kerr can beat Jakob in a Diamond League anyway so being mad at him not attending seems pointless. The same thing was true last year: Wightman (who actually wasn't ducking because he was focusing on the 800 after Worlds as he stated before the season began) was hounded for not hopping into races with Jakob when those people hounding him all know he'd lose them anyways. Why are people desperate to see Jakob get "revenge"? If he wanted revenge this year then he should have won the 1500, "sick" or not.
I’m a Norwegian Jakob fan boy, and I agree in everything you are saying here!
Yeah he wasn’t going for Jakob’s 3:27.14 European Record. Obviously had he achieved that it would have been hugely significant. As is I don’t think he could have run a 3:28.80 NR that day even with good pacing, but credit to him for trying and keeping the pace going after the pacers failed him; there’s no shame in that performance the week after Worlds. There is shame in using Zurich as an excuse to drop out of the DL final, assuming that’s actually what he’s done (a link would be nice). His performance in NYC today pretty much proves that’s BS.
He should be using the opportunity to chase Steve Cram’s 38 year old British mile record of 3:46.32, which converts to ~3:29.55.
He's tired and doesn't want to lose. You could sense that in his interview with Weldon at 5th Ave Mile. It's somewhat lame because he talks a pretty big game, but in the end he acknowledged he just wanted to end the season on a high note as opposed to back up any talk.
Furthermore a Diamond League rematch at this point literally means nothing as no-one thinks Jakob isn't the most fit runner, but he clearly has a weakness in championship style racing in the 1500 which obliterating everyone in a Diamond League field does not address. It is pure ego massaging at best.
You are correct about the difference between Championship racing and DL racing. Its easily explained. No pace setters in Championships. In DL, Ingebrigtsen follows the rabbit and he is the only one who can handle the pace. He's just better than the other guys. Races the clock. In a championship, it becomes more of a race. Jakob has to get the lead (in a 1500) and push from 800 out. Others get to sit and take their chances with 200m to go.
Obviously, in a 5000, the dynamic changes. Jake gets to sit and kick.
He's tired and doesn't want to lose. You could sense that in his interview with Weldon at 5th Ave Mile. It's somewhat lame because he talks a pretty big game, but in the end he acknowledged he just wanted to end the season on a high note as opposed to back up any talk.
Agree to an extent with this, but in terms of backing up his talk, the job is done- he won world champ gold this year. It's long established that Kerr peaks for championship races and isn't too interested in DL wins, and he has an olympic bronze and WC gold to show for his approach. On the other hand, DL heroes like Nuguse and Katir came away with absolutely nada.
It's like asking Strickland to fight a non-title fight against Adesanya a few weeks after getting the middleweight belt- what would the upside be for him? He already has the belt, he can't 'win' the title again in a non-title fight, and if he loses, it takes a bit of shine off his season. As already mentioned above, rabbited DL races go massively in Jakob's favour too so why take the voluntary L as his last race of the year?
Yeah he wasn’t going for Jakob’s 3:27.14 European Record. Obviously had he achieved that it would have been hugely significant. As is I don’t think he could have run a 3:28.80 NR that day even with good pacing, but credit to him for trying and keeping the pace going after the pacers failed him; there’s no shame in that performance the week after Worlds. There is shame in using Zurich as an excuse to drop out of the DL final, assuming that’s actually what he’s done (a link would be nice). His performance in NYC today pretty much proves that’s BS.
He should be using the opportunity to chase Steve Cram’s 38 year old British mile record of 3:46.32, which converts to ~3:29.55.
He's tired and doesn't want to lose. You could sense that in his interview with Weldon at 5th Ave Mile. It's somewhat lame because he talks a pretty big game, but in the end he acknowledged he just wanted to end the season on a high note as opposed to back up any talk.
Jakob ran 2 Worlds finals when he was ill. Josh doesn´t want to run a DL final because he is "tired".
Agree to an extent with this, but in terms of backing up his talk, the job is done- he won world champ gold this year. It's long established that Kerr peaks for championship races and isn't too interested in DL wins, and he has an olympic bronze and WC gold to show for his approach. On the other hand, DL heroes like Nuguse and Katir came away with absolutely nada.
It's like asking Strickland to fight a non-title fight against Adesanya a few weeks after getting the middleweight belt- what would the upside be for him? He already has the belt, he can't 'win' the title again in a non-title fight, and if he loses, it takes a bit of shine off his season. As already mentioned above, rabbited DL races go massively in Jakob's favour too so why take the voluntary L as his last race of the year?
Well I was talking about the post-race talk. He took exception to Jakob essentially saying he only won because he's the best of the rest when Jakob is injured/sick/off. He then has a chance to prove Jakob wrong and his response is "well Jakob has to live with the fact that I beat him." Fair play, but not really the most courageous of responses to pretty transparently skip a chance to race the guy who diminished your accomplishment.
Katir was a whisker away from a gold in the 5K, so a weird criticism there of a "DL hero." Katir's approach last year led to 5K European Silver and World Champs bronze in the 1500 whereas Kerr got nothing. Strange guy to call out in my estimation.
Nuguse didn't peak as well as Josh, no question. I wouldn't call him out for performing consistently on the Diamond League like that's a bad thing. Places 2-4 are also guys who performed pretty well on the Diamond League, and Kerr did finish 3rd in his last DL race.
You are correct in that might be a no-win situation, but it's inaccurate to compare a combat sport to track. This is more akin to Djokovic backing up his US title by skipping the ATP Tour Finals or something (where Alcaraz would be), to win a lower-prestige tournament where the best competitor was Tiafoe or something. Though that's a bit off because Djokovic beating Alcaraz doesn't really surprise/feel flukish. But you get the general gist.