Another take from the race is that currently no one is really dominant in the event, in the way Cram, Morceli and El G were at their respective peaks. As we have just seen, Jakob is vulnerable to faster runners. Tim is also not the force he has been. The 1500 crown is there for the taking and the latest claimant is Wightman.
And he's right. In truth, the race Jakob ran would be enough to win nine times out of ten. What Wightman did was incredible - two big moves in the last lap. I thought he had shot his bolt with the first move. How many times will Jakob race somebody who can do that? He found Wightman on an inspired day. I wouldn't bet a lot of money on someone being able to kick twice in the last lap at that pace
Stewie was MIA up the front, that's what fecked things up for Jakob.
Also, Wightman ran a smart race, pushed his way out past Kipsang coming of the bend with 300 to go then moved in front of Jakob with 200 to go, nothing illegal but close enough to put him off his stride and break his momentum, he then had to work hard to try to get back up there, which didn't happen.
Wightman's move at 300 was the real power move. I think he surprised himself with how strong he felt. He looked like Cram doing that.
Reminded me more of Coe with his infamous double kick
He said he was beat by runners weaker than himself. That is not being gracious in defeat.
His PR is better than Wightman so I would say that is a fact. Noone would say that Ingebrigtsen isn't stronger than Wightman before today. Ingebrigtsen was the strongest runner in the field. All other was weaker than him. Why do we require athletes to talk bs and lie to be liked? Stop reading to much into it and make it something it isnt.
I think with Jake it was his disappointing result in last year's Olympics that won him this race. Jake is a classic example of "learning more in defeat than victory". Last year, he ran out of steam in the final, and obviously Jake and his team have worked on that weakness, and boy haven't they put it right.
He could have grown a pair and ran that snaggle tooth briton down!
100% of Jakob's wins look easy. 100% of his losses look easy too. That's all he knows. Beat his easy effort and he meekly accepts the loss.
The worst part is now the English are gonna act like they amount to something at 1500 again. 2nd coming of Steve Cram
Wightman is Scottish
Wightman obviously identifies as Scottish as is the right of anyone with ambiguous nationality, but he was born in England, he lives in England, his father is English, he went to an English university, he has an English accent. Pretty English.
He said he was beat by runners weaker than himself. That is not being gracious in defeat.
His PR is better than Wightman so I would say that is a fact. Noone would say that Ingebrigtsen isn't stronger than Wightman before today. Ingebrigtsen was the strongest runner in the field. All other was weaker than him. Why do we require athletes to talk bs and lie to be liked? Stop reading to much into it and make it something it isnt.
Wightman obviously identifies as Scottish as is the right of anyone with ambiguous nationality, but he was born in England, he lives in England, his father is English, he went to an English university, he has an English accent. Pretty English.
He is literally running for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games
He said he was beat by runners weaker than himself. That is not being gracious in defeat.
His PR is better than Wightman so I would say that is a fact. Noone would say that Ingebrigtsen isn't stronger than Wightman before today. Ingebrigtsen was the strongest runner in the field. All other was weaker than him. Why do we require athletes to talk bs and lie to be liked? Stop reading to much into it and make it something it isnt.
I don't mind Jakob being blunt in his assessment that he's the best 1500 guy around. It's true just look at his sequence of mile/1500 times across the last two seasons. But watching that LRC video of the mixed zone, he made a comment at the end that was really ungratious. Rather than just congratulating Wightman for being better on the day, he felt that he has to add that even Wightman knows that he, Jakob, is really the best. That was a real lack of class. He's hurting and angry but that just seemed like a petty stab at the guy who's just beaten him
What could Jakob have done differently to win? That's what I've been thinking about since the race ended.
Maybe the era of him and Cheruiyot far surpassing the rest is done? Maybe these other guys with sub-3:30 PRs have the confidence (and some far superior kicks) than Jakob.
We know its hard for him to push that last lap super hard -- if there are guys who can close in 26/27, he is in some danger.
3:27s ahead perhaps?
There was never a “Jakob” & Tim era. There was a Tim era. He destroyed Jakob 10 times in a row and left everyone else in his wake for 3 years.
He got nipped at the Olympics.
And now, Jakob is losing to other Europeans. He was never dominant and had won very few races.
I don't mind Jakob being blunt in his assessment that he's the best 1500 guy around. It's true just look at his sequence of mile/1500 times across the last two seasons. But watching that LRC video of the mixed zone, he made a comment at the end that was really ungratious. Rather than just congratulating Wightman for being better on the day, he felt that he has to add that even Wightman knows that he, Jakob, is really the best. That was a real lack of class. He's hurting and angry but that just seemed like a petty stab at the guy who's just beaten him
I listened to the entire interview. Jakob was very complimentary about Jake. He was critical of his own performance in detail and that he didn't perform up to his potential.