Update. We have spoken to the coaches of Kerr and Wightman. Here is our article on the matter. Wightman is not going for sure. Kerr is still on the fence.
Jake Wightman Won't Run 2024 World Indoors; Josh Kerr Still Deciding - LetsRun.com
Shocking....a boring brand with a boring athlete representation. Brooks is the most normie brand out there and their star athlete is not taking his job as an entertainer seriously - just race you coward.
If he wins gold this summer it'll be the most underwhelming story arc.
king999 wrote:
Did Mackey really say something to the effect of "media stress" etc.? About running tow 1500M races..?
How soft have these guys gotten.
I was a hoops guy, not much anymore, but NBA guys expend way more energy and physicality in games 4 nights a week and some back to back,,most guys today barely race at all. I mean come on..Kerr should shut the f-c- up anyway, way too much to say.
It's a mindset thing. A guy like Jakob thinks of his training as boring homework, and enjoys the tests (races/WR attempts etc.). If he could skip homework entirely and just be all tests he'd do it honestly.
Kerr meanwhile looks at it like every year there's one final exam, and doing anything but studying or cramming for the test is going to haunt him. Even the buildup races and lesser championships or just practice to him, so why do them unless they're necessary. I, like you, think that is somewhat lame and unnecessarily narrow but he can do as he pleases.
The mindset thing is interesting. Was listening to LRC pod, and they discussed Monson who feels she has to run The TEN in a 29:3x time to validate herself as a 10K contender in her own mind. That was her justification for racing a pretty lame time trial event over World XC or even World Indoors. The counterpoint to this is yes Hassan, Tsegay and Gidey are athletes with really fast PBs who close hard off slow paces, but a) you're never going to run their times and b) to get a medal that's not what you need. Who are your surprise medals (or near-medals) at 5/10K of late? Dawit Seyaum (2022), Margaret Chelimo (2022, punched way above her weight in '22 and '23 5K), Stanley Mburu (2022), Grijalva (2022-3), Daniel Simiyu Ebenyo (2023). All with PBs on the slower side, but willing to run courageously and tactically astute. They all either punched above their weight in XC, road races, or on the DL circuit just as Monson does (on the DL side). Then in a slower race, they ignored the 20-second+ PB gap and just competed. Monson obviously believes strongly she needs a fast 10K PB, when I think she'd be much better served running a World XC race where she hangs with Beatrice Chebet, Gidey and others and starts to develop confidence and self-belief that way.
king999 wrote:
Did Mackey really say something to the effect of "media stress" etc.? About running tow 1500M races..?
How soft have these guys gotten.
I was a hoops guy, not much anymore, but NBA guys expend way more energy and physicality in games 4 nights a week and some back to back,,most guys today barely race at all. I mean come on..Kerr should shut the f-c- up anyway, way too much to say.
The idea of skipping indoor WCs to avoid media stress is wild to me... what does he think ducking JI is going to do other than generate media attention and stress, and for all the wrong reasons?
I think the racing a lot or a little can be what sort of runner you are. Some guys are able to hit a high peak. Some guys sustain. Kerr is just not as talented as Jakob in the sustain (or absolute ability) sense. Jakob does volume. Kerr does less. Jakob is a 5k guy and cross country champion doing 1500s. They don't take as much out of him as they do Kerr, who has less natural endurance.
UK athletics have updated the selection policy to clarify that 23 WC medalists and indoor tour winners do not need to compete in the trials so that excuse is gone, and given the announcement about JI perhaps is looking more likely..