Not sure that Jakob would have beaten Blanks, or even Samuel. Those 2 are more specialised for 10k. I may be wrong but my prediction would have been 1. Blanks, 2. Jakob, 3. Samuel.
I love me some Graham Blanks and even I can acknowledge the absurdity of this statement.
Jakob's a solid xc runner and has proven it many times. He would have sat back, moved up and kicked easily away. However, the Olympic 5000m isn't the best picture of Blanks now. He was out for months before Trials and was not close to his current form even by October. He'll be under 13 at BU if he goes for it and likely near Samuel's outdoor record in the 10 next year if healthy. But he's not close to Jakob now and will never have his closing speed.
Know this is a running joke, but here's my actual answer: Jakob would still win, but it would be relatively close. Blanks and Samuel are probably in sub 27 shape and are more pure 10k XC guys than Jakob.
Not sure that Jakob would have beaten Blanks, or even Samuel. Those 2 are more specialised for 10k. I may be wrong but my prediction would have been 1. Blanks, 2. Jakob, 3. Samuel.
He'd have won. Simple. Sit & kick as he always does. Guy is unbeatable in Euro XC every time he does it. Wins it comfortably every time without ever overextending himself. No chance he'd have been beaten in NCAA XC last wknd.
Jakob's a solid xc runner and has proven it many times. He would have sat back, moved up and kicked easily away. However, the Olympic 5000m isn't the best picture of Blanks now. He was out for months before Trials and was not close to his current form even by October. He'll be under 13 at BU if he goes for it and likely near Samuel's outdoor record in the 10 next year if healthy. But he's not close to Jakob now and will never have his closing speed.
Habtom finished 17th at World Xc in 2023. He then ran 26:53 10k in 2024.
Grant is probably competing with strength-based 26:40-45 runners on grass.
Jakob is probably 26:30 on the track but I don’t think he has the strength to compete with Grant in cross country.
Grant would probably be 12th or so at world cross.
Jakob's a solid xc runner and has proven it many times. He would have sat back, moved up and kicked easily away. However, the Olympic 5000m isn't the best picture of Blanks now. He was out for months before Trials and was not close to his current form even by October. He'll be under 13 at BU if he goes for it and likely near Samuel's outdoor record in the 10 next year if healthy. But he's not close to Jakob now and will never have his closing speed.
Habtom finished 17th at World Xc in 2023. He then ran 26:53 10k in 2024.
Grant is probably competing with strength-based 26:40-45 runners on grass.
Jakob is probably 26:30 on the track but I don’t think he has the strength to compete with Grant in cross country.
Grant would probably be 12th or so at world cross.
This question is most likely the easiest most simple one to answer that has ever been on this site….Jakob would win. He does a very high volume of threshold training year round and has proven himself to be one of the most dominate aerobic monsters to ever compete in the sport. He has multiple world titles in the 5k, an Olympic 1500m title, multiple world XC titles, multiple WRs to his name, and an Olympic 5k title. Obviously the NCAA field right now is prestigious and full of many amazing athletes. But, to compare Ingebrigtsen to any of these NCAA athlete’s, is just not a competition.
Jakob wins one of two ways: 1) He could push the whole last 5k and win by 30-40 seconds or, 2) He'd start squeezing it down with 3000 to go, winning by 22 seconds.
Jakob is one of the greatest ever cross country runners, whose ability to put the hurt on dudes from a long ways out would give the NCAA a reality check. Certainly there are 15 other guys (maybe more) at the world class level that would do the same.
I love Blanks, but the reason he was 10th in the Olympics is because there's a limit on participation by country. The Kenyan, Ethiopian, and Ugandan World XC teams would all perfect score the NCAA XC meet.
Not sure that Jakob would have beaten Blanks, or even Samuel. Those 2 are more specialised for 10k. I may be wrong but my prediction would have been 1. Blanks, 2. Jakob, 3. Samuel.
Wow!
This might be true if we were talking about a 17 year old Jakob.
Does everyone realize that Jakob is a massive star when it comes to running and winning cross races? He isn't some fragile track guy who has no strength. He would easily win the NCAA championship.
