Jonathan Gault has the highlights from an entertaining pre-race press conference for the Weltklasse Zurich featuring a bunch of newly-crowned world champions.
Jakob is still 22 so somewhat immature, his mind is not the "equal" of his body. In Budapest, he ran a complacent, arrogant race, assuming he could win no matter what the field did, and that he could save his repertoire till the last strides. He may be the "best" but he did not respect his opposition and that proved to be a fatal mistake--again. He needs to grow up and maybe have someone show him some tough love. As far as being under the weather, that's just B.S, by the time of the Worlds after a long season and everyone peaking, who isn't feeling a little... off?
No disrespect. He is saying Kerr won, and there is no reason for a term like revenge and race again. The race is over the next guy won. Time to move on.
Jakob is still 22 so somewhat immature, his mind is not the "equal" of his body. In Budapest, he ran a complacent, arrogant race, assuming he could win no matter what the field did, and that he could save his repertoire till the last strides. He may be the "best" but he did not respect his opposition and that proved to be a fatal mistake--again. He needs to grow up and maybe have someone show him some tough love. As far as being under the weather, that's just B.S, by the time of the Worlds after a long season and everyone peaking, who isn't feeling a little... off?
Can I ask how you want him to run the race? You say he ran arrogantly. What do you want him to do? Sit and kick with a 146 pb?
I do not agree. No cultural barrier here. He just comes off extremely arrogant. Fine to focus on yourself but at least show some appreciation of other people after a race. Katir went over to him to say thanks for the race and Jakob barely acknowledged him. For me that is arrogance.
So many of them are like that. It is unimpressive. They'll briefly touch hands or look in that direction but you can tell they are just going through the motions and don't really care.
The women are more genuine as a rule. This year the one who impressed me was Beatrice Chepkoech. She was obviously pleased with her return and 8:58 for silver. After that race Chepkoech was walking around to greet everybody. She even went over to last place Wayment and offered a hand while lifting her off the ground. Wayment seemed surprised and pleased.
Then Chepkoech went back to greeting others she had missed.
Jakob is still 22 so somewhat immature, his mind is not the "equal" of his body. In Budapest, he ran a complacent, arrogant race, assuming he could win no matter what the field did, and that he could save his repertoire till the last strides. He may be the "best" but he did not respect his opposition and that proved to be a fatal mistake--again. He needs to grow up and maybe have someone show him some tough love. As far as being under the weather, that's just B.S, by the time of the Worlds after a long season and everyone peaking, who isn't feeling a little... off?
I didn't think it was complacent. I was wondering what the heck are you doing? It wasn't nearly fast enough to shake the principals. Not all of them, anyway.
Jakob in 2023 form wasn't going to run it that way, especially given the 2022 example. I thought it might be the heat. Instead I fully believe he wasn't fully healthy. Sometimes the inexplicable race does carry a legitimate excuse, like Spectacular Bid and the 1979 safety pin Belmont.
Further verification in the 5000. Jakob never intentionally gives himself so little margin for error. He said he was unsure of the outcome for the first 4960 meters. In that same post race interview he said if healthy he would expect to win by margin. Unlike the 1500, he doesn't respect the 5000 crowd. He even took a subtle dig at them by saying that given his condition he knew he would have to be tactically smarter than them.
In other words, I knew you'd be stupid. If I'm fit and healthy I can be the stupid and thirsty one and it won't matter anyway.
“If I hadn’t run in the final, he would probably have won. That’s how I see the race. Obviously if you stumble or fall then someone is going to win the race and he was just the next guy.”
Any statement starting with “if false” is by definition true, so Jakob is logically correct.
“If I hadn’t run in the final, he would probably have won. That’s how I see the race. Obviously if you stumble or fall then someone is going to win the race and he was just the next guy.”
Any statement starting with “if false” is by definition true, so Jakob is logically correct.
Oh, wow. Why are you all going on about the "just the next guy" part? The part about "if I hadn't run in the final, he would probably have won" is more arrogant by far.
Buddy, you did run in the final, and he still won. Jakob's off in la-la land somewhere, talk about what actually happened how about.
I'll say one thing for him, he's a great drama queen. Really gets people stirred up one way or another about a fairly boring track event.
Going forward Jakob should stop taking and answering questions in English.
He is judged based on answering in his not native language by people with zero knowledge about Norwegian culture. He is accommodating English speaking people by speaking their language.
Kind of funny since most people in the USA and UK cannot speak more than one language, but they expect everybody not only to speak English. But they will judge based on their own culture.
Some English-speaking press got grumpy when Jakob just took questions in Norwegian since they want everything served to them on a silver plate…….
Going forward Jakob should stop taking and answering questions in English.
He is judged based on answering in his not native language by people with zero knowledge about Norwegian culture. He is accommodating English speaking people by speaking their language.
Kind of funny since most people in the USA and UK cannot speak more than one language, but they expect everybody not only to speak English. But they will judge based on their own culture.
Some English-speaking press got grumpy when Jakob just took questions in Norwegian since they want everything served to them on a silver plate…….
No one misunderstood Jakob. He expressed himself very clearly. Like a prat.
