Was Jakob Ingegbritsen a 'bit of a sore-loser' as Jake Wightman claims?

Jakob is one of the consistently best interviews among elite athletes I’ve ever heard. He’s straightforward, forthcoming and funny. Why fake humility when you are the best and you know it? That’s way more annoying. Everything he said to Jake and about Jake and about that race was true. It’s not that he doesn’t respect Jake, but it’s just facts that Jakob is better and he needed to f up a bit and have a bad race, and Jake had to have a great effort, for this to be the outcome. Does anybody think differently? Why should Jakob pretend otherwise?

I know someone who lost a 4x800 in agonizing fashion (ran really well, probably mid 1:50s but couldn't make up the massive gap), but ran his next race (same meet) in a similar fashion to Jakob. He ran on his shoulder until 400 to go and pulled away while running in an outer lane (probably 3 or 4 for the entire final lap). Obviously it wasn't a contest since it was a 9:00 guy competing against a 9:40 guy, but he never lost another race that season.

I put this quote in another thread. It’s from Jakob after the wc 5000.

“My race plan?” he said before pausing to ponder the question. “I just wanted to win. And I wanted to win by as much as possible. I didn’t want a sprint finish, because then some people would have said that it was a coincidence or a tactical race. But today was not a tactical race. I just won it. I was the better runner.” (NYT, 7/24/22)

Is this arrogant or disrespectful? Does he have to kiss up or make his competitors feel good? No, it’s just the truth. He’s better than the competition nearly always and when he’s not, it’s probably more what he did wrong than what they did right. On his best day, he’s not losing in the 1500 or the 5000 to anybody.

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.

Yes, Jakob was a sore loser in the sense that while being gracious he would never say Jake is the superior runner to him. He wouldn’t even really say Jakob was better on the day, more Jakob just didn’t run his ideal race and Tim C and Kipsang screwed up his race plan to some degree. That being said, I think Jakes take on it isn’t contradictory because being a sore loser doesn’t make one a jerk necessarily. In Jakobs case if just makes him supremely confident and self-critical and analytical.

From Jakob's interview after European XC Champs:

"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.

The answer to Rojo's question is yes although I wouldn't use the term sore loser. I'm not a fan of Jakob in the first place because he's a bit smut. He's not honest and comes across as a bit of a punk. What he should have said was something along the lines of "he got me today and we'll see next time". What he said was dismissive of Wightman.

Just being honest.

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.

He didn't say what most good sports would say: something along the lines of, "Congrats, great race."

I'm sure that's all Jake meant. Sore loser probably want the best choice of words, but I can see how people would use the phrase to describe Jakob's Norwegian/Asperger's style of communication after a loss.

Excellent post. 26 upvotes. 0 down votes.

I think I much prefer the option of beign labelled sore-loser vs fake. So many interviews are fake.

I can't wait for the 2023 World 1500 final. Ingebrigtsen seems unbeatable at 5000 but at 1500? I have no idea and the beauty of it is none of the regular season DL meets will really matter. The only time he'll tactically have to try to win a big one is when it counts the most.

If I was him, I'd be happy to let people lead. I'd just try to run 56 laps like a metronome.

I have a feeling he is going to try to run everyone into the ground

J I can run (140 to 150) miles per week. J I can wow the majority of let'srun readers with his great (800 to 2000)m repeats. Give him a golf clap. J I has no chance winning international 1500m races with 1200m split 3 minutes or slower. No secret. J I knows it. J I in 1500m reminds me of Mike Tyson circa December, 1989. The mystique is gone. No one is afraid of J I at 1500m, especially sub-1:45 800m guys.

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.

Do you think Jakob's response was predicated on who beat him? Would he have said the same thing to (or about) Tim, for example, had he beaten Jakob instead of Jake?

🤣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.

Being sore about losing is different than being a sore loser.

Pretty sure you are reading it wrongly. I seem to recall that Jakob said those comments about losing to somebody inferior after the Doha World Championship final. Jake was probably trying to say that Jakob did NOT think he had lost to somebody inferior, as he congratulated him.

Read the Coe and Ovett books.

Neither ever really legit lost a race