Jakob turns 23 today and surely we can see that his peak year of competition on the track was 2023. He will not match it again but it was fabulous. Well done and you accomplished more before 23 than most can dream of.
Jakob turns 23 today and surely we can see that his peak year of competition on the track was 2023. He will not match it again but it was fabulous. Well done and you accomplished more before 23 than most can dream of.
Jakob may run marginally faster so he could end up with 3:27, 7:24, 12:40 but this is Jakob at his ceiling this year. Jakob may even run 26:30 but he will never be better than this year. Jakob will be a medal contender for a...
Top of the Mountain06/10/2023 10:05pm EDT2 years ago
These next few weeks will be as fast as he will ever get...His fastest season. He needs to go 3000, 1500, mile, 5000. No delay. Yared and Girma can be his spoilers.
This is it folks. You have seen peak Jakob. He may maintain for a few years but you have seen the best of him. No shame in that either as he is great. He is great for the sport. But he has stopped improving. No surprise there...
No shame in that but Jakob is turning 22 in a week and I see him limited in his turnover which means he will likely not run faster at 1500m than he has. Then he will probably continue to be a sub 13 and sub 27 man who occasio...
Many pundits argue he's so young, imagine when he can run in next 10 years. Others argue he started so young, he reached his peak. The truth is often times in the middle. He's going to be 21 yo. I think from now on, he won't...
Jakob will never break the 1500m outdoor world record. Here’s why:1) the last 2 years his outdoor best has been 3:28.68 and 3:28.32 (in 2 time-trial type races, one of which being the Olympic final - the biggest race of his l...
Thought it would be fun to take a deep dive into the forums and see how letsrun has reacted to Jakob over time, particularly in his younger years. I've included the first ever posts on him, and any positive or negative feedba...
That's the truth. I know he has a lot of fans here , some of them are getting deluded. Today I read that with good pacing , Jakob would finish in 12:41. That's a ridiculous claim. His two core events are: 1500m: He has not en...
I look at Jakob and I see a fairly young runner who has essentially maxed out. He may end up running 3:28, 7:30, 12:55 and 26:55. However, I think he is fairly close to that now and I just do not see his arc of improvement yi...
Yes I'm trolling! But years ago I boldly predicted Evan Jäger would never break sub 8 after his fall in Paris, and with his recent injuries that looks to be proving accurate. He probably hates me for putting some sort of curs...
Jakob turns 23 today and surely we can see that his peak year of competition on the track was 2023. He will not match it again but it was fabulous. Well done and you accomplished more before 23 than most can dream of.
Jakob turns 23 today and surely we can see that his peak year of competition on the track was 2023. He will not match it again but it was fabulous. Well done and you accomplished more before 23 than most can dream of.
Nope! Wrong again! Olympic 5000m Gold, 3:26.73 4th all time. 7:17.55 3k WR. LOL. Go home devastated clown.
I'd give 50/50 odds that he won't be able to break his 1500m PR next year. I hope that he does but it is extremely difficult to maintain that kind of condition year after year and also have that peak race.
For example El G only went sub 3:27 in -98, -01 and -02.
Jakob turns 23 today and surely we can see that his peak year of competition on the track was 2023. He will not match it again but it was fabulous. Well done and you accomplished more before 23 than most can dream of.
Nope! Wrong again! Olympic 5000m Gold, 3:26.73 4th all time. 7:17.55 3k WR. LOL. Go home devastated clown.
Actually the OP nailed it. Jakob was 4th in the Olympic 1500m. Jakob ran about what he could run last year, similar efforts to his 3:43.73 and 7:23 the next day. And of course the 7:54 last year. So really Jakob was a bit better in 2023 with the two medals.
Nope! Wrong again! Olympic 5000m Gold, 3:26.73 4th all time. 7:17.55 3k WR. LOL. Go home devastated clown.
Actually the OP nailed it. Jakob was 4th in the Olympic 1500m. Jakob ran about what he could run last year, similar efforts to his 3:43.73 and 7:23 the next day. And of course the 7:54 last year. So really Jakob was a bit better in 2023 with the two medals.
Are we just not going to mention the 3:26 he ran along with the 3K world record which is argued to be the hardest distance world record ever?
Actually the OP nailed it. Jakob was 4th in the Olympic 1500m. Jakob ran about what he could run last year, similar efforts to his 3:43.73 and 7:23 the next day. And of course the 7:54 last year. So really Jakob was a bit better in 2023 with the two medals.
Are we just not going to mention the 3:26 he ran along with the 3K world record which is argued to be the hardest distance world record ever?
I quoted the references to them. How many times do they need to be mentioned?
Actually the OP nailed it. Jakob was 4th in the Olympic 1500m. Jakob ran about what he could run last year, similar efforts to his 3:43.73 and 7:23 the next day. And of course the 7:54 last year. So really Jakob was a bit better in 2023 with the two medals.
Are we just not going to mention the 3:26 he ran along with the 3K world record which is argued to be the hardest distance world record ever?
Clearly the OP is wrong as 2024 was just as spectacular as 2023 - if not better, but we do know that at some point Jakobs athletic ability is legitimately going to peak right? And that doesn't mean we won't still be winning races and winning medals but the days of WR's and even attempts that get us talking (like the "can he actually break the 1500 or not) are going to end - just checking that we are all ready for this because those days aren't now and probably aren't next year but they are closer than I think people want to convince themselves they are.
Sometimes I read stuff and think "do people really think this guy is going to gave a decade-long window where he is at his lifetime peak"? I love the wishful thinking which is very human-condition - don't think that's reality.
At this level I think we are realistically looking at 3-4 years of absolute peak. When you look at El G (the closest to Jakob in terms of ability/dominance, skill set etc) he had a really obvious window from 98-01 where of course he ran 3.26.00 and 3.26.12 and all his other lifetime bests fell into this window except for the 5000m which is an important data point (touch on that in a second). And I don't think the type of athlete, what their strengths are etc etc really matter - it's just the way it goes - we are only human. So when do we think this window opened for Jakob? 2022? 2023? Either way I think 24 was either on the front or back side of the apex for him. I personally would expect another hot year from him in 25 (my god please really go after the mile when you are fully race fit and sharp) but it's touch and go for 2026. Either way that would be the absolute last year I think we should be expecting this extreme level of high performance.
Back quickly to El G's 5000m PR which was set in 03. Absolutely no doubt that if he had been focused on this event in his prime (like when he ran 7.23.09) he was capable of something in the 12.44-46 range - but of course he wasn't in his prime by the time he shifted focus to it. I think we can easily make the mistake of saying "new focus therefore new peak performance window opens" - but that's not the reality. Bekele was the same his window was 04,05,06,07 and even though he dominated the 5 and 10 in Beijing he was past his world record-breaking prime. Point being if Jakob wants the 5000m record he should start looking at 2025 being a year where it's not just showing up in Tokyo to destroy everyone in a 13.10 race because if he's serious about it it has to happen by the end of 26 at the latest.