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
Oslo – Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Joe Klecker & Alicia Monson shine
One week before running a 3:46.46 mile to win the Bislett Games in front of the home crowd, Olympic 1500m champion, Jakob Ingebrigtsen ran an 800m race. Guess how fast he went. Remember, to run the sixth fastest mile of all-time, he ran back-to-back 1:52s! Well, he only ran 1:47.22 — to finish fourth. Those three guys who beat him are in a very exclusive club of athletes who can say they’ve beaten Jakob, and none of them have run anywhere close to 3:46. (Take note, middle distance studs who believe in the transitive property of beating people.)
To this day, Ingebrigtsen’s personal best is only 1:46.44. Compare that to the still-European mile record holder and fourth fastest miler of all-time, Steve Cram, who ran 1:42.88 back during that magical season in 1985. Quite coincidentally, Cram was in the broadcast booth calling Jackob’s race and he noted that Ingebrigtsen is not known for hard finishes and prefers to run in a comfortable zone. With slightly less room for error in terms of pacing, Jakob relies on another skill to run fast — his brain. Oh, and a 12:48 5000m.
Fortunately, he had some pressure from behind, thanks to the stalking form of Ollie Hoare, who ran a 3:47.48 Australian record. Speaking of bad 800m times, Hoare’s is officially 1:49.98, though I suspect he could go much faster. The baffling part about Hoare continuing his impressive upward trajectory since graduating college two years ago is that he only managed to win a single NCAA title. How much Mountain Dew was he drinking?
The On Athletics Club, which was dismissed for having collectively peaked at the Millrose Games, had themselves one helluva meet in Norway. Joe Klecker narrowly missed a new 5000m personal best, though his 13:04 to finish fourth proved that he is on the verge of breaking through to a place where medal contention is no longer a pipe dream. Although Telahun Bekele won the damn thing in 13:03.51.
In the women’s 5000m, Alicia Monson ran 14:31.11 for the third fastest time in US history and an 11 second personal best. And up front it was Ethiopia’s Dawit Seyaum who won the race in 14:25 — she is now 2 for 2 since moving up in distance from the 1500m and she beat Olympic bronze medalist Gudaf Tsegay in the process.
Both Monson and Klecker are not running the US Championships, because they have already qualified in the 10,000m, and Hoare is not running because he is Australian.
Paris – The Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce show
When Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce won the 2008 Olympics at 21-years-old, she made sure that unlike many gold medalists, that wouldn’t be her peak. Since then she has won 10 more global championships and many other shiny pieces of hardware, and even found the time to give birth to her son, who she welcomed in 2017. Now 35-years-old, Fraser-Pryce isn’t just holding on — she is getting better.
At the Paris Diamond League the Jamaican made the rest of the field look like they belonged at one of the aforementioned American high school national meets. She ran 10.67 (+0.5) to win the 100m by a third of a second. The four fastest times of her career, including a 10.60 personal best, now come after turning 34. For all you statisticians out there who need more numbers to appreciate greatness, there have only been 22 ladies in history to break 10.80 seconds. Shelly-Ann has done it on 24 wind-legal occasions.
In slower news, the men’s 800m continues to shape up as the most unpredictable event of the 2022 World Championships. France’s Benjamin Robert had a breakthrough race posting a 1:43.75 while leading a tightly knit pack of seven men across the finish line within a second of each other. If you’re an 800m runner who has run under 1:45 this year, you probably think there’s a chance you could win a world title… and honestly, why not? You just might. The defending champion, Donavan Brazier is currently recovering from an inflamed bursa sac in his foot, but will line up on Thursday as he has an opportune bye and fourth spot for the US team.
