Cole Hocker - overblown?

At the Foothills wrote:

Back in his prime, Centro, the defending 2016 Olympic 1500 Gold Medalist, would be REALLY happy with a 1:46 right now and Hocker basically just ran that on his opening weekend of true freshman year outdoor just screwing around and having fun.

He graduated high school in 2019. I get that COVID changes things, but it doesn't change the definition of "true freshman".

It's fast. His splits show the potential to go faster. Idk what the weather was but Eugene in April is probably a little cooler than 800 runners would prefer.

It's not like this was his 10th crack at the distance or he was peaking for it. He might never run a ton faster than 1:46 but won't need to if his focus will be the mile/5k range. He'll pop off a 1:44 at some point.

breaking away wrote:

What does it take to get blown away? I get blown away by big upsets, prs, exciting finishes, state champs, conference champs, NCAA champs, USA wins, diamond league results, Olympic medals...I'm a track fan and Hocker (and Oregon) are one of the biggest stories in 2021 track, so I am blown away.

Now does that guarantee him world records and Olympic gold? No, but he is in the hunt and I will be following.

To clarify, I am "blown away" by Cole's year, but I was not blown away by this performance specifically. Based on his other results, I certainly felt 1:46 was on the table (the fast end of the table). Now if he dipped into 1:45, I probably would've been blown away.

I don't know, how many other 7:46 guys are running 1:46 right now?

I don’t know of any NCAA 3k champs or guys that are in the mid 7:40’s that possess that kind of 800m speed. There is a reason Cole had the fastest last 200m close in the past decade or maybe the fastest close ever in the 3k. Even the collegiate record holder in the mile can run nowhere near that fast in the 800m.

Cole Hocker is very good, but people need to pump the brakes saying he's a 'lock' for the olympic team and America's best bet at a medal.

He ran 3:50 and change in a perfectly executed time trial race. And then some other performances of around 7:47 3k and 3:38.9 1500 and another 3:54 or whatever he did at NCAAs... These are good times, but there are more than a few other Americans who can do better than these types of performances. He is a contender to make the team, but not a lock by any means. Only if he runs consistent 3:32-3:34 and the occasional race faster than that would I say he's a lock. And even then he wouldn't be a medal favorite at the olympics.

He's very good but pump the brakes wrote:

.... He is a contender to make the team, but not a lock by any means...

Who are the top 3 (or 5) in your mind?

Point of reference: Elijah Greer ran 1:47+ as a 17-year-old...and he wasn't wearing boing boing boing shoes.

Neal Van Dyke wrote:

Point of reference: Elijah Greer ran 1:47+ as a 17-year-old...and he wasn't wearing boing boing boing shoes.

Ok, you’re right. Being the fastest US 19 y.o. ovee 1500, Mike and 3000m..,

...and running 1:46 for 800m AND 13:32 for 5000m sucks...

He should be way faster than that. I will only be impressed if he runs 1:43, 3:29, 3:47, 7:29 and 13:50 before he turns 20.

...even then...

Over*

Mile*

Who knows? I guess you could as his girlfriend? Even tho I don’t think there’s just a thing as being OVERblown.

I actually think this is more/less right, but I'm still very impressed with Hocker since he's so young. He still has to get through rounds & face off with guys like Centro, Engels, Gregorek. Throw in the Beasts + OTC guys + a few others. I think he's definitely a contender for a top-3 spot. It's hard to call him a lock since this is his first run at a team spot. He is in better form rn than anybody else for whatever that's worth in April.

Furthermore, it is believed that he did a 7:45 time trial when he was a U20 (current U20 record is held by Ryun in 7:47.8)

ihatejoe wrote:

What about that laptop?

Didn't the establishment tell us that was debunked as Russian disinformation?

Now we are talking about how great the vaccines are and how we will not be able to participate in society if we don't go along with them

Cole Hocker has a kick that is elite.

Cole Hocker is Grant Fisher with closing speed.

wazzu1452 wrote:

Cole Hocker has a kick that is elite.

Cole Hocker is Grant Fisher with closing speed.

Eh, different styles of runner. Grant Fisher actually has a solid finish and great strength, but he doesn't have the speed that Cole possesses. It's why his best event is the 5,000 and Cole's is the 1,500. No way Grant could run 1:46 for the 800, but Cole couldn't run what Grant can in the 10,000.

Cole closing in 25 is overall just unique. The USA has produced a few guys who can turn it on like that — Manzano and Centro jump to mind.

Cheetahspeed wrote:

John Macardle wrote:

I don't agree that everybody seems to think that 18 year old Athing is unstoppable, but she is closer to medaling right now than Hocker. No one can no for certain how much either of them will develop.

The only thing I'd be worried about for Mu is racing tactics. I hope she runs a few 800's with the pros so she can learn to race strategically. As for Hocker, I heard he was training through so the 1:46 when they only went out in 52 high is pretty solid. If he was a pure 800m runner, we'd probably be talking about him running 1:44 later this year. I'm not sure if the 1500 the day before had much of an impact on him since he was content to sit until the end of it.

Bump.