I guess we’ll probably find out in the 1500m Olympic final if they both make it through the rounds but after Kessler’s super impressive 800m semi it’s going to be exciting to see who has the better finishing kick out of the two. At this point I would have to give the edge to Kessler. His 1:43.7 definitely has the edge over Hocker’s best 800 of 1:45.6. Also Kessler’s second lap of 52s is a pretty impressive second lap of an 800.
Discus
It’ll be interesting to see.
Lots of people misunderstand what makes a good kicker, top end speed is a factor but it’s not the top end speed. It’s also having the endurance to get to 400/300/200/100 to go without your legs being lactic. After last nights performance, and the fact that his training partner is Hoppel, I’d bet that Kessler would smoke Hocker in an all out 200/400. The thing is that Hocker is pretty surprisingly strong over 5k right now, and probably feels better than Kessler does 1000m into a 3:3x type race. I think Hocker can Outkick Kessler 9/10 times, but if it’s 3:40+ pace up until the bell lap Kessler would win. 1:43 usually indicates at least 46-47 type 400m speed, that’s a huge deal.
I agree with the majority of what you said except Kessler winning in a 3:40+ pace up to the bell, if it's 3:40 pace Hocker would beat Kessler by dropping a 51 second last lap vs Kessler a 52 (winning time 3:31, pretty much the same as the trials).
In my opinion it would have to be 3:50 pace for Kessler to have a good shot, though I'm not very certain that he'd beat Hocker, pretty sure I remember Hocker closing sub 12 in the last 100 a couple times before.
Kessler, Hocker, Nuguse… I am a huge fan of all of them, and I am starting to get confused about how to order them. That’s some of the fun.
So many posts above are correct. There doesn’t seem to be any comparison in the kicking department. It’s Hocker. Nuguse mounted an almost-comeback, but still not enough for Hocker, at least after Nuguse did all the leading. And don’t forget Kessler was great, but still had to fight hard to hold off Vincent Ciattei.
It is just so competitive among these guys. A golden era.
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