Cole Hocker: "If I stay healthy, I don’t think anyone can beat me. Definitely not in America,”

This is a BLATANT sign of disrespect for our 3:43 miler the Goose. I am now hoping Hocker fails. I cannot stand that sort of nonsense from Hocker who has done nothing to speak of on the world stage. I hope he was misquoted.

🙂😃😄😆😅😂🤣

Mr Hocker must be getting the bag, if he’s buying a house

I mean he is a 2x american champ and probably will improve on his 6th place finish from last olympics.

Kinda get the vibe he was thinking along the lines of he's the best american right now and forgot about everyone else for a split second. It is certainly a bold statement to make when there is a 3:26 guy in your event and you're a 3:30 guy.

If he's in 3:28 shape right now and jakob is stuck doing the work i mean he might medal, winning? Crazier things have happened.

Most interesting for me is with this mindset, how will he race in the Olympic final? I don't think he should be deferential at all to Kerr as we get to the last 500 when you know Kerr is going to start trying to barge through. Certainly not Nuguse, Komen, Laros or Tim either. Hocker is a kicker and should play to that strength, but I'd like to see him right there at 300 to go and not letting anyone get away.

That’s how someone has to think in order to have a chance at winning.

And people call Jakob arrogant…🤣🤣🤣🤣

Nothing wrong with believing in yourself, I am sure Nuguse, Kessler and others will take it as a challenge to prove him wrong.

I agree. Just pointing out the idiocy of some here when it comes to their american stars.

Looks as if he is set to become the world champion of America.

Yeah Jakob is arrogant as hell but he has partially earned it. Hocker hasn’t earned it. He comes across as a punk and many racists here are supporting him. He will never medal in a global championship. It is astounding to me how many idiots think he has a chance. He is not as good as Steve Holman, for example.

What is so arrogant about thinking he's the best in the USA. He has won the last 2 Olympic Trials when he was healthy. The Holman comment is definite trolling though.

Yeah the Holman comment was trolling BUT look at it like this, and you are a very good poster, so you know this. Hocker has an advantage in the US champs, maybe due to his kick, relative to Goose. But in a global championship, where superior runners from other countries can serve as de facto rabbits for Goose, then Hocker loses this advantage relative to Goose. So Hocker can win in the small pond but in the big pond Goose prevails. This is not guaranteed but Hocker should slow his roll because maybe he can win at home but we ain’t in Kansas anymore.

Take back the racist comment as well.

feel like there is a small but meaningful difference between getting your drawers blown off vs getting your doors blown off 😮

I will not. And certainly not as pertains to you.

I see your point, but we just havent seen it this year so I cant begrudge his confidence. Maybe he is putting the cart before the horse, but it’s also possible he will be definitively better than Nuguse even in a fast championship race this year. Certainly Hocker has real advantages in the kick, running in packs, and shifting gears over Nuguse. Yes, Nuguse has had the fitness advantage, but Hocker believes that has changed a lot with health. Sure Yareds leading from the front wasn't ideal to win, but Hocker ran quite a bit on the outside of lane 1 and it was pretty much a no-doubter anyway even with him going early. So that suggests to me he has reason to believe he is a contender in any race.

I will push back a bit here and say that, although we have not seen 2023 Goose, he has run 3:47.83i and 3:29.13 this year. It is not clear to me that Hocker is superior to this. But Hocker is trying to get attention. He will be humbled.