Hocker/Kerr stock way down after GST. Not good for their brand.

I don´t think Hocker was that bad. Of course it didn´t look good that he was gapped in the 1500m on the last lap before sprinting to a third place. But in the 800m he was doing OK. None of the runners were close to their PBs in the 800m probably due to the weather and the 1500m the day before,

But HILARIOUS Kerr´s performances were embarrassing. Especially after his big talks painting himself as a superior runner in UNPACED races. (Which is in itself a fallacity considering his very concept is to draft on other runners and then finish well; examples: the 1500m final Budapest, the 2 miles indoor WB, the 3000m indoor gold Glasgow 2024 and the Paris 1500m final 2024. Only exception: Bowerman mile 2024 which in my opinion everything equal is the best race in his career).

But after the ridicule of one of his main opponents it was great fun to see him fail in "unpaced" races (he got perfect pace in the 1500m all the way to the finish and in the 800m as long as he was able to hang on). He ran exactly as hilariously as he supposed his opponent would have been running.

I don´t buy the idea that he hasn´t prepared for these races. He was well prepared for his excellent performances indoors AND the Bowerman Mile in 2024 but he apparently isn´t better at the moment.

I´m not certain at all that he will be back to his best in Tokyo in September.

And the coming Grand Slam events might disrupt his shape building further.

I think it's pretty clear Kerr was ill. There's no way he is a 1:50 800m runner. He was running 1:51 as a 17 year old. He's raced Gourley for years and rarely been run down over the last 50m either.

Agree his stock is down now but there's plenty of time for him to get back to full fitness.

Seeing athletes deal with adversity raises their stock for me. And it also shows us what a freak Jakob is, even though he lost the final. Nuguse stock went up too imo.

I love having a different window on athletes. See how their fitness goes up and down. It's interesting. It's relatable. It's something more to talk about.

Or like Jakob.

Or like Gourley.

Or like Hiltz.

Or like Hull.

Or like Fisher.

(Are you OK with white athletes doing well in April?)

Kerr is now super relatable.

Relatable to hundreds of high school and college athletes running as fast as him in the 800 this year.

Pretty optimistic to expect GST will have meets next year. I expect they will fold by then.

Brooks should fire whoever hands out contracts if they give out 10 year contracts with the expectation that they should only perform in one race a year, when a global final isn't even happening every year.

Not great brand representation.

"The Brit who never races" as Jakob says.

And he's right.

So far this year, Kerr's compatriot Gourley has raced:

- Milrose (Kerr DNS)

- UK indoors (Kerr ducked)

- Euro indoors (Kerr ducked)

- World indoors (Kerr ducked)

- GST Kingston (Kerr 5th in 1500, DFL/8th in 800)

...

And Jakob raced all of the same, except for UK indoors (of course) and the slow races of GST.

Having watched the final lap of the 5K, they were smart to not participate. It was a good race, but what stood out was the empty stands.

Get real.

Solisky's 10,000 WR was run in front of far fewer people.

Like 95% of 'elite' American track races.

Or Webb's mile AR for that matter.

"A good race"

a.k.a.

"Only the fastest"(tm) men on earth running pretty good high school times for the 5,000.

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