Cole DQ'd

Yes. He should have gone wide and kicked.

In a race you make a decision of either conserving energy by running on the rail but risk boxing yourself OR you go wide running longer distance and getting less help with somebody blocking the wind BUT you have more space.

Hocker wanted to take a risk by staying inside. He was greedy in terms of wanting to save every little bit of energy for the final.

Fix his sense of entitlement too.

The strategy has worked for him, somewhat haphazardly, several times.However, if you keep playing with fire eventually, you’re going to get burned. he can only blame himself for the DQ.

Actually laughed out loud reading this, as if falling over and getting trampled was part of his race strategy 😆

Regarding Hocker, I agree with the others that the front view is misleading- with the side view you can see just how much his arms knocked Farken back and led to his immediate reduction in speed. He pretty much slowed to a crawl to avoid causing a massive pile up.

This sport constantly disappoints fans. We wait all year to see the Olympic champion try to win worlds only to have it take away for a little pushing.

It’s like the refs calling Michael Jordan for a foul when he pushed off Byron Russell. No one wants that foul called.

I wish track & field would prioritize the fans for once like every other sport in the world.

this is what happens when your training partner wears parachute pants year round

Stonewall DQ!

He made a big mistake, earlier in the race, of giving up the lead. Then allowed himself to be boxed in and didn't make the effort early enough to escape the pocket. Final stretch, he panicked, it's that simple.

Snell was boxed in in both his Olympic 800 finals. In the first he had to wait for a gap to open up before he could move through. In the second final he dropped back and went around the field. Barging through was not an option. Hocker was rightly DQ'd.

Just listened to your argument to not DQ Hocker. Honestly, embarrassed for you! There was no gap for Hocker to go through. How more obvious do you need that fact to be!?! Cram on British TV called it a DQ straight off the bat.

Good post.

Hocker is seeming like a bit of a one-trick pony and unable to adjust.

There is no reason a 3:27 guy should get himself in that kind of trouble against slower runners.

He seems to believe his own hype:
"You can take the kid out of Indiana, but you’ll never get him off that rail! Cole Hocker fits into holes that are too small for a mouse to squeeze through. And as the world witnessed during the Olympics, he’s going after that cheddar."()

grandslamtrack.com

Cole Hocker

You can take the kid out of Indiana, but you’ll never get him off that rail! Cole Hocker fits into holes that are too small for a mouse to squeeze through. And as the world witnessed during the Olympics, he’s going after that...

Link:www.grandslamtrack.com/competitors/col...

I said it at the time: he and Fisher should have tested themselves more in fast international races on the Diamond League in this championship year, not just in slow and mostly-domestic races in GST. They had a long season to schedule some real races.

They simply don't seem to currently have the ability to run well tactically when it matters. (Neither has won a major international race in 2025.) Why do they or their fans think they'll suddenly learn how at the biggest meet of the year?

<<Looking forward to more stupid US track race strategies for the rest of the championship. /s >>

I’m always holding my breath when the US Men’s 4x100 is on the track

I heard on Fox News that Trump is going to use tariffs to force officials to put Hocker back in. Patel is flying to Tokyo right now. It's a national security issue.

shouldn't have been a DQ...seen much worse contact being tolerated.

That's what she said.

I've heard they are calling it a "hate crime".

Definitely better in print.

Fisher ran in the DL final against both Gressier and Almgren.

Samuel Philström in the first semifinal got boxed in just like Hooker and accepted that there was nothing he could do about it. Said afterwards that he was very lucky to go through to the final anyway as 6th man in his heat as not enough runners came fast on the outside. He had more in the tank, but there wasn't enough room to get past anyone.

Assuming you are female?