Jakob's response to LetsRun's question: "I am the pacemaker"

This is what makes this questions fully absurd. Jakob has like 24 medals from unpaced finals (and thus a almost as many semi finals etc). He has experience from five world finals. How is it that its exactly him that needs practice in this format? Imagine if Rojo asked that question to the runners that barely have raced outside their country since the last WC.

You seem to miss the point that in the Tokyo Olympics final, it was Cheruiyot that ‘paced’ the final, and in the last WC, Jakob set pace, and Wightman was able to capitalize on that.

He was 45 hundreds away from his season best in the world final. I think if he does 3.27.59 in budapest he will likely win. He seems way stronger this year, and i don't really think any race scenario will make him not be the favorite.

Jakob led the first 400m, Cheruiyot decided to overtake him afterwards. This is not the same as sitting and kicking from the gun.

Agreed and understood the tactics are the intrigue. I think in the last WC, Kenya wanted to try and use Kipsang for strategic positioning as the race wound up, but he wasn’t strong enough when Jakob ran ahead on the last 400m. Wightman stayed right there to get to the last turn first. If Jakob was as strong as he is now, he might have still been able to come back down the home stretch.

How is Jakob running without pacers in this DL going to change that WC? And how is this influencing his point that he has been running alone in the front at every DL this season? Would any of the Diamond races he has been it realistically look any different without pacers (in terms of placements)? Or would Jakob start slow, go to the front and run the rest to the ground, as usual? If that tactic present itself as a big weakness against the current field, surely someone would have capitalized on that so far this year, as they have had every opportunity to do so. F.ex in Bislett Katir, Nuguse et.al could be pulled along by Ingebrigtsen (which is his point - he has been a pacer), yet the closest was 1s behind.

I'm not saying that Jakob is guaranteed a win. Everything can happen. People can trip, people can have poor judgement, Jakob can screw it up, Jakob can be too slow at the day. But it seems like Rojo is fundamentally not understanding what Jakobs point is.

But he hasn’t been leading DL races from the gun. If he does, he might be vulnerable, whereas, if he waits until the last 400m, maybe a speed guy has a chance to contend. It seems Jakob’s best strategy might be to get out front early, and then control the race like Centro did, not letting anyone get ahead. Cheruiyot wanted to make sure that didn’t happen in Tokyo, so he really accelerated to get ahead. Kipsang was not a factor in that scenario.

Look for team tactics to try and hinder Jakob at the critical point, but he may be able to just blow them all away.

Why is he going to use Centro's tactics and not his own that has netted him an olympic gold, wc silver, diamond league final gold etc? The fastest 1500 m runner we have seen in decades surely shouldn't set up a race to be won in 3:50?

Why? And how would practicing it for a DL meet this season change that? Its not like he never has raced in the pack before, he did it for 2,5 years behind Cheriyout.

I am sorry but I don't quite understand why we are acting like he isn't able to employ tactics and is reliant on pacers when he clearly is successfull without it. For anyone who have followed his carreer (watch his early races) he was extremely good (and at times extremely unsuccessfull) to navigate the field from the middle of the pack. After having many close calls it seems like Jakobs tactic is to run with as little risk as he can, being strong enough to run a wide turn, eventually take the front and run the rest into the ground.

Again, I'm not saying he is guaranteed to win - far from it. Everything can happen. That makes the 1500m really exciting. But I just don't see how running without pacers in a DL meet would make any difference.

For everyone who criticize the question, why is it dumb? Jakob is not the rabbit for his races in the way he (perhaps) will have to be in the WC. And its even more valid given that he lost in that way last year in Eugene. Perfectly valid question.

Rojos answer (and the original question) is valid, and you're doing the same you blame Rojo for doing. You're starting to sound like a road runner from coastal Norway at the moment.

Jakob gave the rabbits huge credit.

Jakob lost last year when he acted as the rabbit.

Asking him about WC and him being the rabbit for a whole race is not just valid, but also what they should ask. Its the one thing ("Flaw" if you will) by his running style. They absolutely should and have to ask that question.

Obviously its fair that Jakob doesn't agree that is an issue, given that he have and often have to pace larger portion of the race, but as he himself (and everyone knows) admittet, drafting is an advantage.

How many meters did Jakob lead in the Olympic final?

How many DLs has Jakob won withouth rabbits?

How many meters did he lead when he lost the WC gold?

What a great answer about pacing. Those jokers on Letsrun can make some really stupid commentary when it comes to Jakob. They consider his Olympic 1500 win an apparition because Timothy Cheruiyot lead most of the way even though the history of the 1500 in Olympic level meets the someone who leads from the beginning and try's to lead all the way rarely win. So was the luck, that John Walker, Coe, Noureddine Morceli, Hicham El Guerrouj, going all the way back to Kip Keino who was paced off of Ben Jipcho, to win. Were they just lucky and needed pacers to be great. Those letsrun guys are just not very smart when it comes to their comments about Jakob. I love his answer to them here :)

What a great answer about pacing. Those jokers on Letsrun can make some really stupid commentary when it comes to Jakob. They consider his Olympic 1500 win an apparition because Timothy Cheruiyot lead most of the way even though the history of the 1500 in Olympic level meets the someone who leads from the beginning and try's to lead all the way rarely win. So was the luck, that John Walker, Coe, Noureddine Morceli, Hicham El Guerrouj, going all the way back to Kip Keino who was paced off of Ben Jipcho, to win. Were they just lucky and needed pacers to be great. Those letsrun guys are just not very smart when it comes to their comments about Jakob. I love his answer to them here :)

Armstronglivs

Jacob is the greatest 1500m runner in history. He now owns the drug-free world record. He made it very clear that he would be unbeatable this year when he ran the 7:54 two mile.

Here is Rojo's article on the matter:

letsrun.com

Jakob Was Magnificent In Poland, But Remember: They Don't Run The 1500 Final In Lanes

LetsRun.com

Jakob Ingebrigtsen will enter Worlds after running two straight 1500 pbs, but should he be nervous as the 1500 is often cruel to the fastest man in the field? After his latest pb, Jakob raved about his rabbits, before saying...

Open link

Nice breakdown, capturing the nuance embedded in what may not have been such a ridiculous inquiry after all. Had the question been phrased differently, Jakob might have offered a less dismissive response.

Jakob didn’t lose last year because he was the rabbit though. He lost because he wasted energy covering bad moves and got his stride checked (in a perfectly legitimate pass) by Wightman with less than 200 to go. Even then he only came up short a couple tenths.
He can lose it for himself by making poor decisions, but from a fitness standpoint I don’t think leading is an issue for him.

If Cheruiyot were in prime fitness it would be a different story, but it doesn’t look like anyone is close enough to Jakob this year.

Sorry wrong thread.
I thought that Monaco DL thread.