“If I hadn’t run in the final, he would probably have won. That’s how I see the race. Obviously if you stumble or fall then someone is going to win the race and he was just the next guy.”
Any statement starting with “if false” is by definition true, so Jakob is logically correct.
Oh, wow. Why are you all going on about the "just the next guy" part? The part about "if I hadn't run in the final, he would probably have won" is more arrogant by far.
Buddy, you did run in the final, and he still won. Jakob's off in la-la land somewhere, talk about what actually happened how about.
I'll say one thing for him, he's a great drama queen. Really gets people stirred up one way or another about a fairly boring track event.
You are right. Jakob ran - and got beaten. By the "next guy". What a condescending twat. Nor did he "stumble or fall". He was beaten fair and square by a very good runner, who was superior to him on the day.
He’s coming off as arrogant and I can see why some people would hate him for that, but he’s just saying the truth. Jakob without illness is the best. It’s actually amazing how well he ran with an illness. Gold and silver!
Jakob is really good, but we still don’t know if he is good enough to pull away in a global final. He remains very adamant about it, but there will invariably be a “next guy” unless he can execute 3:27-28 from the front. Note how El Guerrouj didn’t try to front run DL type races in global finals from 2001-2004. He trusted his kick from 600 or 700 out. Jakob seems stubborn so we’ll see.
Josh in Zurich: “Emotions are high in the media,” Kerr said. “I know he wanted the 1500 title and the 5k field seemed to not realize he’d run three rounds and kind of wanted to make it slow for some reason. But he can be disrespectful to me, that’s fine, I still have the World Championship gold medal and I’m going to be the world champion for the next two years regardless of his comments. Obviously don’t love disrespectful comments and I’ve worked hard to get into this position and I beat him on the day. But if that’s the kind of route he wants to go down, that’s fine with me, I’m kind of unbothered by it.”
- seems to be insecure with Jakob's comment ("Obviously don’t love disrespectful comments")
- don't congratulate Jakob on 5k win instead wishes Ethiopians didn't make so easy for him (that's kind of rude)
- thinks Jakob started hating on him after the final even though they were never friends - again, insecurity ("if that’s the kind of route he wants to go down, that’s fine with me") and "I’m kind of unbothered by it" only confirms insecurity.
It's inarguable that Jakob will almost assuredly win a fast race where he doesn't have to drive the pace. You can never take away that 2021 Olympics Gold Medal, but you can also acknowledge that he is unlikely to ever have someone lead him out like that for more than 400 meters again. So he has to figure out how to win when it is on HIM to either run away from the field or beat them with a long, sustained kick. I would argue he should look at Morceli (4 slow titles, just 1 misfire in '92) and post-2000 El Guerrouj (3 for 3 on titles, no pacing) instead of 2019 Tim Cheruiyot or 1999 El Guerrouj (who got pacing help). But he seems stubborn and thinks that he should create a sub-3:30 race and win that way.
This post was edited 1 minute after it was posted.
Josh in Zurich: “Emotions are high in the media,” Kerr said. “I know he wanted the 1500 title and the 5k field seemed to not realize he’d run three rounds and kind of wanted to make it slow for some reason. But he can be disrespectful to me, that’s fine, I still have the World Championship gold medal and I’m going to be the world champion for the next two years regardless of his comments. Obviously don’t love disrespectful comments and I’ve worked hard to get into this position and I beat him on the day. But if that’s the kind of route he wants to go down, that’s fine with me, I’m kind of unbothered by it.”
- seems to be insecure with Jakob's comment ("Obviously don’t love disrespectful comments")
- don't congratulate Jakob on 5k win instead wishes Ethiopians didn't make so easy for him (that's kind of rude)
- thinks Jakob started hating on him after the final even though they were never friends - again, insecurity ("if that’s the kind of route he wants to go down, that’s fine with me") and "I’m kind of unbothered by it" only confirms insecurity.
He's not insecure with the comments, he is calling a spade a spade. They were somewhat dismissive/disrespectful to someone who just beat you soundly.
He's being honest about the 5,000, the Ethiopians ran a tactically questionable race. If Jakob's going to marginalize his world title, fair play for Josh to do the same to Jakob's.
Jakob was respectful in the immediate aftermath, calling Kerr the better guy on the night, even if the sickness was brought up. But then in the days after he changed his tone with the "next guy up" characterization and implying that Kerr is not close to his level. Regardless of whether they are friends or not, Kerr can be frosty about them and not make-believe that the two are gonna be chums from now on.
how is he the best 1500m runner in the WORLD if he lost the last 2 WORLD championships lmaoo
Good question. He is though isn't he? 22 years old and his 1500m resume is:
- Current Olympic champ (and record holder)
- Current World Silver medallist
- Last year World Silver medallist
- Current European Champion
- Current World Indoor Silver medallist
- Fastest times in last few years
Who has a better championship resume over 1500m? He's been beaten in one off races, but only the former best 1500m runner in the world Tim C beats him in the head to head. Yes Kerr and Wightman beat him in one off races, but how many times has he beaten them? I think it's funny when people say he isn't the best active 1500m runner - he's clearly top dog. Kerr might be the new guy (maybe starting tonight), but for now Jakob is clearly the best.
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