Jakob skipping GST is masterful. His competitors rack up losses and lose confidence. He sits undefeated this season, confident.

European “heat” is very different than Caribbean heat. You have no idea.

What part of "July" did you not understand?

It is quite rare to have organized lead sharing in a championship race. If one of those guys takes the lead to push the pace, then they become the rabbit for Ingebrigtsen, which is a very unenviable position for anyone. I guess if Ingebrigtsen really refuses to push then at some point someone may move to the front, but probably not early enough to make it a 3:28.

I really don't understand people who think that choosing to double -- and win -- at World Indoors instead of a meaningless Grand Slam gimmick set of races is ducking.

Would still beat Kerr, who would get bumped to 6th.

This is exactly correct. My first two thoughts after watching this race were "Jakob must be disappointed if he hoped any of the other top milers would ever be willing to do anything other than sit on him for the first 1400m" then "but these guys can no longer expect to sit on him for the first 1400m and not get sniped."

This is a great result for Jakob.

Well the first time we might see Wanyonyi in the 1500 is 2027. And until we see the super-fast Wanyonyi time, it’s still a benefit to everyone else to have a Jakob-led race. This was the exact conversation around Hocker - Jakob has to go hard to keep him out of the mix because he’s never broken 3:30. Typically the run the kick out of the kicker playbook fails unless the kicker is doubling.

I wouldn't consider it ducking. A good portion of the GST roster is based out of the US. Jakob is based in Norway. It would take almost an entire day of traveling for Jakob to get there. That's not really feasible to go do that multiple times during your base phase

Jakob is as scared to race Wanyonyi in the 1500 as Wanyonyi would be to race Jakob in the 800

OP makes a really good point. However, if you think Ingy is smart, look at the strategic genius of Mo Katir. He hasn't raced in over a year, making him the only undefeated 1500 world champ contender in 2025. He tactfully dodged the Olympics to get a long term psychological edge.

If he keeps this up until 2026, it might be the longest undefeated streak in running. None of the top runners stand a chance against this psychological master class. Simply brilliant!

He is not being paid to jogger around like it’s a training session. If you think this is serious racing you are delusional, it’s just a pay day and they don’t particularly care one way or another despite what they say

This is the dumbest take imaginable after this weekend. Wanyonyi beat 3 guys who beat Jakob in Paris while celebrating with 30 meters to go, easing down and calling his 51.5 last 400 easy. Meanwhile those 3 guys with faster 800 PBs than Jakob couldn’t even make it 15% of the 800m race hanging with Wanyonyi or Arop. He can cruise a 1:44 level performance in April, they’re flat out running 1:45-6. Jakob would be no different.
The 800 is much easier to frontrun and burn off slower guys, while the 1500 is very difficult.

You watched a different 1500 than we all did. Every single 1500 guy was fighting like hell for the line.Hocker had no chance of winning but rallied nonetheless. Out-of-shape Kerr worked hard to hold off Wanyonyi on the backstretch before going for the win. Gourley never gave up. It was also faster than the championship finals indoors.
You can be critical of the 3/5 group men for sure, but the 800/1500 group tried in the races.

Hi Josh, how did you do this weekend? I tried to watch but didn't see any racing just a lot of talking so I turned it off.

Yikes...

im sure those "real men" racing in GST are happy racing in a B tier meet unlike the DL. Feel sad for them and their pay issue though. MJ is incompetent and manipulative.

LOL what a funny post to dig up