Laros looked more in control here than Kerr, I would say.
Nordås with a tactically poor race indeed.
Nordås´ race was OK. He just didn´t have the finish.
Nordas should have gone way earlier. To stay at the back in a slow race for that long was silly or arrogant. He put himself in the position that (and he didnt miss by much) he was much faster than the field to succeed. He isnt and wasnt. This is a world class field, all of whom are fast.
Double dumb of Hocker to not just wait it out. Gourley was directly behind him and got in. Farken was going backwards. Be patient and go through when it opens up. He would have qualified.
I'm sure if you were in his position you would have nailed it perfectly right?
We're not the professionals, he is. Being a professional comes with certain expectations.
Beamish good in XC, 1500 speed went to steeple early. Geez: sure sounds like Copper Teare could have been in same position if he followed suit at the same time 4 years ago.
If Teare had Beamish´s killer finish he could qualify for the US´ 1500m and /or 5000m team every time.
Why did Hocket cede the lead and let himself get boxed in?
This is why Centro's race was so great. Yes, it was slow, but he almost never relinquished the lead. It was great.
I do recall at one point in that race Centro passing on an inside gap that didn't exist and forcing his shoulder in front of the other guy. I guess if Centro did it it was great tactics, if Hocker does the same thing it's DQ worthy.
Way too many people are sleeping on Almgren for the 5000m. He has the world lead in the 5000 this season and he solo ran most of it in hot conditions.
And the 10 000 being a 9600m warmup jog and a 400m sprint isn't a race that plays to his strengths, he would benefit more from a fast race, but Almgren still held on better than most of the field to grab the bronze.
So here's the final for the men's 1500m. Imagine seeing this one year ago - you'd really wonder what on earth happened!
I have assumed that Nuguse and Hocker were suspended and Ingebrigtsen was injured. Everything else checks out. Cool to see Wightman back in the finals after battling injuries the past two years
Past the bell, heading into the back straight, surging Ron Clark shoves Billy Mills sideways out to lane 4. Mills recovers and makes his way back to Clark's shoulder. Bobblehead Gammoudi then comes up from behind and lays his left hand on Clark's shoulder, yanking himself between Mills and Clark to set up the historic final sprint for Olympic gold. Nobody got DQed.
Hocker DQ'ed, no Jakob, no GooseisLoose, no Hobbs (or Habz either for that matter), no 28 year old Kenyan KoEPOech, the 1500m final is WASHED.
I want Hocker in the final just for the slightly lower chance that Kerr wins, he will be unbearable to listen to for the next 2 years if he does...
You can not be a Kerr fan and that’s fine. But this is all part of racing and winning world titles - qualifying, peaking at the right time, not getting injured. You are implying they are all just out by chance or bad luck. They weren’t good enough to make it through all the rounds or even get the the Worlds in peak shape. And whoever wins it did - don’t downplay their achievement.
Wightman looked good in his semi. The former world champion is someone to watch in that final.
He’s the best he’s looked in ages. And he is a smart racer. Unlike many of the others who get boxed in. He’s very strong in the last 200m. If he’s swinging round on the outside he could well fly past everyone.
Gourley tends to hug the rail and gets boxed in (as does Cole).
So here's the final for the men's 1500m. Imagine seeing this one year ago - you'd really wonder what on earth happened!
Josh Kerr 🇬🇧
Jake Wightman 🇬🇧
Niel Gourley 🇬🇧
Timothy Cheruiyot 🇰🇪
Reynold Cheruiyot 🇰🇪
Niels Laros 🇳🇱
Andrew Corcoran 🇮🇪
Samuel Philström 🇸🇪
Jonah Koech 🇺🇸
Adrian Ben 🇪🇸
Isaac Nader 🇵🇹
Tshepo Tsh*te 🇿🇦(lol have to censor because of profanity filter)
Robert Farken 🇩🇪
I hope I am not the only one really excited about this! Without Jakob or Yared, the tactics could be totally different here, in something we haven't seen since 2016. Could Tim go back to frontrunning the way he did when he dominated from 2017-19? Or will he trust his kick now that he trains with Laros?
The tactics of the field could be very different AND the personnel are very different. You've got arguably half the field as more 800m/1500m runners: Wightman, Laros, Koech, Ben, Tsh*te, and Farken!
Going into worlds, I was thinking we'd have a 3:29 or faster race where a long train of people hang on for dear life and some combo of Kerr, Hocker, Jakob, Laros, Phanuel Koech and Jonah Koech make the podium. Now I have no idea what's gonna happen, and someone even as sharp right now as Laros could make an error and end up 5th or something!
Yes, I'm bummed Strand and Hocker and Jakob didn't make the final, but Jakob wasn't fit, Strand was inexperienced and wasted energy mid-race, and Hocker was impatient and was rightfully DQed, so none of them deserved it.
Can't wait for this final, so many guys in here are easy to root for imo. So I'll be happy if pretty much anyone other than dbag Josh Kerr wins.
some insights from a German for the Americans: Farken directly after the Race stated with disappointment in an interview with German television that he was simply going backwards in the final stretch, and he is mainly concerned with that (because he does not understand why that happened as he felt great going into the last 150m)) not really caring about the Hocker incident (stating he at best might have gotten seventh or eight without it, which wouldn't have mattered). He did not intend to file a protest (at least right after the race) stating: "The final stretch was incapacity, not someone else's fault". Do we have information whether a protest was filed by Germany, or did the judges simply DQ Hocker upon viewing the footage? I honestly think it can be simultaneously true that Hocker's move did not really have much of an actual impact on Farken's performance and it being correct to disqualify him nonetheless
Word on the street is Hocker surrendered himself to authorities on his own accord.