Jakob post-3:43 interview

Man, I miss El Guerrouj...

His remarkable high IQ shines here. He speaks so eloquently and his responses show the complexity of his mind and soul. Not only is Jakob a world class athlete but I believe this interview also shows that he has a prodigious brain as well. It’s rare to come across an individual who competes at the highest level of sport who also has a genius-level IQ as well. Kudos to this young man for his performance today.

Lol what did he say that was so earth shattering to you?

You have to appreciate Jakob's gravitas. He understands he is a man of destiny and he owns it. Not to take anything from Nuguse but he is actually TOO chill and giggly in interviews

Jakob is great, but who knows in 2024 given how much some athletes improved this year. The Brits, the last two World champions, will also be aiming for 2024. What a race it will be.

I like Jakob but it seems to me he was made uncomfortable by the questions about Nuguse being so close to him in the finish. Mostly because he must have expected if he ran near his best that he would be a second clear. He is a smart enough guy to know that there is some discomfort in a situation where he is forced to lead the whole way. I’m not so sure he will stick to his guys and go gun to tape in Paris.

A couple of things struck me, the most important being that he is only 22. A touch of arrogance (he said he wasn’t more winded than usual), a little insecurity with how he deals with yared being close, and a constant reminder that he’s the guy in front doing the work (which is both true but also self-important). It will be interesting to see how his persona probably softens and grows in appreciation as gets a bit older.

I think the discomfort came from trying to answer the question carefully. He gave Nuguse his due for the most part but still made a point that he did all the work. Maybe some of it came off as backhanded but Jakob’s right that there’s a big difference between leading after 900 in the wind vs being towed the entire way.

I know he loves to front run but with how good his finish has been this year I’d rather see him sit behind for the first 800 and then grind them down. When he leads for so long, if he’s even a little off and someone else is having a career day, he’s beatable.

Wave light, super shoes, tucking in and following the entire way, and being a MFing talented runner.

He doesn’t love to front run, he simply has no choice but to front run so that he doesn’t get beat by people with better kicks

If El G, the CEO of EPO himself, had all the advantages Nuguse had today, he would have run 3:41

Note that I’m not saying Nuguse is on EPO. Just that if El G had the wavelights + shoes + pacing for 1609 meters back in 1999, he would have run 3:41 for the mile

But he does get beat by people with better kicks. His greatest achievements to date (Tokyo Olympics, 2022 and 2023 5000m champs) came when he let someone else front run.

That was a good interview. Still so hilarious how he won't mention another competitor by name. It's so petty but I'm starting to like it.

It was also good to hear him confirm that the lights do matter. We've seen these debates so often on this board but to hear it from the best time-trialer in the world is important. And he confirmed that pacers matter. There was a whole thread this week with people claiming there's no difference between a paced race and a championship race: here, he clearly states he would have benefited from Sowinski going another 100m.

El G and his coach were training for 3:24 and 3:40 in the winter of 1999/00. I believe the introduction of the first EPO testing (largely ineffective) maybe spooked them a little. I saw coach Rinaldi make a comment on one of El G's reported 10 x 400m workouts, and he said if it was true, then El G underperformed with 3:26/3:43.

PURE LIAR

At 1200m he was ahead of El G. time by 18/100.

And I have the experts that confirm this.

Here we enter the multi facettes of Jakob:

- If he set a WR he say that was even not the most challenging record (case 2000m)

- If he fail a record: that was not programmed.

- If he fail a final of championship: I had illness.

That does not contradict what he said. He said this was not a world record attempt and he did not request world record pace from the pacers. He also made no reference to a world record attempt prior to the race nor was it hyped up as one. Yet in his two previous world records, we knew ahead of time that they were world record attempts. Not this time.