I said everyone on the circuit owes their PB to Jakob. And I stand by it. They've all tried to run sub-3:30 without him and have always come up short. Kerr did last year when he went for the British record in Zurich. Nuguse has tried a few times, and failed. I'm not a Jakob fanboy like a lot of the frankly embarrassing people ont his board, but I admire what he does on the track and he has undoubtedly made everyone in this era better. He's an arsehole, but he's also the most important and influential 1500m runner since El G.
Runners in real life know and understand this phenomenon. It takes somebody a little better than you or let's say "equal" to push or pull you to your best times. There is very often great camaraderie and appreciation among relative good runners because they know they can't do it on their own.
It starts early. you see it in high school and club running. and you still see it on the world stage.
There can still be bitter feelings and resentment mixed in with that though. And that's okay. everyones going for the same prize.
We also saw it in the Big 3 era in tennis. Djokovic, in particular, forced everyone to up their game, though he's not a popular figure with the public. It's often asked what Andy Murray could have achieved in a different era as he was a great player but didn't gather that titles of the Big 3. But the likelihood is Murray wouldn't have been as good. He raised himself to compete with Djokovic, Nadal, and Federer and probably made himself to a level he wouldn't have achieved without them.
The debate is, as always “who would win in a race?”
at the low end of the scale (races that do not have titles or medals) the answer is Jakob.
at the other end (medals and titles), Kerr is the answer.
if the answer becomes “who runs faster all things equal?” the answer is Jakob.
Wtf is this garbage. Jakob has one olympic gold, kerr has none. Jakob has two silvers, Kerr has one bronze and a silver. His one WC gold is lower compared to Olympic Gold. Kerr also has zero european titles, jakob 3. In what world is Kerr on the opposite side of the spectrum
Jakob can’t drop Kerr in a championship setting and can’t outkick him. That’s been true for the last 2 years.