Who is the clean WR holder? Someone from the past? Jakob has no chance against retired runners, agree. Against all today runners he has huge chances to win.
From the past, ironically yes. But even greater in the present! And you ain't seen nothing Gebrhi-yet.
He’s really good no doubt and young (more likely 19 than 17 as Ethiopian media listed him at 18 when he emerged). That being said Kejelcha is the better athlete now by some margin.
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Please show were he was listed as being 18, PROOF please not speculation 😁
Article for November 2023 referring to Biniam as 18:
The thing with him that I'd worry about are his tactics and kick. He hasn't really shown the ability to kick incredibly well yet. Maybe he'll pace Gebrhiwet in the final, but I'd also be almost certain Kejelcha would make the final and I can't say the same for Mehary, he should but their is great 5000 depth across the board (as far as guys who could make the final) and almost no one will get dropped by the bell if the heats go slowly for a while
Remember this is not yet confirmed and Biniam is not on the Road to Paris currently for 5000. And I don't think this is just because the 4 fastest Ethiopians are listed because if you look at the Kenyan 5000 team Benson Kiplangat is not listed but Kwemoi and presumed reserve Kemboi are.
Who is the clean WR holder? Someone from the past? Jakob has no chance against retired runners, agree. Against all today runners he has huge chances to win.
From the past, ironically yes. But even greater in the present! And you ain't seen nothing Gebrhi-yet.
Jakob : Hagos head to head 2:2. Hagos won one in heats in Budapest, what is not count, because he lost in the final, and he won against 18 year old Jakob in DL London 2019 with margin of 0.17s, and he lost in Florence 2021. I am sorry, I just don't see Hagos win against Jakob again, but I can easy see Jakob win against Hagos too the end of Hagos career.
The thing with him that I'd worry about are his tactics and kick. He hasn't really shown the ability to kick incredibly well yet. Maybe he'll pace Gebrhiwet in the final, but I'd also be almost certain Kejelcha would make the final and I can't say the same for Mehary, he should but their is great 5000 depth across the board (as far as guys who could make the final) and almost no one will get dropped by the bell if the heats go slowly for a while
Remember this is not yet confirmed and Biniam is not on the Road to Paris currently for 5000. And I don't think this is just because the 4 fastest Ethiopians are listed because if you look at the Kenyan 5000 team Benson Kiplangat is not listed but Kwemoi and presumed reserve Kemboi are.
Thx Will, I knew you’d caught that. Good point on making the final. It’s been completely cutthroat. Partially because they do 2 heats of 21 instead of a more sensible 3 heats of 14. That many closely-matched guys vying for 8 spots is tough. I think with smaller heats you might have more breakaways/separation. As it stands, your finish has to be finely tuned or you’re out.
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Does anyone know how it works for the Olympics? Does Ethiopia have to list 4 names for the 5000 now? I wish the Olympics would let them use some common sense and just say - Here are the Olympians for the 10 and 5k and our reserves, but we're not sure exactly who is going to run the 5000. We'll let you know who runs the 5000 after the 10,000 takes place.
When the team was initially released. Barega was the reserve in the 5000.
If I was Ethioia, I 100% would enter a sacrificial lamb in the 5000 and make them rabbit. Enter your best two and a rabbit. Either that or hand the gold to Jakob.
If they weren't going to go off of time, they might be better off putting Girma in there as he might have a chance for a medal if it's tactical but it looks like they don't want anyone doubling unless it's Tsegay who can triple. :) Ethiopia treating the Olympic 5000 like it's a participation event.
Very interesting and a bit strong list. If you add 3 Jakobs/Jacobs in the list + Mohammed, Grant, Luis to make Olympic final, I can easy see nobody of the ETH list medal.
wtf happened to the 800-1500m for Ethiopia, they could easily find a gold medal contender in both events in their country.
Their 1500m Trials champ looked impressive there. But it is wild they basically have fringe qualifiers only especially considering guys like Deresse Mekonnen and Mo Aman used to be fixtures.
