I wouldn't read too much into these sound bites, performances on the track is what matters.
Kerr had also said in a recent GST promo video that going into Kingston "training had been going well, I was expecting everything to be nice and smooth", despite speculation at the time that he was coming off injury and sick. And we all know how Kingston went for him. So in summary, we don't really know what these guys are doing re: Hocker, Kerr etc.
All I know is Hocker got run down easily by Kerr with the finish line his for the taking, in an average paced 1500m (for these guys), when he should have been running away with it. This has happened to Hocker quite a few times already this season.
You say run down easily when he got beat by .09. There wasn’t looking to the side pumping up the crowd and fist-pumping like Wanyonyi vs Nuguse et al in Kingston. The other two 1500s, he was kicking from behind and not really gaining. He also didn’t lead as much. Yes Kerr says whatever before races but Hocker/Nuguse seem pretty transparent and we have workout/BTS footage that back up their approaches. Nuguse doing 800m specific stuff, Hocker admitting he’s not and sheepishly saying GST doesn’t like him mentioning that he’s not doing anything different to prepare for these meets.
My point is that Hocker is not the only athlete training for something, and it is silly to pretend he is at a disadvantage. However, he is the only Olympic gold medalist in the field. Arop is running fast 1:43 800's right now and winning, however, we know he will be running close to 1:41 later this season when his training load lightens up. Kessler also said he isn't the finished product yet and training through, and even sees himself more of a 5000m guy. Very comparable to Hocker in terms of results, but naturally there is less expected of him.
Also - and this is really important - GST is only an 8 man race. It is easy for Hocker to position himself on the rail, or for Kerr to find room coming off the bend in an 8 man field against several 800m athletes running out of gas, in a 3:35 race.
Kerr isn't winning (or in Hocker's case, not winning) in dominant fashion that you would expect. Make this a 12 man competitive race with other top tier 1500m runners, and I think they wouldn't be getting away with these results so easily. It's no longer the Big 4, we have to include Myers, Laros and the next guy in the conversation.
It's the same reason why it is a laughable people are applauding Nico Young in a 7 man 8:00min 3000m race against some average runners. Let's see how he goes in a 16 man 5000m race first, please!
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Hocker’s profile: a guy who’s gotten better every year except the one year he was injured, and a guy who consistently runs his best in championship races.
Textbook peak performance when it matters most.
That's actually not true. Hocker was a 3:31-3:30 high guy for 3 years, so no he hasn't gotten better every year.
He also hasn't won anything regularly (except lame US champs) since 2021, so it's not true to say he has gotten better every years, at least never significantly.
He just got A HELL OF A LOT BETTER in just one race. And that's it.
Is he clean, I don't know. Is it suspicious? Hell yeah.
Hocker’s profile: a guy who’s gotten better every year except the one year he was injured, and a guy who consistently runs his best in championship races.
Textbook peak performance when it matters most.
He just got A HELL OF A LOT BETTER in just one race. And that's it.
It's not it just because you say it is. Anyone who watched the Trials knew he was in sub 3:30 shape already then.
Has that ever happened before for an Olympic champion?
0/6?? Never happened before to any premier top podium 1500m runner. Even Hicham El Guerrouj couldn’t notch such contrasting performances!!
Look ar Shocker’s technique. It has strangely gotten worse. I rewatched the videos from last years trials and Olympics and this years races and his technique last year was on another level due of course to PEDs. But given same PEDs his technique this year has taken a back seat. He seemed to have lost some oxygen electron transport chains or something. He is no longer using all the nerves in his body to run and certain neurones seem to have disappear and get destroyed. His stride is no longer the same and his arms are thrashing about more unevenly and wildly.
I'm pretty sure all of those losses were against other Olympic medalists (Fisher, Kerr, Nuguse). That feels uncommon as well. I'm glad to see him not ducking
I think I remember that a certain Norwegian outsider also beat him but OK the Norwegian was of course also an Olympic medalist but not in the 1500m.
Hocker’s profile: a guy who’s gotten better every year except the one year he was injured, and a guy who consistently runs his best in championship races.
Textbook peak performance when it matters most.
That's actually not true. Hocker was a 3:31-3:30 high guy for 3 years, so no he hasn't gotten better every year.
He also hasn't won anything regularly (except lame US champs) since 2021, so it's not true to say he has gotten better every years, at least never significantly.
He just got A HELL OF A LOT BETTER in just one race. And that's it.
Is he clean, I don't know. Is it suspicious? Hell yeah.
Actually, it is true. Hocker has indeed gotten better in the 1500m every year except 2022, when he was injured. Prior to his injury that year, he showed improved strength, lowering his 3,000m PB from 7:46 to 7:39 and improving his 5,000m PB from 13:18 to 13:08.
