I don't know of course, how the season will play out.
BUT: As JI was injured and definitely is on an upward trajectory, it may very well be that JI will win the Olympics.
After all he had the best kick for himself ever. As crazy as it may sound: we might see a JI in 3:25.5 - 3.26.5 shape with a strong kick in Paris. I am really impressed with his run.
The question may be, if Kerr blasts his nervous energy right now. I feel JI is more layed back. So it might be, JI has more left come August.
Pure speculation of course, but Pre was definitely a good showing and I like how upbeat he is.
We'll see.
Where have you seen this best strong kick? Lolz
JI ran the equivalent to a 3:28,89 1500 with a 53.4 last 400. I never saw a better last lap in a sub 3:29 race from him. Now add that he came back after injury and 8 months without race. I think that is pretty good.
When you are LOL'ing about this...
Please show me 1 race in the last 10 years, where a person closed a 3:45 mile or a sub 3:29 1500 quicker.
Ohhhh.... you can't... bc that close from Kerr and JI was pretty sensational.
I am not in favor of one of these guys over the other... I would he happy to see any of them take the gold in Paris. Hocker? Kessler? Nuguse? Kerr? Jakob? All of those guys are awesome to watch. So I am not a "fanboy," I like all of them. But...
When the announcers said, "Josh Kerr has had the best Winter possible with a 2M indoor world record and a win in the 3000m at World Indoors... Jakob has been injured and missed both XC and Indoors..." I thought, why would a casual fan even think Jakob could keep up with Kerr? Yet somehow, it was a race all the way to the line...
Hats off to both of them but honestly, I was impressed with Jakob using this level of competition as his season opener after 8 months off racing.
This post was edited 5 minutes after it was posted.
Well said. Clearly Kerr appears to be the stronger 1500/mile runner at the moment, but I think Jakob exceeded expectations yesterday. Certainly did not expect he would be prepared to run 3:45 in his first race of the season.
I think the truth is probably that Jakob is actually in fantastic shape, even with the extended layoff from running. I would be interested to hear more about his cross-training regimen while injured...obviously he wasn't just sitting on his ass for 4 months with a sore achilles.
If Kerr is ahead with 200 to go, and maybe even 300/400 to go, Jakob cannot beat him. Jakob will never get around a dude like Kerr or Wightman on the last lap. Has to hope to string it out before that.
The best strategy in the 1500 is the Centro — get out front between 800 and 400 to go and then run fast enough to keep the tempo but not so fast that you can’t hold off people trying to go around. Stay inside and force them into the curve on the outside and in a game of margins that’ll do it every time. If you are Wightman or Kerr, you either do that or wait until the last 100.
First, props to Kerr. He's having a great year and he ran a gutsy, great race here. That being said, Jacob did just fine. He's not sharp yet, and still ran 3:45. I don't think this race tells us much about Paris -- other than it'd be a huge upset for anyone other than Josh or Jacob winning. I love that they're actually racing each other, unlike Ovett-Coe.
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Reason provided:
Wrong time cited.
. Makes sense that he wasn't sharp enough to win. Still pretty impressed & think in another 2+ months that he can improve enough to win.
When Jakob, at the peak of his powers last summer, couldn’t defeat the current World Champion (who at that time displayed a crushing blow of strength by overtaking Jakob coming around on the final turn), what do you think specifically is going to change in two-months time to reverse fortunes?
I mean, I didn't really take a hard line on this. He was a close 2nd. That's enough for me to think he can get a little better, coming off of injury. I feel like nobody is talking about a potentially very serious injury. He seems fine. Maybe Kerr is just better & will be better in Paris.
Great race. Jacob could be in better shape in Paris but Kerr could be too! Awesome to see them both throwing down times like that, 1500 should be one of the highlights of the games.