Cole Hocker Has Gold Medal Swag & Thinks He’s “The Best Racer In The World” – Media Day on the Eve of Grand Slam Kingston

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Walking into the lobby of the AC Hotel Kingston on Thursday for Grand Slam Track’s opening press conference was a little overwhelming. Straight ahead, you had Olympic 1500m champion Cole Hocker standing next to a brand new BYD electric car. Follow the crowd to the left and you’d find triple Olympic gold medalist Gabby Thomas draping the cape of her all-white outfit (yes, it had a cape) over her right knee as she smiled for a mob of cameraphones as part of the “Drip Walk” — Grand Slam Track’s version of the red carpet. Off to the right, GST founder Michael Johnson was keeping an eye on it all, chopping it up with sprint legends Justin Gatlin and Asafa Powell.

A buzz of excitement reverberated around the room. This felt big.

Fred Kerley arrives for the “Drip Walk” in Kingston (Kevin Morris photo)

Given the amount of time, money, and effort that has gone into promoting Grand Slam Track, something would be seriously wrong if there wasn’t excitement on the eve of the series’ first meet. Earlier this week, we previewed the Kingston meet and the series as a whole and took a deeper look at the most intriguing event this weekend, the men’s 800/1500. Below, a few things LetsRun.com learned from having boots on the ground in Kingston this evening ahead of Day 1 on Friday.

Cole Hocker has the swagger of an Olympic champion

Cole Hocker has never exactly lacked for confidence. But now that he is the Olympic 1500 champion, he is speaking a little louder — and more people are listening. An Olympic gold medal will do that.

It started with his outfit. While competitor Josh Kerr rolled up in a resplendent honeydew suit, Hocker, sporting a new beard, went with a slightly more casual look: mid-calf socks, cutoff jean shorts, and a loose-fitting yellow Nike button-down that wouldn’t have been out of place at your local bowling night. But if the last year has taught Hocker anything, it’s to back himself. Hocker is not trying to be anyone else.

“The look is my look,” Hocker said.

Hocker had barely finished sitting down beside fellow Olympic medalists Kerr, Yared Nuguse, and Marco Arop before the following words came out of his mouth:

Hocker: “the look is my look” (Kevin Morris photo)

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I think I’m the best racer in the world,” Hocker said. “And I think I proved that in Paris.”

MB: Cole Hocker: “I think I’m the best racer in the world and I think I proved that in Paris.”

The comments drew a smile from Kerr (who a few minutes later referred to himself as the “most dominant middle distance runner in the world right now”), but Hocker isn’t exactly wrong. The whole idea behind the Olympics is that all of the best guys agree to show up and race to find out who is the best. In Paris, it was Hocker.

This is a new year, though, and Hocker will face a new format in GST. Is he still the man to beat in a loaded event?

Hocker finds himself in an interesting spot. Since June 2021, his final month at the University of Oregon, Hocker has six wins in championship 1500m finals — be it NCAAs, USAs, or the Olympics. He has zero wins in 15 non-championship 1500/mile races as a pro.

Grand Slam Track represents something in between. It’s not a championship — there will be no medals awarded here, just a ton of cash — but because there are no pacers (and there is an 800 to follow on Sunday), it’s not like a Diamond League, either. Hocker is still figuring out what a win this weekend would mean.

“I think that’s one of the most interesting things I’m expecting to see as this progresses, is the prestige that comes with [a win],” Hocker said. “Obviously there’s the World Champs and the Olympics, and those have their own prestige. But we don’t really have anything like this. It’s one of a kind. And after we do at least one of these — definitely by the end of this season of Grand Slam — it’s going to be its own thing.”

We know Hocker can kick with the best in the world in the 1500. But how would he feel if he saw 1:41 800m men Emmanuel Wanyonyi or Marco Arop on his shoulder with 200m to go in a slow 1500 on Saturday?

