I don’t get why he’s waiting to make his move so late in these races. At the 2024 trials, he went with 300 to go and dominated. Why not use that tactic more often? He’s not gonna die.
I don’t get why he’s waiting to make his move so late in these races. At the 2024 trials, he went with 300 to go and dominated. Why not use that tactic more often? He’s not gonna die.
just assume that he's going when he feels like he can go during each given race. He's not a robot and every race has an unlimited different number of variables. The way he feels and the competition is different every race.
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Let me go out and lead only to get boxed in and outkicked
He’s almost 25 with an injury history ranging from stress reactions to Achilles damage in both legs over the span of 3 seasons. His massive slowdown in the 1500m since August 2024 is a strong indicator that he doesn’t have much progress left in those legs and may now be on the decline. 2026 is his year to show he can time trial fast times and win races against both existing and emerging talent. After that, track fans have more than enough reason to believe he’s not a contender for 2026 WC or 2028 OG
just assume that he's going when he feels like he can go during each given race. He's not a robot and every race has an unlimited different number of variables. The way he feels and the competition is different every race.
And now we are back to the original question at hand: if his tactics are to go only by feel and only go for the win when it’s woefully too late, then wouldn’t that mean his tactics are clearly terrible given the uneven tally of Losses vs Wins in his professional career?
At some point, there has to be validity to the fans that are pointing and saying “scoreboard” each time Cole loses in a qualifier or loses a winnable race because he has the critical thinking skills of a of a melon when going around the track
An Olympic and a World Champs gold medalist, so I'd suggest...no, he's not the worst.
This…
The argument would make more sense if Hocker was the best time trialer of his generation. The truth is not at all that. Consider that Hocker got absolutely rolled in a 5,000 before Tokyo. Then not only did he qualify for the 5000 with good tactics he beat numerous guys with sub-12:50 personal bests.
This post was edited 27 seconds after it was posted.
Whole lot of armchair quarterbacking coming from people who have clearly never raced at a high level, never spent time on their tactical acumen, and don’t appreciate what Hocker has done today and in his career.
An astute observer or a savvy veteran would recognize that:
1) Yes, Cole got outwitted by Kerr today. When Nuguse tripped up with Wale, Kerr realized an opportunity and slid next to Cole, effectively boxing him in from 500 to 350 out. To Schrub’s credit, he rode Kerr’s slipstream to keep Cole boxed from 350 to 200. By then, the race was decided.
Those of you paying attention will notice Kerr looks inside at the bell. Who is he looking for? Why would he look BACK AND INSIDE at this moment? Hocker! He knows who the threat is, and his move to box in Cole was intentional.
A savvy move by a skilled veteran in Kerr! That doesn’t mean Cole is a bad tactician, but he did get outmaneuvered by wily Josh Kerr.
2) Nuguse cost Hocker the gold. Two key things happened. Cole was in a good spot to come up behind Nuguse and then was itching to pass him coming off the curve with 450 to go. But when Nuguse ran into the back of the Wale and tripped both he and Yihune at 500, it pushed Cole back, next to Kerr. This setback hurt Hocker, obviously, but didn’t decide the race. With 300 to go, Cole was again in reasonable position, but he was relying on Nuguse pushing forward, knowing that in the past Nuguse has had some strong finishes.
Unfortunately for Cole, he could not count on Yared’s fitness today, and his fellow American didn’t shift gears from 300-150 out. By the time Cole realized that Nuguse wasn’t going to carry his position on the rail to a fast finish, it was already 150 to go and Kerr was streaming away. I am sure Cole saw Kerr and Nuguse as his 2 biggest threats today. And I am sure that he was likely surprised to see Nuguse moving backward at that moment. Just a few steps of hesitation cost him the margin of victory.
Anyway, my two cents, as someone who has won quite a few races with tactics alone, but also some with fitness alone. Neither of the above points makes Cole a bad tactician. You all claiming he’s a poor tactician are a bunch of amateurs who clearly understand nothing about tactical championship racing, particularly indoors.
His hardware, including today, speaks for itself.
Give credit to Kerr for a masterclass, to Schrub for the race of his life, and to Hocker, for beating EVERYONE ELSE IN THE WORLD.
Sincerely,
Someone who has been there and done that
Thank you for this. Hocker has been a champion at every level of the sport in which he's competed:
Foot Locker XC Champion
3 NCAA championships
7 US championships
2 global championships
He's now finished 1st or 2nd in four consecutive global championship finals.
