Tim Cheruiyot 3:29.77, 0.03s behind Jakob who fell when leaning over the line

You think Potato Tim may have had some epotatoes? Wouldn't be unheard of with a guy who has had injury problems and wants to come back.

A bit below expectations. He did however run a 3:45.60 mile in Eugene 5 days ago. That is a 9 hour differnce, so there might be some jetlag there. The pacers went out very hard, so it was a bit messy halfway through the race. His 3:27.95 last year was much stronger. However a couple of things were different: 1. Jakob did not come back from an injury. 2. It was a bit later in the season (Bislett Games last year was june 15th). 3. It was a significantly stronger field (Nuguse, Garcia, Kerr, Katir were all in the mix). 4. Cold and wet conditions compared to last year (sunny and around 10 degrees celsius (18 in fahrenheit) warmer in 2023

I'd also like to point out that Kerr finished 9th with a 3:30.07 last year. And he went on to become world champion, so it is a bit early to come with predictions. Wightman finished 3rd in Bislett Games 2022 (3:50.30) and became world champion later that season. Jakob and Cheriuyot beat the rest of the field by a big margin. Over a second down from them to third place. After the european championships in Rome, we will have a bit more of a indicator where Jakob is in the 1500m and 5000m.

Jakob's first two competitions in 2024 (age 23)

May 25th 3:45.60 mile (1259 points)

May 30th 3:29.74 1500m (1248 points)

El Guerrouj's first two competitions in 1998 (age 23)

June 4th 3:32.34 1500m (1212 points)

July 9th 3:29.12 1500m (1257 points)

Cheruiyot did well. Shows that he still got it. Cheruiyot (Timothy), Cheruiyot (Reynold), Kipsang, and Komen will probably be the ones who fights for a spot on the Kenyan team this year.

Now write that under your registered handle coevett 🤣

So you have a nice side to you after all. Keep it up!

We had a pretty good thread the last day or two about when he could start the squeeze in the Olympic final, based on the Bowerman Mile. In this race he took the lead as the final pacer peeled off with almost exactly 500 to go. He was ready and waiting to take the lead and go, and it worked to the tune of a win by .03 via a dive at the line.

Take out the pacers and it's a different kettle of fish though.

Didn’t Timmy also run the Bowerman Mile?

I think he’ll be fine. Someone like Kejelcha is a different athlete in a championship event.

El Guerrouj jogged those times, Jakob had to dive to barely go under 3:30. It may be over for him this year.

Did El Guerrouj jog his 3:44.60 mile in Nice that year as well?

In what world is Centro west African?

Well, he finished 7th in the World in 2015. Only 2 from the 24 semifinalists in that Worlds are still competing in Matthew Centrowitz and CPT who both are fringe guys to be in Paris. It's a very long, impressive career. He's had pretty significant injury struggles since late 2020. He's been able to run through them for the most part, but the most recent bout before his Budapest Worlds semis was the most serious as far as sidelining him. It's impressive he's up to speed so quickly.

Arguably he was leading the 2nd pack from 28 seconds in. The pack got contact with the pacers at 800m before the last pacer stepped off at 1000m. I'm not sure how this would be different without the pacers?

Great post

Jakob fans will point to the injury and say that he's further from his peak compared to Kerr and the rest. The thing is, he's still at the same point in his training cycle as everyone else, Kerr isn't trying to be at his best in May either. The injury screwing up his base training could actually make it harder for him to peak properly if anything. We know that Jakob has to be substantially clear of the field fitness wise to win a championship 1500, and he just isn't close to that right now. Combine that with Gebrhiwet finding a new level in the 5000, you can't count him out by any stretch, but he is very vulnerable in both races

Also great to see Tim back in form, the 1500 has missed him

A few days after running a 3-45 mile several time zones across the world ...

I think this is a good take, and very true. But also - to balance it a bit more - the Jakob haters points to 3:29.74 as a garbage time.

The fact is that Kerr only have to races faster than this in his career. And the last time someone ran sub 3:30 as early in the season as in May was in 2014.

If you think this wasn’t nothing short of a great performance for Jakub. I’m an American and a fan of the Americans 1500m runners, Jakub being great or winning does nothing for me as a fan of my countryman.

I say that to say 99.9% of the runners in the world would not travel that far to race again 5 days after their season opener. Hell no! Most runners will DNS a meet in their own country if their hamstrings are sore(not talking about Centro). Nothing wrong with playing it smart, but too many runners are way too cautious and what Jakub did is something we would want to see in the sport out of more competitors. RACE!

he knows what he needs to do to prepare for the Olympics and that’s race. He will obviously use the weeks leading up to the games to prime his body to peak there but what he’s done in a 6 day span is very impressive and bodes well for his season .

So much tougher for the Norwegian to compete in Norway compared to all the African athletes. Jacob must have been like "what is this strange place."

I'll also appreciate it if you found a direct flight between Nairobi and Oslo. Go on, point me towards one.