Since it's being argued here that outdoors is no faster than indoors Hocker is still over two seconds behind Ingebrigtsen. I suppose that's progress. But he is a whole second faster than Kejelcha indoors. That, too, is progress. Of a sort.
As it's also maintained that Hocker loses so many races because he hasn't "peaked" he must have peaked for this race. So maybe he might even win some outdoor DL this year? If he "peaks"?
I don't think anyone is arguing indoor = outdoor. But they are closer than previously as the indoor tracks are better these days than in the past. But there's still probably a second or two difference. Cole is less than 1 second back on Jakob both indoor (mile) and outdoor (1500m) from a PB perspective, and I don't think it's unreasonable to think that the gap is just on paper. (Jakob time trials all the time, Cole doesn't so much). They have the same number of global golds. Cole is in his prime and is the best 1500m/miler on earth right now and even if Jakob were to be injury free right now, I don't think any reasonable person would put him as favourite ahead of Cole.
Fked around saying he wanted to beat hocker and found out.
Kudos to Sam if he said that and kudos to Cole for beating him.
That's what racing is all about.
It must be a bit of a disadvantage for a youngster like Ruthe, both physically and mentally, to be so far from home, travelling so much, living in unfamiliar places, and maintaining his ability to compete at his highest level.
Kudos to Sam if he said that and kudos to Cole for beating him.
That's what racing is all about.
It must be a bit of a disadvantage for a youngster like Ruthe, both physically and mentally, to be so far from home, travelling so much, living in unfamiliar places, and maintaining his ability to compete at his highest level.
It's a learning experience. It's what growing up is all about. It's only going to make him stronger.
It must be a bit of a disadvantage for a youngster like Ruthe, both physically and mentally, to be so far from home, travelling so much, living in unfamiliar places, and maintaining his ability to compete at his highest level.
It's a learning experience. It's what growing up is all about. It's only going to make him stronger.
It's a learning experience. It's what growing up is all about. It's only going to make him stronger.
100%
This was by far the biggest race of his career. Not just the gravity of facing the/an Olympic champion head to head for the first time, but also because of the expectations on him. It was a lesson in patience, race execution and humility (which they might have been better off staying and talking to the media even for a few minutes, but hey - their prerogative).
And this is still a 16 year old kid running a 3.52 mile. It's still outrageously good and if he hadn't run 3.48 already, this would have been seen as pretty sensational in it's own right.
I don't know if the NCAA will be in his plans anymore but in the interests of his development as a racer - learning to fight for position on the track, tactical awareness, handling fluctuations in pace etc, it definitely wouldn't be a bad thing.
Ruthe will have his day but right now it's Hockermania!
I am so glad Hocker proved me wrong by running a great race, although Sam didn't run up to his previous race level. Even if Sam did have a great race he wouldn't have touched Cole.
I truly hope this is the start to Cole consistently running fast and winning and also securing the double at World Indoors.
I think it’s pretty much on but I don’t think Teare was “protecting” Hocker. He did finish 2nd and getting out hard and being a little wide allowed him to find a spot behind Ciattei and ahead of Couttie. His start was smart and he gave himself options.
Kudos to Sam if he said that and kudos to Cole for beating him.
That's what racing is all about.
It must be a bit of a disadvantage for a youngster like Ruthe, both physically and mentally, to be so far from home, travelling so much, living in unfamiliar places, and maintaining his ability to compete at his highest level.
I don't know why this got downvoted so hard.
Yeah it's a necessary reality for him and an amazing learning experience, but American athletes have no idea what it's like being in a foreign country over 24 hours in connections away from home for weeks on end. Especially as a teenager.
That's the reality for both Ruthe & Myers, they are phenomenal talents and the mental fortitude to still perform in foreign environments and opposite seasons is amazing.
It's the same for any young antipodean trying to make it in endurance sports. Budding 16 year old pro-cyclists doing correspondence school in 2-star hostels in Europe.
The expectations put on this kid by the public and the team around him are off the realms of reality.
Hes 16 FFS !!!
The team keeps him grounded.
The "public" (Letsrun high schoolers in the US) only woke up to him in the last 2 months.
The NZ public, in the main, just watch rugby all year and think every other sport is cute. Until the Olympics that is, then every Ford Ranger driver can't work out why anyone would wake up & choose to fill out the Olympic entry form and not win gold.
This post was edited 6 minutes after it was posted.