triplethreshold wrote:
Would be fun to see the Kenyans and Ethiopians actually try to drop Jakob with a ridiculous pace in Paris. I really don’t think they can drop him even if they try though and that’s the issue for them. He’s so strong that I think he will eventually hold the WR in the 5000 basically whenever he wants it. How do you beat the strongest AND the fastest?
I would love for them to try, but they never seem to try to. Although I agree that they probably couldn't, and that's probably why no one tries. If they try to solo a 12:45, then the half dozen other sub-12:45 guys are just gonna sit on them and outkick them at the end (if they even make it that far, 12:45 in summer heat is nuts), and Jakob will outkick them. If they just jog, then Jakob outkicks them at the end, but they don't run the risk of tiring themselves out, and they can outkick the other 5k guys. That's actually the line of thinking that made me think Kerr should give it a shot, because if the 5k guys recognize they can't beat the best miler in the world, maybe other milers should give it a shot (a la Katir). They obviously need the strength, but since Kerr is running half marathons in the off season (and 2 mile WRs), he's not a bad candidate at all, he just needs to get that 5k time down a bit.