I saw the race in Sestriere, where I'm with some athlete, including the Chinese Team for Marathon. I was very much impressed by the race of Jager, who really is at the moment the only "new man" for the event.
I don't think there is at the moment some Kenyan able to attack the WR of Stephen Cherono (Shaheen), and this is also something fair, because the level of Shaheen was really very much higher, and he was undefeated for 28 following competitions from 2002 till 2006. His WR doesn't represent his real value, since in 2006 he was very much stronger than in 2004, but it's a fact that he never ran faster than 7'53"63.
For beating this record, we need a perfect weather and a perfect pacing till 2000m (something he didn't have), but also athletes of very high global level.
Among the current best kenyans, Ezekiel Kemboi already passed his prime, Paul Koech is going down, Brimin Kipruto had a lot of injuries, Conseslus Kipruto has talent but not continuity. Only Jairus Birech can have the right consistency, but he is the new edition of Paul Koech (athlete very strong on the pace but without final speed), and seems far from the possibility of a time under 7'55".
Evan Jager, with 13'02" and 3'32"97, is at the moment the only athlete with a wide "spectrum" of distances. He has better specific endurance of all the current kenyans, more speed and better technique, so there is no reason because he can't be the next number one in the World.
He is also very aggressive in competition, doesn't fear to push hard, and this is a good mentality for becoming a number one.
However, if we look at WCh, he has a technical limit in the lack of ability to change speed quickly, which is the main attitude of Ezekiel Kemboi.
If the pace in the final is slow or medium (for example, 2'45" + 2'40" = 5'25" after 2 km), for Jager is very difficult to defeat Ezekiel (who is the only one really dangerous for him, supposing he can maintain the same level of shape). But, if the American runners work as a team, for example sacrifying the personal chances of Huling of Cabral, asking them to push the pace till 1800m at the rhythm of 2'39" per km, and Evan goes for one lap fast at the beginning of the last km for creating a break, there are great chances of winning Gold.
I think the fact of a US runner at the top of the World in an event Always dominated by kenyans is something very positive for the middle distances, generally. Evan can have an impact, in the athletic world, very much better than Galen Rupp, because steeple are frequently run, while 10000m practically disappeared from the big meetings (and, if not disappeared, a lot of Kenyans and Ethiopians could prepare the event for running close 26'30", while now nobody really prepares the event).
Jager in steeple, and Centro in 1500m, can enhance the interest for middle distances in the Western world, that is where 80% of big meetings take place, and at the end this fact can be very important for Kenyans and Ethiopians too, because they are the ones suffering the decrease of interest for these events, too many times including at high level athletes from these two Countries only.