Jakob didn't lose the last Olympic final because he lacked acceleration in the final 100m. He lost because he had less in the tank than his competitors (largely due to his attempt to lead wire to wire).
I don't know if you guys have all raced a lot of 1500s, but your acceleration and raw 400 speed really don't matter when you are locking up in the last 250. Your overall fitness is what matters most.
These things matter in slow championship races where you are ~10 seconds off your personal best and everyone is fresh. In those cases, positioning, acceleration, and raw speed do matter (and probably in that order). In a race where everyone is within a couple seconds of their best, overall fitness and overall race execution (conserving energy, having a lane to make your home run in) matter far more.
He didn't lose because he had less in the tank. (This is the 7:17 guy, remember.) He lost because 3 other guys had faster finishes than he does.
I agree with this. When he's outkicked, it's in the last straight, and I don't see a final gear like a Hocker has. But flat out last 400, yeah, he is as fast or faster than anyone.
Then why does he race like an idiot? Why doesn’t he take the lead with 400 to go an win easily? Because he isn’t as fast. If he let them run a 3:45 pace, the top guys would drop a 49 and Jacob would be 1s back..
I’m agreeing with this! When Jakob is thrown together with real competitors like Kerr Shocker and Nuguse, his nervous system froze over and tightened up saying:
”I dont want no more of this sh3t. I can’t no more. I don’t want I don’t want and I don’t want”
And 3 guys passed him in the final 100m!! His nervous system said NO MORE and his body obeyed!!
When squared together with guys like Mills and the other nameless slowish Euro competitors at Rome, Jakob disregarded them all as afterthoughts, worthless trinkets no match for his authority. They have never threatened him or scared him because none of them had ever breathed so close down his neck! Thus his nervous system was able to toss them around like playtoys and boss them all! No stress at all, and so his legs opened up wide and he strode easily to victory a la El G in Athens!
When Jakob did his 3:27.14 in Silesia, his final 100m was covered in 13.3
His 3:30.37 in Brussels had a final 100m of 12.9
His semi-final in Budapest (3:34.98) had a final 100m of 12.47
And in Lausanne last year, it seemed like Jakob had no problem outkicking both Hocker and Kessler by a comfortable margin. Pretty close between the three of them with 150m remaining, and he still beat Hocker with 2.02s and Kessler with 2.64s.
Jakob is not the slowpoke that so many makes him out to be.
His semi-final in Budapest (3:34.98) had a final 100m of 12.47
that is a world class kick.
It absolutely is.
His final in Rome 2024 (EC) wasn't to shabby either. Led the race for the last 950m. His penultimate lap was 57.8 then he gradually turned up the heat with: 13.68, 13.57, 13.25 and 12.86 (finishing time was 3:31.95)
When we're at the topic of fast finishing kicks, does anyone know what the fastest(s) final 100m in 1500m history is/are (finishing time irrelevant). Has anyone ever gone sub-12?
I know Coe's final 100m was 12.1 in Moscow 1980 (3:38.4)
He also did 12.4 in Zurich 1984 (3:32.39) and 12.6 in Los Angeles 1984 (3:32.59)
Wasn't Hocker's final 100m like 12.3ish in the 2021 US trials? (3:35.28)
I guess Morceli, Cacho, Ryun, Bile, Cram, Centrowitz, Silva etc. also must have some really fast final 100m splits recorded.
This post was edited 5 minutes after it was posted.
Jakob runs the way he runs because he feels it gives him the greatest odds. Im sure in his head, he thinks if he goes out hard from the gun, it's at worse a 2 man race. He found out the hard way that it was actually a 4 man race. When you run a 3:35, you are making it an 8 man race. I'm sure he fully believes he can win that 8 man race, but the 2 man, or even 4 man race gives him the best odds.
The notion that he can't kick or doesn't believe he can kick is flawed logic.
Jakob runs the way he runs because he feels it gives him the greatest odds. Im sure in his head, he thinks if he goes out hard from the gun, it's at worse a 2 man race. He found out the hard way that it was actually a 4 man race. When you run a 3:35, you are making it an 8 man race. I'm sure he fully believes he can win that 8 man race, but the 2 man, or even 4 man race gives him the best odds.
The notion that he can't kick or doesn't believe he can kick is flawed logic.
