After so many years of LRBF whining about EPOpians/Kenyan genetics and throwing in the towel as far as elite distance running is concerned, Jakob proves all of you wrong.
The (relatively) bigger and bulkier white European takes down the horde, all the time, at all distances he races. So he gets beat in a couple of tactical finals at 1500 but he wins the 5k when he is evidently not 100pc and everyone thinks he can be beaten....he utterly dominates all fast races in DL and otherwise.... this is the hallmark of a true champion, to win Worlds when not at 100pc and the sledding is tough. I'd put Jakob's 5k up there with Mo Greene's 100 win in 2001 and MJ's 1997 title at 400 when he was way off his best but still showed up and beat the best of world anyway.
He absolutely will smash the 3k WR, he's already bracketed it with his 2k and 2mile WRs and the monster negative split required to run 2.30 2:30 and 2:23 to clock 7:23 is being overlooked. The mile will obviously go down if just did exactly what he did at Pre but does so on a mild Scandic evening in OSL or ARN with pacemakers who can at least make it to 1000 in 2:19 even split.
He mouths off in an appropriate way from my pov... his statements are really no different from those of Morceli and Aouita in the past and for the same reasons....he knows he's currently unbeatable if healthy and if he follows his race plan. Unlike almost the entire rest of humanity, his single-minded determination to become the best in the world, evident from the TI vids when he was in grade school, has been realized. That aspect reminds me of Coe.
His beer mile is rather disappointing but OK he doesn't train specifically, or probably at all, for this specialist discipline.
I will not be surprised by 15/mile/3k and 5k WRs. It will be interesting to see what he can do at 10k when he makes a serious attempt. But one question remains... regardless of all other golds and DL wins, his ultimate test still awaits.... vs Karsten at the Norwegian Champs 800.