Hocker 7:42 3k in Belgium

I saw this as well, thought it was interesting he raced a 3k and not a 800 before worlds. Hopefully he does gain confidence and we see him place better than his 6th at the Olympics 2 years back

Strength training as he'll need to run rounds with a Q and none with a "q". Every race in Budapest will need to be a season's best.

The Heat is likely to be a 3:34-6 type race. I’m guessing he did the 3k to do some work going through the gears and running comfortably at 60-62 second per lap. Did Gourley get anything out of running 1:47 in Bern…can’t really see it.

He's not going to improve on a 6th place finish with a 7.42. Considering Jakob ran 7.21 during a two-mile a few weeks ago and Kejelcha and Girma and Katir are all well under 7.25 this doesn't establish that he can be competitive.

1. Two of those guys don’t even run the 1500

2. He was likely not close to all-out

3. His race distance is 1500, not 3000

7:42 in a D level meet is a good tuneup for him. Historically he has ran his fastest mile times when he runs a hard 3k 2 weeks prior.

Going into the Tokyo Olympic's, Cole's 1500 pr was 3:35 from the Oly Trials finals . . . although he had run a 3:50.55 indoor mile which is approx 3:33 for 1500.

Cole then ran 3:36, 3:33, 3:31/pr in Tokyo.

2023 season's best is 3:32.14 going into Budapest . . . so, Cole is a little bit ahead of where he was in 2021.

Don't think he'll need a season's best for the opening round on 8/19 . . . that quarterfinal (4 heats of 14) will have a few non-WC runners so should be able get top-6/7 rather easily.

However, semifinals may very well require a sb or pr . . .

You’re neglecting the fact he closed that 3:35 SB in 2021 to win the US championship with a 52 last lap swinging wide. He was obviously way fitter than 3:35 the whole time.

Yeah he was so sharp in 2021, but arguably his fitness is nearing where it was then. I think we’re all waiting to see if he has the top gear he had in 2021 because it will be critical to holding off/kicking down the necessary competitors in the heats. Signs are looking good though…he would’ve scratched this race if he’d had any hiccups in the last few weeks. 3+ months of continuous training for Hocker is definitely pretty good when you consider it took him 5 weeks of running to get to 3:34.

Okay so for Cole Hocker this is a good performance. No it's not an elite time by world standards anymore, but he did exactly what he should have done in this race (won it by 80m +) and importantly he ran an outdoor PR, which even though might not be to his full potential (I think he's probably capable of 7.36/7) is a nice mental boost no matter what and exactly what he needs.

Also a 3000m is far more important to him right now than an 800m. I can't believe anyone could find a negative in this one to be honest.

And also 2 weeks earlier he nearly did exactly the same to hold off Nuguse. At the time I did a quick analysis and comparison of those performances compared to OF/WCF's historically and those runs were of the quality to have him right in the mix for medals in many of them.

Bottom line you are right - Hocker is not the same guy right now as he was in 2021 even though he seasons best is better - I mean he didn't run a single race outside of the US prior to Tokyo (like for example a London DL type meet). That's not to say this isn't promising, but he went into Tokyo in far more dangerous shape than he's going into Budapest.

I don't think he's going to have to run under 3.32 in the heats there to make it. He might need to be able to run 3.35 with a 54 last lap though - I think it's going to come down to an "on the day" situation and how intelligently he runs. Coin flip he makes the semis.

Imagine how fast Hocker could run with better training partners

The difference being Hocker was the best American 1500 runner then. Now he is third best and seems to have lost his kick. Unless he regains it, he's not making the final.