And someone like Almgren would've certainly made the 5000 final at Paris but was DNS because of injury.
Well his heat had about 12 guys get in BUT in normal circumstances, it’s likely Krop, Kurgat, Lobalu, Ahmed and Gebrhiwet snagging 5. After that, him, Mills, Blanks, Hay, Gressier, Nordas, Heymans and only 3 spots left. Making a 5,000 final is no obvious thing.
Almgren is a 12:50 5000 runner and the fastest European in history in the 10k. The only people I would have as a lock ahead of him to make the finals over him are the Africans, Jakob and Fisher.
Also, I think most people here will agree that he'd have an easier time winning the 3000 than the 1500 (though I haven't seen the entries). Of course, he just cares about the 1500. For him, winning the 3000 is just a nice extra, much like the 5000 outdoors.
Generally yes but Aregawi and Mills are in better shape than his 1500 opposition, so maybe it’s a toss-up. He handled Mills pretty easily today, but it’s possible having Aregawi in there ups the challenge.
Not what I’m saying. He is the best 1500m runner in the world but at unpaced, stacked 1500m finals, the field has the advantage of him. In paced 1500m races or vs anyone but the top 3/4 in the world he’s unbeatable.
I agree but I don’t think that against the other top Europeans (mainly just Kerr) would have changed the results in this championship. Kerr isn’t in great shape right now and even if he was in his shape last winter, he wouldn’t have been able to catch Jakob. It’s when the field is at their best and peaked in the summer that we see Jakob vulnerable.
Or another example is the 1500m final in Glasgow last winter, Hocker was clearly not at his best and Jakob would have destroyed the field anyways in his usual winter form.
"Lower competition". I find it strange how the level at europeans is constantly brushed off like it’s all C-tier.
It’s not being a jerk to acknowledge that the only 2 guys to make a final at 1500/5000 last year were Laros and Gourley. So I’m not sure what you want us to say.
Is it Jakob's fault if your best runners are ducking him again and again? Difference between Jakob and second is much bigger than difference between 2nd and 22nd in the world.
Sad about Almgren, still no senior medal despite how much he's improved in the last couple of seasons
Jakob and Mills are just on a different level
As a buddy just texted. Can you imagine closing a 3k in 2:21.2 and not medalling?
I think Almgren should have made it an honest pace. He's dropping down in distance from the 5/10k and faced here a lot of 1500 specialists: Habz, Mills, Laros, Niellesen. Obviously he did close fast (and beat the dutch men), but was not fast enough for a medal. Almgren ran 7:36 solo at his national indoor champs: if he had gone to the front, I don't think he loses bronze to Habz (who also had the 1500 races on his legs). Jakob would still have smoked him, but he was running for silver anyways (he told NRK he knew his training buddy - Jakob - would win regardless of the pace).
It's not Jakob's fault that many of his roughly 16 European titles have been against inferior competition even in an era when European middle distance runners are competitive on the global stage. Kerr, Wightman, and many other strong European runners have had the option to run Euros during Jakob's whole career, but they almost always skip them, indoors and even out, as well as xc.
The straw man is that anyone says Jakob is a poor championship racer at 3,000m+ or vs. fringe global finalists at 1500m. His tactics and abilities are proven at those distances or level of competition.
In a different dimension, winning either a gold or a silver in the olympics and the following two world championships is considered really good. There is a reason there is only one other active runner that is close to the same.
Tbf he won because Cheruiyot had a hamstring injury that year!
seems the next guy always wins gold in the 1500m unless your last name is Kipyegon or Morcelli
It’s not being a jerk to acknowledge that the only 2 guys to make a final at 1500/5000 last year were Laros and Gourley. So I’m not sure what you want us to say.
Is it Jakob's fault if your best runners are ducking him again and again? Difference between Jakob and second is much bigger than difference between 2nd and 22nd in the world.
are the Americans supposed to run the indoor championships?
Pray that Tefera doesnt show up indoors again hehe
It's not Jakob's fault that many of his roughly 16 European titles have been against inferior competition even in an era when European middle distance runners are competitive on the global stage. Kerr, Wightman, and many other strong European runners have had the option to run Euros during Jakob's whole career, but they almost always skip them, indoors and even out, as well as xc.
Some of that is because they know they have to be at their absolute best shape in order to have any chance of winning, and it's just not worth it to them at this time of year. It's the Jakob effect, he scares some of the competition away, no doubt.
