With PBs of 1:45, 3:32, 7:31, 12:44, 26:45, 58:41 across the distances from 800m to the Half there would have to be a pretty solid case that he is one of the most versatile runners of all time. Haile and Bekele are the only ones that maybe rival him although it doesn’t appear either have any official 800m times.
Discus.
This post was edited 35 seconds after it was posted.
I would just call it a long career. Focusing on the 800m when he was young gave him a lot of races and he improved. A lot of similar 5k runners could probably have run similar times in the 8 if they trained specifically for it. All his other PBs are from 2023-now(800 from 2015), he's just a 5-10k guy who has run many distances. If a healthy Jakob hade run a 10k or half during some base training phase he would have run fast as well.
With PBs of 1:45, 3:32, 7:31, 12:44, 26:45, 58:41 across the distances from 800m to the Half there would have to be a pretty solid case that he is one of the most versatile runners of all time. Haile and Bekele are the only ones that maybe rival him although it doesn’t appear either have any official 800m times.
Discus.
Kejelcha doesn’t have a listed 800m time, but he has faster PRs than Almgren at every other distance.
With PBs of 1:45, 3:32, 7:31, 12:44, 26:45, 58:41 across the distances from 800m to the Half there would have to be a pretty solid case that he is one of the most versatile runners of all time. Haile and Bekele are the only ones that maybe rival him although it doesn’t appear either have any official 800m times.
Discus.
Almgren certainly has an impressive set of PBs, but I'd put both Geb and Bekele above him because they not only ran fast times from 1500m to marathon, they also had big wins and world records/bests across multiple distances.
Geb: 3:31, 7:25, 12:39, 26:22, 58:55, 2:03:59 - world indoor champ at 1500m, 3x world indoor champ at 3k, 6x global champ at 10k, half-marathon world champ, 4x world marathon major winner, 27 world records/bests
Bekele: 3:32, 7:25, 12:37, 26:17, 60:22, 2:01:41 - held the indoor world best at 2k until this year, world indoor champ at 3k, 2x global champ at 5k, 6x global champ at 10k, 2x world marathon major winner, 11x world XC champ (another important component of versatility), came 2 seconds away in the marathon from holding world records in the 5k, 10k, and marathon simultaneously
Although his PBs aren't as fast across the board, I'd also put Farah above Almgren because Farah had many big wins on the track, ran 3:28 in the 1500m, and won a world marathon major.
Thinking about it some more, I'd also put Kipchoge above Almgren. Kipchoge's 3:33 1500m PB is nothing to sneeze at, his 7:27 3k PB is faster than Almgren's, and he was a 5k world champ before going on to become the marathon GOAT.
With PBs of 1:45, 3:32, 7:31, 12:44, 26:45, 58:41 across the distances from 800m to the Half there would have to be a pretty solid case that he is one of the most versatile runners of all time. Haile and Bekele are the only ones that maybe rival him although it doesn’t appear either have any official 800m times.
Discus.
As of right now, I would say yes. The usual guys in the versatility conversation didn’t have quite his range. Aouita and Choge didn’t have Almgren’s strength over 10k and up, and Geb and Bekele were close to Almgren, but not competitive over 800. Bekele never competed over 800 and Geb actually did on at least one occasion where he ran 1:49 indoors, showing he just had ridiculous aerobic strength. One name that gets neglected is Eliud Kipchoge; low 3:50s mile, 7:28 3k, 8:07 2mile, 12:46 5k, 26:52 10k, silver medal long course world XC, 1:59 assisted marathon and near unbeatable at that distance until he was 38 years old, and numerous global finals medals. Not as versatile as Almgren on the speed side, but still damn impressive.
He is an insane talent. He had only been focusing solely on running for 1 year, when he ran 1:45 and placed third at the world junior championship. He mentioned in some interview that he believes that he could have been really really good in the 1500m, if he had discovered the norwegian threshold training when he was 19. Being injured for 7-8 years, he lost too much speed to compete with the very best in the 1500m.
I am pretty sure he will run 12:3x/26:3x and 57:xx within a year though. Unfortunately, he had a small injury last week, so he had to leave sierra Nevada earlier than planned. So i am not sure if he is in shape to run 26:3x already this weekend.
also, Jakob is faster than 1:45 in the 800 and can run at least 57:xx in the half. So i think he could compete with Almgren in terms of versatility.
He is an insane talent. He had only been focusing solely on running for 1 year, when he ran 1:45 and placed third at the world junior championship. He mentioned in some interview that he believes that he could have been really really good in the 1500m, if he had discovered the norwegian threshold training when he was 19. Being injured for 7-8 years, he lost too much speed to compete with the very best in the 1500m.
