What is a best day? Jakob WAS, more than likely, on his best day. He was fit. He was ready. There was nothing stopping him. The truth is that he has slow finishing speed. He has to run the kick out of his competition by keeping the race wound up. I'm sure he's smart enough to know this. The fact that he didn't might be just as much a tactical error as it is arrogance. It could also be that he didn't have the goods. It's ok for him to get beaten. Just as they say in football: "Any given Sunday, any team can beat another." I think he just got beaten. It's like throwing your hands up before the finish line and another comes in a squeaks by for the win. People aren't robots. Sometimes they deserve to lose. Jakob deserved his loss and should acknowledge that Wightman ran a hell of a race.
Best day means being fit and ready (of course he was based on the 5000 a few days later), but it also means positioning yourself, not wasting energy or breaking trail, starting to close at the right time, etc. In that race, for whatever reason, Jakob flubbed those elements just enough AND Wightman did everything just right. No doubt the field comprises super elite pros and something like 4-6 of them could actually win if things break just right for them as they did for Jake. However, Jakob against the entire field, I think Jakob wins 90% of the time. Do you disagree? Wightman himself wins that race once every 10-20 times it’s run, something like that. That’s domination at this level of distance running. I only see the gap widening this year and next, not narrowing, but ok, let’s see.
The issue isn't who would generally win between them; it is that sometimes the better runner will lose. A loss is to be accepted, not produce excuses or diminution of an opponent that beats you on the day.
🤣These “sub 1:45 guys” are going to cough up a lung trying to keep up with him. Doesn’t matter if your fast if you are totally gassed at the end.
As a limited number of people on this board can attest to (those criticizing Jakob), when one's training and racing come together and you've achieved the feeling of "invincibility" there is no greater feeling as an athlete, especially at the elite level. To toe the line and have the confidence that your race plan is simply to "Run Away" from the field and think "Catch me if you can", you're now at the next level. Jakob is NOT a sore loser, he simply has set a standard for himself that few if any runners at this time can match. He's a "sore loser" with himself, not JW or any other competitor. Self centered? self serving? or selfish?, call it what you will, it is a necessary trait to have in order to be the BEST, it's not a personal attack on anyone.
Jakob is at the "Next Level".
He wasn't at "the next level" when Wightman beat him.
And I don't think Wightman meant it as an insult, he was just speaking imprecisely.
I wish more athletes gave interviews like Jakob, but scrutinising every word (as in this instance) isn't going to incentivise anyone to do so.
P.S. It's worth noting that although English is Jakob's second language, he seemingly speaks it better than most runners who are native English speakers.
He doesn't say "like" every second word, doesn't use cliches as crutches and he doesn't speak in circles.
I get what you're saying. And it might be true that Jakob wins more often than not. But he does lose. and he loses with a certain amount of regularity, which means he's beatable. No one is entitled to win. If everyone had a perfect day with all that stuff you mentioned, I say Jakob gets beaten. Kipsang has shown himself capable of doing that regularly. In fact, Was it Jakob or his dad that said Jakob would never lose another 1500 race and he promptly went out and lost the next race he was in. If memory serves, I think that was following the last Olympics. Anyway, them main point of my comment is that no runner can flawlessly put together race after race of superior performance no matter how good they are and control the race circumstance to guarantee a win. Ingebrigtsen will lose again. It's the way it goes.
Yeah, honestly, without pacers I’d say Jakob has a 60% chance of winning and the field about 40%. Again, Jakob is the best miler in the field, but doesn’t have the unbeatable turn of pace in a championship race prime Coe or Morceli did. Guys like Wightman, Kerr, Hoare, and Cheryuit can all catch him on the right day in a 3:29-3:31 type race.
Although I think if Jakob runs under 3:29 like in Tokyo he’ll win 90% of the time. I believe Jakob’s currently a 3:27/12:40-45 guy in perfect races. Essentially, close to unbeatable in 1500m time trials and championship 5ks, but likely vulnerable in championship 1500ms and someone in sub 12:40 shape in a fast 5k
Wightman has beaten Jakob ONE TIME in an important race. Let´s see what kind of shape he has this year. My bet is that he will ever beat Jakob again since he is close to 30 years old while Jakob is at an age where he is still improving.
Kerr and Hoare have never beaten Jakob in an important race and Timothy wasn´t close to beat him in 2022 so it has to been seen that one of them will succeed in the future.
I agree with Wise Old Man who has stated: Jakob is only getting better the next years.
We will see if this is true when Jakob is running the indoor 1500m in Lievin in the middle of next month and the 3000m in Madrid a week later.
Jakob is strong and getting stronger. He races and races and races, he runs xc! In an era where many of the sport’s biggest stars are awol, this guy is out there competing seemingly every week. I don’t think you can overestimate how tough that makes you to beat. He’s really the epitome of a “beast.” I think he can probably run from the front and still run a 3:28. Nobody is going to be able deal with that. Sure, if somebody like Kipsang wants to do the work, Jakob should let him, but I think he’s entering a performance territory where it simply is not going to matter in 2023 or 2024 barring injury or illness. He just needs to get on the rail, lock in and run fast and he’s going to win. He can run these global 1500 finals like the kid in HS in a conference championship who has a pr 5s clear of the field. Just run and win. Tactics only matter when people are of near equal level.