It's not Jakob's fault that many of his roughly 16 European titles have been against inferior competition even in an era when European middle distance runners are competitive on the global stage. Kerr, Wightman, and many other strong European runners have had the option to run Euros during Jakob's whole career, but they almost always skip them, indoors and even out, as well as xc.
Exactly. Literally more than half of the 1500 finals lineup at Paris were Europeans, but there's not much Jakob can do when guys like Kerr thinks they're too good to bother with the Euros.
Is it Jakob's fault if your best runners are ducking him again and again? Difference between Jakob and second is much bigger than difference between 2nd and 22nd in the world.
are the Americans supposed to run the indoor championships?
Pray that Tefera doesnt show up indoors again hehe
You are about to compare runner with 2 medals with the legend of our sport. People dislike that.
I agree but I don’t think that against the other top Europeans (mainly just Kerr) would have changed the results in this championship. Kerr isn’t in great shape right now and even if he was in his shape last winter, he wouldn’t have been able to catch Jakob. It’s when the field is at their best and peaked in the summer that we see Jakob vulnerable.
At 3,000 yes probably, though I wouldn't discount Kerr closing a 7:42 race in 25.2 and 52.6. Jakob might've changed up the tactics with Kerr in it. Kerr was pretty damn sharp at that time. If they'd contested a 1500 in March timing last year (with Jakob in today's form), there's no way Jakob would've done the modest squeeze and 3:36 type race.
Almgren is a 12:50 5000 runner and the fastest European in history in the 10k. The only people I would have as a lock ahead of him to make the finals over him are the Africans, Jakob and Fisher.
You put him in a position above Lobalu who beat him at European Champs for gold? Lobalu even finished a whisker out of a 5K medal in Paris, he is just plain better IMO.
My point is not to disrespect Almgren, but just to note there are a lot of guys in the 12:50 range and there are even more competitive in a frantic heat like Heymans, Blanks and so on. Jakob stands well above these guys and is a great 5,000m runner in all situations. The knock on him is merely in unpaced 1500s against the best of the very best.
Is it Jakob's fault if your best runners are ducking him again and again? Difference between Jakob and second is much bigger than difference between 2nd and 22nd in the world.
Not at all! Three things can be true at once:
Jakob is unbeatable in every type of 3,000-5,000m race unpaced, paced etc.
Jakob is pretty much unbeatable in a paced 1500 or one vs. all but the top 5 guys in the world
Jakob is beatable by at least one and sometime a few more of the top 5 guys in the world in an unpaced race based on his preferred tactics of taking the pace for at least half of the race
This post was edited 3 minutes after it was posted.
It's not Jakob's fault that many of his roughly 16 European titles have been against inferior competition even in an era when European middle distance runners are competitive on the global stage. Kerr, Wightman, and many other strong European runners have had the option to run Euros during Jakob's whole career, but they almost always skip them, indoors and even out, as well as xc.
Exactly. Literally more than half of the 1500 finals lineup at Paris were Europeans, but there's not much Jakob can do when guys like Kerr thinks they're too good to bother with the Euros.
I don't begrudge Jakob at all and in fact have been critical of all those guys for skipping championships. Specifically, Kerr who talks about how he doesn't like the circuit because it's all time trials. I'm a big Jakob fan, but it's just context for when you compare his performances at the 1500/mile vs. European competition, in Wavelight/paced races, and in the global champs.
Dutch media reported that he's been ill and had the flu, but still wanted to try and perform in front of his home crowd.
The exuberance of youth - that's very noble of him but sometimes you just have to accept biology and come back stronger the next time. I don't know what/how that possibly benefitted him other than home crowd goodwill? Not sure that was worth it if he was that compromised.
Almgren is a 12:50 5000 runner and the fastest European in history in the 10k. The only people I would have as a lock ahead of him to make the finals over him are the Africans, Jakob and Fisher.
You put him in a position above Lobalu who beat him at European Champs for gold? Lobalu even finished a whisker out of a 5K medal in Paris, he is just plain better IMO.
My point is not to disrespect Almgren, but just to note there are a lot of guys in the 12:50 range and there are even more competitive in a frantic heat like Heymans, Blanks and so on. Jakob stands well above these guys and is a great 5,000m runner in all situations. The knock on him is merely in unpaced 1500s against the best of the very best.
Yes, as the people who are near guaranteed to qualify above Almgren. Lobalu and Almgren are very close in ability so who performs better will come down to who's better on the day.
Lobalu is not "plain better" because he beat Almgren by a single second in the 10k, when Almgren has progressed to become the fastest European man to ever live since that race.
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