Offer a fat appearance fee to Wanyonyi so he can moon walk backwards down the homestretch while doing the YMCA dance with his arms and verbally taunting Hocker/Nuguse/Jakob for the win!
Wanyonyi better be focused on the 800 by July or he’s going to lose to Arop in Tokyo. He can’t be messing around this late in the season.
Not a shock to see Ingebrigtsen and Hocker running given they are Nike athletes. Glad Nuguse is doing it. It's the biggest mile on US soil. I'm glad running the last Grand Slam in LA the week before won't prevent him from doing it.
Not correct to say Kerr is a "NO." Right now, he's a "TBD." They've only announced three people in the field so far.
Granted, last year they announced Ingebrigtsen, Kerr, and Nuguse all together in March. So I'd guess Kerr is leaning toward not doing it. But let's wait and see.
I haven't heard any inside info, but I would expect Jakob to take a shot at the WR in this one. He ran 3:43 at Pre in 2023. If he's serious about getting all of the world records, this is a good opportunity to do it.
Best guess is that Kerr will wait and see how his fitness is in the next two months before committing to Pre. He's not fit right now, and not contractually obligated to run Pre as Jakob and Hocker are so I'm not surprised is TBD. I also wouldn't be surprised if he opted for London (19th July) over Pre. It's his home DL and he gets a bigger appearance fee. And London is three weeks after the last GST whereas Pre is a week afterwards.
Sadly, the combination of GST and Pre a week later probably means that the field in Monaco on 11th July will be exceptionally weak. It's going to be a Jakob TT.
As someone who normally hates on Kerr for ducking, anyone who watches GST can see quite clearly that the injury/illness whatever he has been dealing with has set him back quite a bit fitness-wise and I don’t think he will be ready in time for Pre. He’s probably focused on worlds, which is the most important thing after all.
I'm guessing this means no Monaco for Jakob. He did run Oslo five days after Pre last year, but that was his home meet with sentimental value. Monaco is six days after Pre this year.
Monaco also doesn't have a DL men's 1500 this year. Of course Monaco could add one outside of the DL program if it wants to, and I'm sure athletes would show up. But I'm guessing Jakob will pass this year. Here's my best guess as to what his outdoor season will look like.
Oslo (June 12): 5k Ostrava (June 24): He's committed, distance TBD. Prefontaine (July 5): Mile Silesia (August 16): He's committed, distance TBD. But I'd guess this is his best shot at a fast 1500. Zurich DL final (August 27-28): Distance TBD but probably 1500. Worlds (September 13-21): 1500/5K.
He may fit in another 1500 or two in there somewhere.
I think the 5k in Oslo, the mile at Pre, and the 1500 in Silesia are where he should take shots at the WR. He's 24, which doesn't feel old. But he's also in/close to his prime and has been relatively healthy the last few years. The future is never a given, so he needs to take his shots at the WRs while he can. I think it would make sense to go after the 5k and mile early, then take a break after Pre and get in a nice training block in St. Moritz before going for the 1500 (the hardest of the three for him) in Silesia.
Additionally I think he always does Lausanne DL because of Nike/multi-year contract
Yes but it's a 5000m instead. Is he really going to run that? In the middle of August? There are a ton of possibilities for Jakob this summer that I'm intrigued what his schedule is going to look like. Here is pretty much every diamond league from June to August (Plus Ostrava Golden Spike): Rome 1500m June 6th Oslo Mile or 5000m June 12th Ostrava TBD June 24th Eugene Mile July 5th Monaco 5000m July 11th London 1500m July 19th Silesia 1500m August 16th Lausanne 5000m August 20th Brussels 1500m August 22nd Zurich 1500 or 5000m August 27-28 Could change any of these around
The Bowerman Mile is worth the drive for sure. Plus you know Jakob will be going for it with Yared and Cole right there. We could see the mile world record go down.
I've been watching a lot of Paris Olympic telecasts before YouTubeTV removes them from the library in a month or so. Last night I watched the night that included the men's 1500. Kerr was shockingly thin. That's what stood out to me compared to how he looks now or prior years. It was the quest of his career. Now we'll get various levels of partial.