I am pretty sure he will run 12:3x/26:3x and 57:xx within a year though. Unfortunately, he had a small injury last week, so he had to leave sierra Nevada earlier than planned. So i am not sure if he is in shape to run 26:3x already this weekend.
also, Jakob is faster than 1:45 in the 800 and can run at least 57:xx in the half. So i think he could compete with Almgren in terms of versatility.
No, you can’t use hypotheticals for this thread. Jakob has never run under 1:46 and his sole hm was 63 minutes. If the thread was over versatility potential I would agree with you, but we don’t even know at this point if Jakob will ever be the same after his injuries. He could be done. If he had remained healthy, I do think his upside would have been even more impressive than Almgren’s, but it’s not fair to use hypotheticals.
As of right now, I would say yes. The usual guys in the versatility conversation didn’t have quite his range. Aouita and Choge didn’t have Almgren’s strength over 10k and up, and Geb and Bekele were close to Almgren, but not competitive over 800. Bekele never competed over 800 and Geb actually did on at least one occasion where he ran 1:49 indoors, showing he just had ridiculous aerobic strength. One name that gets neglected is Eliud Kipchoge; low 3:50s mile, 7:28 3k, 8:07 2mile, 12:46 5k, 26:52 10k, silver medal long course world XC, 1:59 assisted marathon and near unbeatable at that distance until he was 38 years old, and numerous global finals medals. Not as versatile as Almgren on the speed side, but still damn impressive.
I think you're over-valuing Almgren's 800m. To put his 1:45.59 in perspective, it's 1156 points on the World Athletics scoring tables. That score is equivalent to a 3:36 1500m, 7:43 3k, 13:14 5k, 27:44 10k, and 2:08 marathon. It's solid, but it's not a top caliber mark at the professional level. It's more than a second slower than the qualifying standard for last year's world championships.
I don't see how a solid 800m to go with impressive marks up to the half-marathon yet without any global golds or world records in any event makes Almgren more versatile than legends of the sport who demonstrated world-class excellence from 1500m to the marathon.
I think you're over-valuing Almgren's 800m. To put his 1:45.59 in perspective, it's 1156 points on the World Athletics scoring tables. That score is equivalent to a 3:36 1500m, 7:43 3k, 13:14 5k, 27:44 10k, and 2:08 marathon. It's solid, but it's not a top caliber mark at the professional level. It's more than a second slower than the qualifying standard for last year's world championships.
I don't see how a solid 800m to go with impressive marks up to the half-marathon yet without any global golds or world records in any event makes Almgren more versatile than legends of the sport who demonstrated world-class excellence from 1500m to the marathon.
WA tables heavily favor distance events on the points side. A 1:45.7 isn't as good as 3:32 (it's better than 3:36 TF), but for someone who is a distance runner, it's a very good time.
This post was edited 1 minute after it was posted.
He is an insane talent. He had only been focusing solely on running for 1 year, when he ran 1:45 and placed third at the world junior championship. He mentioned in some interview that he believes that he could have been really really good in the 1500m, if he had discovered the norwegian threshold training when he was 19. Being injured for 7-8 years, he lost too much speed to compete with the very best in the 1500m.
I am pretty sure he will run 12:3x/26:3x and 57:xx within a year though. Unfortunately, he had a small injury last week, so he had to leave sierra Nevada earlier than planned. So i am not sure if he is in shape to run 26:3x already this weekend.
also, Jakob is faster than 1:45 in the 800 and can run at least 57:xx in the half. So i think he could compete with Almgren in terms of versatility.
In Valencia, Ingebrigtsen crashed and burned after a 27:27 10K, which is barely 58:00 pace. That he can run 57:xx someday is a huge stretch.
As of right now, I would say yes. The usual guys in the versatility conversation didn’t have quite his range. Aouita and Choge didn’t have Almgren’s strength over 10k and up, and Geb and Bekele were close to Almgren, but not competitive over 800. Bekele never competed over 800 and Geb actually did on at least one occasion where he ran 1:49 indoors, showing he just had ridiculous aerobic strength. One name that gets neglected is Eliud Kipchoge; low 3:50s mile, 7:28 3k, 8:07 2mile, 12:46 5k, 26:52 10k, silver medal long course world XC, 1:59 assisted marathon and near unbeatable at that distance until he was 38 years old, and numerous global finals medals. Not as versatile as Almgren on the speed side, but still damn impressive.
