He's dreaming big. What would have have to accomplish to become the GOAT?
“I love to compete and to collect medals. That is what drives me and other athletes. It is not only about the winning, it’s about winning time after time. My main goal is to become the best runner that ever existed. To do that, I will need to win more races and the next one is tomorrow.”
To be in that conversation he'll need multiple Oly golds, multiple WC golds, and multiple WRs. Hopefully this is the year he grabs an outdoor WR or three.
To be in that conversation he'll need multiple Oly golds, multiple WC golds, and multiple WRs. Hopefully this is the year he grabs an outdoor WR or three.
He’s got a long way to go, but he’s only 22. It’s great that he has the ambition and the brashness to state his ambition publicly. It’s great for the sport. I remember when Jordan arrived in the NBA in the fall of 1984. Right away you knew he was GREAT, and he was pretty brash, but it takes time to build the resume to become the GOAT.
He's dreaming big. What would have have to accomplish to become the GOAT?
“I love to compete and to collect medals. That is what drives me and other athletes. It is not only about the winning, it’s about winning time after time. My main goal is to become the best runner that ever existed. To do that, I will need to win more races and the next one is tomorrow.”
In that case he will need to not retire before he's 30. It would be because of burnout if he did that but I believe the reason why El G retired early is because he was afraid of the new testing methods coming into play.
With other greats we can say, at most "He had a head start running to school 10K each way", or maybe "His dad was on an Olympic relay" yada yada. Mostly we can speculate about how optimal their youth was etc, but we will never know for certain.
But with Jakob we have these certainties or near-certainties:
1) Proven world class genes
2) A perfectly ramped progression from age 10 if not younger with very little downtime from injuries.
3) No barriers of funding, finding a good fit for coaching, getting in to the right meets, etc.
I.e. Perfect logistics
Add to this the fact that if ANY of the I-brothers were busted or suspicious (keeping in mind that they have been more transparent to media coverage in their very homes than any runners in history), ALL of them will suffer the judgment of the running world. Not a whisper on this front, other than the usual "He runs too fast" here on LRC with zero objective evidence.
1) Tim Cheruiyot developed a racing plan based on not wanting to being embarrassed by Taoufik Makhloufi. After T M was passed his peak and no longer in international 1500m finals, there was no need for T C to waste his 1:43.xx 800m speed, splitting championship 1500m races sub-1:52. A 1:46.xx 800m man like J I needs a fast pace. J I has no chance in a 1500m race split at 1200m slower than 3 minutes.
2) Elite 5000m men learned their lesson hopefully. Cannot allow J I with his superior 1500m speed to enjoy a slow first 3800m in a 5000m race. Elite 5000m men need to set a fast pace early going forward or at least make J I suffer a fast final 2000m.
I cannot see J I winning 2 or 3 more gold medals in 1500m & 5000m international races. J I doesn't have the foot speed for all types of 1500m races and J I really isn't that good at 5000m. Elite 5000m men allowed him to have their gold, 2022 W.C. by splitting 3800m too slowly.
1) Tim Cheruiyot developed a racing plan based on not wanting to being embarrassed by Taoufik Makhloufi. After T M was passed his peak and no longer in international 1500m finals, there was no need for T C to waste his 1:43.xx 800m speed, splitting championship 1500m races sub-1:52. A 1:46.xx 800m man like J I needs a fast pace. J I has no chance in a 1500m race split at 1200m slower than 3 minutes.
2) Elite 5000m men learned their lesson hopefully. Cannot allow J I with his superior 1500m speed to enjoy a slow first 3800m in a 5000m race. Elite 5000m men need to set a fast pace early going forward or at least make J I suffer a fast final 2000m.
I cannot see J I winning 2 or 3 more gold medals in 1500m & 5000m international races. J I doesn't have the foot speed for all types of 1500m races and J I really isn't that good at 5000m. Elite 5000m men allowed him to have their gold, 2022 W.C. by splitting 3800m too slowly.
600yd/600m man, why do you regurgitate these same, tired points ad nauseam?
Cheruiyot’s “tactics” never had anything to do with Makhloufi. He did the same thing in 2017 and 2019, but was only fit enough to run away from the field the second time. Whether Ingebrigtsen can win off 3:00 at 1200 is irrelevant as we won’t be seeing a split that slow for the foreseeable future. The paradigm has shifted in the 1500.
The “lesson” Ingebrigtsen taught the 5k field is the same one Farah was teaching for the last decade. There is very little you can do against a sub 3:30, sub 12:50 man in a global final short of running a world record. I’m amazed that someone who “really isn’t that good at 5000m” could so easily dispatch the eventual Olympic gold and silver medalists in a 12:48 race.
He could go for the steeple/1500/5000/10000 at one olympics. So what would that be? 2 rounds of the steeple, 3 rounds 1500, 2 rounds 5k, 10k straight final? 2 more races than Hassan. That would put him in the best ever conversation. World records in1500/mile/5k? World x title? Icing on the cake.
OK, I'll bite. If he did the following, I'd consider Ingebrigtsen the GOAT. This is assuming that everyone else runs about as well as they're running now, so for instance no one else breaks 3:26.
World record 1500m: 3:24, with two more 3:25s World record 3000m: 7:17 Sub-12:40 5k
2023: 1500m, 5k World Champ 2024: 1500m, 5k Olympic Champ 2025: 1500m World Champ 2027: 5k World Champ 2028: 5k Olympic Champ
In one of his 1500m wins, he turns the screws from 1000m out and destroys the field, winning by over 1.5 seconds. In one of his 5k wins, he runs 60-62-58-52 to finish off a 12:57 race.
I'm adjusting for the shoe/track/pacer improvements of recent years. Give or take some details, if he does the above, he's the GOAT over Bekele. Anything less, and he's not.
Lol. Bekele. That 3:32 slow azz hobby jogger? Thats not one that should speak. Maybe he can beat that guy from tiny Luxembourg first?
Maybe laddy Jacob can run a world cross country event without suffering from an asthma attack. Maybe he can shut his pie hole and lace up against the best if he wants to claim to be the best.
Lol. Bekele. That 3:32 slow azz hobby jogger? Thats not one that should speak. Maybe he can beat that guy from tiny Luxembourg first?
Maybe laddy Jacob can run a world cross country event without suffering from an asthma attack. Maybe he can shut his pie hole and lace up against the best if he wants to claim to be the best.
