I have no idea if this is the reason for his withdrawal, but I can say that his shape at the camp in Sierra has been modest. The sessions clearly have been slower than usual.
No way to verify, but what we do know is Jakob relishes winning at European XC. He does it at every opportunity, and then takes the Indoor season seriously, too. This year would hold even more significance as Europe showed out at Worlds in Jakob's absence between Almgren, Gressier, and Kimeli.
So now we have him skipping an event he loves at a prime spot to show he's still the man in Europe. I see they are spinning it as preparing for the 2026 season, but the BS detector is up. Often, this is the rationale we hear before learning of a setback/injury that is the true reason why athlete X is skipping an event you'd think they'd do. Think Grant Fisher.
If he doesn't hype the return in advance and open up on February 19th in Lieven, it's time to get very worried about the long-term situation here. As it stands now, we're not there yet.
Mmm, that’s a little unfair I think, atleast in terms of injuries. I didn’t mention this in my other posts but Espen Skoland also said that it was not injury related and he’s very close to Jakob. Of course, it might be that he is a little out of shape and doesn’t want to show his cards…but on the flip side he showed up in Tokyo and if you watched the new season of his TV show, you know how disastrous that was in terms of training.
I have no idea if this is the reason for his withdrawal, but I can say that his shape at the camp in Sierra has been modest. The sessions clearly have been slower than usual.
I mean, if you were there, can you tell us the pace of his sessions? Don’t leave us hanging LMAO!
I have no idea if this is the reason for his withdrawal, but I can say that his shape at the camp in Sierra has been modest. The sessions clearly have been slower than usual.
No way to verify, but what we do know is Jakob relishes winning at European XC. He does it at every opportunity, and then takes the Indoor season seriously, too. This year would hold even more significance as Europe showed out at Worlds in Jakob's absence between Almgren, Gressier, and Kimeli.
So now we have him skipping an event he loves at a prime spot to show he's still the man in Europe. I see they are spinning it as preparing for the 2026 season, but the BS detector is up. Often, this is the rationale we hear before learning of a setback/injury that is the true reason why athlete X is skipping an event you'd think they'd do. Think Grant Fisher.
If he doesn't hype the return in advance and open up on February 19th in Lieven, it's time to get very worried about the long-term situation here. As it stands now, we're not there yet.
Also, I don't even think either of those three guys are racing European XC...
Also, I don't even think either of those three guys are racing European XC...
Only Gressier is on the entry list and it says in EAs preview he might withdraw. So it’d be more of a symbolic return to the top akin to World Indoors last year which was missing the podium from Paris.
I understand the pushback here from Jakob optimists, but now we even know the field is possibly quite soft (Ndikumwenayo the favorite?). For him not to be racing I’m suspicious things are not hunky-dory. Notably Filip is racing, as is training companion Magnus Tuv Mhyre.
I have no idea if this is the reason for his withdrawal, but I can say that his shape at the camp in Sierra has been modest. The sessions clearly have been slower than usual.
I mean, if you were there, can you tell us the pace of his sessions? Don’t leave us hanging LMAO!
He’s training quite wierd atm, even if his shape is not 100% he has sandbagged some sessions. 1k threshold over 3 min avg and several seconds slower than usual for 400s.
That's a little worrisome. Maybe Jakob's totally fine and just wants to take it easier this winter to ensure that he stays healthy to take a shot at some WRs in 2026... but if that's the case, why announce that he was running Euro XC in the first place?
My assumption is that he's dealing with something fairly minor and is being extra cautious given his injury history the past two seasons.
It's way too early to be alarmed but I have always wondered if training so seriously from such an early age will shift the typical peak window of Jakob's career. If this is something serious then that's three straight seasons in his early 20s where he's missed extended time with an injury, which is a bad sign for his long-term prospects.
I'm afraid Jakob is too greedy, and that he can’t escape this spiral of trying to get back from injury — longing for the monster form he used to have, combined with being just a bit too addicted to competing, and ends up with another injury. Look at his brother Henrik.
I hope i'm wrong.
Every runner is greedy and they need to be, to win a medal. Ingebrigtsen will move forward with assumption that his Achilles tendons are 100%, will stay that way and that he can do his normal training.
Hr knows lot more than you about how he should train and race.
I'm afraid Jakob is too greedy, and that he can’t escape this spiral of trying to get back from injury — longing for the monster form he used to have, combined with being just a bit too addicted to competing, and ends up with another injury. Look at his brother Henrik.
I hope i'm wrong.
Every runner is greedy and they need to be, to win a medal. Ingebrigtsen will move forward with assumption that his Achilles tendons are 100%, will stay that way and that he can do his normal training.
Hr knows lot more than you about how he should train and race.
Yes, greed is good, much greed is better, but too much greed is too much. Thousands of runners have been too greedy. But you need that greed to be best. It's a fine balance.
Like I said, I hope I'm wrong.
This post was edited 33 seconds after it was posted.
HIS Fitness probably isn't coming back the way he anticipated. He'd basically gone 6 months without healthy, uninterrupted training.
Likely assumed he'd come together as quickly or quicker than he did from the last injury, which was maybe 4 months? i think he gave himself 4 full months to come back from that one.
and now he was expecting to race at a high level after only 2 months of cautious training.
If i remember correctly, Jakob got injured after the euro cross in italy 2022. Jakob would probably never admit it, but I suspect that he read that Narve is skipping euro cross race because of the course (and realized that the course has a lot of sharp curves). I suspect that he doesnt think it makes sense to race, if he risks getting injured again.
Jakob skips a meaningless championship and all of you guys are acting like it’s the end of the world 🤣. His focus is the 2026 season, makes sense after his injury.
I have no idea if this is the reason for his withdrawal, but I can say that his shape at the camp in Sierra has been modest. The sessions clearly have been slower than usual.
No way to verify, but what we do know is Jakob relishes winning at European XC. He does it at every opportunity, and then takes the Indoor season seriously, too. This year would hold even more significance as Europe showed out at Worlds in Jakob's absence between Almgren, Gressier, and Kimeli.
So now we have him skipping an event he loves at a prime spot to show he's still the man in Europe. I see they are spinning it as preparing for the 2026 season, but the BS detector is up. Often, this is the rationale we hear before learning of a setback/injury that is the true reason why athlete X is skipping an event you'd think they'd do. Think Grant Fisher.
If he doesn't hype the return in advance and open up on February 19th in Lieven, it's time to get very worried about the long-term situation here. As it stands now, we're not there yet.
No he doesn’t “relish” winning European XC, it’s just another tick mark on a sheet of paper for him. He knows it’s nowhere near as important as outdoors. Let’s be real, Jakob can win 100 European Titles but most here won’t care and will call Josh Kerr the king.
Jakob skips a meaningless championship and all of you guys are acting like it’s the end of the world 🤣. His focus is the 2026 season, makes sense after his injury.
But Jakob would attend the opening of an envelope so naturally we thought he'd be at XC Euros.
HIS Fitness probably isn't coming back the way he anticipated. He'd basically gone 6 months without healthy, uninterrupted training.
Likely assumed he'd come together as quickly or quicker than he did from the last injury, which was maybe 4 months? i think he gave himself 4 full months to come back from that one.
and now he was expecting to race at a high level after only 2 months of cautious training.
To add to this, I think he got to altitude camp and realised he needed more uninterrupted time stacking sessions and weeks together, rather than a lack of fitness specifically.