I was just about to ask what he was up to. Good result.
Fisher, Teare & Young have my votes at 5000 so far. I would make the case this is the best 10000 team too but not positive on Teare's willingness at this distance. He could very easily be a 1500 threat.
Youve got Nuguse, Hocker and Kessler but Teare is good enough to get these guys on a "good but not great" day.
By a "factor" he'll be in fifth or sixth. He needs to move up to the 5k, where he was in college where he won his NCAA title. His US title in the abnormally weak field has given him false hope. With 3:32 speed he can be a factor to medal in the 5k at the olympics.
Hocker is very good tactically. Has a real knack for running the shortest distance and finding openings. Is there some example you are thinking of where he clearly ran a bad tactical race?
Letsrun continues to underrate Hocker in my opinion... been saying this for a while.
This post was edited 47 seconds after it was posted.
By a "factor" he'll be in fifth or sixth. He needs to move up to the 5k, where he was in college where he won his NCAA title. His US title in the abnormally weak field has given him false hope. With 3:32 speed he can be a factor to medal in the 5k at the olympics.
Teare will be in the top four. People forget how good he was before the disastrous move to BTC. He ran 3:50i with a huge negative split and won the national title in a slow time off a big kick (which is what everyone said he lacked prior to that race).
He’s not going to be a medal factor at either distance unless he’s running 3:29/12:50 at bare minimum.
Thanks for sharing that list of sub-3:33 runners. It is impressive how old some of those times are.
BTW, I think that list is cool because it shows you that a lot of different body types and phenotypes can be successful at the 1500. I think this applies to the 800 as well.
Shorter distances tend to be dominated by the West African genetics, and the longer distances are dominated by East Africans, but the "weirdness" of the 800-1500 makes for some interesting bedfellows. All the different people who have been our "best" over the years. It is like a United Nations of diverse origins and body types.
Solid 55.4 close as well, to win by 4 seconds. Good to see the quick results in going back to his old coach and training partner. He wasn't happy with Bowerman last year and didn't do well or was injured for champs, in addition to running 2.4s slower at mile and 6 seconds slower at 5000m, but he did have a couple good pr's, 3:32.74 and 7:34.7, a five second pr.
Fast does not equal tactical acumen. One of these days, that fact will also bite Hocker in the butt.
Hocker is very good tactically. Has a real knack for running the shortest distance and finding openings. Is there some example you are thinking of where he clearly ran a bad tactical race?
Letsrun continues to underrate Hocker in my opinion... been saying this for a while.
We must be watching a different Hocker. Watch any international championship race he’s been in these last 3 years, excluding indoors this year. He allows himself to be boxed and spends the majority of the race running up the backs of people then laying off the gas then running up the backs. Way too much energy needlessly spent because of poor positioning.
Thanks for sharing that list of sub-3:33 runners. It is impressive how old some of those times are.
BTW, I think that list is cool because it shows you that a lot of different body types and phenotypes can be successful at the 1500. I think this applies to the 800 as well.
Shorter distances tend to be dominated by the West African genetics, and the longer distances are dominated by East Africans, but the "weirdness" of the 800-1500 makes for some interesting bedfellows. All the different people who have been our "best" over the years. It is like a United Nations of diverse origins and body types.
True. Wheating was over a foot taller than Manzano and Webb looked like a body builder next to Lagat.
We must be watching a different Hocker. Watch any international championship race he’s been in these last 3 years, excluding indoors this year. He allows himself to be boxed and spends the majority of the race running up the backs of people then laying off the gas then running up the backs. Way too much energy needlessly spent because of poor positioning.
He has easily made every global final and performed well in every one of them. Stop focusing on a few DL races last year. Centro didn’t perform well on those either and he was a tactical master.
Of all those great performances, Sydney Maree is the one that really stands out to me. Almost 40 years ago, still #3 US, and the only one on that list that was also a WR.