Jakob lost in 2022 because of all the tactical errors mid-race that drained his energy. It’s wrong to say he “let” Wightman pass because at that point in the race he couldn’t prevent it. He had his stride checked during that pass which effectively decided their finishing order. Wightman won because he was a 3:29 guy with more energy and better positioning at the end. It had nothing to do with his superior speed.
In 2023 Jakob was sick and it showed. He couldn’t push the 3rd lap and tried to save something for the end but it wasn’t enough. His final 300 was awful by his standards, slower than his final 300 when he ran 3:27.14 if I’m not mistaken (remember that official splits from Budapest are wrong).
In top shape it looks like he could put the hammer down on the 3rd lap and win convincingly in 3:27-high/3:28-low. I think winding it up from 700-800 out a la El Guerrouj is low-risk and actually gives him his best chance to win, but it’s unlikely he’ll do this per his recent comments.
The mistake is thinking that he has to lead because he is so much slower than the others. His semifinal in Budapest (3:35 comfortably closing in 51-high) should have put that to rest, but most letsrun posters have short memories. Of course, Jakob is just one of the many guys capable of closing a 3:40 race in 50 seconds, so there’s no reason for him to go this route when pushing the pace will neutralize a lot of potential kickers and cut the number of challengers down considerably.
I think he could’ve fought harder to prevent the pass. Agree to disagree. It was 53 for that semi last lap (splits were incorrect), but he did celebrate and run wide so your overall point is correct.
Jakob lost in 2022 because of all the tactical errors mid-race that drained his energy. It’s wrong to say he “let” Wightman pass because at that point in the race he couldn’t prevent it. He had his stride checked during that pass which effectively decided their finishing order. Wightman won because he was a 3:29 guy with more energy and better positioning at the end. It had nothing to do with his superior speed.
In 2023 Jakob was sick and it showed. He couldn’t push the 3rd lap and tried to save something for the end but it wasn’t enough. His final 300 was awful by his standards, slower than his final 300 when he ran 3:27.14 if I’m not mistaken (remember that official splits from Budapest are wrong).
In top shape it looks like he could put the hammer down on the 3rd lap and win convincingly in 3:27-high/3:28-low. I think winding it up from 700-800 out a la El Guerrouj is low-risk and actually gives him his best chance to win, but it’s unlikely he’ll do this per his recent comments.
The mistake is thinking that he has to lead because he is so much slower than the others. His semifinal in Budapest (3:35 comfortably closing in 51-high) should have put that to rest, but most letsrun posters have short memories. Of course, Jakob is just one of the many guys capable of closing a 3:40 race in 50 seconds, so there’s no reason for him to go this route when pushing the pace will neutralize a lot of potential kickers and cut the number of challengers down considerably.
I think he could’ve fought harder to prevent the pass. Agree to disagree. It was 53 for that semi last lap (splits were incorrect), but he did celebrate and run wide so your overall point is correct.
Fair enough, though I have to quibble over your semifinal comment. His official split was 50.6 but in reality he ran more like 51-high or perhaps 52-low. It was much faster than 53 in any case, but I’m glad we agree on the larger point. Too many posters underestimate how fast the “slow” guys really are.
Jakob has an Olympic gold in the 1500m and 2 World Championship Golds in the 5000m. Jake and Kerr need to be quiet for the goodness sake.
Plus Jakob actually races all year and is great for the sport - when healthy - indoors, cross country, diamond leagues, worlds / olympics, World Records, pulling people to American Records - Jake and Kerr probably go to some training retreat after one indoor race until British trials. I'm not a fan.
Didn't Wightman try the same tactics at Comm games a couple of weeks after worlds and go. t run down by some Aussie dude who hadn't made the final at world champs? Kudos to wightman and kerr for the world titles but they seem to be taking the bait from some journos when answering leading questions . I'd be very very surprised if they both medal in Paris and even more surprised if one of them win . Great tactics got them gold but if they genuinely believe that they can rinse and repeat they'll get spat out the back as other athletes will sling shot off them.
Jakob has an Olympic gold in the 1500m and 2 World Championship Golds in the 5000m. Jake and Kerr need to be quiet for the goodness sake.
Plus Jakob actually races all year and is great for the sport - when healthy - indoors, cross country, diamond leagues, worlds / olympics, World Records, pulling people to American Records - Jake and Kerr probably go to some training retreat after one indoor race until British trials. I'm not a fan.
seriously these brits have one good race each and start flapping their beaks about someone who, at the age of 23, has already outperformed what they could possibly hope to achieve in their entire careers
Before I bet my life I’d like to have an independent exam performed on Jakob’s achilles, but if it’s good, of course Jakob is the best choice. He may not be favored against the entire field, but certainly his odds of winning are far greater than any other individual runner. As for coaching, I’d love to coach Jakob because he doesn’t need a coach. He knows exactly what he’s doing and why he’s doing it. All I’d say is, “ok, how are you going to beat Kerr, Wightman, Yared,” and then I’d sit back and watch the workouts.
Jakob has an Olympic gold in the 1500m and 2 World Championship Golds in the 5000m. Jake and Kerr need to be quiet for the goodness sake.