As I wrote in another thread, Hocker is like Playoff Jimmy Butler, except Hocker has won the biggest prize in his sport. Look at Hocker's history in championship races, not including his 2022 injury year:
Here he is as a Fall Creek Middle School 6th grader, unseeded, about to take down a bunch of eighth graders who have been beating him all season. This is just the way he rolls, he has a history of being ready when he toes the line in championship races..
That's actually not true. Hocker was a 3:31-3:30 high guy for 3 years, so no he hasn't gotten better every year.
He also hasn't won anything regularly (except lame US champs) since 2021, so it's not true to say he has gotten better every years, at least never significantly.
He just got A HELL OF A LOT BETTER in just one race. And that's it.
Is he clean, I don't know. Is it suspicious? Hell yeah.
Actually, it is true. Hocker has indeed gotten better in the 1500m every year except 2022, when he was injured. Prior to his injury that year, he showed improved strength, lowering his 3,000m PB from 7:46 to 7:39 and improving his 5,000m PB from 13:18 to 13:08.
As I wrote in another thread, Hocker is like Playoff Jimmy Butler, except Hocker has won the biggest prize in his sport. Look at Hocker's history in championship races, not including his 2022 injury year:
2021 NCAA Championships: 1st in a 3:35.35 PB
2021 US Championships: 1st in a 3:35.28 PB
2021 Olympic Semifinal: 2nd in a 3:33.87 PB
2021 Olympic Final: 6th in a 3:31.40 PB
2023 World Championships: 7th in a 3:30.70 PB
2024 US Championships: 1st in a 3:30.59 PB
2024 Olympic Final: 1st in a 3:27.65 PB
Hocker runs his best when it matters most.
Thanks for the details, and thanks for confirming that yes, he was a 3:31 to 3:30 high guy from the summer of 2021 to the summer of 2024 (before the OG final).
So no, he did not really improve much every year (less than 1 second over 4 years).
US champs have no relevance. The majority of world class elites actually skip their own national champs to concentrate on real championships like worlds, OG or lucrative meets like DL (and GST, for now). US champs are now a low key event, only interest for athlete is a bit of pocket money for travel and bragging rights (limited to the US). And the OQ of course, every 4 years.
Hocker’s profile: a guy who’s gotten better every year except the one year he was injured, and a guy who consistently runs his best in championship races.
Textbook peak performance when it matters most.
He also hasn't won anything regularly (except lame US champs) since 2021, so it's not true to say he has gotten better every years, at least never significantly.
You mean the US champs in which the top 3 in the 1500 went on to finish 1-3-5 at the Olympics?
He also hasn't won anything regularly (except lame US champs) since 2021, so it's not true to say he has gotten better every years, at least never significantly.
You mean the US champs in which the top 3 in the 1500 went on to finish 1-3-5 at the Olympics?
Even the sublime Hicham El Guerrouj didn’t ever talk like this. He was hungry for the metaphysical food of success but he surely didn’t desert humility and tranquility of mind and soul. El G would only say I yearn to be the best racer in the world but never talked about himself or his success in the present. He always remained for grounded in the statutes of Islam no matter what. And yet some think he is a serial doper.
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You mean the US champs in which the top 3 in the 1500 went on to finish 1-3-5 at the Olympics?
Can’t reason with a troll.
He is right. Without PEDs the US would not only remain far behind the miniature Japanese but never make the finals of any distance event. The US is synonymous with Hollywood which is an acronym for SEX and sexual immorality, drugs and loads of alcohol. That’s what the US is good for and where they launder all their real profits to. You would never think US is synonymous with 10000m and 5000m world records or championship medals. Well maybe once in a blue moon by the grace of Christ Jesus who bestowed special strength in a single American athlete but definitely not in the drones. That would be like once every 10 years but currently we are seeing medal threats from the American side once every 3 months now? What’s happening? This only happens in unpolluted Ethiopia not America.
This award should be awarded to my beloved Josh Kerr. Shocker does not run the best when it matters most. He does not have a stronger mind than the rest of the athletes. A single anomalous performance that hasn’t been backed up in any way at the Paris games doesn’t actually objectively prove he runs the best when it matters most. We can only say he tries to run the best when it matters most but no more.
Hocker’s profile: a guy who’s gotten better every year except the one year he was injured, and a guy who consistently runs his best in championship races.
Textbook peak performance when it matters most.
Let’s not kid ourselves, it’s definitely a little suspicious. At this point though, I’ll assume he is clean based on documenting of workouts on YT
This is eye opening from a pro Jakob fanboy. But I agree with you because at least you were able to make a remote insight using the principle physics laws of telepathy which uses the ether to transmit and communicate. That you were able to accurately receive space-time communication from Shocker’s space-time attributes of impossible momentum and energy at Paris with respect to races on both sides of Paris shows me you have hope and spiritual renewal in you.
