sad. I need a new favorite runner to pass the time. Just rooting AGAINST hocker and kerr isnt really fulfilling. especially when they're running so well
Sam Ruthe or Cam Myers immediately spring to mind!
Now I’ve watched him for several years now and all the Team Ingebrigtsen, and there are typically three ways he can go. He can be another Jake Wightman who faced injury, after injury and set back after set back and came within a whisper from being a repeat 1500m World Champ.
And then there is the extreme, I was a huge fan of John Walker from New Zealand and Filbert Bayi and that 1974 Commonwealth Games 1500m was one of the greatest of all time.
Bayi is one of the only runners in history of the 1500m to front run a world record and he front ran that race and in 75 he front ran the mile world record both with very great fields. But Bayi got Malaria and Walker became the first human to run under 3:50 for the mile. Walker was King for most of 1975 and 1976, won the Olympics
He was untouchable. He was only 24, but the next year at 25, same age as Jakob was he got injured, had surgery and he came back and raced in what was their world championship of that era called the world cup. He ran coming off an injury just like Jakob, and he was embarrassed and ultimately dropped out while being destroyed by Steve Ovett,
; just like Jakob was embarrassed and didn’t even make the final.
John Walker never won a significant race again, he competed well for years, but was never close to being a champion. Jakob could be a John Walker, but I don’t see it. His ego is just too massive. He will try his best to come back and there are advances in medicine and technology that wasn’t available for John Walker.
My gut is that he will take the 3rd option and come back stronger than ever and he will have a summer like Henry Rono did in 1978 4 world records or Sebastian Coe did in 1979 3 world records or and Mary Decker did in 1985 undefeated.
It will be something to behold, something that fans will be talking about for years to come. That is my prediction , he will be like Michael Jordan. We all know that he was injured his 2nd year and missed basically the entire season, but came back for the playoffs and well he did this
It shows again that even without probative evidence, you have to take seriously the threads on this website that say that a runner is injured based on circumstantial evidence or inside knowledge. They turn out correct a lot of the time. With Achilles sheath surgery, there, which became fashionable with Alberto Salazar's athletes, there is a high risk of infection and not the greatest results. Ritz went through a lot of difficulty with infection and never actually came back to the same level after it (meaning 12:56/27:22 tactical in hot weather/60:00 World Half bronze in another tactical race). I hope that Jakob does come back 100% and goes after those world records but this surgery is not a panacea.
Yeah it's over. Jakob will retire with zero world records in Olympic distances, sorry to his fans
Well, that's one way to look at it.
Another is that whatever happens he will have closed this pre-injury chapter with more Olympic and WC medals than any runner of his generation: 2 Olympic gold, 2 WC gold, 2 WC silver. Including 3 consecutive global wins in the 5000, 2022-2023-2024.
6 medals in the 4 championship meets, 2021-2022-2023-2024. Who else is on that level?
Jakob is, bar one, the best track runner of the decade. Hocker or Kerr et all would need to win A LOT more medals to change that. And nobody near the top today will ever hit totals like 2 Olympic gold, 4 global gold, 6 global medals. We all know this.
And the guy has 3:26, 3:43 and 7:17 in the books.
He is absolutely more accomplished on the track than any runner active today. (You have to go back to Mo and before than Kenny to name a man with more 5000m hardware, and in the 1500 three global medals including a gold is untouched.)
I suspect that he'll switch to the roads, and that the haters will keep coping.
It shows again that even without probative evidence, you have to take seriously the threads on this website that say that a runner is injured based on circumstantial evidence or inside knowledge. They turn out correct a lot of the time.
Meh.
I don't think the hit rate for "Maybe ________ is injured!" posts is particularly impressive.
There have also been posts like this about Lyles, Wanyonyi, and countless others early in great seasons.
sad. I need a new favorite runner to pass the time. Just rooting AGAINST hocker and kerr isnt really fulfilling. especially when they're running so well
Naguse. Kessler. Both fast. Both eminently likable.
I like how transparent Jakob is on training and injuries. Wishing him a quick recovery to full fitness again. The sport is better with him than without him
Seems with this surgery he could actually get in on the 2026 summer track season.
Yes, this is the best year to have this done. No major championships and plenty of time to recover. That being said, if any of you are familiar with achilles tendon issues (unfortunately I am), Jakob clarified that there is no issue with the integrity of the tendon itself, which is great. The main issue was the sheath around the tendon which had excessive scar tissue, which in fact once becomes inflamed can cause on and off irritation and pain.