Here he is destroying pro runners at the European Cross Championships. The way he just pulls away from everyone is so smooth.
Does everyone realize that Jakob is a massive star when it comes to running and winning cross races? He isn't some fragile track guy who has no strength. He would easily win the NCAA championship.
Here he is destroying pro runners at the European Cross Championships. The way he just pulls away from everyone is so smooth.
I would ask you why you would think most of the pros running at Euros are in a different category than the best NCAA guys?
Graham Blanks finished 9th in the Paris Olympic final. Habtom Samuel has run under 27 minutes. These are standout performances that you see from guys expected to medal at Euro XC or their Track champs.
Jakob would win, but Blanks and Samuel could also dominate many pro European runners.
Jakob wins one of two ways: 1) He could push the whole last 5k and win by 30-40 seconds or, 2) He'd start squeezing it down with 3000 to go, winning by 22 seconds.
Jakob is one of the greatest ever cross country runners, whose ability to put the hurt on dudes from a long ways out would give the NCAA a reality check. Certainly there are 15 other guys (maybe more) at the world class level that would do the same.
I love Blanks, but the reason he was 10th in the Olympics is because there's a limit on participation by country. The Kenyan, Ethiopian, and Ugandan World XC teams would all perfect score the NCAA XC meet.
Blanks was 9th* in the Olympics and was beaten by 4 guys from Ethiopia/Kenya/Uganda combined. He beat Jacob Krop (12:45 PB), Oscar Chelimo (2022 WC bronze medalist, Uganda’s clear #3), and Thierry Ndikumwenayo (12:48 PB, 9th at 2024 World XC). He is a legitimate world class runner. It’s very unlikely that any 4 Ugandans could ever beat him on the same day and in my estimation, he would only finish behind 1-2 Ethiopians if you transplanted Saturday’s Blanks into the 2024 World XC Champs. Aaron Las Heras (recent NAU/Wake Forest runner) was only 3 seconds behind Ethiopia’s 4th guy at Worlds. Jakob putting 30-40 seconds on the field in the second half seems crazy.
This post was edited 2 minutes after it was posted.
Does everyone realize that Jakob is a massive star when it comes to running and winning cross races? He isn't some fragile track guy who has no strength. He would easily win the NCAA championship.
Here he is destroying pro runners at the European Cross Championships. The way he just pulls away from everyone is so smooth.
I would ask you why you would think most of the pros running at Euros are in a different category than the best NCAA guys?
Graham Blanks finished 9th in the Paris Olympic final. Habtom Samuel has run under 27 minutes. These are standout performances that you see from guys expected to medal at Euro XC or their Track champs.
Jakob would win, but Blanks and Samuel could also dominate many pro European runners.
That's a good point. Blanks is amazing (Parker Wolfe too). Habtom Samuel is certainly on the level of many pros as well. The difference is that we already know how Jakob would do in a 5000m race against the best in the world. He is the double gold medalist.
Jakob's rivals are the same guys who specialize in the 5km and 10km. Jakob is not only "on the level with" the elite pros, he routinely beats them in the most important meets (Worlds and Olympics).
If it were up to me, I would take some of the billions of dollars that are floating around in sports these days and may it worth-while for EVERYONE to go to World Cross. I would love to see the best of the best racing cross like we saw in previous eras.
p.s. We talk about "Grand Slam" track and are referring to four new, made-up meets. I wish we had a real grand slam. Do you think anyone could win all four of these events in one year?
Cross Country Worlds (10km)
Indoor Worlds (3000m)
World Championships or Olympics (1500m)
Diamond League Championship (5000m)
If so, he/she would be the greatest runner hands down. This should be the goal of the distance running community. How about $10,000,000 to the first runner who wins those four events in one year.
This post was edited 1 minute after it was posted.
One of the annual questions we love to ponder on LR… how would have Jakob have faired at this year’s NCAA cross country championships?
At the ripe age of 24, he’d have fit right in with the BYU middle agers.
Could he have gone out slow like OSU’s 4-7, take a few water breaks, and still pick everyone off for the W? Or would he have gone out with the leaders, and made the move Graham Blanks made with a kilometer to go, but with much more authority with a 2:30 last kilometer close (Blanks went 2:45, but eased up the last 100 or so).
