Kerr drops Eugene

Looks like a lot of posters on this board are still bitter about the results of the 1500 meters at the World Championships a few weeks ago.

Why would Jakob want to do that? Because it wouldn't be fair to his competitors to race him in a paced 1500? Maybe we should give the field a head start?

Exactly, Josh Kerr beat Jakob in the one race that mattered this year, what else is there to prove.

just a World champion

who cares about some medal. that's ceremonial.

i only care about who the absolute best is in a field. measured by objective metrics.

in this sport of running, it's time.

who has the lowest time (in recent history) is the best.

and since this sport is individual, there can be no excuses attributed to teammates

imagine the world champ unable to beat the runner-ups time that the runner-up (which was run in the same season).

sure, kerr won a fair world champs final. congrats to him. it's a big accomplishment.

but he ain't the best

It's sickening to see this message board go to such waste back in the day we would have conversations about this sport run fortunately and not surprisingly it is become diluted with misinformation that some people appointed out of Shawnee state aquinas and grand valley.

cheptegei is still a better 5k runner than jakob. even though jakob won the world champs back-to-back.

12:35 is objectively a better time than 12:48 (although everyone knows jakob is well below 12:48 now)

who is a better championship racer is a different question. jakob > cheptegei in racing tactics. kerr > jakob in racing tactics.

but what matters in 100 years will be whoever had the fastest time.

look at centrowitz. the won the olympic gold. but he never even broke 3:30.

he has a ceremonial achievement, but his skill level is far below countless others who have gone sub-3:30.

Nah. Racing isn't about times, it's about winning. There's no medals for time trials. Every single athlete worth a damn would trade all of their PBs for a single gold medal. You can believe Jakob is the best, that's fine, but he wasn't the best on that day.

One aspect of this that did occur to me is that the insistence of the Pre meet organisers on running a mile might have played a part in Kerr's decision. If it was a 1500, it might have brought Farah's record into play as an incentive for Kerr to run. The 1500 record is a lot more prestigious than the mile, no one cares about the mile outside of the US and British boomers

These are kinda grand statements. And people do care who wins World/Olympic titles and medals over times alone. How many remember Silas Kiplagat more than Centrowitz, Cheruiyot etc? Or will remember Letesenet Gidey over Sifan Hassan?

We also don't really know about Cheptegei vs. Jakob in the 5K because in Tokyo he ran a tactically great race and won easily (Jakob didn't double). In 2022, he got hurt in the prelims and wasn't close to healthy in the final. In 2023, he withdrew. If his 10,000 tactics/peaking and Tokyo 5,000m result are any indication, he might be really good tactically and be Jakob's toughest competitor. A shame we haven't seen it yet.

He's based in Seattle, the place that one of the regular LR trollers calls the "Rift Valley of American distance running". That said, the Beasts go to Albuquerque at least three times a year for high altitude training stints.

I don't think it's reasonable to conclude that Jakob planned on running 3:29.65 in Budapest. He had no bounce from early in the race. I believe he was sick. But it also could be that he underestimates the impact of running the heats, especially the way he decides to do it. Jakob always emphasizes the benefit of running evenly. In the global heats he does the opposite of that. He leaves himself too much to do then comes charging late.

Contrast to Kipyegon, who always applies the same style in heats and the final. Jakob doesn't seem to realize that if he went to the front in the heats the field would be scared of him and he could get away with slower times and expending less energy than his current approach.

Regardless, it's interesting that neither Wightman nor Kerr have faced Jakob since defeating him. Kerr knows it wouldn't happen again. Other than Budapest he's never defeated Jakob in anything besides a Eugene heat last year. Despite being several years older he could never finish ahead of Jakob when Jakob was new to the circuit. Wightman is older still and did finish ahead of Jakob several times when Jakob was a teenager.

See that this thread has brought out the Jakob circlejerkers.

Kerr ran great in NYC.

He ought not to duck Jakob

I agree.

Should I ask Weldon or our intern who managed the Instagram account for reader submitted memes about this?

Then when people complain I'll say, "But we didn't make them, they were reader submitted."

God I love Jakob. I really hope he wins the Olympic 1500 gold next year.

BS. It would be a VERY highly anticipated race, rabbited or not. It would be great for the fans and he get a nice appearance fee. If I could get paid like 20k and benefit the sport, I'd do it even if it meant I had to go to Eugene for the weekend.

And what I'd love to see Jakob at the start line, point to the rabbits and say, "Get off the track. I'm going to take this from the front myself to show you guys."

How epic would that be?

If they have rabbits, I hope he goes for the WR. It equates to about a 3:26.56 1500 so it's a bit easier.

All of this being said, they should have the DL finale before Worlds like it was in 2019.

Let's hope it will be that way in 2025 when the World are late - Sat, Sep 13, 2025 – Sun, Sep 21, 2025. Put the DL before that.

Kerr has the gold, Jakobs had golds. Jakob has 2 WC golds and 1 Olympic gold. That's 3 and 5 total medals. Kerr has 1 gold and 1 bronze. So in conclusion, Jakob >>> Kerr.

"sick'. Right.

Isn't too intrested is another way of saying, "Can't do it." All runners are interested in winning on the DL. Most of them simply can't do it.

But eeryone is trying to peak for Worlds, including Jakob. Kerr did it magnificently this year and deserves a lot of credit. But this puts me in a sour mood and will make the 1500 all the more interesting in 2024.

And i do wish the DL and Jakob would do some 1500s without rabbits. 1 a year.