Nobody builds a résumé like that on talent alone. It takes tactical wherewithal too.
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Let me go out and lead only to get boxed in and outkicked
One other thing I haven't seen many discuss is that there is an energy cost to moving earlier or matching moves and as a result Hocker's kick may not be as sharp if he has to use some energy to maneuver his way to the leader's shoulder as Kerr did. But I'd like to see Hocker try it sometime and find out how much it affects his kick. Maybe it won't take as much out of him as he thinks? Or maybe, because he has superior positioning, he doesn't need to have the fastest last lap. That's the gamble Kerr took in Torun and it paid off.
Hocker ran a 7:23 last year indoors. Came into Torun off of a 3:45(essentially 3:46) fitness. The energy cost could be a valid argument if he was much slower or less fit. But he’s not. He should have avoided getting boxed in hugging the rail, and should have gone much earlier and challenge Kerr and the field who would have had to expend the same amount of energy or more to cover his move.
At this point you’re reaching for one of two reasons;
1) You are intellectually dishonest by refusing to acknowledge that Hocker has a huge issue with consistently racing with poor tactics.
2) you are intellectually limited in connecting reasonable criticism with the obvious evidence presented in this thread.
burns energy at the start to lead, settles back to the middle, gets routinely boxed in from 800-300m from the line, and falters with a failing kick. Happens 9/10 times in races that don’t matter and in global finals. Discuss
Hocker didn’t win today because HE WASN’t GOOD ENOUGH. Kerr was better today and is the rightful winner.
2nd fastest 3k indoor ever, fastest 2 mile, indoor Mile WR holder (3:43) (all ran 3:27 beating the best distance runner OAT (7:17 guy)), 12:45 guy, French runner who's going to run 12:45 this year, 3:27 French guy, 7:24 Ethopian, Future of Uruguay/Irish running also.
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Let me go out and lead only to get boxed in and outkicked
Thank you for this. Hocker has been a champion at every level of the sport in which he's competed:
Foot Locker XC Champion
3 NCAA championships
7 US championships
2 global championships
He's now finished 1st or 2nd in four consecutive global championship finals.
Nobody builds a résumé like that on talent alone. It takes tactical wherewithal too.
This thread is about tactics of global distance runners in the past 6 years
- Foot Locker is laughable. Winning against American high schoolers is not an achievement.
- NCAA(see above). This is not what we’re talking about at all. Australia/Norway/Sweden/Kenya/Ethiopia have been pumping out teenage phenoms for years now that would dust American distance runners in high school and college. I’ll give you a pass on posting something this dumb
- US champs is equally laughable given how weak the field is compared with the rest of the global talent. That’s like someone bragging about Jakob’s Norwegian titles or Habz’ French titles and adding that to their resume as proof that they are exceptional distance runners - your local country meet is not to be considered at this level.
He didn’t run indoors last year. He didn’t run XC worlds. Not sure why you are saying “four consecutive???”. Did he come second this year because he chose to get boxed in again and left his kick for too late in the race? Did he lose a slow tactical race in the 2026 USATF Indoor 1500m because he was too tactical or less talented than Houser\Green/Ciattei?
This cannot be a serious take. 3 WC Golds and an OG Gold all in the same event. Ran the 3rd fastest 1500m all time pre-super spikes. Dozens of wins under his belt
I'm with you on this one. That olympic gold in the 1500, what was he supposed to get in that racer according to Letsrun'ers? 4th? He stole that race with the tools his momma gave him. Then people were trashing him after the DQ in the 1500 and he won that 5000 he should not have won. Thank his momma again. Let people be negative.
burns energy at the start to lead, settles back to the middle, gets routinely boxed in from 800-300m from the line, and falters with a failing kick. Happens 9/10 times in races that don’t matter and in global finals. Discuss
Hocker didn’t win today because HE WASN’t GOOD ENOUGH. Kerr was better today and is the rightful winner.
True. This is one of those races they could run 5 times and had 5 different winners.
2nd fastest 3k indoor ever, fastest 2 mile, indoor Mile WR holder (3:43) (all ran 3:27 beating the best distance runner OAT (7:17 guy)), 12:45 guy, French runner who's going to run 12:45 this year, 3:27 French guy, 7:24 Ethopian, Future of Uruguay/Irish running also.
Just a bunch of words with no substance or context.