Jakob post-3:43 interview

and what you do with the wave lights?

El G's split was for 1320 yards or 3/4 of a mile, not 1200m. The splits were only shown for 1200m in the race yesterday, so you can deduce that Jakob did split slower than El G at 1320 yards.

You need this explained? That's sad. We're you parents cousins?

I thought he made some excellent points. The wave lights don't do much good when they are the wrong color. Eugene needs to have bright green or something that stands out in midday sun. Maybe pulsating lights. I was looking for them during the telecast and having trouble.

When that stadium was designed I don't think it was the wave light era yet. They patched it together after the fact, with not enough study or sophistication.

That pacing was really weak by Diamond League or Sowinski standards. Cam Myers obviously isn't a pacer. He did the best he could as novice but there were bursts and lags. He needed to take it fully through 800 then peel off around the bend allowing Sowinski a fresh start for 200 more. Instead Sowinski seemed to strain toward 900 then had nothing left and let go.

If there's headwind on that backstretch the extra 100 of pacing makes all the different. It should be a priority on any 1500 or mile attempt at Hayward Field.

Eugene's biggest problem is the desperation to go live for European audience. These should be night meets, for temperature considerations and overall vibe. Many of the runners like Laros attended the Oregon/Hawaii game last night. The pictures they posted really demonstrated the gap between Saturday afternoon with a partial crowd and night atmosphere amidst a full audience.

You are extremely close to covering your walls with photos of Jakob and scribbles about "lying" and "conspiracy", everything joined together by a red thread and a web of mental illness.

the reality for those who don't hate him :

When he knows he is better than the current WR : he calls it a WR attempt and makes it.

When he is about the level of the current WR, he doesn't call it a WR attempt but set the pacing so that he has a chance if everything goes perfect and otherwise goes back home with a nice PB/AR.

And it looks like he was sick indeed in Eugene.

He was frontrunning the last 900m in the 2022 5000m. In the 2023 5000m he was ill.

Even when you answer you use "tihraymiat" (ruse)

1320 yrds = 1207 meters

You can reduce this all to needing a second pacer. They put lipstick on a pig with Myers though it was cool to have Laros, Myers, Jakob and Reynold as a footnote. I suspect if it was a true WR attempt and billed as such they’d have spent the extra to fly out Tuwei (led 1350m of 2K WR) to try to get to 1,100. Jakobs pacing was quite good even if mentally he expended extra energy with the lights being hard to see. The big problem was taking on 2 straightaways with headwinds.

I too am puzzled by how he refuses to call other competitors by name. But this is so striking and consistent that I think it’s very much a conscious thing. Here’s two alternatives for the reasons why (the first one I don’t believe in at all):

1. He wants to belittle and hold down his competitors.

2. He has a vision of becoming so good that the competitors and names he is surrounded by doesn’t matter. -All that matters is doing the right things training ways, and getting his potential out in times (far more than in wins, which nevertheless also matters, but the latter being a consequence of his superior fitness, and not some random tactics or luck..).

It’s as simple as his mindset is if he runs his best race he wins. He thinks it is him vs the race. So if he runs his best and fastest race, he can’t be beaten. He doesn’t think about how to beat Yared/Kerr, he thinks how to get so good that his strategy/fitness are unbeatable. He may be naive to think that way and not consider his competitors on an individual level, but that’s how he rolls.

Jakob is a latter day Norwegian version of Pre. Runs his race, speaks his mind, shows his class.

Yes, but if he had had Bekele, El Guerrouj, Ngeny, Morceli and Lagat as competitors I think his mindset had to be a little different, at least for a while. Wightman, Kerr and the 5000 guys nowadays don’t seem to be the same threat to a peak healthy Jakob. But if Nuguse and Kejelcha now become a chronic fierce threat to him, it will interesting to see if he adjusts his mindset. But my gut feelings is that he still will trust his progression to outdo every competitors and names around him…!

Nuguse is the first guy in the 1500 who has shown close to the same engine. Kerr maybe this year had it but we can only speculate. Next year he will lay low if past seasons are an indication. If this becomes a situation like Cheruiyot and Manangoi in 2017 when the frontrunner would get out kicked with regularity we’ll see. Then Jakob will surely adjust his thinking. I’m not sure we can count on Yared to be that level of consistency/confidence but it’d be great. Until then Jakob will gladly be the last pacemaker. But I’ll be interested to see if he turns to the El G post-Sydney playbook and starts commanding it from 800 to go instead of from the gun.

You're overthinking this. They're just lights.

After running 7:23:67 yesterday in the second day in a row, I'm strongly doubting this guy is doping. Maybe by some unknown methods.

But let's face it a lot of runners in the past were covered by their federations.

Jakob might be more satisfied finishing second in 3:25 if he ran his best race as opposed to winning in 3:35.

For him the time and the effort matter. The place does too, but if he does not win he believes he beat himself and was not necessarily beaten.

You have to admire and respect him for thinking that way.

Doing your best and trying to improve your fitness/time is a core element of running that all runners at any level can relate to.

Seems like there are many other elite pros whose main focus is winning, and they are fully satisfied to do it in a slow tactical race and/or with a big kick at the end.

Jakob speaks English better than some Americans, especially a certain community in the US