First Ingebrigtsen-Kerr trash talk of 2025 is here

You know as good as I that if Jakob had raced the 5000m more often (f.x as often as the 1500m that he also is very good in) he would exposed himself for more vulnerability in the event. That doesn’t mean that he would have lost, that just means that he would have been tested better, and we could better evaluated his rank.

I could be mean and suggested that Jakob should have been in the 5000m at Bislett games in stead of the 1500m (that he won by a dive in a slow time). I think I then could have guaranteed that Jakob would have been spanked somewhere between 5 and 10 sec by Gebrhiwet, because he wasn’t fully recovered after his winter injury. But of course I don’t mean that -I will see a peak Jakob against a peak Gebrhiwet, but it must go both ways….

Yeah, yeah -Cheptegei is almost only a time trailer; he has almost none champs golds, and has never doubled up or met up injured and done his best, and never done the work in the front… And only embarrassed himself and us….

I’m in many ways a hard core Jakob fan, and I can subscribe to your correctness here -Cheptegei’s win was way more impressive! Just ask Fisher what bronze he is most proud of!

Does it make Cheptegei sound better to you if he's not only finishing several seconds behind someone with a 13 second slower PB in the most important race of the season, but is even afraid to show up to the starting line when he has to face him?

If being 20th means he can't be one of the greats, what does that make Farah when he's the 50th fastest?

Your question shows the degree of denial that afflicts Ingebrigtsen fans. Farah - whose career was years ago before super shoes - has 10 WC golds to Ingebrigtsen's 4. He also accomplished "the Viren double" of the 5k/10k at consecutive Olympics. Ingebrigtsen isn't close to that level of achievement and never will be.

If you have a flawless record in the most important metric of judging who the best runner is, then no other metric is required until the record stops being flawless. That's not the case in the 1500, which is why other metrics are used like fast times, how they placed in global finals they didn't win, how they performed in non championship races...

You are a moron. Cheptegei has met Ingebrigtsen once, several years ago, when he was obviously not in form. He has become the world record holder at the distances that Ingebrigtsen will never achieve, including Olympic 10k champion in a much better race than Ingebrigtsen's 5k. Ingebrigtsen's best 5k time is the length of the straight slower than Cheptegei's record - and has been so for several years. He won't be closing that gap any time soon.

There is no single metric, because it will include championship victories and times. Some athletes are weighted better in one than the other. Ingebrigtsen is inferior to the best when measured by either metric.

Not only do you move the goalposts when the criteria you yourself brought up gets applied to another runner and bring up the 10k when you yourself mentioned the 5k specifically, you're completely wrong when you're trying to justify why Farah was slow when half the people ahead of him on the all time list set their PBs before Farah did.

Komen and Gebrselassie ran 12:39 in 1997 and 1998, Bekele ran 12:37 in 2004, Kipchoge ran 12:46 in 2004...

But let me guess, every PB set before Farahs was because of doping and every PB after Farahs was because of super shoes?

Yes, when the world record holder doesn't feel like showing up for the race then of course the race is going to be lower quality. That also doesn't make Cheptegei look better.

Cheptegei ran the 10000 at Worlds 2023, then said he couldn't run the 5000 a week later because of a mysterious foot injury.

The discussion is about who's the best right now, not the best all time. At least try to keep up with the conversation.

Farah wasn't 50th when he ran 12:50 - and btw he is still only two seconds slower than Ingebrigtsen at 20th. Nothing in it. The unbridgeable difference between them is Farah's 10 championship victories, and especially his two 5k/10k Olympic doubles. That may never be matched again. It won't be - can't be - by Ingebrigtsen. He isn't in the same class as a distance champion.

It wasn't about the best of all time, but included a contemporary as well as an immediate predecessor. But you want to lower the bar to make Ingebrigtsen look better. As I've said, Cheptegei is still a superior distance runner.

You need to start your own thread, entitled A View from the Secretary of Jakob's Fan Club.

Why on earth would Cheptegei, Kiplimo, Aregawi or Kejelcha fear Jakob in a 5000m -they have lost to him before, and it wouldn’t been a prestige defeat at all to do it again. On the contrary -they would have everything to win. Especially if they, like me, thought that Jakob has gotten his prior 5000m wins way too coincidentally and easy. But the thing you don’t understand is that the guys ran a 26.44 Olympic record in hot temperatures, and therefore ruined their 5000m chances. -Just listen to the interviews with Grant Fisher: He was leggy as hell, and obviously must think -correctly- that he got a free bronze in a washed 5000m final..!

You look bad when you write like that about one of the toughest there is -a guy who often has raced when the conditions hasn’t been optimal for him, (even front running), meaning not afraid of losing at all!

There's 24 people ahead of Farah who set their PB before 2012, more than the number of people separating Jakob from first, and increase that to 2016 when super shoes got introduced and the gap gets even larger. Your arguments don't even hold up even after you try to lie, move the goal posts and apply different sets of criteria to different runners.

And where on Earth did you get Farah running 12:50 from? His PB is 12:53, and no, there's more than 2 seconds separating 12:48 and 12:53. You should really seek professional help when you're struggling with dyscalculia this badly.

Yes, he's superior in both the 5000 and 10000. He's not superior in the 5000 when he's run a total of 3 global finals since 2015, won one and finished 9th and 8th in the other two.