Jakob has shown us that a strength based 1500m guy is almost(?) unbeatable in a championship 5k. Katir, a 3:28 (doper) guy came 2nd last year in the 5k after not even making the 1500 final. Mo Farah dominated the 5k/10k and he was a 3:28 guy. Kerr's 3:45 is worth a 3:28. He's the 2-mile WR holder indoors, so I think he's got the strength to chill at a slow pace. Even if someone does try to run the last 2k super fast, Fisher tried to do that in the 2-mile, and Kerr was perfectly happy sitting on him, running 60s laps until the end, then blowing his doors off. Kerr definitely has a shot at beating Jakob in the 1500, and if he's the best 1500 guy in the world, then at the very least, he has a chance to beat Jakob in the 5k.
I think Jakob has already attained legendary status, regardless of what he does in the future. Olympic gold at age 20, then 2 WC golds and 2 WC silvers, and 3 WRs by age 22. Kerr isn't particularly close to legendary status yet. If Jakob is El G, Kerr is Noah Ngeny. A great athlete by any measure, but a step below the true legends of the sport (El G, Bekele, Geb, Farah, Komen). However you feel about Jakob, he's certainly putting his name into that mix, and he's got at least 2 Olympics left in him.
If Kerr 'only' wants to be the best miler in the world, then he should focus on the 1500m. If he wants to say he's truly a better runner than Jakob, then he needs to win double gold. Otherwise he'll go down like Ngeny and Tergat: A footnote that old people mention when talking about the goats; Someone doesn't get the respect they deserve because their peak coincided with one of the greatest ever. When was the last time you heard Ngeny brought up, and it was completely unrelated to El G losing his first race in 4 years in the Olympic final, or how he pushed El G to the line in the mile WR? Right now, Kerr is on his way to being remembered as one of the guys who kept Jakob from winning 1500m gold after he won the Olympics at age 20, and before Jakob broke more WRs and won a ton of 5k (and probably 10k) golds/medals.
I already know that 15 years from now, I'm gonna be arguing how Jakob is the goat, and some kid who doesn't know anything is gonna be saying he's not even that good because he lost to Kerr and Wightman, and in my old age (30s ew), I'll have to explain how Kerr was incredible and unbeatable in 2024 and to have some respect, like JWH does for me every time that I say Bekele is overrated. Unless, of course, Kerr pulls off the 1500/5k double, which I think only Lagat has done, and probably saved him from being in the Noah Ngeny camp (plus he kept going as one of the best in the world for like 10 years after that).
This isn't a dig at Kerr at all. I wouldn't be asking this if I didn't think he had it in him. I've said for most of the time since he won gold that Jakob was right, and Kerr was just the next guy. I started changing my mind after his 2-mile WR/3k gold indoors, but his 3:45 win today cemented the idea that he's a lot more than just the next guy. He's been on fire and this will be his peak Olympics. His confidence, his strength, and his confidence in his strength are at an all-time high, as evidenced by him pounding a 3:43 guy, a 7:24/12:53 guy, and a 7:25/12:43 guy into submission off a hot pace at indoor Worlds in the 3k, with a crazy 25.1 last 200.
