this. dude has been professional for a while now. what exactly is he doing differene now that accounts for the HUGE improvement? it certainly isn't mechanics
You’re implying that he is dirty then. Will you be asking him this after his races? The biggest difference to me is that Bell is likeable and Hoey is not.
To be clear, Bell did NOT take 5 years 'off'. She competed in another sport, the duathlon, and in fact won the World Duathlon Championships in 2023 in her age group. (that particular event was made up of a 9.8km run, 39.6km bike, followed by a second run of 5.2km) So she was always doing running, & training, but her programme was different & obviously included a lot of bike work (which may have contributed to less injuries & prolonging her career - less impact than years & years of pounding the roads. Cross training is king. )
So, she was an excellent Junior, then moved sports - but still ran as part of that sport (& reached the highest level in that sport) - before moving back to track.
There really is no comparison between the two because her case is fairly unique amongst athletes.
1. This is a strawman argument. I don't think Americans think Hoey = clean and Bell = dirty. I'm sure there are plenty on this board who are suspicious of both and plenty who believe in both.
2. That said, there certainly is a difference between the two. Hoey has been a professional runner since 2018. During that entire period, his entire life was centered around trying to get faster and he barely improved until last year when he made a massive jump.
Bell, meanwhile, took a 5-year break from age 23 to 28. For her, a sudden improvement actually makes more sense (even though it came at an older age) because she went from zero running training to dedicated running training under one of the best coaches in the world. Though obviously the heights she has reached (3:52, Olympic bronze) are higher than one would have expected.
this. dude has been professional for a while now. what exactly is he doing differene now that accounts for the HUGE improvement? it certainly isn't mechanics
1) Has a coach that knows what he is doing and that I know for a fact has implemented quite a bit of change to his previous training philosophy/activities.
2) Which in turn has helped cool down the "input" (micromanaging) of his father who due to his financial success in life is in the position to basically be involved in everything his son is doing career wise, and now isn't as much (at least on the training side).
3) He isn't a child anyone. He "went pro" at 18. Given how many kids go pro at 22 after for years in the NCAA and find that transition extremely tough, I think we can afford Josh Hoey a little bit of slack in finding his feet - even as a damn adult.
4) BTW, I know everyone was on the Hocker, Hobbs, Yared, Bryce slurp train last season - and with good reason, but Hoey ran 1.43.80 basically solo in some sh-tbox little Belgium meet as well as a string of sub 1.45's and also ran 1.44.12 for 4th at the trials that in every year except for 92 and 84, would have seen him make the team. Funny because I can't remember all the fire and brimstone around him then.
So that is exactly what he is doing now that could account for the "huge" improvement.
We dont think either of them are clean. Hoey is more suspicious though because he plateaued and then made a big jump. Bell stopped running for a couple years and then became super good. I dont believe she is clean however Hoey is certainly more suspicious.