Watching the race back, Hocker is the only one of the 1500 guys that is a bit concerning. He should be sharp, he's raced well this year, and 3:35 is perfect for his skillset. He should be unbeatable in this sort of race. What happened on that last lap seemed like a throwback to the old Hocker. I don't know if that's just a lack of 1500 racing so he was caught out of if he has regressed to the mean following the high of Paris. Thankfully, GST will give us a chance to find out.
Nuguse looked really good to me, until the last 100. I think right now, he'd be the biggest threat to Jakob in a championship race (Wanyonyi aside). He's fit and race sharp.
Gourley running well shows you how much race sharpness matters. He's usually not in the same class as the very top 1500 guys, but he's raced well indoors up to two weeks ago and he was competitive here.
Kerr's performance reminded me of his race in Oslo in 2023. He could hand with the leaders but didn't have it in the final lap both back then and in Kingston. Even so, for a guy I've seen run 50 seconds for the last 400 in a 3:40 race, his close yesterday has to be disappointing. I think he'll get smoked in the 800 tonight, high possibility of finishing DFL. My hot take is actually that the bottom three in the 800 will be the 1500 Olympic podium: Kerr, Hocker, Nuguse.