This is an American thing. In Europe there is more emphasis on athletes in general not carrying “excessive” weight (obviously) but holding enough weight to stay healthy etc given the rigors of training. In the US it’s more about aspiring to be thin because that means “light” and “fast” - so it’s more about superficial benefits rather than actual. Shocking for the US to be that way…uh…right…?
Will also note that on your TV, distance athletes simply look bigger than they are. I ran with Emma Coburn and Cory McGee on a run last year and was pretty surprised by just how small they were. Jakob is a pretty tall guy, but by no means is he big at all. He’s just not a twig like some other runners.
Once I talked to some of the runners at Footlocker natties after the race and I was surprised to see how many of them looked skinny to the point of being frail. When people are running they just look bigger for some reason.
He's also 6'1, it's really not that big of a deal. Maybe if he was 80kg then we'd have something to talk about.
Honestly, he looks even taller than 6'1" in person. I'm guessing he's more like 6'2" or 6'3". 74 kg is about 164 lb, so that's not at all heavy for a middle distance guy and allows him to have good muscular strength/speed. Makloufi is 5'9", 154-lb. Nick Willis 6'0", 150-lb. Ollie Hoare and Joe Klecker are both about 6'0", 160-lb. Me personally ran the 800/1,500 at 6'3", 180-lb. It legitimately wasn't healthy for me to go skinnier than that as that was 6% body fat. Maybe it's not as conducive to longer distances as there is significant proof that 10K and marathon runners needs to be skinnier; however, Jakob is never going to contend at those distances, so it doesn't matter. He's skinny enough and powerful enough to be a good 1,500 runner, and he has enough aerobic capacity to be good at 5K as well despite outweighing the East Africans.
I'm between 6'2 and 6'3 and Jakob when I've walked near him he was obviously shorter than me.
This seems pretty reasonable to me. If we assume the highest weight and lowest height of 6’1 and 74 kg, I reckon he’s still extremely powerful and lean. He’s basically the same size as the guys with the top 3-10 min power relative to their body weight in cycling. For instance, van der poel is basically the same height at 75kg, and you’d be very hard pressed to not think the guy was extremely lean. There’s no great reason to believe you can’t be an elite middle distance runner at jakobs size
Running is more equivalent to climbing in cycling i.e. speed is constrained by power/weight. Also, explains why van der poel is not a climber.
Yeah sure but that’s what I said lol. “Power relative to body weight” is the same as power/weight. Also my point is that van der poel actually is one of the best punchy climbers in the world. He’s deadly in a climb that lasts say the length of a 1500. Watch for instance the 2021 mur de bretagne stage at the tour, or do a bit of homework and you’ll realize he has one of the best 1-5 min wkg in the world.
Running is more equivalent to climbing in cycling i.e. speed is constrained by power/weight. Also, explains why van der poel is not a climber.
Yeah sure but that’s what I said lol. “Power relative to body weight” is the same as power/weight. Also my point is that van der poel actually is one of the best punchy climbers in the world. He’s deadly in a climb that lasts say the length of a 1500. Watch for instance the 2021 mur de bretagne stage at the tour, or do a bit of homework and you’ll realize he has one of the best 1-5 min wkg in the world.
Being a "punchy climber" is quite different from being a "climber". van der Poel can do punchy climbs because he has a massive W' not because he has a large aerobic engine relative to his kg's.
van der Poel would be an 800 meter runner in running terms.
If you are looking for big guy who can climb somewhat well that would be van Aert.
I went to Norway once as a little boy and I definitely got fat from constantly eating these little pancake things with honey
maybe Jakob is eating too many pannekakes
Jakob recently said in an interview with Swedish television (SvT) that he ate six slices of white bread covered with Nutella daily for lunch in school, for 10 years ! His point was that nutrition really doesn´t matter. He also said nowadays he mostly eats chicken with pasta "that´s all you need actually".
Jakob recently said in an interview with Swedish television (SvT) that he ate six slices of white bread covered with Nutella daily for lunch in school, for 10 years ! His point was that nutrition really doesn´t matter. He also said nowadays he mostly eats chicken with pasta "that´s all you need actually".
Now, let's not make noise for the Norwegians. In his childhood, Jakob grew up on white bread with *Nugatti (*not exactly the same as Nutella but not far away...Nutella is for Jake Smith, Nugatti for Ingebrigtsen). Besides white bread with Nugatti, he also ate white bread with ham & cheese, ice-tea and hot chocolate.
And yes, nowadays chicken with pasta belongs to the commonplace, but also some Pizza and Hamburger now and then. The most important is to get enough fuel and not make thins to complicated.
Short, but entertaining documentary. Jakob must have a tolerable digestive system when he right after eating 3 sandwiches (one with cheese & ham, the other with cheese & chicken and the third with nugatti) and a cup of coffee went to the treadmill and hammered a intervall session (10x3min @threshold pace).
Will also note that on your TV, distance athletes simply look bigger than they are. I ran with Emma Coburn and Cory McGee on a run last year and was pretty surprised by just how small they were. Jakob is a pretty tall guy, but by no means is he big at all. He’s just not a twig like some other runners.
Once I talked to some of the runners at Footlocker natties after the race and I was surprised to see how many of them looked skinny to the point of being frail. When people are running they just look bigger for some reason.
I saw Bill Rogers close up after a race (early 1990s), he was so slim, he looked like he could fit in one of my pant legs. At the time I was about 5'11" 158 lbs and was called skinny.
Four years after running probably the most remarkable 1500m in a major championship (in a new WR) from the front,Tanzanian Filbert Bayi tried to defend the t...
