Awesome sportsmanship after the finish line for Jakob to pat him on the shoulder. He recognized he simply was beaten. Admirable acceptance and subsequent frustration from the young 21 YO afterwards.
Amazing from Wightman. He absolutely could not believe it, but it felt slow to him with 300 to go, so he followed his instincts and took it, as a champion would.
Yes it’s incredible to me to see these guys who just run with pure guts. I’d put Jake and Mburu in the same category as guys who shocked me with bold races
Yakob is literal barbage this shouldve been expected awhile ago. Look at his previous world championships performances and youll see that he is now a has-been at the sultry age of 21. He had potential like a avocado seed to turn into a tree but that avocado seed got eaten up with the avocado meat and avocado skin and then burped out
Boy, that U.S. National 1500 meters final was great preparation for the Worlds. Because to win at the top level, it's all about jogging for 1,000 meters and then running the fastest 500 meters in the field.
American 1500 meter runners and coaches are dinosaurs. Full stop.
Honestly you're not wrong that amongst these 5 it could go any which order. You have picked a slightly different order than I'd expect putting Wightman behind Kipsang.
I'm going with the following:
1. Kipsang 2. Jakob 3. Tim 4. Wightman 5. Kerr 6. Garcia Romo 7. McSweyn 8. Katir
-I think Jakob will put most of his focus on beating Kerr and Tim, while Kipsang will sneak by in the final 30 meters.
That being said, Kipsang we've seen drift and lose focus despite his great talent and Jakob/Tim/Kerr feel more reliable in these moments. Could easily see them denying Kipsang and Wightman again.
Assessing this one day later: Wightman played the Kipsang role in my head as Jakob really did work hard to focus on beating Tim (by refusing to relinquish his lead). Obviously a decisive, two-pronged attack at 300-200 by Wightman surprised me. Awesome execution by Jake. My other mistake was thinking Tim and Kipsang would trade the leads. It turned out that it was just Kipsang, which I think was a slight mistake for him especially considering that he was impatient once Jakob took over and I think Tim is better at fighting off someone trying to take the lead. Katir was also a big surprise closing better than he had since last July at least. Tim's tactical blunder to leave room on the inside for a physical pass probably cost him 2 places — I think Katir was getting 3rd regardless. Kerr I picked 5th which was pretty close as I just didn't see the same fitness as last year despite the stronger rounds. Garcia Romo I thought I had given proper due with 6th and a time I thought would be 3:31ish. Well, incredible run by the Spanish Rocket all the way down to 4th and 3:30.