Agree. And in a 3:35 race you have to beware the underdog (that is a saying on an Under Armor running shirt I remember seeing). I knew a runner who, if he was in it in the end, was hard to beat. At least under 3:30 he knew his likely opponents and high odds to win.
Jakob runs the way he runs because he feels it gives him the greatest odds. Im sure in his head, he thinks if he goes out hard from the gun, it's at worse a 2 man race. He found out the hard way that it was actually a 4 man race. When you run a 3:35, you are making it an 8 man race. I'm sure he fully believes he can win that 8 man race, but the 2 man, or even 4 man race gives him the best odds.
The notion that he can't kick or doesn't believe he can kick is flawed logic.
What’s clear is that Jakob is one stubborn guy. It seems to serve him super well EXCEPT in global 1500 m finals.
"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results," Albert Einstein (maybe)
Jakob runs the way he runs because he feels it gives him the greatest odds. Im sure in his head, he thinks if he goes out hard from the gun, it's at worse a 2 man race. He found out the hard way that it was actually a 4 man race. When you run a 3:35, you are making it an 8 man race. I'm sure he fully believes he can win that 8 man race, but the 2 man, or even 4 man race gives him the best odds.
The notion that he can't kick or doesn't believe he can kick is flawed logic.
What’s clear is that Jakob is one stubborn guy. It seems to serve him super well EXCEPT in global 1500 m finals.
"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results," Albert Einstein (maybe)
very stubborn, and he may well try the same thing again. He always has a reason it didn't work out. In 2022 he worked too hard to pass Timmy. In 2023 he was sick. In 2024 the first lap was too fast. So he will still tell himself that if he does it perfectly he can win from the front.
or maybe he'll change it up and try the ElG windup from 700/800.
My issue in these finals, is that if Jakob is not the pacesetter, nobody else will do it, the first lap will be slow, and that immediately let's all the kickers into the race.
I think he has to front run to ensure a fast race, and then hope that his execution is perfect and he gets the win.
My issue in these finals, is that if Jakob is not the pacesetter, nobody else will do it, the first lap will be slow, and that immediately let's all the kickers into the race.
I think he has to front run to ensure a fast race, and then hope that his execution is perfect and he gets the win.
This is folly. At Europeans this is probably the case after a quick first 200. But there is no reason to believe that noted frontrunners Tim Cheruiyot and Yared Nuguse wouldn’t get the race through 800 in 1:56 if not more like 1:53-5. Both guys do this in the unpaced races there in without Jakob. Jakob wants to make it a 3:27-8 race it seems, which likely needs him driving it. 3:29-3:31 shouldn’t if he’s willing to push the 600-800.
Jakob runs the way he runs because he feels it gives him the greatest odds. Im sure in his head, he thinks if he goes out hard from the gun, it's at worse a 2 man race. He found out the hard way that it was actually a 4 man race. When you run a 3:35, you are making it an 8 man race. I'm sure he fully believes he can win that 8 man race, but the 2 man, or even 4 man race gives him the best odds.
The notion that he can't kick or doesn't believe he can kick is flawed logic.
Then why doesn’t he give himself those same odds in the 5K?
Jakob runs the way he runs because he feels it gives him the greatest odds. Im sure in his head, he thinks if he goes out hard from the gun, it's at worse a 2 man race. He found out the hard way that it was actually a 4 man race. When you run a 3:35, you are making it an 8 man race. I'm sure he fully believes he can win that 8 man race, but the 2 man, or even 4 man race gives him the best odds.
The notion that he can't kick or doesn't believe he can kick is flawed logic.
Then why doesn’t he give himself those same odds in the 5K?
Maybe because the race is more than three times as long?
Jakob runs the way he runs because he feels it gives him the greatest odds. Im sure in his head, he thinks if he goes out hard from the gun, it's at worse a 2 man race. He found out the hard way that it was actually a 4 man race. When you run a 3:35, you are making it an 8 man race. I'm sure he fully believes he can win that 8 man race, but the 2 man, or even 4 man race gives him the best odds.
The notion that he can't kick or doesn't believe he can kick is flawed logic.
Then why doesn’t he give himself those same odds in the 5K?
lol. it's a different race. has anybody ever gone gun to tape in a WC 5000?
Jakob did lead the last 1100 of the 2022 5000. that's about as similar as you're gonna get to what he attempts in the 1500.
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