Jakob Ingebrigtsen praises Josh Kerr at Brussels press conference - "(He's good at) making 100 per cent when it matters."

Ok, I've read through most of the transcript. Jakob did talk about picking up an "infection" last week. AW has a nice recap of the key points for those of you who don't have time to watch it.

“Everybody told me that I was not supposed to be here or that I shouldn’t be here,” he said, “but I’ve been looking forward to all of my races after Paris.

“Lausanne and Silesia are equally as important for me as any race. Of course, I want to do as good as I can to show up and hopefully get a good race but sometimes the preparation is not always perfect. So it’s been a little on and off in trying to do the best that I could with rest.

“I know that I was good in Silesia and felt pretty good a couple days after. Still, it’s a setback. What it means? I don’t know but I’m here and I’m going to spend the next hours wisely and hopefully be as good as I can tomorrow.”

athleticsweekly.com

Zurich is ready for the metric mile of the century – "the sequel" - AW

Jason Henderson

From cycling in Switzerland to altitude training in Albuquerque to world records and badly timed illnesses, the world's top 1500m men have had varied journeys en route to the Weltklasse

Open link

One last thing. Kerr said he went to altitude in ABQ I think for 3.5 weeks and stop by the local club in Scotland on his way to Zurich.

What does any of this have to do with politics?

This is one of the reasons that Jakob is so good for the sport. He loves to race regularly.

I like how he praised Kerr. I think Kerrs remark was less respectful but I will give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he just didn't know Jakob would give an honest answer so he made a joke.

Yes I agree but Jakob also knows he will not be the best in the world for very long. Almost nobody is. Maybe another year or two.

We already have a thread on the ZURICH (not Brussels) press conference.

https://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=13008727

Hahaha

Yeah what a cute moment. This is good for the sport 🥰

That’s maybe true for the 1500, but I’d be surprised if he loses that spot anytime soon in the 5k. The body can handle more 1500s though, so in the end his racing all the time might chill out a little just from event change.

Well you'd think Jakob is being sincere and humble, but what actually meant was that Kerr's 100% is only good for a silver.

I'm surprised Kerr wasn't prepared for that question. Maybe he hasn't watched enough political debates. In contentious races that crap question surfaces all the time, especially from female hosts.

Regardless, how did he butcher it that badly? Anybody in track and field would have quickly come up with something positive to say about Jakob Ingebrigtsen. I've heard Nuguse and Fisher emphasize that Jakob has detractors but they aren't among them.

I’m happy with Kerr’s answer. It shows he’s not a slithering politician with a prepared press release. Those kinds of people can suck it. Kerr‘s banter shows the rivalry is still alive, and his focus is still to beat Jakob. As fans of the sport, we can be happy knowing that they’re truly pushing each other.

Rojo: "Ok, I've read through most of the transcript."

Journalism.

I don’t know it Josh’s statement is going to go down the best Given that Jakob is sponsored by a different brand to Josh

Kerr's about to turn 27, Nuguse is 25, Jakob is about to turn 24, Hocker is 23.

Of these guys, we can make no assumption that Jakob will be out of the 1500 first. They are all still getting better but Jakob is the second youngest and has still done the least to maximize his potential at the event, so he should have staying power. Hocker may well win more golds but it doesn't look like he'll have the same kind of consistency and he does not have the potential to run the table with distance records.