Jacob's problem is he can't win a kicker's race and the kickers are now running under 3:30
Yep.
There was a window when Jakob could win from the front and kill everyone else's kick while dragging them to fast times. But now, I don't actually see any blueprint for him to win a championship 1500 against Kerr and Hocker. In a DL, where they can hire someone to run 1k at WR pace, sure, but not if he has to do the leading from the gun.
Can't say more about how perfect all 3 Americans ran that race. It was perfection from Hocker and Nuguse working together the entire time and Kessler hanging on. This is our best 1500 team ever
This is the greatest 1500 of my lifetime (67)! Congratulations to all. This is a template for the USA women to follow - Hiltz has the wheels the last 50 to medal. Awesome race!
Man, I did not see that coming! I thought Cole had a chance to medal, but probably not gold, but in no way did I think Jacob would fade to 4th. That was the most shocking part.
Kudos to Cole, and to Yared and Hobbs. Great performances all round.
This is the greatest 1500 of my lifetime (67)! Congratulations to all. This is a template for the USA women to follow - Hiltz has the wheels the last 50 to medal. Awesome race!
I believe Elle will be the top US finisher (3:51)
She may be, which is fab - but I just can't count Hiltz out with their kick! Hopefully both feel strong, confident, and RESTED - looks like it!
Ingebrigtsen is the new Aouita, can run the 1500m WR but won't win a championship. He should move to the 5000m, steeple, and 10000m and work on racking up WRs in rabbitted races. But good on him, he has a 1500m Olympic gold and nobody will ever be able to take that away from him. His gold medal count will be higher if he drops the 1500m
Hocker got so f-cking lucky that Jakob moved out with Kerr. If Jakob had stayed on the rail, Hocker would have had to go around and I don't think he would have won.
It’s how the race developed, it’s not luck. Hocker was easily the best runner in the race, he had to completely break his stride, loose momentum and still out kicked them all. Hocker took it to another level today, a level that Jacob and Kerr are not at.
What struck me to this build-up was how focused (i.e., distracted) Ingebrigtsen and Kerr were on destroying each other. Rather than focus on the wider picture, they wasted energy on their rivalry. The media ate it up, of course, but wasn't the best for their running. I had a suspicion it opened the door for someone else to get through at the end. I didn't know who might do it but was hoping it would be an American.
And if you watched the brief profile piece that NBC did on him, Ingebrigtsen has also gotten married, had a baby and built a house in the last year or two. All of which is great "life stuff" but ultimately just more stuff to have to juggle leading up to the Olympics. Congrats to all 3 Americans!
Can't say more about how perfect all 3 Americans ran that race. It was perfection from Hocker and Nuguse working together the entire time and Kessler hanging on. This is our best 1500 team ever
Best 1500m team and it's not even close. All three of them ran the cleanest rounds I have ever seen. The fact that all three Americans even made a 1500m olympic final is a major accomplishment, but finishing 1-3-5 is truly mind-blowing.