In my opinion of the big dogs Nuguse looked least impressive. Hocker and Kessler on the other hand asserted themselves and appeared in control - but how much juice did they use to do that? And there's two more races yet to Paris.
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You didn't hear it here first, you hear it all the time ...
Hocker needed to prove to himself that he was going to be in control of his heat. He needed to. I remember another time/first round it didnt go so well. He's definitely ready for rounds. Goose is fine. The semis are always most revealing.
Unless he tries to blast a 3:31 1500m I don't like his chances in the final.
Curious to know what you mean when you say "thought he looked tight." To me it seemed like he ran a smart, tactical race and saved himself for the rounds that really matter. Personally, I thought Hocker's decision to run 3:34 to blast a heat when it was totally unnecessary was the questionable move. Not to say that Hocker won't make the team, but I thought Nuguse ran smarter.