There’re levels to this. Getting to the finals in 2021 and 2023 indicates he is far from the worst tactically as he was at only 3:30-1 fitness in those moments. Making USA teams in every year besides the injured one too.
Guys like Habz, Katir, Kipsang, Komen, Hoare, Phanuel Koech, Mills, Nuguse are actually worse tactically they just get forgotten because you don’t expect gold/they get bounced in the semis.
Id say Hocker is actually more erratic than anything tactically.
Agreed. Hocker didn't run well tactically in the USA 1500 or tonight in Torun but it's prisoner of the moment to call him the worst tactician ever. He takes some risks by wanting to stay glued on the rail and it doesn't always work.
While I agree with this... It is truly amazing how often the rail opens up for him. Or just enough space for him to squeeze between the guy on the rail and the next guy out.
Just picked my daughter up from practice and she said that her coach used Cole Hocker as an example of good racing tactics. I had a good chuckle and then showed her the video of Cooper Lutkenhaus winning the 800m the other day. That 17 year old kid has more racing savvy than Cole Hocker will ever have.
Hocker is not even close to tactically the worst. Beamish uses idiotic tactics every race. Once in a while the field adopts equally asinine tactics and allows him to get away with it. But that doesn't deflect from Beamish's ongoing stupidity.
The highlight of world indoors was when the commentator Rob Walker was essentially laughing at Beamish mid race, instead of being mesmerized by him and expecting him to do something.
Hocker's issue is that he fails to adapt to variance from field to field. If he gets away with something once or twice he applies it again until it doesn't work. There was nothing wrong with leading early and then drifting back, unless you don't notice that you are ceding significant ground to the likes of Josh Kerr.
Hocker didn't seem to differentiate from being well back with 400 meters outdoors at Tokyo and well back with 200 meters remaining in the indoor final.
It's one lap, right? What could possibly go wrong?
I appreciate that Lutkenhaus already seems to understand you can't run from far back at this level.
Hocker is not even close to tactically the worst. Beamish uses idiotic tactics every race. Once in a while the field adopts equally asinine tactics and allows him to get away with it. But that doesn't deflect from Beamish's ongoing stupidity.
The highlight of world indoors was when the commentator Rob Walker was essentially laughing at Beamish mid race, instead of being mesmerized by him and expecting him to do something.
Hocker's issue is that he fails to adapt to variance from field to field. If he gets away with something once or twice he applies it again until it doesn't work. There was nothing wrong with leading early and then drifting back, unless you don't notice that you are ceding significant ground to the likes of Josh Kerr.
Hocker didn't seem to differentiate from being well back with 400 meters outdoors at Tokyo and well back with 200 meters remaining in the indoor final.
It's one lap, right? What could possibly go wrong?
I appreciate that Lutkenhaus already seems to understand you can't run from far back at this level.
Are you and stitchmo the same poster? Do you take an affront to calling out other posters for their inappropriate attack on professional runners, who are also human beings?
My post was one of the few with detailed, thoughtful consideration of actual racing tactics. It’s why Jon Gault and others recognized it in turn. And yes, my personal racing and coaching experience has helped me form that understanding that riding the rail until late is in fact a STRONG tactic with higher success rates than many of the proposed alternatives.
If you’d have actually read what I wrote, maybe you wouldn’t have responded with a juvenile and inaccurate misrepresentation as a summarization.
1) Cole got beat by Josh, who made a great move at the right time
2) Nuguse’s blunder was a factor in the outcome.
3) If Cole has 10 more meters, he catches and beats Josh, and all the armchair quarterbacks say “what a brilliant strategy conserving his energy until the kick by riding the rail”. You can’t have it both ways.
4) Our professional athletes deserve better than the be called “the worst of all time” after achieving a silver medal for their country. I have no qualms with calling out amateurs for derogatory and frankly insulting claims about our athletes.
We are not the same poster. Cheers. Haven't been on this thread in about 4-5 days.
Did have to note this example of Lord Seb Coe making far graver tactical mistakes than Cole Hocker made at World Indoors…luckily for him there were only two athlete in top fitness:
Did have to note this example of Lord Seb Coe making far graver tactical mistakes than Cole Hocker made at World Indoors…luckily for him there were only two athlete in top fitness:
I’m assuming it is a reading comprehension issue as we are now 12 pages into a thread titled “Is Cole Hocker the worst tactical distance runner in the world over the past 6 years?” and you keep referencing people from 20-40 years ago.
the irony of the hubris to call oneself “thoughtsleader” and routinely struggle with low iq arguments is not lost on me
I’m assuming it is a reading comprehension issue as we are now 12 pages into a thread titled “Is Cole Hocker the worst tactical distance runner in the world over the past 6 years?” and you keep referencing people from 20-40 years ago.
the irony of the hubris to call oneself “thoughtsleader” and routinely struggle with low iq arguments is not lost on me
Numerous posters including me bring in historical examples. And you can look back and find numerous contemporary athletes who I think tactically are worse. My username has always been tongue-in-cheek, it’s not serious.
Hollingsworths error this week was more egregious than Hocker for one example. You can say the Worlds semis ended similarly (minus the fall) but Hollingsworth could’ve easily swung wide on the turn. Again just to show it’s a hard sport