Seems quite a while since Jakob won a global 1500 race without a pacemaker...
My thoughts here. Jakob being the "#1 miler" is not as clear to me. There has not been a race in recent memory where Jakob was not swept away by pacemakers to the win. 22 worlds felt like a fluke, but now that Kerr beat him this year, it feels much less so. How "unbeatable" is he really, when he doesn't have pacemakers or Cheriyot to act like a pacer?
It does feel like Kerr is ducking, but it doesn't really take anything away from his win for me. Sure, it would be awesome if Kerr took Jakob on and beat him again, but he has the right to deny Jakob the chance to race him again. If he lost to Kerr, the media would most certainly take that as Jakob being superior and add an asterisk to Kerr's title.
Kerr ducking makes him look a lot worse than losing the DL final would. Nobody expects him to beat Jakob because everyone knows who the better runner is. Josh already won when it mattered. He has nothing to lose and everything to gain by running the final, so skipping is a weak move.
In terms of Jakob being unbeatable, he’s been untouchable this year when healthy. A guy who can run 3:27.14 with very little drafting does not need pacers to win a championship race from the front. It simply wasn’t his day in Budapest, just like it wasn’t Farah’s day in London, or El Guerrouj’s day in Sydney, or Coe’s day in Moscow. Sometimes the best athlete gets silver.
A guy who can run 3:27.14 with very little drafting does not need pacers to win a championship race from the front. It simply wasn’t his day in Budapest, just like it wasn’t Farah’s day in London, or El Guerrouj’s day in Sydney, or Coe’s day in Moscow. Sometimes the best athlete gets silver.
“Very little drafting” is still drafting. Excluding Cheriyot’s pacing duties at Tokyo, when was the last time Jakob placed 1st in a completely unrabbited field?
Jakob is 1 for 3 now in championship 1500s. I wouldn’t exactly say it “sometimes” isn’t his day. It’s 66% of the time.
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For others, being able to run fast and win several times is better.
Looking at YouTube, Kerr hardly gets any views when interviewed. For some reason, fans do not pay attention to him.
He is maybe a hero here on LR. But the numbers are telling the truth. He is not getting fans engaged.
If Pre could choose? You do you think would help the meet to get more attention, more fans, more buzz?
You can add forALL Josh Kerr is the Reigning World champion... Even if Jakob takes a win off of him. Yared already beat him when he was probably fresher. I don't see you guys crying for Jakob to race Yared. It justifies nothing you guys pushing this narrative that Jakob is owed a race against the champion everytime he loses. He is going to keep losing these races unless they are 3:27 races. If he respects the competition the same way that he does in the 5k maybe he will win again.
Kerr already has lost to Jakob this season a couple times anyways. You guys are whining. Just wait until next year.
If Kerr didn't win gold but beat Jakob at Prefontaine nobody would care. Jakob fans are still so tilted about him losing, it's so funny.
If Kerr didn’t win gold, Jakob would be world champion and undefeated this season. Kerr beating him (especially after the 2k WR) would be a huge deal.
No it wouldn't, every single fanboy would say something like, "he didn't try + end of the season doesn't count + he is actually on break and jet lagged".
The point of my post is this entire thread is bashing Kerr for something that barely matters because they're still salty that their hero is a whiny choke artist.
But Jakob wouldn't do that, would he. It's one of those fantasy scenarios. The race will just be the usual Jakob pace-train. We know he wins those, it's boring. If the meet organisers had any balls they'd remove the pacers and put Jakob under real pressure, but it's likely that Jakob would cry and throw his toys out of the pram.
Also, do you know how much Kerr has been offered? The guy deserves to get paid.
This is such a weird sentiment. Why does Jakob take all the flack for not being able to win without a pacer when nobody else can either? Josh Kerr certainly can’t as we saw in Zurich. It’s like you guys forget that everyone in the field benefits from being paced.
We used to hate on people for sitting and kicking, and now that we have a guy who loves to front run, we hate on him for not sitting and kicking. I don’t understand it.
Er, Kerr lost in a paced race in Zurich and WITHOUT the pacers in Budapest. I'm happy for Jakob to be paced, but it's a different type of race and has no place in a DL final.
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This is such a weird sentiment. Why does Jakob take all the flack for not being able to win without a pacer when nobody else can either? Josh Kerr certainly can’t as we saw in Zurich. It’s like you guys forget that everyone in the field benefits from being paced.
We used to hate on people for sitting and kicking, and now that we have a guy who loves to front run, we hate on him for not sitting and kicking. I don’t understand it.
Er, Kerr lost in a paced race in Zurich and WITHOUT the pacers in Budapest. I'm happy for Jakob to be paced, but it's a different type of race and has no place in a DL final.
