Other notable entries include: Edward Cheserek, Nico Young, Rory Linkletter, Hassan Mead, Maximilain Thorwirth Charles Philibert-Thiboutot, David Ribich, Josh Kerr, Sydney Gidabuday, Joe Klecker, Drew Hunter, Sam Parsons, Connor Mantz, Patrick Dever, Ian Shanklin, Connor McMillan, Sam McEntee, Brian Shrader, Henry Wynne, Abdihamid Nur, Drew Bosley
This is trolling right? No one in this field is even remotely comparable to Jakob. This isn't that much different from him showing up and competing against high schoolers. I'm gonna remain skeptical on Jakob being in this until i see some confirmed entries.
The names are listed there, does that mean they're confirmed confirmed? I agree that there's not really anyone in this race on Jakob's level. Josh Kerr and Joe Klecker could give him a run for his money, but neither of them have shown to be 12:48 guys. I know Joe has been throwing down some crazy training recently though, so he could have a big race here with Jakob to race against. He ran 13:06 at this meet last year, so he might be trying to break 13. Can he beat his coach's time?
Aside from that, I hope to see the TME guys running well. They showed great progress indoors, and Drew won 5k champs in December, so they're probably going for World's qualifiers. Nico Young and Abdi Nur look poised to run fast, though I don't know if they've shown that they're ready for a CR attempt. They're definitely looking for NCAA qualifiers, hopefully they're going for World's qualifiers too. Conner Mantz could throw down a BIG 5k time here after that 13:10 indoors. Sub-13 is a big jump from 13:10, but this is looking to be a fast race, so it's not impossible. There's also Patrick Dever, the guy who beat Mantz at NCAAs last year. His PR is 13:19, but after running 27:23 in March, he looks set to crush that.
Also, looking at the entries that have been posted for heat 2, Lex Young is racing against guys in the 13:30 range, so I assume it's a HSR attempt. Excited to see how his time stacks up against Nico's. Don't see any other NP athletes in it though, which is a little strange. I'd assume that they'd try to run other events, but unless they're going for a 1500 nationals qualifier, I'm not sure what they'd run.
Jakob in the perfect race could probably run around 12:40, slightly tactical 12:50 in good weather. Someone else in this race could reasonably run 13:00 in this race as a perfect race. Ches and Klecker, Hassan have all run 13:05 or so. It wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility that they run 13 flat. Josh Kerr could reasonably run around 13 flat as well at some point. In a race paced at 13:00-13:10 pace Jakob would be sitting in the group and it would be a great race until the last lap when Jakob closes in 56 seconds to run 12:56 and a few of the other guys only close in 60-62 to run 13:02 for 2nd place. I wouldn't be shocked by a race with that type of result, and I'd say that is a pretty enjoyable race to watch.
Hopefully they are paying Jakob good money from competition perspective there really isnt anyone who has shown themselves at even remotely close level. Joe is probably the best and if he stays healthy, he should definitely be capable of breaking 13. Not sure if in first race of the season in May. Kerr is absolutely great at 1500/mile, but has not shown similar level at 5000. 13:15 would be great success for him. Abdihamid Nur stands out as best of the rest and should be third after Jakob and Joe if the pace is reasonable.
Kerr will do very well to be within 30 seconds of Ingebrigtsen over 5k.
Would be interested to see if Fisher or Ahmed fancied doing an actual race. They know Ingebrigtsen will be there, time to out that time trialling fitness to the test against a true global elite talent
It will not. I'd favor Abdi Nur to beat Josh Kerr in a 5,000. Klecker would be the closest challenge to Jakob (but not close), though he's not that far removed from COVID/injury.
Prediction: Jakob 13:05 (55 second last lap) Klecker 13:09 Nur 13:10 Kerr 13:12
Do we know if he's going to train on the West Coast until Pre Classic? If so, this could be a rust-buster and allow him to open up his season with a low-key win. He is not included in the release on the London DL 1500, and he hasn't been announced for Doha either.
Maybe an opportunity to run fast with little risk of anyone stealing his thunder a la Barega at Van Damme 2018? Could be preparation for the world record attempt as another poster mentioned, though I imagine Ingebrigtsen will be targeting the European mile record at Pre.