We merged two threads into 1 and then re-named it so this would be the offiicial thread for the day. The other threads were titled, "Euro 1500 final" and "Euro 1500 final today - can anyone challenge Jakob?"
Surprised by Gourley. Was going backwards at the end.
He and Habz have missed a lot of training and thus the round 1 effort maybe exposes their lack of fitness when they have to run again. Nader I guess maybe deserves some credit for sprinting all-out to get top 6 after his fall.
Almgren just committed a little too much too early. But Gressier I have no idea what that was. I guess he thought he was as good as Lobalu, well he is not. Schrub very solid.
Gressier ran at least two full laps in lane 2 towards the end. I think he lost it there. But the level is high with 5/6 ~27:00 guys.
That race was freakin amazing. Jakob is the KING! I don't know what that last lap was but it must have been a burner. I thought Neil Gourley would do much better, but Jakob made it all look so easy! WOW, that performance was breathtaking!
This just reinforces my thoughts that Paris will be a 2 man race. Dark horses like Habz and Nader are fun but the gap to Kerr and Ingy feels huge. Nuguse the only one who I think realistically can compete. Depth in the event right now is incredible, but I think a clear 1st tier is established.
For context Jakob ran 3:32.76 two years ago and was way closer to his peak considering worlds was only a couple weeks before Euros in 2022. And he closed significantly faster today than two years ago and he ran 3:29 flat in Zurich too. I won’t be surprised if he surpasses his 2023 form given how quickly he’s improving and how smartly he trains.
What should they have done? Lobalu and Ndikumwenayo have run 12:50 and 12:48 this year respectively, and Schrub was European XC champ and 9th in the WC 10k last year. It’s not like Almgren and Gressier handed it to lesser runners.
They should have pushed pace instead of letting it go slow and then finding themselves behind a handful of runners. Good luck for Gressier kicking around 5 or 6 people when he's fallen like 10m behind leader
I guess. All 3 medalists closed faster in the last lap than Gressier and Almgren, though, regardless of position. Gressier went from 0.07 behind Lobalu at the bell to 1.10 behind at the finish. If he’d been in the lead at the bell it would have likely been the same result, no medal.
1) His first 150m continues to be a thing of beauty - zero interest in getting off the line fast, must have been the slowest 150m of his race
2) Agree with Hutchings on how easy the field made it for him to reach the front. It was so easy he was able to do it running around a bend and it seemed to take nothing out of him. I don't get that.
3) I posted earlier that I wondered if he would try and really blast the final 800m and for a while it looked like he would. He didn't really but still ran 1.50.56 for those final two laps and only really looked like he accelerated with 120 to go (26.11 for the final 200m going 13.25, 12.86)
And yet I still have no idea re: Paris - it was clearly incredibly impressive how he controlled and dominated that field but not sure that puts any fear into the subconscious of Josh Kerr. It's just going to be an all time classic in Paris in 7 weeks time.
This post was edited 1 minute after it was posted.
This just reinforces my thoughts that Paris will be a 2 man race. Dark horses like Habz and Nader are fun but the gap to Kerr and Ingy feels huge. Nuguse the only one who I think realistically can compete. Depth in the event right now is incredible, but I think a clear 1st tier is established.
While it seems this way, I feel like with the times we are in with all time greats (potentially) and tremendous depth, there will be others who rise to the occasion and at least challenge the top guys.
I guess. All 3 medalists closed faster in the last lap than Gressier and Almgren, though, regardless of position. Gressier went from 0.07 behind Lobalu at the bell to 1.10 behind at the finish. If he’d been in the lead at the bell it would have likely been the same result, no medal.
Gressier did run wide, but yes in no world was he beating Lobalu. But that’s not surprising, there’s a disparity in talent. Schrub? Less so and the argument would be that Jimmy hurt his chances for 2nd and 3rd by being so far back and having to run wide.
Almgren has also run 12:50, AND 26:50. He was stupid to wait for so long.
Ok so Lobalu beat him by 0.04 in their PB race, has run faster in the half marathon, and no doubt would have been in that 26:52 burn-up if he’d run at the perfect time trial that was The Ten. It’s so easy to criticize Almgren’s tactics after the fact but most would have thought that slower race was set up for him with his 1:45/3:32 PRs, and had he led he would only have been doing extra work. He was beaten by better runners on the day, pure and simple.
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