nader wasnt bad 3 wrote:
Every tactic incurs risk =/= every tactic is equally risky.
This is the argument you tried to make re Kerr in Tokyo:
“So, while Hocker's DQ gets all the attention both he and Kerr's World Championship 1500 experiences were ruined by difficult semis. This just shows how difficult it is tactically…”
Kerr making a slight misjudgment which had zero impact on his race and only cost him in the final because he was already nursing an injury doesn’t illustrate the point you’re desperate to make about difficulty. He was almost perfect in his semi and qualified easily, whereas Hocker ran terribly and got himself DQed. Why are you pretending their races were similar when they were absolutely nothing alike?
Retreading the Nader stuff is a waste of time. My comments only ever pertained to the final in Torun and I explained my position multiple times. If you want to continue bringing up other races and judging indoor 2025 Nader based on his later outdoor achievements, feel free.
There’s a difference between regathering for a kick and getting shuffled out of position when it’s too late to come back. How many times are you going to reference that 3k? Hocker eked out the win, but we’ve seen him fail in that exact position several times which, again, is why this thread even exists.
Why are you citing a bunch of horrible tacticians who routinely blow their loads too early? I’m not asking Hocker to emulate them, I just think his typical strategy is awful. Read the end of my last post again and then ask yourself why you’re still arguing with me when you already admitted my point.
Kerr injured himself trying to lift the pace again. Why did that happen? Because he was tired from leading and wanted to ease off. Leading from a long way out is hard with no wavelights. Hocker didn’t run terribly in that semi, his positioning was dicey but so was that of half the field. He made a bad decision in retrospect not to jut out behind Cheruiyot when he briefly had a chance. Kerr made a bad decision not to push the entire straightaway in his and while he had track to run, he didn’t have momentum, nor the energy he thought he had.
Youre blind to the idea that saving energy, running less distance, and having your last 100 or 200 be your best can be central to winning. Why am I listing several guys who have that tendency to kick too early? Because many of Hocker’s rivals chief tactic is to get the jump on his kick/others and run it out of him/others. Or they just don’t trust their finish. They’re going all out to be ahead of him at 200 to go. This isn’t to say Hocker should respond by intentionally getting passed by them or getting boxed. It’s just to say the reality is it’s just as important he stay in striking distance and kick well than obsess over position. There is one race where his tactics were truly really bad (Indoors USA 1500), and certainly not a pattern to call him the worst ever IMO.