Un effing believable. What a day for US distance running. But man im so disappointed in letsrun for consistently undercounting him against Jakob and Kerr. Hocker clearly had a 3:28 in him. Let’s show some more love for our guys.
Cole had to abruptly pull up with 115m to go and still out kicked everyone. Yared passing him on the backstretch wouldn’t have stopped Cole’s kick unless he got more boxes in than he already was.
More then anything, this was a victory for the USA's often disrespected running culture. Obviously Hocker, a born and bred oregonian is American, but if you count Kerr (which you should-he received most of his serious running instruction there), and ignore Ingebrigsten (which you also should-he's a trash talking jerk and probably doped), athletes from the USA made up the entire top 5. Add Grant Fisher's amazing effort, and factor in Noah Lyles' almost certain domination in the coming days, I think it's fair to say that the LA 2028 Olympics will be an absolute medal-fest for the US-of-A
Hocker wasn't born and bred in Oregon - Born in Indiana and went to HS there.
Cole is from Indianapolis, IN
Nuguse is from Louisville, KY
Team I-65 for the medals. Only a couple hours apart.
Anyone paying attention to progressions and results this season knew this was a 4 man race. I had Hocker/Kerr 1-2 and Naguse/Jingy 3-4. (I predicted Kerr-Hocker-Jingy-Naguse). I was pleasantly -nay, extatically - surprised at the 1/3 placement.
Just rewatched. I think I'll get chills no matter how much I watch it. Just an incredible race all around. Yes, Cole MF Hocker. And Naguse and Kessler - fantastic as well.
Jacob's dumba$$ just needs to learn how to go out in 1:50 for 800m and push hard if he wants to be a big dog. Now that he has lost his Olympic title he can realize that he has no kick and needs to push hard or just move on to a different event.
Just rewatched. I think I'll get chills no matter how much I watch it. Just an incredible race all around. Yes, Cole MF Hocker. And Naguse and Kessler - fantastic as well.
Man, Yared was closing hard! If this is a 1510, he probably would’ve been champion. Fantastic run by all three Americans.
My theory is Jakob's 54 first lap caused him to not win. If he had run 55-mid he would have held off Cole. The margin of error is very small at those speeds. I felt he was a bit too aggressive the first 250 meters to emphasize the strong pace...esp when Cole intelligently backed off that hot first lap.