Who does Jakob Ingebrigsten view as his rival? Hocker or Kerr?

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I don´t think he think much of his rivals.

Possibly more of how he will do in training compared to when he is in top shape.

neither. a true rival will have at least one outdoor world record.

There’s many ways to do a ranking, and none of them are objectively per se. -I think f.x if we do a 1500m ranking for the 2020s, most would rank Habz and Cheruiyot below Hocker, Kerr and Nuguse. But I don’t, because what is important to me is the capacity an athlete shows, meaning that Habz, that only has done one superb race (his 3.27), ranks above the much more heralded and consistent medal trio from OG 2024, who hasn’t shown a certain ability to do 3.27 the hard way Habz did. That doesn’t mean that the trio is without any chances of doing a 3.27 or even a 3.26 with normal pacing like the Frenchman, but simply that they (unlike him) haven’t shown this yet…

Cheruiyot is in a different situation, IMO -in 2020 Gjert Ingebrigtsen predicted that his son Jakob in a year or two would go sub 3.26, but without breaking the WR, which of course meant that he though somebody else (Cheruiyot!) would run even faster… That’s how good the Kenyan looked in 2020, and based on the capacity he showed when he didn’t collapse in Monaco, despite his murderous first lap, I will place him even with or maybe above Jakob, for now. (Again not caring about consistency, but only peak ability).

I know I sort of down judge Hocker, Kerr, Nuguse -not valuing their consistency or champs achievements. But to me an athlete’s peak capacity on his best day ever is what matters the most (measured in time, but with normal pacing). And I think all three have shown a gradual improvement the last 4-5 years, and that there may be very good things to come… But Jakob/Cheruiyot on the top for now.

Both are rivals, second only to his dad, and perhaps above all, himself.

Jakob, Jakob, Jakob

waf, 💤

He's raced Cole Hocker about 20-30 times and lost once, well ok we can include 2025 world champs when he was out of shape and a ton of other people beat him also. Given the type of shape he was in last indoors, had he not got injured I doubt anyone would have beat him, esp Nader in the 1500 or Hocker in the 5,000. Last I checked his last 3 championship 5ks he easily won and the only time he was pressed was when he was coming off an illness and he won that race in a kick. Now if people beat him this year 2026, than that will change everything, esp leading up to the next world champs and olympics. But not right now.

The clock is his rival. Father Time is his (and all his fellow competitors') enemy.

I think motivates himself with goal of setting WRs and lets the championships take care of themselves.

The guy he should be seeing as his rival and most afraid of is Hocker and it's not even close.

1) Josh Kerr is 28 and honestly, his window has/is closing quickly and right now is still only slightly ajar at best. I really struggle to see him being a factor in 2028 and even in 2027 which seems really far off as of today.

2) This is the big one. Jakobs best days in the 1500m are done - especially when it comes to major championships. But the 5000m is still "his" event, especially given his dominance at the majors (obviously discounting Tokyo where he gets a pass because of his injury issues). But guess who is really good at that event too? It's not Josh Kerr. Cole Hocker could have done what only Lagat and El G have done since the turn of the century had not stupidly got himself DQ'd in the Tokyo semis. It's also something Jakob has never done. But if Hocker goes to Beijing and rolls over Jakob in the 5000m to match his back-to-back WC golds and sets himself up to win in LA (possibly chasing the El G double), then this really changes the narrative on who the greatest MD runner of the 2020's would be.

Josh Kerr right now can't impact Jakob's legacy as the best of his era. Cole Hocker absolutely can. It's Hocker.

You're unaware that since then his injuries have reduced him to an also-ran. Are you going to wave a wand and they will magically disappear?

You might hope the resurrection was true, too.

9 of them in front of him in the 5k alone. I wonder if he will make a 1500 final again?

With Achilles injuries you don't know if he will be "healthy" again. Injuries are typically what end careers.

His rivals are athletes who don't have recurring Achilles injuries. That's enough to beat him now.

Translation: so he can't get championship distance outdoor world records and now loses in global outdoor championship finals.

Hocker absolutely can, but it'd be really sad if he never puts up a WR or close to WR time in an outdoor distance. He also doesn't really win with regularity. I'd like to see him do these two things before doing the comparison game with Jakob who has such an extensive career already.

Well with respect to rivalry which does and will impact legacy, that wasn't the question. The question was "is it Kerr or Hocker" So you answered that the same way I did in saying Hocker can, because on the flipside I don't see that with 28 year old Josh Kerr anymore.

With respect to Hocker winning races, if I'm honest, all that really matters are the world championships and Olympics and especially now in the era of wavelight in every DL race (including the DL final) which has unfairly tilted the field towards timetrial specialists and not racing specialists - something which the great race tacticians don't have reciprocally. So Jakobs 95% winning percentage in Euro/DL one day meets is something nice, but something I would take with a grain of salt.

Hocker won't break any outdoor WR's. He's not built to run under 3.26.00, 3.43.13, 7.17.55 or 12.35.36. Jakob is (not the 1500m but it would seem like the mile and 5000m are possible), but the big unknown now is have the years and years of high volume threshold stacking and steps on a track/treadmill (now in stupid high-stack, soft foam shoes that are wrecking him) finally caught up with him. Jakobs records are all incredible performances (2000, 3000, 2mile) but none of those distances are as prestigious or meaningful as the 1500m, mile or 5000m and I really think he needs to get at least one of these records to counter the emergence of Hocker and his racing ability and instincts.

So as much as Jakob fan-boys don't want to hear this, there is a possibility that his window for breaking records (which was closing anyway just based on what we have seen historically for the last 40+ years of elite runners) might actually be already closed and his record breaking days are over. He might have 2026 depending on how well he's recovered mentally and physically, he might simply not.

Now let's think about Beijing in 2027. Hocker a year younger than Jakob at 26, Jakob an old 27 - it's not inconceivable that Hocker could win the 15-5k double and do the one thing Jakob never could at this level. I mean he could have done it this year if he hadn't run like a putz in the semi-final and mastered his own demise there. There is nobody else on the planet that can do this. I certainly don't see any other potential 1500m candidate moving up in 24 months time to be able to do both. Laros? I doubt it. Nader, Koech, Kessler, Ethan Strand? No. So Hocker could do a few things Jakob never could - win a world 1500m title and win that 15-5 major championships double which is so legendarily hard to do.

I don't know man - if that went down, I would struggle to definitively put Jakob ahead of Cole in this decade, irrespective of the DL wins/WR's at non-traditional distances/and his medals. This isn't even entertaining what Hocker could do at a home Olympics in 2028.

Back to the original question - the answer isn't even close.

The next rulers of the mile are

Wanyonyi

Nader

R. Cheruiyot (2026 the years of the wake?)

Question Marks (Khchina a good physic and endurance)

No way and in any day, Hocker will catch the finish the two first.