Below is an excerpt from the Lap Count newsletter, posted with permission. Kyle Merber’s Lap Count newsletter both entertains and enlightens fans about athletes and happenings in our sport.
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From the Lap Count Newsletter
The Olympic 1500m champion’s best event may not be as obvious as you’d think.
Earlier in the week, Jakob Ingebrigtsen was outkicked by Jake Wightman in what is largely being considered the greatest upset of the World Championships. The 1500 was not some tactical affair, either, that would maybe give the individual with a three-second faster 800m best (Jake) a slight advantage. With a winning time of 3:29, it is hard to argue against Wightman being the best 1500m runner in the world — at the very least on that day.
Fortunately for Jakob, his range allowed him to come back with a vengeance. Despite perhaps suffering from a slightly bruised ego, he skated effortlessly through the prelims and even took time to acknowledge the crowd while doing so. After that round, he demonstrated no concern over warm racing conditions and declared it “happy weather” to a crowd full of amused reporters. The final then played into his favor with temperatures around 90 degrees and half the track baking in the sun.
During the action, Ingebrigtsen baffled everyone at Hayward by treating the early stages of a World Championship 5000m final like your uncle might treat a local 5k while nursing a minor hangover. On two occasions he swung into the outside lanes to grab a cup of water.
At the time, this may have seemed worrying to Jakob fans, but as the race progressed it was a display of supreme confidence. In a field featuring the Olympic champion and WR holder, the Olympic 10000m Champion, and a pair of Kenyans with season’s best of 12:46, Jakob commanded the end of the race with a final lap of 53.9 seconds, putting enough room between himself and Jacob Krop to salute the Hayward faithful.
Jakob’s first world title came in the same place he first announced his presence on the international stage — back in 2017 he was just a 16-year-old kid who became the youngest person to ever break four minutes in the mile at the Pre Classic.
Did this week mark the unofficial passing of the torch from his place as a miler to becoming a 5000m runner? After all, he only ran 1:47 for an 800 a few days before running 3:46 for the mile. His strength is quite literally his strength, thanks to a healthy diet of threshold running and hills. But as the 1500 evolves and other athletes are ready to go sub-3:30 in championships, maybe running away in the 5000m is where his future lies.
In the mixed zone afterward, I asked him if there were any records, in particular, he was going to chase this summer — could it be the 1500, mile, or 5000?
“I am chasing everything,” he replied.