To be fair, Kerr (along with Hocker and Nuguse) will have just completed the 4th of 4 weekend doubles in a 12-week span just 6 days before Pre. It wouldn't surprise me if non-Nike distance runners who are GST Racers don't run Pre; kudos to Nuguse for doing it as an On athlete. Considering that Kerr was last year's Bowerman Mile winner, it would be great for him to defend that title, but not all that surprising if he doesn't due to Pre's close proximity to the GST LA meet.
Who to look out for this year? Thoughts and predictions?
Jakob needs to stop traveling multiple timezones to some sh*tty meet in Eugene. European tracks are faster and more prestigious, better chance for WRs.
Jakob will win this race because Hocker and Nuguse will be worn out from Grand Slamming. Fanboys on this here forum will get all excited and proclaim Jakob the favorite for the world chip. Jakob will then lose the world chip and come up with an excuse that the fanboys will repeat like a chorus. On and on we go.
This is such a long season and racing too early might mean a mistimed peak. If he opens in Rome or Oslo that's over three months (101 days) before Worlds. If he opens in Eugene he won't have to worry about peaking too early and will still have two months of racing before Worlds. He can easily get the Diamond League to change one of the later 1500m races to a mile, so it wouldn't prevent him from making a run at the mile WR.
For reference, he opened last year on May 25th, the Paris Olympics 1500m was on August 6th (73 days after his season opener), and the Diamond League final was on September 13th (111 days after his season opener). He and the rest of the field were noticeably flat for that last race. I don't know if he wants to risk mistiming the peak by opening too early.
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Damn this is pretty exciting as Jakob's (and others) season plans start to materialise.
I reckon the 5000 WR attempt in Oslo as a season opener is a good shout, as he would be coming off a big training load and it's his home meet, close to home. That then gives him 3 weeks to sharpen up for a mile WR attempt at Pre, which includes the Ostrava meet, which he could use as a 1500m speed sharpener race to blow out the cobwebs before Pre.
After that, I think he will give himself a couple of chances to break the 1500 WR - it is not easy - which could be any combination of London, Silesia, Brussels or other.
Monaco is a question mark, 5000m on the billing, however it is so soon after Pre...but it is where Cheptegei broke the 5000m WR.
There is an alternative schedule that could include attempting to break the mile WR in Oslo or Ostrava away from his rivals, and then treat Pre as a standard race, and go for the 5000m WR at Monaco. Who knows?! I don't that's for sure haha.
GST could not afford all the biggest stars which is why Ingebrigtsen is not there. Also no Holloway, Lyles, Richardson, None of the Jamaican women sprinters, Femke Bol. The list is endless.
I wouldn’t say GST couldn’t afford them, so much as they couldn’t be bought.
Not a shock to see Ingebrigtsen and Hocker running given they are Nike athletes. Glad Nuguse is doing it. It's the biggest mile on US soil. I'm glad running the last Grand Slam in LA the week before won't prevent him from doing it.
Not correct to say Kerr is a "NO." Right now, he's a "TBD." They've only announced three people in the field so far.
Granted, last year they announced Ingebrigtsen, Kerr, and Nuguse all together in March. So I'd guess Kerr is leaning toward not doing it. But let's wait and see.
I haven't heard any inside info, but I would expect Jakob to take a shot at the WR in this one. He ran 3:43 at Pre in 2023. If he's serious about getting all of the world records, this is a good opportunity to do it.
This is such a long season and racing too early might mean a mistimed peak. If he opens in Rome or Oslo that's over three months (101 days) before Worlds. If he opens in Eugene he won't have to worry about peaking too early and will still have two months of racing before Worlds. He can easily get the Diamond League to change one of the later 1500m races to a mile, so it wouldn't prevent him from making a run at the mile WR.
For reference, he opened last year on May 25th, the Paris Olympics 1500m was on August 6th (73 days after his season opener), and the Diamond League final was on September 13th (111 days after his season opener). He and the rest of the field were noticeably flat for that last race. I don't know if he wants to risk mistiming the peak by opening too early.
Last year he got sick which kind of derailed his post-Silesia races, but if you look at 2023, he opened with a 1500 on May 28, ran 7:54 on June 9, and was still good for 3:43 on September 16. A long season is not a problem for him.
Assuming the rumors are true, he’s running the 5k in Oslo on June 12. If he opens with a lowkey 1500 in Rabat on May 25 and ends the season in Tokyo on September 21, it’s basically a repeat of 2023.