Plus Jakob actually races all year and is great for the sport - when healthy - indoors, cross country, diamond leagues, worlds / olympics, World Records, pulling people to American Records - Jake and Kerr probably go to some training retreat after one indoor race until British trials. I'm not a fan.
seriously these brits have one good race each and start flapping their beaks about someone who, at the age of 23, has already outperformed what they could possibly hope to achieve in their entire careers
Wightman gives a very nuance description of the situation. It is hard to believe anyone gets that upset by it. People are acting like he is walking around saying he is the greatest and JI got lucky. Other than give the bland JI is a great runner but anything can happen in a championship race response what do you expect?
Now if Nuguse chimes in with I would have won if I didn’t run like an idiot, I am not sure if he is telli by the truth or delusional😂
Yeah I'm jumping in from the first page, my bad, but I laugh at Wightman's idea that "You'd rather be in our situation" (referring to himself and Josh Kerr.)
Hey Jake... if it was me? I rather be in Nuguse's situation!
glorified journeyman wightman is a coward sit and kick guy, that benefitted by the free ride of jacob and instead of a thank you, he decides to trash talk.
glorified journeyman wightman is a coward sit and kick guy, that benefitted by the free ride of jacob and instead of a thank you, he decides to trash talk.
15 min of fame is up coward wightman,
well said friend - these mouthy brits should have learned their lesson back in 1776
The mistake is thinking that he has to lead because he is so much slower than the others. His semifinal in Budapest (3:35 comfortably closing in 51-high) should have put that to rest, but most letsrun posters have short memories. Of course, Jakob is just one of the many guys capable of closing a 3:40 race in 50 seconds, so there’s no reason for him to go this route when pushing the pace will neutralize a lot of potential kickers and cut the number of challengers down considerably.
He does have to lead though. No sane person would ever pass him and pace for him because they know that they have a much better chance beating him if the pace is slower. A 50 second last 400 is not fast anymore, it's not 2016. If they had a gentlemen's 1500m race where they weren't allowed to run sub 2:45 for the first 1100, nobody would ever bet on Jakob. He has slower acceleration and worse top end speed than your average high school track coach.
This post was edited 3 minutes after it was posted.
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Has trash talk lost its meaning? Did we (and the others losing their sh*t) read the same article? I thought it was a really interesting perspective highlighting the different strengths/weaknesses, as well as the journey back from major injury. The only bit I'd strongly disagree with was that I'd rather be in his or JKs position, but that's hardly trash talk.
Jakob's broken Achilles has spelled his doom. They are gonna get him. Can't win with a bad Achilles, the edge is forever off his stride.
YES FULLY AGREED 100%%%%%%!!!! This is why I was very dejected when Jakob got this injury, I KNEW IT WAS ALL OVER, PERIOD!!!
Doesn't matter how many massages he is gonna get, how many cross training or biking or whatever, nothing in this world beats raw, original, natural, uninjured Achilles tendon elastic spring return EFFICIENCY!!!
I think he could’ve fought harder to prevent the pass. Agree to disagree. It was 53 for that semi last lap (splits were incorrect), but he did celebrate and run wide so your overall point is correct.
Yes he could have fought harder. But Wightman’s shifting ability is quite unique, and takes other athletes by surprise (see the Diamond league in 2020 where he easily surpassed Filip Ingebrigtsen in the last bend, and for a little while gained at Jakob and Tim).
I think Jakob’s error in 2022 was a too slow third lap. When Wightman made his shift it was too late to respond. But against Kerr Jakob responded very well, and forced him to be wide in the entire whole last bend… But Kerr hasn’t Wightman’s shift.
Fair enough, though I have to quibble over your semifinal comment. His official split was 50.6 but in reality he ran more like 51-high or perhaps 52-low. It was much faster than 53 in any case, but I’m glad we agree on the larger point. Too many posters underestimate how fast the “slow” guys really are.
Yes, and too many do not understand the “rules” for a home straight / last 200m “kick” in the 1500m:
1. In a really slow race the 800m fast guys can out kick the others because a slow first 700m of a 1500m makes it mimic an 800m race.
2. In a fast 1500m race (and even a medium fast one) the strongest / best 1500m runner “out kicks” the others f.ex in the home straight (because of more left in the tank the last few hundred meters).
3. There are a few exceptions, f.ex Nordås. Beamish and Kincaid (none of them fast 800m runners) -these guys can kick hard even when they are very near an all out pace / exhaustion. But freaks like these are very rare, and kind of “godly blessed” (though there are some down to earth explanations here as well)…
We’re very old school with how we approach it from having a bit more speed. In championship races that always gives you a chance. So it’s tough for Jakob. You’d rather be in our situation.
They just don't get him. Jakob talked about this multiple times - he doesn't want a chance to win, he wants to dominate from the front. For him it's either gold or last place, nothing in between. He's very explicit that he in fact DOESN'T want to be in their situation.
He has no alternative. He can't beat them in a sprint finish. He isn't fast enough. But he always wants to win.
glorified journeyman wightman is a coward sit and kick guy, that benefitted by the free ride of jacob and instead of a thank you, he decides to trash talk.
15 min of fame is up coward wightman,
A world champion who’s broken 3:30, 2:13, 1:43 isn’t a journeyman. Sam Parsons is a journeyman, you don’t even know what that word means.