I don’t think we should give 2021 to Hocker yet. Shelby generated a ton of buzz on here. Not much has been said about Hocker since September .
more I think about it he probably does get the nod. Trials up to the Olympic final was nuts.
And was peak Mary Cain on here 2013 or 2014?
John Wesley Harding wrote:
2001 - Alan Webb - 3:53 national high school mile record at Pre Classic
2002 - Paula Radcliffe - World XC champ, 10,000m Euro record (30:01), first Marathon World Best in Chicago (2:17:18)
2003 - Kenenisa Bekele - World XC long/short course double, dethrones Geb with sub-13 last 5k in World Champs 10k
2004 - Hicham El Guerrouj - Wins first 1500/5k Olympic double since Paavo Nurmi in 1924
2005 - Rashid Ramzi - Doper Extraordinaire wins first 800/1500 global championship double since Peter Snell in 1964
2006 - Deena Kastor - Wins London Marathon in 2:19:36 AR after winning Chicago the previous fall
2007 - Bernard Lagat - Wins 1500/5k World Championship double for U.S.A.
2008 - German Fernandez - 4:00/8:34 one-day double at California State Meet, followed by 8:34 2mile HSR
2009 - Galen Rupp - Dominates NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships (including stopping to retie shoe) before winning U.S. 10k title
2010 - Chris Solinsky - Runs shocking 26:59 10k (first non-African sub-27), followed by 12:55-56 three times on DL circuit
2011 - David Rudisha - New 800 WR-holder (2010) continues his dominance with first global title and 1:41.33 SB
2012 - Cam Levins - Southern Utah standout has dream season while logging 150+ mpw, repeatedly employs big kicks to defeat all NCAA challengers
2013 - Mo Farah - Wins global 5k/10k double for the 2nd straight season and clocks a stunning 3:28.81 British 1500 record
2014 - Mary Cain - Wins U.S. Sr. Indoor 1500 at 17 years old, 2nd in U.S. Sr. Outdoor 1500 (18 y.o.), wins World Jr. Champs 3k
2015 - Genzebe Dibaba - Breaks Qu’s impossible 1500 WR with 3:50.07, wins World Championship gold with ~1:57 final 800
2016 - Matt Centrowitz, Jr. - Wins World Indoor 1500 and Olympic 1500–the first U.S. champ in the event since 1908
2017 - Eliud Kipchoge - Already being called the Marathon G.O.A.T., he clocks 2:00:25 at Nike’s Breaking2 event + wins Berlin in 2:03
2018 - Shelby Houlihan - Wins DL 1500s in Eugene and Lausanne (3:57.34 SB), double 1500/5k U.S. Champ, 14:34 AR 5k
2019 - Jakob Ingebrigtsen - Still 18 years old for most of the season, clocks 3:30.16/13:02 and places top-5 in both events at Doha WCs
2020 - Joshua Cheptegei - Sets WRs at 5k (12:35) & 10k (26:11) with controversial wavelight technology
2021 - Cole Hocker - 19-20 year old American wins NCAA titles indoors (Mile, 3k) and outdoors (1500), beats Centrowitz in anticipated Trials clash and places 6th at Olympics in 3:31.4 PB
Open to suggestions.
Nice list great effort !
I’d put Lukas Verszginas after the German Fernandez years - 2011 right ?!
I can't believe no-one has mentioned Eddylee, whatever year that was.
One and done is a stupid rule because no way did Hocker get more buzz than Jakob.
But besides that, he didn't get more buzz than Karsten Warthog either. A whole season of dueling time trials vs Rai Benjamin created the buzz, and then the sub 46 maxes out the 50% based on performance.
Hocker ran what, 3:30 something? 5th? That's worth a 10 of 50 compared to Karsten's performance, which could well become the next Beamonesque legend.
Along will all the hype at the trials/Olympics, Hocker also generated a lot of buzz after revealing his status of being unvaccinated at an Oregon press conference. The last 3 months have been dead because there have been no track races. I’m excited to see him back out on the track again this month( fingers crossed).