Could 2008 Bekele beat 2023 Jakob in a championship 5k?

code5800 wrote:

Ruxton Towers XC wrote:

Good question... let's see:

1500 - Jakob is faster

2000 - Bekele is faster

3000/2M - Jakob is faster

5000 - Bekele is faster

10000 - Bekele is faster

XC - Bekele is FAR superior

1/2 Marathon - Bekele is faster

Marathon - Bekele is faster

I guess the I just think the guy who has the better PRs and the #2 times ALL-TIME in two events (and marathon?) can probably "hang" with people who are slower than him and who are wearing super shoes and using wavelight tech. You are allowed to disagree, but I can't see why anyone would...

Jakob has no PB in 10,000m, Half, or the Marathon. As for XC, XC is boring and a waste of time.

So let's focus in the events they both have raced. 1500-Mile-2000-3000-Two Miles-5000

Jakob wins 4-2. Nevermind the fact that his 5000m wasn't some time trial effort like Bekele's 12:37 was.

The Shocker wrote:

I realize this is a troll post, but goodness what an absurd argument. No one cares about the 2000m and two-mile distances, which is why they're hardly ever raced. And no one outside of America cares about the mile.

When Bekele was dominating World XC, it was the hardest race in the world. And here you are considering it less important than the 2000m.

And Bekele's effort in his 5000m WR wasn't anything like the sort of time trials athletes get nowadays. The pacer went too slow in the opening kilos, forcing Bekele to take off an do pretty much all the work himself. Go find it on YouTube and see for yourself. Give that guy super spikes and wavelight pacing and he would have been low-12:30s at the very least.

So many people in this thread are conveniently forgetting about the significant tech advantages 2023 Jakob has over 2008 Bekele. Jakob is obviously a tremendous runner, but he's not quite at the level of peak Bekele.

Ruxton Towers XC wrote:

The Shocker wrote:

I realize this is a troll post, but goodness what an absurd argument. No one cares about the 2000m and two-mile distances, which is why they're hardly ever raced. And no one outside of America cares about the mile.

When Bekele was dominating World XC, it was the hardest race in the world. And here you are considering it less important than the 2000m.

And Bekele's effort in his 5000m WR wasn't anything like the sort of time trials athletes get nowadays. The pacer went too slow in the opening kilos, forcing Bekele to take off an do pretty much all the work himself. Go find it on YouTube and see for yourself. Give that guy super spikes and wavelight pacing and he would have been low-12:30s at the very least.

So many people in this thread are conveniently forgetting about the significant tech advantages 2023 Jakob has over 2008 Bekele. Jakob is obviously a tremendous runner, but he's not quite at the level of peak Bekele.

Thanks for backing me up. If a person hasn't seen Bekele in peak form, they can't imagine it, I guess. Recency bias is real...

p.s. I am a huge Jakob fan from back when he was a little kid, so this is not really about him

The Shocker wrote:

I realize this is a troll post, but goodness what an absurd argument. No one cares about the 2000m and two-mile distances, which is why they're hardly ever raced. And no one outside of America cares about the mile.

When Bekele was dominating World XC, it was the hardest race in the world. And here you are considering it less important than the 2000m.

And Bekele's effort in his 5000m WR wasn't anything like the sort of time trials athletes get nowadays. The pacer went too slow in the opening kilos, forcing Bekele to take off an do pretty much all the work himself. Go find it on YouTube and see for yourself. Give that guy super spikes and wavelight pacing and he would have been low-12:30s at the very least.

So many people in this thread are conveniently forgetting about the significant tech advantages 2023 Jakob has over 2008 Bekele. Jakob is obviously a tremendous runner, but he's not quite at the level of peak Bekele.

code5800 wrote:

The Shocker wrote:

I realize this is a troll post, but goodness what an absurd argument. No one cares about the 2000m and two-mile distances, which is why they're hardly ever raced. And no one outside of America cares about the mile.

When Bekele was dominating World XC, it was the hardest race in the world. And here you are considering it less important than the 2000m.

And Bekele's effort in his 5000m WR wasn't anything like the sort of time trials athletes get nowadays. The pacer went too slow in the opening kilos, forcing Bekele to take off an do pretty much all the work himself. Go find it on YouTube and see for yourself. Give that guy super spikes and wavelight pacing and he would have been low-12:30s at the very least.

So many people in this thread are conveniently forgetting about the significant tech advantages 2023 Jakob has over 2008 Bekele. Jakob is obviously a tremendous runner, but he's not quite at the level of peak Bekele.

Again, you have yet to seen Jakob run an all-out 5000. Bekele literally said of Komen's 7:24.90 Indoor 3000m "possible on a special day” and yet Jakob ran a second faster and ran longer at the Two Mile Distance. A Time Bekele never had.

I'd argue Gebrselassie was better than Bekele in an even uncertain era of time capacity.

code5800 wrote:

The Shocker wrote:

I realize this is a troll post, but goodness what an absurd argument. No one cares about the 2000m and two-mile distances, which is why they're hardly ever raced. And no one outside of America cares about the mile.

When Bekele was dominating World XC, it was the hardest race in the world. And here you are considering it less important than the 2000m.

And Bekele's effort in his 5000m WR wasn't anything like the sort of time trials athletes get nowadays. The pacer went too slow in the opening kilos, forcing Bekele to take off an do pretty much all the work himself. Go find it on YouTube and see for yourself. Give that guy super spikes and wavelight pacing and he would have been low-12:30s at the very least.

So many people in this thread are conveniently forgetting about the significant tech advantages 2023 Jakob has over 2008 Bekele. Jakob is obviously a tremendous runner, but he's not quite at the level of peak Bekele.

Again, you have yet to seen Jakob run an all-out 5000. Bekele literally said of Komen's 7:24.90 Indoor 3000m "possible on a special day” and yet Jakob ran a second faster and ran longer at the Two Mile Distance. A Time Bekele never had.

I'd argue Gebrselassie was better than Bekele in an even uncertain era of time capacity.