If Jakob is the male face of track right now who is the female side?

faith kipyegon

faith Kipyegon

I would say Noah Lyles is the male face for track right now...at least in America among the general sports public

Dont think that many know Lyles even in the US. Seems more still know the infamous Gatlin and Coleman.

Jakob is definitely known more internationally. Europe shows him all the time, and is well known in Japan, China, Korea, and very much in India. North Africa likes Jakob more than any E African runner.

Shaccarri obviously

The correct answer!

Would be interesting to know.

Following of Bol in Europe is off the charts, and they're both equally known in North America. Maybe Bol with the egde in the US since she has raced here and impressed a ton of people.

Europe much? More people in the USA, Europe and other parts of the globe combined, more likely know of Lyles and Sydney than they do Jakob. The question was face of athletics it did not define the territory.

Africa, Europe, Australia, The Caribbean, USA know of Lyles. Same cannot be said of Jakob.

Case closed

I Agree, Seems like people are more interested in Athletes who are controversial, they are kept in the news regardless, If she runs good she gets a lot of Media Attention (For a Track Athlete) if she runs bad, she gets a lot of Media Attention, Off the Track, when she says or does something stupid, she gets a lot of Media, If she is running a meet and they use her picture to promote a meet, she turns it into even more attention by complaining the meet is not paying her enough to use her picture, If she gets into an argument on a plane it gets a lot of attention etc.

Jakob is not the face.

It would probably be Kerley and SAFP or something to that extent.

WTF. I just spent a month in Europe and I dont think 2% sports followers know Lyels. Seems like a good 25% know Jakob. Thats a lot of people. Asia is far more populous than those you mentioned and they know Jakob well.

Even in Africa its Jakob in many cases, especially north Africa. You can see here in Egypt that even though Jakob got a "world best" and Kipyegon & Girma got world records its Jakob that has the picture. Your lyles got a tiny blurb. Of course no picture,. Jakob is known by aprox 1.5 billion people, while Lyles is known by 80 million. End of story

egyptian-gazette.com

Kipyegon, Girma smash world records in Paris - Egyptian Gazette

News Wires

Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon made it two world records in a week after delivering a masterclass in the women’s 5,000m at the Paris Diamond League, as Ethiopia’s Lamecha Girma smashed the 19-year-old record in the men’s 3,000m steep...

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Nothing rivals the general media coverage afforded to the stars of the marathon majors, other than at the time of the Olympics. Hassan was literally on the front page of multiple global newspapers after winning London. Full page photos…..It’s not easy to even find a mention of Kipyegon’s recent wrs in the lay press. My g-d, every paper on earth wrote about Kipchoge even in defeat at Boston. Jakob would get a lot more worldwide press winning the NY marathon than breaking the 1500 wr in Oslo. Sad, but true. When the BIG stars do big things at a marathon major, that moves the needle more than any track race outside the Olympics.

I think there has to be two sets of answers. One for hard-core track fans (the people on this thread who are saying things like Anna Hall and Almaz Ayana) and one for casual track fans who do a road-race now and then and have heard of a runner or two besides Usain Bolt. There is no "face of track" for the average American because they can't name a single active runner.

If you went to a mall in your city and asked 1000 people who Almaz Ayana was, how many could tell you? Kipchoge might get a few hits. Most people can't name a single runner.

Back in 2020 I asked a shoe executive who she would pick if she could have one male and one female athlete to build a new shoe brand around and she said Sydney and Jakob. But since then, I think Sydney's stock has dropped due to a lack of racing (despite the records) and her dislike of the sport.

p.s. I just asked a random person to name a pro runner and she said "Is Prefontaine a professional runner?"

Faith and/or Sydney

Are either of those two women good at building the brand as interesting, socially active, extroverted types? I think you have to be an ambassador to be the "face" of something.

I like Faith a lot but only because of her running. Does she have millions of followers and a cult of personality around her? Do people love to watch her interviews and follow her on Instagram? Isn't that part of being the face of something these days?

My kid knows Simeon Birnbaum because he played the sax after winning State. His social media presence is funny/interesting. Who among the pros can claim that?

no love for Miss Piggy? Ya'll some bustas and be triflin

Sure seems like Jakob got more coverage now vs kipchoge Boston. And this in a race in middle of the year. In the WCs and Olympics he got a ton more attention than kipchoge. Don't think it's a contest. Jakob can be in a news article 10 times a year. Kipchoge 1-2 times

Hiltz fulfills both categories