Grant's 12:53 and 26:33 in the last two weeks clearly puts him among the top few in the world at both distances. Jakob just ran a 3:30 WR for the indoor 1500 and is aiming to break several outdoor WRs this year from 1500 up to 5000. At some point, Grant and Jakob will clash and it'll be the race of the year. Who ya got? I still gotta lean Jakob, but there is a very strong case for Grant. Cannot wait until they race!
LRC Note. THis thread was talked about extensively in the WTW this week.
Grant's 12:53 and 26:33 in the last two weeks clearly puts him among the top few in the world at both distances. Jakob just ran a 3:30 WR for the indoor 1500 and is aiming to break several outdoor WRs this year from 1500 up to 5000. At some point, Grant and Jakob will clash and it'll be the race of the year. Who ya got? I still gotta lean Jakob, but there is a very strong case for Grant. Cannot wait until they race!
i'll go with the guy that has a faster PB and just broke a world record and holds the olympic 1500 title over the guy who has never won a senior race outside the USA
Grant's 12:53 and 26:33 in the last two weeks clearly puts him among the top few in the world at both distances. Jakob just ran a 3:30 WR for the indoor 1500 and is aiming to break several outdoor WRs this year from 1500 up to 5000. At some point, Grant and Jakob will clash and it'll be the race of the year. Who ya got? I still gotta lean Jakob, but there is a very strong case for Grant. Cannot wait until they race!
i'll go with the guy that has a faster PB and just broke a world record and holds the olympic 1500 title over the guy who has never won a senior race outside the USA
100%. Actually racing in international meets with the best of the best is something else (which Letsrun posters consistently forget). Chances are that the guy who has long experience doing that and has a faster PB will beat the guy doesn't with a slower PB.
It’s an exceedingly difficult task at this point, but in trying to rank the world’s top 5k guys currently I think Fisher is probably in the 6-10 range.
Let’s say, imprecisely:
1. Joshua Cheptegei 2. Jakob Ingebrigtsen 3. Selemon Barega 4. Berihu Aregawi 5. Jacob Kiplimo 6. Mohammed Ahmed 7. Grant Fisher
...
Then you have a whole host of guys who would probably take issue with this assessment, and could reasonably beat Fisher on the right day without any big surprise:
Hagos Gebrhiwet Yomif Kejelcha Getnet Wale Lamecha Girma Nicholas Kimeli Paul Chelimo Mohamed Katir Justyn Knight Birhanu Balew
His last two races (BTC time trials) have been spectacular though. He could be even better than I’m giving him credit for, and he’s a definite medal contender.
A few people have tried to say that Grant's indoor 12:53 in Boston was the result of a bouncy track. Then Grant comes back three weeks later and runs a massive 10k AR on a high school track. Lol
It’s an exceedingly difficult task at this point, but in trying to rank the world’s top 5k guys currently I think Fisher is probably in the 6-10 range.
Let’s say, imprecisely:
1. Joshua Cheptegei 2. Jakob Ingebrigtsen 3. Selemon Barega 4. Berihu Aregawi 5. Jacob Kiplimo 6. Mohammed Ahmed 7. Grant Fisher
...
Then you have a whole host of guys who would probably take issue with this assessment, and could reasonably beat Fisher on the right day without any big surprise:
Hagos Gebrhiwet Yomif Kejelcha Getnet Wale Lamecha Girma Nicholas Kimeli Paul Chelimo Mohamed Katir Justyn Knight Birhanu Balew
His last two races (BTC time trials) have been spectacular though. He could be even better than I’m giving him credit for, and he’s a definite medal contender.
Right on...I'd say the biggest issue for Grant is in non time trial races, we really haven't seen the strongest finishes out of him. He can hang in pretty much any race (unlike Woody say), but can he kick with the likes of the top guys? Perhaps this year, the gap has narrowed and he will be up there kicking with them at 5-10,000. If Ethiopia does one-day trials, that should help in limiting Barega and Aregawi to one event. Whether Girma does 5,000 or Steeple will be interesting as it appears to me that he has surpassed Wale and would be someone I'd insert ahead of Fisher.
It’s an exceedingly difficult task at this point, but in trying to rank the world’s top 5k guys currently I think Fisher is probably in the 6-10 range.
Let’s say, imprecisely:
1. Joshua Cheptegei 2. Jakob Ingebrigtsen 3. Selemon Barega 4. Berihu Aregawi 5. Jacob Kiplimo 6. Mohammed Ahmed 7. Grant Fisher
...
Then you have a whole host of guys who would probably take issue with this assessment, and could reasonably beat Fisher on the right day without any big surprise:
Hagos Gebrhiwet Yomif Kejelcha Getnet Wale Lamecha Girma Nicholas Kimeli Paul Chelimo Mohamed Katir Justyn Knight Birhanu Balew
His last two races (BTC time trials) have been spectacular though. He could be even better than I’m giving him credit for, and he’s a definite medal contender.
