How does a 3.30 guy outkick a 3.26 guy in a 3.27 race?

Because none of them were 3:27 guys until today. Jakob obviously looked at everyone’s PBs and thought I can outrun any of those times by front running it. To be fair on paper that makes sense.

Jakob's 55, 57, 56 splits (actually 54.9, 56.6, 55.8) were sub-optimal. His 2:47.3 1200 split was "just" 3:29.1 pace, which obviously wasn't too fast for the kickers. I suspect the same 1200 split, but with the sub 55 lap as the third would have taken much more out of the kicks. Easier said than done of course.

By running faster

its called doping!

Have I missed where we can start to talk about how Jakob has made the rest of the world better? He has one winning strategy, and it worked for a couple years because the 1500 was not the stellar event that it used to be, and he can in with sass and bravado and, despite the slowest turnover I’ve ever seen on an elite 1500m runner, won with his strength and a real arrogance.

and it is good for the sport. He made the rest of the world work harder to come up to him, but Wightman showed how vulnerable he was to anyone with a kick that could hang with his pace. And the Kerr proved that that formula was right. And the rest of the world took notice.
And now Jakob has to go back to the drawing board and figure out his next move. Because the rest of the world has him figured out and he needs to grow and change.

that was a magnificent Olympic 1500m today, and amazing racing, the best since 2004. And Jakob single handed l’y over the last couple of years has helped build this to a marquee event again, the way it was in the days of come, ovett, cram, aouita,and Scott. This crop of athletes is fun and exciting and we aren’t even talking about Kessler and Laros and Nordas maturing and just getting better as well.

What in the world? Of course he will move up in distance, but good gravy, he doesn't have a kick? Cmon. He got beat by peeps that were better on the day, and he's clearly not the best in championship 1500m races, but to pretend that he sucks is just weird.

Actually, Hocker (1st), Kessler (5th) and Laros (6th) are each younger than Jakob so if he's a "kid" then the others are toddlers

Bingo. See what these boards said about Hicham El Guerrouj when he ran 3:27.65...

All sports that I know of relate years to when the athlete started, not when they were born.

If he'd won, you wouldn't be saying that. 54.6 is only about half a second quicker than his PB pace. And if you front-run, you guarantee running the shortest line. My guess is he just went out slightly too quick for his fitness on the day, coupled with not having a pacemaker.

Surely if he runs 3:30 pace, he still gets outpaced by the guy with the quickest finish?

As for Hocker, not sure getting boxed in behind Ingebritsen and Kerr in the home straight is textbook tactics.

Well if Hocker was Moroccan or Algerian, everybody would be saying this. A 39 second last 300m in a 3:27 whilst getting blocked and going backwards momentarilly. And the USA is the only country other than Kenya to have had several middle-distance busts in the last decade.

However, there's nothing in his progression that raises a red flag, or any doping suspicions in his team as far as I know.

They were all 327 based on their training. Just because the others don't want to be on similar time trialing programs it doesn't mean they aren't super fast. Jakob doesn't respect the competition and the next guys showed up to teach him a devastating lesson today.

It's almost funny now watching Hocker getting outkicked by Tim and Gourely at the Prefontaine Mile.

Question for the Stats guys: Has Ingebrigtsen made with his 3:28 and something a World record in Frontrunning? Was there somebody else frontrunning from the beginning and breaking 3:29? I think despite of not medalling and being outkicked by three guys it is a great achivement from him.

Somehow I don't think that was his goal :/

It's almost like Hocker and his coach were aiming for him to peak when it mattered.

Unlike the poster directly above me: I am not accusing Cole of anything

Really? I see no difference. You both are suggesting something is unbelievable about Hocker’s performance.

So he only peaks once every 4 years? Possibly he’s part cicada.

He was way back in the Prefontaine Mile… out kicked by half the field. It makes one wonder, if Hocker can go from zero kick to having a monster kick in one year, why can’t Jacob, or any athlete that gets written off here on LRC for not having “speed”?

He did the exact same thing in 2021. Good indoor season, showed high promise, but nothing truly world class. Slow start to outdoors, fairly mediocre first couple races (3:35 with a pacer, 1:48ish), then started getting rolling in June, peaked massively in July/August. Thomas knows how to coach.