Bruns wrote:
I understand your point, but actually his claim is not bold at all. The guy has the last 3 global 5000 chips. Against those same 12:36/12:38/12:40 guys. I'd say that's a pretty damn good indicator of his aerobic fitness.
Could any of those guys beat Cheptegei as the distance goes up to 10K? The answer is no, he smokes them when he’s peaked. And in 2021 he beat them pretty handily in the 5,000. So while he’s right on one hand, the Cheptegei comp is where I take issue. You could also argue these slow, tactical 5000s become more about strategy and closing abilities which is where Kejelcha, Gebrhiwet et al. really struggle vis a vis Jakob who learned from 2019 and has had no holes in his 5000m tactics since.