“If it’s a 3:45 race, then they’re going to be threats at that point,” Hocker said. “But I still think I’m the fastest. Obviously, I’ve been outkicked before, and I’ve lost to these guys before. But if it comes down to it and I feel like I feel when I’m able to kick like that, I don’t think the world’s best 800 guys can match that even. Because the 800 is a completely different thing. It’s a faster pace, sustained longer. 3:45, you open it up to who has the fastest 200. And I think I’m pretty hard to beat there.”

Grant Fisher trying to strike a middle-ground between competing at GST and preparing for Worlds

Fisher was in insane shape during the indoor season, running world records of 7:22 for 3000m and 12:44 for 5000m in a seven-day span in February. After that, however, he took a short break, spending time at sea level away from his Park City home and taking a few days off from running entirely. Now he’s on the upswing in training again.

“For most of March, I was building up to this race,” Fisher said. “That’s not enough time to do a full training block, but I feel quite prepared and ready to go.”

Typically at this time of year, Fisher would be in the midst of a second base phase, building on what he did in the fall with hills, tempos, and threshold sessions. Those aren’t entirely gone, but he’s also incorporated some VO2 max and race-pace workouts that he typically wouldn’t touch until later. Fisher noted that he has at least one big race a month from now until Worlds: the four Grand Slams (April 4-6 in Kingston, May 2-4 in Miramar, May 30-June 1 in Philadelphia, June 27-29 in Los Angeles), presumably the Pre Classic (July 5), USAs (July 31-August 3), and Worlds (September 13-21).

“They’re important races every month,” Fisher said. “So now it’s all one big build to the outdoor season…I don’t think anyone here is as sharp as they’re going to be all summer. But I think people are going to be fit and ready to go.

“…There’s two approaches I think you can take. You can really go all-in on Grand Slam and be tuned up and ready to go at every single one. Or you can just use it as building blocks for Tokyo, basically. I’m hoping to kind of go middle-ground on that.”

Michael Johnson is focused on excitement and growth as Grand Slam Track debuts…and doesn’t want to talk about how the series will make money

Since announcing the launch of Grand Slam Track 10 months ago, Michael Johnson has spent a lot of time promoting the series. He has not spent much of that talking about the nuts-and-bolts of how the series expects to (eventually) turn a profit while offering $12.6 million in prize money and rumored six-figure appearance contracts for Racers. And he wasn’t interested when I brought it up on Thursday.

“I’m done. I’m seriously done, Jonathan, talking about how it’s going to make money,” said Johnson with a smile. “We’ve got all of these amazing races. That’s what we’re going to talk about. I’ve answered that question…If you want to figure out how it’s going to make money, look at any other successful business or any other successful sport. Same thing.”

But that’s the thing. Successful sports have deep-pocketed sponsors, robust ticket sales, and lucrative TV contracts. It’s fair to wonder whether Grand Slam Track will attract either of the last two. We’ll get a look at spectators numbers starting Friday. And while Grand Slam Track proudly boasts that it has broadcast partners in 189 countries — not an insignificant achievement — those deals don’t have any public dollar figures attached. How much did European broadcasters pay (if anything) for a series that is based in North America and the Caribbean (Days 1 and 2 in Kingston wrap after 2 a.m. CET)? Did NBC/Peacock pay anything for the US streaming rights?

The money question is a valid concern. But it’s not Johnson’s primary concern in year 1. After a year of building the series and signing athletes, he is more ready than anyone to see it all begin on Friday. His key metric of success for Kingston: excitement. Long-term? Growth.

“We’ve got the momentum going right now because everybody’s excited,” Johnson said. “The athletes are excited. The fans are excited. We want them now to come out out of Kingston and go, Can’t wait for Miami.

“…What we will view as success long-term is growth. We’ve gotta have more people than before. You’ve gotta have people who will miss Kingston and say, Oh man, I can’t believe I missed that. I’ve heard about it, I’m going to make sure I don’t miss the next one...It’s growth from one Slam to the next in terms of viewership, in terms of ticket sales, in terms of engagement. And then it’s growth from year to year. That’s how businesses succeed.”

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