For info, I had the classic Achilles tendon “strip and decompression” operation in 1980, which I understood to be scraping away adhesions between the tendon and its sheath. Of course this may not be Jakob’s exact surgery but sounds very similar: and techniques may have moved on. I was 26 and had been running since age 12, through uni, and was a county-level road runner in the UK but with left achilles soreness for a couple of years. I was treated free within the UK National Health Service inc 6 weeks residential rehab (‘socialist medicine’). This was by Dr John Williams (RIP) a world-renowned sports surgeon - also Director of the Rehab Centre. He treated burns victims, pro footballers; and Charlie Spedding was there after his 2nd Achilles op when I arrived. Charlie went on to an Olympic marathon medal, and I went on to… Actually I progressed from unable to walk after surgery to 60 miles/week when I left and ran my PBs after that (49:26 10 miles and 65:49 half marathon) although obviously with Jakob we’re talking about a different level. Sadly after 6 years soreness recurred, and another operation in 1990 only lasted 6 months. So, possible Jakob can regain previous levels.
Now I’ve watched him for several years now and all the Team Ingebrigtsen, and there are typically three ways he can go. He can be another Jake Wightman who faced injury, after injury and set back after set back and came within a whisper from being a repeat 1500m World Champ.
And then there is the extreme, I was a huge fan of John Walker from New Zealand and Filbert Bayi and that 1974 Commonwealth Games 1500m was one of the greatest of all time.
Bayi is one of the only runners in history of the 1500m to front run a world record and he front ran that race and in 75 he front ran the mile world record both with very great fields. But Bayi got Malaria and Walker became the first human to run under 3:50 for the mile. Walker was King for most of 1975 and 1976, won the Olympics .
He was untouchable. He was only 24, but the next year at 25, same age as Jakob was he got injured, had surgery and he came back and raced in what was their world championship of that era called the world cup. He ran coming off an injury just like Jakob, and he was embarrassed and ultimately dropped out while being destroyed by Steve Ovett, ; just like Jakob was embarrassed and didn’t even make the final.
John Walker never won a significant race again, he competed well for years, but was never close to being a champion. Jakob could be a John Walker, but I don’t see it. His ego is just too massive. He will try his best to come back and there are advances in medicine and technology that wasn’t available for John Walker.
My gut is that he will take the 3rd option and come back stronger than ever and he will have a summer like Henry Rono did in 1978 4 world records or Sebastian Coe did in 1979 3 world records or and Mary Decker did in 1985 undefeated.
It will be something to behold, something that fans will be talking about for years to come. That is my prediction , he will be like Michael Jordan. We all know that he was injured his 2nd year and missed basically the entire season, but came back for the playoffs and well he did this 😊
striking similarity to shavkat rakhmonov (ufc fighter).
shavkat, an undefeated mma fighter in the ufc welterweight division (170 lb), has a record of 19 wins and 0 losses. a feat incredibly rare in mma.
he is widely considered by many to be one of the best fighters in the world, and for many years an anticipated future ufc champion.
but he has had a history of injuries including a torn MCL, a torn meniscus, and a partial ACL tear. last year, he underwent knee surgery and it was successful. recovery began slowly and the road to recovery was clear --- with a plan to fight again in march 2026. just like jakob had plans to set the world record in 1500m/mile/5000m in 2026.
however, recent news came out (around the same time as jakob) that he re-injured his knee again post-surgery and had to get another surgery. he re-injured from training (just like jakob did with achilles). as a result, shavkat needs another 8-10 months of recovery before he can begin training again.
fans went to social media (including sherdog which is the mma version of letsrun): - "shavkat's career is over" - "shavkat will never be ufc champion" - "the biggest 'what if' in ufc history" - "islam makhachev > shavkat"
extremely similar to jakob: - "jakob is done" - "jakob won't win anything anymore, his career is over" - "cole hocker > jakob"
there's something peculiar about the average person sh*tting on exceptional athletes. when you are nothing, no one talks about you. when you are the best, people love you, and also people hate you.
they will be back next year in 2027 with the hunger to be the best again.
It's so silly that for some reason they stopped the 1500m at Monaco, otherwise Jakob would have the WR now. Coe was prepared to reset all WRs before 2005 jist to get rid of El G's dirty ones, but allowed some imbecile to decide no more 1500m at Monaco.
sad. I need a new favorite runner to pass the time. Just rooting AGAINST hocker and kerr isnt really fulfilling. especially when they're running so well
Hot take: Jakob's achilles injury comes from insufficient sleep. He wants to be a good dad to his daughter and naturally has lost important hours of regenerative sleep taking care of her.
Large studies across elite and collegiate athletes show that sleeping <7 hours/night is associated with ~1.5–2× higher injury risk.