In a normal Diamond League race, everyone is paced. Jakob actually gets the least help in many of these races because once the official pacers drop, he becomes the de facto rabbit for the rest of the field. They get to sit behind him while he pushes from the front. Kerr got a taste of this in Zurich.
World Champs was not a different type of race for anyone other than Jakob. The other guys sat on him the entire way, just like they do in every single Diamond League. If you want to argue that he can’t win without pacers, fine, but neither can anybody else. It’s a dumb criticism.
Er, Kerr lost in a paced race in Zurich and WITHOUT the pacers in Budapest. I'm happy for Jakob to be paced, but it's a different type of race and has no place in a DL final.
In a normal Diamond League race, everyone is paced. Jakob actually gets the least help in many of these races because once the official pacers drop, he becomes the de facto rabbit for the rest of the field. They get to sit behind him while he pushes from the front. Kerr got a taste of this in Zurich.
World Champs was not a different type of race for anyone other than Jakob. The other guys sat on him the entire way, just like they do in every single Diamond League. If you want to argue that he can’t win without pacers, fine, but neither can anybody else. It’s a dumb criticism.
You're conflating pacing with front running. Pacers are prescribed a time and the people that follow know this, the only decision to make for the racers is whether to follow. In a championship race with a front runner, everyone is still making tactical calculations - when to surge, when to move up, when to kick - even the front runner is making decisions, hence why Jakob lost in 2022, he made bad decisions. Pacers remove the element of decision making for at least two laps. It's fundamentally different. Everyone who understands track knows this, it's not a controversial point.
In a normal Diamond League race, everyone is paced. Jakob actually gets the least help in many of these races because once the official pacers drop, he becomes the de facto rabbit for the rest of the field. They get to sit behind him while he pushes from the front. Kerr got a taste of this in Zurich.
World Champs was not a different type of race for anyone other than Jakob. The other guys sat on him the entire way, just like they do in every single Diamond League. If you want to argue that he can’t win without pacers, fine, but neither can anybody else. It’s a dumb criticism.
You're conflating pacing with front running. Pacers are prescribed a time and the people that follow know this, the only decision to make for the racers is whether to follow. In a championship race with a front runner, everyone is still making tactical calculations - when to surge, when to move up, when to kick - even the front runner is making decisions, hence why Jakob lost in 2022, he made bad decisions. Pacers remove the element of decision making for at least two laps. It's fundamentally different. Everyone who understands track knows this, it's not a controversial point.
None of this is unique to a championship. Everybody in the field knows Jakob can and will run 3:29 from the front. To follow him (just like they do in every other race) is a no-brainer.
"Downvote this all you want but the facts won't change:Dow Doha 2019 - 4th Tokyo 2021 - 1st Belgrade 2022 - 2nd Eugene 2022 - 2nd Budapest 2023 - 2nd 1 for 5"
You're conflating pacing with front running. Pacers are prescribed a time and the people that follow know this, the only decision to make for the racers is whether to follow. In a championship race with a front runner, everyone is still making tactical calculations - when to surge, when to move up, when to kick - even the front runner is making decisions, hence why Jakob lost in 2022, he made bad decisions. Pacers remove the element of decision making for at least two laps. It's fundamentally different. Everyone who understands track knows this, it's not a controversial point.
None of this is unique to a championship. Everybody in the field knows Jakob can and will run 3:29 from the front. To follow him (just like they do in every other race) is a no-brainer.
Maybe I don’t understand track.
I disagree. There are many decisions to be made. Do you go sit on his shoulder? Kerr didn't until 300 to go. Wightman didn't either, he let Tim and Kipsang take the prime spot for most of the race. Do you try and go past Jakob before the final lap? Tim and Kipsang tried this in 2022, several times. Covering these surges is what cost Jakob the win. It's also a risk to let Jakob just run from the front. He's not Stewie McSweyn, a guy who will definitely fade. Jakob is perfectly capable of running away from the field on his day, by letting him control the front of the race, everyone else is gambling. Racing is all about decision making which is why championships are so much more exciting. Paced races are different, the pacers aren't a threat so they never have to be considered. They remove a significant element of decision making.
"Downvote this all you want but the facts won't change:Dow Doha 2019 - 4th Tokyo 2021 - 1st Belgrade 2022 - 2nd Eugene 2022 - 2nd Budapest 2023 - 2nd 1 for 5"
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Thanks for the information.
Can you find anyone who has done better?
That's not the point. It's a great record, most people would be proud of a single silver medal and he has three. The point is, these are the only races he loses
Jacob absolved his defeat at the Worlds with his world record at 2000 and will win the diamond league final. If he was not sick he would have won the 1500 at worlds. Kerr should grab the glory now while he has the chance.