Last year (if you ignore the indoor WC golds) was the first championship year since 2019 where Jakob did not win a gold medal.
2024 Olympic 5000m Gold
2023 World Championship 5000m Gold, 1500m Silver
2022 World Championship 5000m Gold, 1500m Silver
2021 Olympic 1500mg Gold
He left Gjert in 2022, so he has two global gold medals since leaving Gjert.
I suspect you know all this and are just a troll.
No, simply omitted to add “1500” gold… in the first sentence.
Changes the whole post of course
I simply think his 1500m days are over. As you stated, his last 1500m gold was in 2021 (Before he left Gjert).
He will be 26 in 2026
He may still have a shot at 5000m, but you need more volume to be successful at 5000m. His injuries may prevent that.
…on another semi related topic, who are all these other guys on the treadmill? Everybody seems to be kicking it
He is not a natural 1500m runner like El G, look at his best results and you will see the 2000m WR, 3000m WR, and 2 Mile WB, and three global titles over 5000m and a 12:48 PB that he hasn't improved upon since 2021 (Can likely run at least sub 12:40 and beyond). You are holding him to an impossible standard. By your standard, his 1500m days have been over since Eugene 2022 but he has delivered in other areas of the event.
Says he hit 112 miles/week (180 km) and is aiming to now increase the speed. I'm wondering if there is any benefit for him to skip indoors so that he can lower the mileage? Or does that not make sense? I really want to see him flat out over 5000m at his best this summer before he peaks careerwise.
Listening to the snippet about why he pulled out of Euro XC, which features in this video, re-confirms to me that his achilles is generally okay. Rather, he is not willing to put himself at risk of any kind of injury or illness which might stall the momemtum he is currently building in training.
I would say the goal in 2026 is firmly WR's. I think you will see him run some indoor events (maybe a 3000m indoor WR), but I'm starting to think he doesn't commit to a full indoor season. It is already a fecking long season with potentially 10 Diamond League races, plus Ultimate Championships. He will be looking to nail the 5000m WR straight up, and then give himself a 2-3 chances to challenge the 1500/mile WR. I don't think World XC or World Indoors will be helpful in the pursuit of outdoor WR's - as he learnt in 2025.
Regarding his mileage, it's a lot! In comparison to another strength based athlete and double threshold disciple, Cam Myers is only running 140km or less per week.
Agree with all of this. His interview in September confirmed that he is aiming for the three big WRs (1500, Mile, 5000m), he said he "must be satisfied" with this. That points to me that he knows he is at his career peak and can't let this year go to waste. I still see him running the Europeand World Outdoor championships this year but expect to see him skip on World Indoors.
He went home from altitude because his Achilles was bad. It played a part in cancelling Euro XC. This is 100% the truth, no hating, just stating the facts.
He went home from altitude because his Achilles was bad. It played a part in cancelling Euro XC. This is 100% the truth, no hating, just stating the facts.
He literally said in the video, while at altitude, that he didn’t want to run it to not risk aggravating anything in his body. No evidence that his “achilles was bad” or that he went home from altitude which contributed to cancelling it. He cancelled it before anything bad happened.
No, simply omitted to add “1500” gold… in the first sentence.
Changes the whole post of course
I simply think his 1500m days are over. As you stated, his last 1500m gold was in 2021 (Before he left Gjert).
He will be 26 in 2026
He may still have a shot at 5000m, but you need more volume to be successful at 5000m. His injuries may prevent that.
…on another semi related topic, who are all these other guys on the treadmill? Everybody seems to be kicking it
He is not a natural 1500m runner like El G, look at his best results and you will see the 2000m WR, 3000m WR, and 2 Mile WB, and three global titles over 5000m and a 12:48 PB that he hasn't improved upon since 2021 (Can likely run at least sub 12:40 and beyond). You are holding him to an impossible standard. By your standard, his 1500m days have been over since Eugene 2022 but he has delivered in other areas of the event.
“Over” is a very big word
But yes, 2022 was a silver. 2023 was another silver. 2024 was a 4th and 2025 he did not make the final. Do I expect him to make the 1500m final in 2027??? Probably not. 14 guys ran sub 3:30 this year. It will only get “worse”. It’s normal to have a peak and then to decline. As you said, the 1500m is not his natural event to begin with, so the decline is faster.
The guy won a 1500m Olympic gold medal. Can’t take that away from him.