Knight, Gebrhiwet, Katir, Kimeli, and Wale all have faster 5000 PRs than Grant (most of them within the last year. He lost to all those guys plus Balew and Chelimo in Tokyo. I don't think he's ever beaten any of those guys at 5000. If he bumps anyone out I'd argue it's Ahmed given he has beaten him twice head to head this year. After that Katir because Katir seems to have lost his bottle of Michael's Special Stuff. Then maybe Chelimo.
Bowerman TC perfect-condition track meets are almost not worth looking at as far as slotting them in for world ranking purposes. All the dudes on the list ran faster in real races. Not with rabbits and wavelight. BTC also hasn't really raced much in the last 2-3 years, and when they have Grant is about the only dude that put up a result befitting their TTs in the 10,000m at Tokyo. He is fantastic, and their club is incredible, but if you could get all the guys above in a race Grant would not be in my Top 10.
It’s an exceedingly difficult task at this point, but in trying to rank the world’s top 5k guys currently I think Fisher is probably in the 6-10 range.
Let’s say, imprecisely:
1. Joshua Cheptegei 2. Jakob Ingebrigtsen 3. Selemon Barega 4. Berihu Aregawi 5. Jacob Kiplimo 6. Mohammed Ahmed 7. Grant Fisher
...
Then you have a whole host of guys who would probably take issue with this assessment, and could reasonably beat Fisher on the right day without any big surprise:
Hagos Gebrhiwet Yomif Kejelcha Getnet Wale Lamecha Girma Nicholas Kimeli Paul Chelimo Mohamed Katir Justyn Knight Birhanu Balew
His last two races (BTC time trials) have been spectacular though. He could be even better than I’m giving him credit for, and he’s a definite medal contender.
If you're going to add guys like Katir, Wale, kejelcha, then why did you forget Butchart, Grijalva, & Gressier? Kinda obvious they could beat fisher too.
Grant's 12:53 and 26:33 in the last two weeks clearly puts him among the top few in the world at both distances. Jakob just ran a 3:30 WR for the indoor 1500 and is aiming to break several outdoor WRs this year from 1500 up to 5000. At some point, Grant and Jakob will clash and it'll be the race of the year. Who ya got? I still gotta lean Jakob, but there is a very strong case for Grant. Cannot wait until they race!
The race of the year???? And why not Jakob vs Cheptegei, the 5000m Olympic champion vs the 1500m Olympic champion, instead of the guy who finished 8th or something.
Fisher will 100% medal this year in Eugene. I don't see him beating Cheptegei if both are in shape, but he is an excellent racer and I see him medaling whether it is a fast or slow race. But I could see him beating everyone else. Mo Ahmed beat him in the Olympic 5k en route to silver last year; both are better this year, and Fisher has beaten him twice in a row.
Fisher will 100% medal this year in Eugene. I don't see him beating Cheptegei if both are in shape, but he is an excellent racer and I see him medaling whether it is a fast or slow race. But I could see him beating everyone else. Mo Ahmed beat him in the Olympic 5k en route to silver last year; both are better this year, and Fisher has beaten him twice in a row.
Fisher will 100% medal this year in Eugene. I don't see him beating Cheptegei if both are in shape, but he is an excellent racer and I see him medaling whether it is a fast or slow race. But I could see him beating everyone else. Mo Ahmed beat him in the Olympic 5k en route to silver last year; both are better this year, and Fisher has beaten him twice in a row.
I will make sure to bump this in July.
Let’s wait until he races some real East Africans before we start giving him medals.
Grant was only 3 seconds away from the 10k gold medal in Tokyo last summer against all the best Africans in brutal conditions. He is a better runner this year.
Grant's 12:53 and 26:33 in the last two weeks clearly puts him among the top few in the world at both distances. Jakob just ran a 3:30 WR for the indoor 1500 and is aiming to break several outdoor WRs this year from 1500 up to 5000. At some point, Grant and Jakob will clash and it'll be the race of the year. Who ya got? I still gotta lean Jakob, but there is a very strong case for Grant. Cannot wait until they race!
The race of the year???? And why not Jakob vs Cheptegei, the 5000m Olympic champion vs the 1500m Olympic champion, instead of the guy who finished 8th or something.
Knight, Gebrhiwet, Katir, Kimeli, and Wale all have faster 5000 PRs than Grant (most of them within the last year. He lost to all those guys plus Balew and Chelimo in Tokyo. I don't think he's ever beaten any of those guys at 5000. If he bumps anyone out I'd argue it's Ahmed given he has beaten him twice head to head this year. After that Katir because Katir seems to have lost his bottle of Michael's Special Stuff. Then maybe Chelimo.
Nitpicking a bit here, but he did not lose to Wale or Gebrhiwet in Tokyo.
And when you say “if he bumps anyone out I’d argue it’s Ahmed given he has beaten him twice head to head this year”—can’t you acknowledge that if he’s beating the only one of these guys he’s raced this year, who happens to be the Olympic silver medalist with a 12:47 PR, that it likely follows he could bump some others too?