Cole Hocker says USAs was "easiest race I've run all season"

THOUGHTSLEADER wrote:

Reddy! wrote:

If it was so easy, why didn't the self-proclaimed "Worlds Best Racer" win?

It is all very well saying "he had everything go wrong for him", but unfortunately you have to be better with positioning, tactics and speed to win races, and so that things don't go wrong. You can say "he had more zip today than Pre", but he didn't do anything with it.

Over the last 12 months, I have heard many excuses for Hocker's losing performances:

"He peaked for the Olympics and is past his peak fitness"

"It is February, he is peaking for Worlds"

"It is April, he is peaking for Worlds"

"He is training through GST"

"He is doubling, and not training for the 800m"

"He ran better than last year at Pre"

"It is only US Champs, he did enough and is peaking for Worlds"

Can we just say he is not good enough right now and needs to improve if he hopes to medal at Worlds, let alone grab a gold?

The idea that Hocker is supremo at peaking for world championships is somewhat of a fallacy, because he has only done it once in 2024.

As I have said in other past threads, in all likelihood he won't repeat it this year because, A) timing your peak for a single race once a year is very hard and competition is stiff, and B) there isn't a strong trend of Hocker peaking and winning year on year.

In 2023, he was at his best form of the season at Worlds. It was a good peak to get in the finals over a couple of guys with 3:29 SBs, and get 7th with Habz, Nader well behind him and Reynold as well.

He wasn’t “world’s best racer” yesterday, he was solid through 1200 then flat-out bad the last 200. So yeah if you wanna say he showed that putting together a good tactical race wasn’t easy for him, I agree. But that doesn’t mean what he said was wrong. You don’t run a 12.5 last 100 if the race hasn’t felt somewhat easy for you. And you say he didn’t do anything with his form yesterday? He crushed 3rd and 5th from the Olympics in the last 100 with it. The odds are stacked against repeating, but he still has the best last 100 of the guys who’ve broken 3:28. I’d say Kerr is better tactically and Jakob has shown he can be fitter. The Koechs are wild cards.

lob wrote:

Hocker's interview, and this year's USAs 1500m more generally, is really good evidence of how lame the all in attitude towards the world championships are.

You have the defending olympic and US champion treating his national championship meet like a prelim that he only raced to qualify. He trained through this and all of his other races this season, didn't win any of them, and yet if he wins in Tokyo he and half of this sports' fans will happily say that he won the only race that matters and had the best season.

Similarly, if track had multiple equal top level meets like Tennis, then a favorite like Naguse getting upset at one of them would be really exciting. It would give some other runners time in the spotlight and him some motivation to make a comeback at other important meets later in the season. Instead, he could end up getting second in the DL final with an AR or something and still not have a chance to run in any important meets for the next two years.

Reddy! wrote:

THOUGHTSLEADER wrote:

I believe it. He ran more conservatively this year than last, and the last 180 was honestly a debacle for him. Both Strand and Koech beat him to the kicking position and he had to check up after Strand in particular. He kept calm, but then had to run even wider to get a clear run to kick. His 12.5 was competitive with the top 2, but the gap was too big despite the fact that he clearly had more zip today than his GST/Pre race. He just had nearly everything go wrong on that turn.

If it was so easy, why didn't the self-proclaimed "Worlds Best Racer" win?

It is all very well saying "he had everything go wrong for him", but unfortunately you have to be better with positioning, tactics and speed to win races, and so that things don't go wrong. You can say "he had more zip today than Pre", but he didn't do anything with it.

Over the last 12 months, I have heard many excuses for Hocker's losing performances:

"He peaked for the Olympics and is past his peak fitness"

"It is February, he is peaking for Worlds"

"It is April, he is peaking for Worlds"

"He is training through GST"

"He is doubling, and not training for the 800m"

"He ran better than last year at Pre"

"It is only US Champs, he did enough and is peaking for Worlds"

Can we just say he is not good enough right now and needs to improve if he hopes to medal at Worlds, let alone grab a gold?

The idea that Hocker is supremo at peaking for world championships is somewhat of a fallacy, because he has only done it once in 2024.

As I have said in other past threads, in all likelihood he won't repeat it this year because, A) timing your peak for a single race once a year is very hard and competition is stiff, and B) there isn't a strong trend of Hocker peaking and winning year on year.

86fyfigcgk wrote:

lob wrote:

Hocker's interview, and this year's USAs 1500m more generally, is really good evidence of how lame the all in attitude towards the world championships are.

You have the defending olympic and US champion treating his national championship meet like a prelim that he only raced to qualify. He trained through this and all of his other races this season, didn't win any of them, and yet if he wins in Tokyo he and half of this sports' fans will happily say that he won the only race that matters and had the best season.

Similarly, if track had multiple equal top level meets like Tennis, then a favorite like Naguse getting upset at one of them would be really exciting. It would give some other runners time in the spotlight and him some motivation to make a comeback at other important meets later in the season. Instead, he could end up getting second in the DL final with an AR or something and still not have a chance to run in any important meets for the next two years.

Does Jakob have to perform at a national championship to make his team? Do you care about Jakob's results at the Norway championship? For Hocker, this meet is a nuisance that he has to endure to have the right to race Jakob and others at Worlds. Meanwhile lots of his competitors are training with a peak focused on worlds and no national meet they have to waste time on. It is what it is.