Does anyone know who Jakob is referring to when he says, "he's using every session to feel better about himself and his training"? Was nice to hear him talk about staying level headed and grounded in training rather than looking for constant affirmations and validation.
He is not a natural 1500m runner like El G, look at his best results and you will see the 2000m WR, 3000m WR, and 2 Mile WB, and three global titles over 5000m and a 12:48 PB that he hasn't improved upon since 2021 (Can likely run at least sub 12:40 and beyond). You are holding him to an impossible standard. By your standard, his 1500m days have been over since Eugene 2022 but he has delivered in other areas of the event.
“Over” is a very big word
But yes, 2022 was a silver. 2023 was another silver. 2024 was a 4th and 2025 he did not make the final. Do I expect him to make the 1500m final in 2027??? Probably not. 14 guys ran sub 3:30 this year. It will only get “worse”. It’s normal to have a peak and then to decline. As you said, the 1500m is not his natural event to begin with, so the decline is faster.
The guy won a 1500m Olympic gold medal. Can’t take that away from him.
Seems unfair to single out a season that for all intents and purposes was over by May. He decided to run the WC in September because he likes to compete. I’m pretty certain that anyone else would have sat it out. Hocker sat out in 2022. Wightman sat out in 2023/2024. Kerr pretty much sat out the final (2025) due to injury. Nader had the race of his life at age 28. Jakob has improved every year, including 2024, where he lost half of his base training. I don’t know about you, but if he stays healthy through to May (no indoors unfortunately), El Guerrouj and Cheptegei and all other current competitors should be terrified. Nobody likes to compete with a Jakob that takes some time off competing to train. And before you say “he placed 4th in Paris” the guys in front of him had the race of their lives and haven’t even come close to that performance again other than Hocker in the 5000. It’s not easy to beat Jakob when he is firing on all cylinders. I don’t think he’s “done” yet but I respect your opinion.
Does anyone know who Jakob is referring to when he says, "he's using every session to feel better about himself and his training"? Was nice to hear him talk about staying level headed and grounded in training rather than looking for constant affirmations and validation.
Magnus Myhre. He referred to him a lot in the video.
Half of Josh Kerr’s international gold medals is “mickey mouse” then lol. Can’t wait for Hocker to win gold in Poland this year, are you going to call it mickey mouse too?
He's one of the top athletes on the planet and he's cutting his own shoes? Shouldn't be be getting the best treatment in the world and custom shoes from Nike to get him through this?
I think Nike are genuinely really poor with their treatment of runners. Mo Farah did the exact same thing with his running shoes and cut chunks off them to make room for his achilles, so they clearly didn't design custom shoes for him either. Elite athletes shouldn't need to take a stanley knife to their shoes in order to train in comfort. Yet Nike made customised wider shoes for Roger Federer so we know they do it for some sports. I hope this video shames them into developing some fully fitted comfortable customised training shoes for Jakob.
He has to cut his shoes and run all the workouts on the Tread.
Not sure he’s ever going to be the same again but I hope I’m wrong!
he doesn't have to run all the workouts on the treadmill. his evening workout was on the threadmill because the track was closed.
im not sure if he has to cut all of his shoes. he mentioned that he cut the alphaflys, so he could try them out, and if it didn't work, he'd have to go back to the streakflys.
i think a couple months back, he said testing showed that the structure of his achilles was sound, just certain rubbing was an irritant. which can often be the case with other types of tendonitis as well.
fwiw, i have a pair of alphas and they are EASILY the most uncomfortable running shoes ive ever owned. they cause blisters on my achilles and badly on the arch.
I don't have another pair of shoes that does either of those things. And i own a lot of shoes, from a lot of different brands. including others from nike.
Half of Josh Kerr’s international gold medals is “mickey mouse” then lol. Can’t wait for Hocker to win gold in Poland this year, are you going to call it mickey mouse too?
Half of Josh Kerr’s international gold medals is “mickey mouse” then lol. Can’t wait for Hocker to win gold in Poland this year, are you going to call it mickey mouse too?
Luke Houser is world class ig.
Yeah so is Isaac Nader ig (2025 1500m World Champion).
Jakob is very smart with his training, unlike Hocker and Kerr, he shows up most of the time at championships and delivers as well as giving us fantastic performances throughout the year. His setup is strong and he is aiming for a big season in 2026 outdoors.