I sure wish the best Americans would race more often instead of hiding out and doing secret training. (Hi Grant). unfortunately they follow the same playbook Rupp followed.
To be a champion you have to be a sore loser. You may or may not show it but it is there whether overt or covert in every champion.
This is the post that gets it, without getting it.
Every champion hates losing - yes.
But what defines whether you are a sore loser, is whether when you lose (and you are hating that fact), you choose: to say "well done" and "I lost to the better runner on the day" or you have the option to say "I should have won / I'm better / here's how I should have beaten you."
I've been thinking about this some more. To me, he wasn't a sore-loser. He just wasn't a super gracious loser. WE are used to seeing people be super gracious and speak in platitudes that really is just fake news.
When someone is honest, it's sometimes viewed as a joke. When Jonathan Gault wrote that the French steepler was an ahole, I was shocked but then thought, "But he's right."
I'm not sure if we've ever printed those words before in a news article. I think it's warranted based on his actions but in this day and age calling a spade a spade can be controversial. In fact, we are regularly told that we...
As a limited number of people on this board can attest to (those criticizing Jakob), when one's training and racing come together and you've achieved the feeling of "invincibility" there is no greater feeling as an athlete, especially at the elite level. To toe the line and have the confidence that your race plan is simply to "Run Away" from the field and think "Catch me if you can", you're now at the next level. Jakob is NOT a sore loser, he simply has set a standard for himself that few if any runners at this time can match. He's a "sore loser" with himself, not JW or any other competitor. Self centered? self serving? or selfish?, call it what you will, it is a necessary trait to have in order to be the BEST, it's not a personal attack on anyone.
Jakob is at the "Next Level".
He wasn't at "the next level" when Wightman beat him.
I don't think I ever stated the Wightman was not at the "Next Level" did I? You can have multiple athletes at the "Next Level", and being a world champion Jake W is included. The real challenge is how long can one stay at the "Next Level". As much as I respect JW and his accomplishment, do you really believe he will beat Jakob again?
My two cents skipping the entire thread. Jakob is the favorite and the best in the world for the 1500-5k range aside from Ugandan time trial races, and even maybe not always with those. And Jakob knows it. If Jake and Jakob race a 10 races, Jake would be fortunate to win one of them. The stars aligned for Jake, and Jakob is mad that he let one slip away at one of the worst possible moments.
The part about Jakob explaining to Wightman what he SHOULD have done to beat him reminds me of an experience I had in high school in the 4x4. I ran a real close anchor leg to win and the #2 anchor comes up to me after and says "good job, but if I had another few meters I would have got you." I still ran the faster leg according to my coach, but he began to close the gap in the last 20 meters. I told him "well good thing we were running a 400 not a 410 then." It's just silly the things people say to keep their egos intact.
This can be annoying but at the same time I don't really mind it. It just encourages me to absolutely embarrass my opponent the next time we meet and leave no question as to who is better.
Jakob was absolutely a sore loser. To say you lost to someone inferiour to is absolutely ridiculous. He did the same during indoor season. And if you disagree, IMAGINE what he and his brothers would've said if Timothy said the same after the Olympics, which he absolutely could have (in a way).
"If arrogant is believing in yourself and believing in your work then, I mean... that's a weird definition of arrogant. I think you need to be some sort of arrogant, but you can't be a douche or an xsshole. You need to believe in yourself, and if that's arrogant then some people are idiots."
I think Jakob embodies that 2nd sentence perfectly. He believes he's the best and isn't afraid to say it, but at the same time is respectful to his competitors and doesn't make excuses when he's beaten.
He took silver in the last two world 1500m finals (that most agree he should have won) and look at how he handled it. In Belgrade, he congratulated Tefera and called him the better man on the day. In Eugene, he congratulated Wightman and had nothing but good things to say about him in the interview. The only "sour grapes" comment was "[Wightman] also realizes I didn't reach my potential today" which was just Jakob saying out loud what all of us were thinking.
Regarding Jake's comments, I don't think anything he said was contradictory. He and Jakob have both spoken very highly of each other, and the "sore loser" remark seems more about Jakob's anger/disappointment at losing than any bad attitude towards Jake. Both guys are easy to root for and I look forward to seeing them race each other again.
He said that he lost to a worse runner in both losses. Its just unecessary. How do you determine the best runner? Its about silverware and if Jakob only can win with a perfect race for his skills in the finals, then I disagree that he is clearly the "best" if the race doesnt go as planned. Could wightman then say "I am the best runner, but today it wasnt a sprint finish so I lost"?
Jakob was absolutely a sore loser. To say you lost to someone inferiour to is absolutely ridiculous. He did the same during indoor season. And if you disagree, IMAGINE what he and his brothers would've said if Timothy said the same after the Olympics, which he absolutely could have (in a way).