There are 4 more races left. Silesia, Brussels, Zurich, and finally the WC in Tokyo. Will it be broken? By who?
If Jakob runs 3:26 high - 3:27 low in Silesia, then it's possible he could break the WR in Brussels. I don't think he'll run that fast in Silesia, but would be happy to be proven wrong.
There are 4 more races left. Silesia, Brussels, Zurich, and finally the WC in Tokyo. Will it be broken? By who?
Doubtful it goes down imo. Jakob is the closest and he hasn’t raced yet. Next year is a non-championship year and I suspect a top slew of guys will have it in their sights and not have to worry about peaking.
There are 4 more races left. Silesia, Brussels, Zurich, and finally the WC in Tokyo. Will it be broken? By who?
Definitely not by a kenyan as it's not healthy. Jakob no, Kerr more likely if he rectifies his poor prerace coffee routine and make up his mind which he wants to use on race day. Habz no, he max out. Laros still too unpolished and needs more training, Hocker and Nuguse are tanking rapidly. El G ran 3:44:95 at bislett mid season in 2001 and Nuguse struggles to do 3:45:95.
You know the 1500m/mile is the greatest event when the records are still standing. Guerooj still has both and even Webb’s HS record still lives.
Yes there has been many reports over the decade about how there was really only 1 serious athlete throughout the entire 90s and early 2000s. El G. The reason was the others were just taking it easy and not really treating the sport with respect. They hung out with dope, women, parties, beers in between seasons, they expected 'to rest up and lay loose' and experience the high life of a well paid pro athlete. they didnt have that mindset like El G who even in the off season was pious to the religion to the very end. he never let his desires run free for even 1 moment and it showed in his improvement in performances year on year and ability to maintain it 3:26 in 1998 and still 3:26 in 2001. 4 years straight with 3:26s, and always closing in under 53.5 for all 3:26 races. He did it all without pace lights, shoes and tracks.
1500m isnt just the greatest event ever, but run by the greatest and strictest athlete ever.
There are 4 more races left. Silesia, Brussels, Zurich, and finally the WC in Tokyo. Will it be broken? By who?
Doubtful it goes down imo. Jakob is the closest and he hasn’t raced yet. Next year is a non-championship year and I suspect a top slew of guys will have it in their sights and not have to worry about peaking.
This is a fallacy sort of thinking. 2002 was a non championship year and El G also expected to break his wr but? Sometimes a championship year may ironically rev up the adrenalin and sneak in a wr. You can be wrong, it's 50-50.
Watch his bislett 2001 mile race still running 3:44s. Started the season in may at pre classic by winning mile in 3:50 and little over a month later runs 6 SECONDS FASTER to win bislett!!!
Watch his bislett 2001 mile race still running 3:44s. Started the season in may at pre classic by winning mile in 3:50 and little over a month later runs 6 SECONDS FASTER to win bislett!!!
This is a fallacy sort of thinking. 2002 was a non championship year and El G also expected to break his wr but? Sometimes a championship year may ironically rev up the adrenalin and sneak in a wr. You can be wrong, it's 50-50.
And what type of year was it when El Guerrouj set his world record he was trying to break…
This is a fallacy sort of thinking. 2002 was a non championship year and El G also expected to break his wr but? Sometimes a championship year may ironically rev up the adrenalin and sneak in a wr. You can be wrong, it's 50-50.
And what type of year was it when El Guerrouj set his world record he was trying to break…
Yeah but in fairness 2001 was a WC year and depending on what you believe, that 3.26.14 might actually be the real wo.... nevermind on that - different topic.
I think when we look at the fastest times ever run (multiples by El G, Jakob), we see 4 of the top 10 set in no-championship years (2 in '98 and 2 in '02) and the rest were set in champ years - 00, 01 (x2), 15, 23, 24
I personally think these days the lure of a major championship just gets guys more motivated within the seasons as a whole - case in point what happened last season (the all-time 4th, 8th, 10th and 11th marks set)
If Jakob hadn't gotten injured, I say the record was almost certainly going to fall this year (along with the mile). With his 3:29/3:45 double indoor WR, all the signs were pointing to 2025 being the year. However, Jakob got injured so this is a moot point. But it still could be possible.
No one is breaking the world record in Tokyo. In the current landscape, the 1500m is not an event you can front-run to win like Rudisha, let alone break a 27 year old world record. See Paris 2024. The only way the record could fall is if someone goes out at WR-ish pace for at least 1200m and drags a bunch of drafting guys at that sort of tempo. But this will never happen in a championship race. Jakob hit 2:47 low in Paris. Nowhere close to where you'd need to be to break El G's record.
Silesia will be a season opener for Jakob most likely and the first DL after a month long break so no WR there probably.
Brussels and Zurich are your two shots. If anyone breaks it, it's Jakob. If Jakob breaks it, he could drag a slew of guys to 3:26/3:27 PBs like Habz, Koech, Kerr, Hocker, Nuguse, etc. Depends on who's in the race. Everyone will be sharpening at these meets because they are around a month out from worlds.
The favourable Brussels Bend will seal the deal. Jakob WR Aug 22.
Or perhaps we could teleport back to the old Rieti track that seemed to have 2-3 different start and finish lines depending on how Sandro was feeling (or how close to a WR it was) ;)