Am I in the minority in thinking Grant has a better chance in the 10,000? He’s been closer to medals in the past and the 5K is arguably deeper with Krop, Jakob, Luis G who can all close much faster than Fisher
Fisher is a better 5k runner.
The reason he has placed better in the 10k at Worlds or Olympics is because he has a 10k in his legs going into the 5k prelims and final. Doubling is hard.
Remember how he as a young stud had the nerve to tell his own federation that "guys, I don't think we're doing it right, I think there's an even better way than what we're doing back home here in Ethiopia" and then he signed with Nike because they thought he'd be the next Mo Farah.
He's too good to totally ignore, but ever since then they've snubbed him discretely by favoring others in his own favorite distance.
And yes, I know he's not with Nike anymore - doesn't seem to make a difference, Ethiopian federation still hold grudges.
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As great as Kejelcha is, as great as his times and his role in pushing the pace after the pacer has dropped out and pushing Jakob to the line in the 3k at Pre last year, he has these results in major championships:
5000m:
World Champs: 4th, 4th, 5th, 8th
10000m:
World Champs 2nd, 2019
Olympics, 7th, 2021
So what.
Olympics should not be about who has had the greatest career or who has the greatest CV. It should be about who is in the best shape right now. And it's not even close.
It would be the equivalent of replacing Grant Fisher with Parker Wolfe simply because FIsher hasn't medalled in the past. Disgraceful really.
1. Mehary is a teenager who has run sub 26:40. Lots of upside.
2. He will be running the 5000 on fresh legs. Kejelcha is running the 10000. It's hard to double back, especially in warm weather.
3. Kejelcha always underperforms at championships.
4. Kejelcha has been running very good times since early 2024. He might be past his peak.
5. Maybe there's something we don't know. Maybe this young man agreed to push the pace. This would be the way for Team Ethiopia to defeat Jakob.
I actually agree with this. I was initially surprised, but after looking into it, I'm cool with it. In addition to what you said, Mehary has also run 3:34 for the 1500 indoors this year and ran that at world indoors. That, in addition to running 7:33 indoors, 12:54 outdoors and 26:37 outdoors, gives him some really impressive range heading into Paris. Only issue otherwise would be inexperience...but I think he has the tools to back this selection up. Beat Gebrhiwet by 35 seconds at the Ethiopian olympic trials 10k too!
You guys are insane.
I wondered indoors if Mehary is the future but he's definitely not deserving of a spot on the team in 2024. He was just 9th at Worlds indoors and only 6th in LA (Behind Grant Fisher). It's a travesty.
Anyways, I"m stunned no one has linked to Kejelcha's faceook rant. See the link below but my favorite quote was this:
When will I be allowed to compete with a clean and calm mind???
The decision that was made on me is not fair, as it has been done repeatedly before, it is deliberately not intended for the result of the country. I request the people and the government of my country to stand with me and oppose my oppression and help me get the right justice.
I wondered indoors if Mehary is the future but he's definitely not deserving of a spot on the team in 2024. He was just 9th at Worlds indoors and only 6th in LA (Behind Grant Fisher). It's a travesty.
Anyways, I"m stunned no one has linked to Kejelcha's faceook rant. See the link below but my favorite quote was this:
When will I be allowed to compete with a clean and calm mind???
The decision that was made on me is not fair, as it has been done repeatedly before, it is deliberately not intended for the result of the country. I request the people and the government of my country to stand with me and oppose my oppression and help me get the right justice.
This benefits Jakob more than anyone. Yomif could at least push sub 1240 pace. Without him in there, JI has even a better shot at gold than he did before (as the overwhelming favorite)
People need to stop acting like Jakob is just a kicker and the Ethiopians simply need to run the legs off him. Jakob is at WORST a 12:40 guy and more like a 12:32-33 guy after a little focus on the event. Their only hope is that he falters due to it being his 5th race of the week.
A lot here says Kejelcha underperforms at championship races, but if you want team tactics, Kejelcha should actually be in it. Let's not forget how the Ethiopian (Edris)finally beat Mo at 2017 WC because Kejelcha led and boxed the latter (of course Chelimo was also the key there though).
I'm not even sure this Mehary guy would make it to the final.
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