I think you're over-valuing Almgren's 800m. To put his 1:45.59 in perspective, it's 1156 points on the World Athletics scoring tables. That score is equivalent to a 3:36 1500m, 7:43 3k, 13:14 5k, 27:44 10k, and 2:08 marathon. It's solid, but it's not a top caliber mark at the professional level. It's more than a second slower than the qualifying standard for last year's world championships.
I don't see how a solid 800m to go with impressive marks up to the half-marathon yet without any global golds or world records in any event makes Almgren more versatile than legends of the sport who demonstrated world-class excellence from 1500m to the marathon.
Yeah but Mac nobody is saying that his 1:45 is a global finals threat. It’s just that it’s at least a respectable time on a pro level, even if it is in fact about a second off of the qualifying standard. A 1:45 until recently could be enough to make a US team or win a DL race or any pro race on the circuit. 1:45 is still a great 800 time even if it isn’t what it used to be.
Remember this is a thread about versatility where we have to measure every candidate’s PRs across the board. The usual suspects for this range conversation never ran 1:45 for 800, with the exception of Aouita and maybe one or two others. Like I mentioned Aouita and Choge didn’t have Almgren’s longer distance strength and Geb and the distance guys could not run 1:45 if their lives depended on it. It’s who has the best range compared to everyone else, not who has every single PR that is a WR level or close PR. Nobody is that good or ever will be.
And Mac for your last point, I don’t think that global medal success is necessarily a great criteria here for range. You have people with great finishing kicks in various distances who were successful in championships but who didn’t run fast over the whole spread of distances. The focus for this thread should mostly be limited to PRs.
I think you're over-valuing Almgren's 800m. To put his 1:45.59 in perspective, it's 1156 points on the World Athletics scoring tables. That score is equivalent to a 3:36 1500m, 7:43 3k, 13:14 5k, 27:44 10k, and 2:08 marathon. It's solid, but it's not a top caliber mark at the professional level. It's more than a second slower than the qualifying standard for last year's world championships.
I don't see how a solid 800m to go with impressive marks up to the half-marathon yet without any global golds or world records in any event makes Almgren more versatile than legends of the sport who demonstrated world-class excellence from 1500m to the marathon.
WA tables heavily favor distance events on the points side. A 1:45.7 isn't as good as 3:32 (it's better than 3:36 TF), but for someone who is a distance runner, it's a very good time.
Agreed. Not to mention that nobody else who has ever run in the 26:40s for 10k and the 58s for half marathon, has also been able to run a 1:45 800. So it’s literally uncharted territory. What I just tried to explain to Mac in a new post is that the range conversation is about who has the fastest times over multiple distances when compared to everyone else. That’s all we are talking about, not if Almgren could beat Wanonyi in the 800. He clearly couldn’t.
Yeah but Mac nobody is saying that his 1:45 is a global finals threat. It’s just that it’s at least a respectable time on a pro level, even if it is in fact about a second off of the qualifying standard. A 1:45 until recently could be enough to make a US team or win a DL race or any pro race on the circuit. 1:45 is still a great 800 time even if it isn’t what it used to be.
Remember this is a thread about versatility where we have to measure every candidate’s PRs across the board. The usual suspects for this range conversation never ran 1:45 for 800, with the exception of Aouita and maybe one or two others. Like I mentioned Aouita and Choge didn’t have Almgren’s longer distance strength and Geb and the distance guys could not run 1:45 if their lives depended on it. It’s who has the best range compared to everyone else, not who has every single PR that is a WR level or close PR. Nobody is that good or ever will be.
And Mac for your last point, I don’t think that global medal success is necessarily a great criteria here for range. You have people with great finishing kicks in various distances who were successful in championships but who didn’t run fast over the whole spread of distances. The focus for this thread should mostly be limited to PRs.
You make a good point that times have gotten faster in recent years. Perhaps a fairer way to look at it is where these guys' times stood when they ran them. For the sake of simplicity, compare Almgren to just Geb:
Almgren
800m: 1:45.59 made him 51st in the world in 2015 (not all-time, just in 2015)
1500m: 3:32.00 made him 26th in 2023
5k: 12:44 made him 2nd in 2025 and puts him at 12th on the all-time list
10k: 26:52 made him 18th in 2024 and puts him at 61st on the all-time list
half: 58:41 made him 8th in 2025 and puts him 31st on the all-time list
Geb
1500m: 3:31.76 indoors made him 1st in the world in 1998 (faster than El G that year!) and 2nd all-time