Or would he have fallen victim to what Wisconsin has to offer in his first appearance in America’s Dairyland, and not make it to the start line?
Lets be real here. If he applied himself he would win by 30 plus seconds
I would ask you why you would think most of the pros running at Euros are in a different category than the best NCAA guys?
Graham Blanks finished 9th in the Paris Olympic final. Habtom Samuel has run under 27 minutes. These are standout performances that you see from guys expected to medal at Euro XC or their Track champs.
Jakob would win, but Blanks and Samuel could also dominate many pro European runners.
That's a good point. Blanks is amazing (Parker Wolfe too). Habtom Samuel is certainly on the level of many pros as well. The difference is that we already know how Jakob would do in a 5000m race against the best in the world. He is the double gold medalist.
Jakob's rivals are the same guys who specialize in the 5km and 10km. Jakob is not only "on the level with" the elite pros, he routinely beats them in the most important meets (Worlds and Olympics).
If it were up to me, I would take some of the billions of dollars that are floating around in sports these days and may it worth-while for EVERYONE to go to World Cross. I would love to see the best of the best racing cross like we saw in previous eras.
p.s. We talk about "Grand Slam" track and are referring to four new, made-up meets. I wish we had a real grand slam. Do you think anyone could win all four of these events in one year?
Cross Country Worlds (10km)
Indoor Worlds (3000m)
World Championships or Olympics (1500m)
Diamond League Championship (5000m)
If so, he/she would be the greatest runner hands down. This should be the goal of the distance running community. How about $10,000,000 to the first runner who wins those four events in one year.
Using Jakob’s track 5000m as a proxy for his 10km is insane. Jakob would beat Kiplimo in a championship 5k but Kiplimo would beat Jakob by 40s in cross country.
That's a good point. Blanks is amazing (Parker Wolfe too). Habtom Samuel is certainly on the level of many pros as well. The difference is that we already know how Jakob would do in a 5000m race against the best in the world. He is the double gold medalist.
Jakob's rivals are the same guys who specialize in the 5km and 10km. Jakob is not only "on the level with" the elite pros, he routinely beats them in the most important meets (Worlds and Olympics).
If it were up to me, I would take some of the billions of dollars that are floating around in sports these days and may it worth-while for EVERYONE to go to World Cross. I would love to see the best of the best racing cross like we saw in previous eras.
p.s. We talk about "Grand Slam" track and are referring to four new, made-up meets. I wish we had a real grand slam. Do you think anyone could win all four of these events in one year?
Cross Country Worlds (10km)
Indoor Worlds (3000m)
World Championships or Olympics (1500m)
Diamond League Championship (5000m)
If so, he/she would be the greatest runner hands down. This should be the goal of the distance running community. How about $10,000,000 to the first runner who wins those four events in one year.
Using Jakob’s track 5000m as a proxy for his 10km is insane. Jakob would beat Kiplimo in a championship 5k but Kiplimo would beat Jakob by 40s in cross country.
The 2 guys he dominated had PBs of 27:30 & 27:43 at the time.
Have it occured to you that Jakob also could have improved a "bit" since his first SENIOR European X country win in 2021. See how much he has bettered his times in the 1500m, the mile, the 2000m and the 3000m from 2021.
Or don´t you believe that Jakob has improved equally in the 5000m and the 10000m?
Does everyone realize that Jakob is a massive star when it comes to running and winning cross races? He isn't some fragile track guy who has no strength. He would easily win the NCAA championship.
Here he is destroying pro runners at the European Cross Championships. The way he just pulls away from everyone is so smooth.
I would ask you why you would think most of the pros running at Euros are in a different category than the best NCAA guys?
Graham Blanks finished 9th in the Paris Olympic final. Habtom Samuel has run under 27 minutes. These are standout performances that you see from guys expected to medal at Euro XC or their Track champs.
Jakob would win, but Blanks and Samuel could also dominate many pro European runners.
Point is Jakob has never been threatened in XC. Why would it be different at the NCAA level ?