Jakob out of Silesia and Brussels

*And I could buy/believe Habz running 3:29 at 29/30

A little typo, my bad

I understand that. It's unfortunate. I think the US qualifying is far from optimal. Having one off day should not spoil your chances if your the best or second best in the country, and you've proven that time after time said season. Did anyone have any doubts about Nuguse going to Tokyo after he did a 3:45.95 mile in Eugene, as well as doing a soild 1:44.77 in the 800m earlier this season? I doubt that. I've also heard many people saying Carl Lewis' got robbed in 1992, after he finished outside top 3 in the US trials (having a cold that day). The Gold in Barcelona was won in 9.96, and 2nd place finished in 10.02, so a top 2 should've definitely been within Lewis' reach (He won in Tokyo '91 in 9.86 and 4th in Stuttgart '93 in 10.02) And Timothy Cheruiyot had an off day in 2021 in the Kenyan US trials, he only finished 4th, but the Kenyan leadership had some common sense and sent Cheruiyoyt to Tokyo anyway (where he won silver). And from what I've head, one of the reasons as to why Armand Duplantis chose to represent Sweden, and not the U.S., was due to the qualifying system. The system should be changed. I know Nuguse's chances are pretty slim, but I really hope we get to see him in Tokyo.

And it also has an impact of the racing schedules of the American runners, it's unfortunate.

edit: Kerr isn't American. I think he should've competed a bit more (internationally) than only London DL after his GSL season. I know he races rarely, but I would more entertaining if he showed up more. (I really don't get why he wasn't a part of the Bowerman mile field)

it doesn't matter, he has shown class and if he thinks he is not ready to race at jakob standards why bother, im sure he will run a rust buster before world champs

We thought you meant that he would be competing at worlds.

It's curious news, because only 4 days ago, he posted a race pace video on his Instagram. Would love to know what has happened between now and then.

Lots of dramatic speculation on this thread, however I'm sure there is a good explanation for pulling out of these upcoming meets, which we will get from Jakob in due course.

We know Jakob loves to compete as much as reasonably possible, so I still have faith he will be there at Worlds, even if only he 5000, hence this current delay. If whatever is going on was season ending, I think he would have called it by now.

I'm also worried Jakob might not run WC/has ended his outdoor season before it even started. I know that folks say we should be patient and hear from Jakob himself, but speculating doesn't really hurt anyone.

My wild guess is that he's delaying his announcement about it due to contractual obligations (mostly with Nike?). Hear me out. Yes, he's been mostly transparent about the injury, with a video update about it and mote videos about cross training, etc. However, let's review the timeline, which has been somewhat murky. Roughly speaking, the timeline was:

1. Jakob posts on IG about a session in Sierra Nevada.

2. Two weeks later, he posts a YT video of this workout.

3. 2-3 days later, we hear reports of him getting injured and pulling out of Bislet and Ostrava.

4. About a week or so later, Jakob posts a YT video in his garage, speaking about the injury.

Somewhere in between all these, Jakob consistently posted about his new Nike running collection, his new run club, etc. injury updates trickled in between all these announcements.

Now, again, we hear about missed races from his media team, and this morning we see him posting a story about Nike.

I wonder if they want him to promote them on social media, without saying much about his injury, till it's obvious. Sort of milk the for all its got.

don't overthink this. He's in training. He's feeling it out. It's a logical wait and see approach. Nothing more, nothing less.

It's just a theory. We'll find out soon enough, but I think we all agree that all the signs are worrying, even if he does end up at World's.

I was really looking forward to seeing him in Silesia, where he's historically run very fast.

Wow. I can’t believe he’s only 24!

Just a next guy who never races.

Kerr will dominate the next few seasons.

I think he's not been able to full throttle due to testers.

A common idea in this thread is that Jakob must race before Worlds, as if racing a 1500m rust-buster is the sole difference between him being ready for Worlds or not. At this point, it seems the most logical plan would be to train the best possible for the Worlds 5k on September 19th (heats) and 21st (final). That gives him 6 weeks from today before the heats without distractions or unnecessary interruptions to try to get right for an event he has dominated the past 3 seasons; if he has to withdraw, he has at least 2-3 weeks before facing that reality. I don’t believe racing a single 1500 before then is a magic necessity, versus doing a 1200m time trial in 2:47 or 2x1600 in 3:59, 3:56 or whatever you do when you’re Jakob Ingebrigtsen.

It’s undeniable that it’s not looking very good for him this year, though.

Jakob being Jakob, it's really hard to imagine him scratching from the 1500 and only running the 5000, even if logically speaking, that is his best chance to medal, at this point.

I think Occam's razor says that he retweaked the achilles and so pulled out of the races. Not that Jakob is done with his career by any means, but really, he has less to prove than most. Do you want to see a sub-par Jakob on the starting line? Its not really entertaining to me, honestly. I want to see him at full strength ready to beat the world.

If he had to simply bag this season, then we will all moan and groan, but it makes little sense to see a sub-par Jakob toeing the line in a DL race, much less a WC 1500 final. Achilles tend to linger, and if you can't really hit those speed sessions without holding back for fear of reinjuring the leg than you aren't really training at 100%.

yikes

Guys, everything is fine. He's just psyching out the competition because he's SOO healthy and fast right now. The reason he's skipping those Diamond League meets is because he's in 3:23 shape right now, and he wants to break the records in Tokyo, not in a paced race.

That would be awesome. Were he to return for the WCs and turn back all the pretenders

If they can’t be ready for USATF in early August, why would expect them to be any better for the WC in September? Sports is about competition when everything is on line which makes the USATF second only to the WC. The system should not be changed.

We'll have to agree to disagree on that one. Either way, I'm glad Cheruiyot got the chance to run in Tokyo 2021, despite his 4th place in the Kenyan trials. And I'm glad Jakob not running the national championships (which was last weekend in Norway as well) doesn't automatically exclude him from the Norwegian team, if he's ready in mid September.

Another question (I'm genuinely curious, and I don't know the answer): If Hocker finished outside top 3 in the USTAF, could his Olympic gold from last year grant him a spot on the team or something similar? Or would that only apply to the defending WORLD CHAMPION? If Kerr had an absolute awful season this year (as well as doing badly in the British Championships (I know he won the 5000m)) would he be immune to any exclusion from the UK/GB squad? I know the rules for qualifying are diferrent in Britain compared to the U.S., but does defending world champions get a free spot (regardless of what country they're representing)? (I know that's the case in some other sports when it comes to defending world champions)

Nobody has a clue. If this were a Kenya runner, many of you would be saying he was busted. No matter how you want to paint it, this is not positive news for Jakob. There is no counter argument.