Coach Thomas dislikes unnecessary travel. People tend to get sick when spending time in airports and on planes. And as other have mentioned, hocker already has quite a full schedule already.
Yes he opens up locally every year indoors and outdoors (GST exempted). I wonder what was behind going 2K this year after 1K last year.
inspiration from the guys up north is as good a guess as any
that wasn't the issue...obviously he just wanted a low key, low pressure season opener to prepare for the big events. Yeah, its just you who is weird!!
The lack of travel likely is key...combine that with the weather this weekend
Plus if he has a contract bonus, it just makes sense to run it a day earlier. If he ran 4:50 today in a race won in 4:49 he might not get a record bonus, but running a day earlier lets him preemptively set the record and get a bonus he might not otherwise.
I’m guessing it was at least a $10k bonus he got for a new indoor world best.
Like I said… he probably gets a bonus for breaking the record a day before it got shattered. Just means he has a smart agent.
He's training in Virginia right & focused on Millrose? The problem you've outlined OP is right. There are too many meets to keep track of. Top athletes duck each other, even when they're at the same meet (see today's 600 & 800 @ NB). But for an athlete it's a lot easier logistically to race at home, have local travel, maybe sleep in your own bed, etc. Travel adds more elements to racing, although NB Boston would've been on the same coast. Still, race local when you can & show up ready to go @ big races is fine by me. I don't really get running the same distance as what the other guys were going for today, but maybe he was hoping he would run the faster time. He got the first headline. I don't see anything wrong with it.
Blacksburg isn’t easy to get in and out of, he ran a workout and won’t lose two training days due to travel. Dude was literally home for dinner and woke up this morning ready to train, not to mention he collects a check for the record.
The most likely reason is always the cash. Maybe he wasn't offered enough to race Kessler and Fisher, so he said "eff you!" Running in different races also builds the Hocker vs. Fisher 3k rematch hype.
I am sick of all these yo yos going after these fake "world records" not recognized by WA and softer than a buttered porcupine belly.
At men's Olympic track mid and long distances, where the real records are, there are only four performances better than any of the records from 20 years ago. That's all! 4 times in more than 20 years, only three athletes could do it.
But if you want these distances to be contested then you need people to take shots at it ...
Coach Thomas dislikes unnecessary travel. People tend to get sick when spending time in airports and on planes. And as other have mentioned, hocker already has quite a full schedule already.
Hocker has already promised to run Millrose, a mile at some newly laid indoor track on Feb 15th(?), USA indoors, and World Indoors. It’s packed already and it would have made no difference if he ran in Boston.
Well, the difference would have been him racing the best, not time-trialing essentially alone.
The fact is that some runners want to race. You tell them that their rival is spiking up somewhere, and they will say "Put me in."
Other runners prioritize running fast times, and will race their top competition more reluctantly.
Actions and decisions show us who is who.
The fact that Hocker will actually be at USA Indoors and World Indoors while a lot of US guys are just training makes me think he is a racer.
Basically the entire US elite roster dodged running World XC just a couple of weeks ago, where there was a 4x2k relay with much weaker male runners racing for the country. (While Fisher, Kessler, Nuguse, and sadly yes Hocker were at home.)
FWIW, he did a similar thing last year, skipping indoor USAs to run a 5K time trial in Boston. It's defensible for him individually, but the more top guys compete at the same meets and events against other top guys, the better for the sport overall. It's reflective of a coordination problem that the sport still hasn't solved.