While I am impressed, I disagree. Its not like you even have world class fields compeeting in such adjacent distances on consecutive days every year (or even every decade)?
High schoolers and even college runners can run back-to-back PR/ high-level performances at championship meets for different events. What makes you think pro runners can't do 95% of their best a day after a hard effort? This is like when German Fernandez ran 4:00 and 8:34, people thought he was doping (in high school!)
- Would you have run a WR today if it wasn’t for the race yesterday?
- Yes.
Two things
1) He had the world record in him today even with the race yesterday. He led the whole race and closed in 53. If the pacers made it through 2000m in 4:55 instead of not even being able to make it to the 1600m mark, and even there being way too slow, he certainly would have broken the WR today.
2) I don’t think you can say it’s more impressive than all world records. It’s just a question of who we’re talking about. If we were talking about someone else, then maybe it would be, but Jakob is just someone who recovers super fast.
He can run close to his top ability with very short rest, it’s just how he is genetically and after years of threshold and 120 miles weeks.
For exemple if Jakob runs a certain mile time on « tired »legs it doesn’t mean he can go a lot faster on fresh legs like that would mean for someone like Wightman. Remember those Norwegian championships when we was young were he was running like 6 races in two or three days ?
He was even talking about doing the 800-1500-5000-10000-steeple quintuple at euro u20 once.
He steepled 8:26 at 16. I don't know whether he can get the 10k+ records, but steeple he would have a great shot at, though he doesn't have a huge advantage in the flat 3k over the current world record holder.