BRYCE HOPPEL: in the best position heading into Paris Olympics

He’s also sick, hurt, or awaiting a doping ban which probably does more harm to his chances than knowing he’s well out of the top 3 in his current form.

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Speculation 🥱 until you provide facts ✅

Did he even get to eat on the night he left the restaurant and mysteriously withdrew from the Monaco DL? How well can he run if he’s not fuelling sufficiently? Where are the LetsRun insiders with the answers to this key question?

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wibw.com

KU alum Bryce Hoppel chats with 13 Sports ahead of Paris Olympics

@wibw

The former Jayhawk is headed to his second Olympics, where he hopes to medal in the Men's 800 Meter.

Link:www.wibw.com/2024/07/18/ku-alum-bryce-...

Bryce chatted with television 13 sports two days ago and is eager to see what he can do against all the 1:41 guys in Paris. Hoppel didn't mention anything of being injured or sick.

He trained hard for the trials and there’s no such thing as resetting mentally, or vamping up his training. In Paris, either he’ll have the strength and speed to medal, or he won’t.

We know for sure that he was in Monaco planning to race, and then pulled out last minute without explanation.

In all likelihood it is one of those 3 options.

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You obviously never competed beyond high school track and field. When you have over 3 weeks til your main meet and the competition bar has been raised drastically. It's not only possible but MANDATORY that you reaccess and your goals and training to be competitive. YOU increase your speed and speed endurance training because you can't do much regarding your base. Hoppel has a good base from the last 4-6 months, so he is in good position to improve his PB considerably and be competitive for top 3.

Meh, I lost a bit of my affinity for Hoppel after he dropped out of Monaco with no explanation. Can you imagine a top Quarterback not playing a game, with no explanation, and then giving interviews about being excited for the playoffs like nothing happened?

I don’t know why track athletes make it so hard to be a fan sometimes.

Why are you trying to liken track and field to NFL? The quarterback has contract obligations plus regular season games gave relevancy to whether or not you play in the playoffs... Additionally teams are obligated to provide accurate injury reports multiple times throughout the week.... Whereas the track and field athlete might have some contractual obligations to his sponsor to compete in certain races or number of times throughout a year and they really owe no explanation to anyone but their sponsor if they don't meet these obligations...

So to answer your question yes it would be weird and against the rules if an NFL quarterback didn't play a game without any explanation... For a track and field athlete with the main focus a couple weeks from now, pulling out of a lower profile lead up race doesn't require any explanation.

Yeah dream yankee, while you are in your own micro-world, looking at otrhers like small ants.

But the nightmare begin with hateful names Attaoui, Wanyonyi (Wayoumi), Sedjati (Sejuti)à, Thual ...

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It's SIMPLE and kinda smart that he didn't run Monaco. He and his coaches knew at the time he PROBABLY was not ready to run a sub 1:42 and with the OLYMPICS as the ultimate target meet...why give ANY athlete the mental edge of defeating you before you ULTIMATE GOAL. This has NOTHING to do with the fans, the Olympics comes once every 4 years and can change an athlete's life financially for the rest of their career.

The smartest thing for Bryce to do FOR Bryce if he and his coach feels he will improve more by the Olympics but wasn't ready at Monaco- was to skip the meet. It wasn't time to think about what the fans wanted... too much is at stake to GIVE someone a mental edge before the BIGGEST competition.

There are two main events for everyone, which are the trials and the Olympics. If Hoppel wasn’t ready for the trials, there would be no Paris for him. Given that he ran a PR at the trials, means he was at peak fitness. Seeing that some guys ran sub-1:42, won’t result in him running faster. Besides those 3 guys, there are 5 others with faster times than Hoppel. What if all of them reassess their goals?

Last year, he finished 7th at the WC, and didn’t make the final the year before. Why didn’t he reassess and his goals and training for those two main meets?

He did run a PR this year, but I think to medal, he needs to give the top guys some space and hopefully pick off enough of them to do so.

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Again someone else who never competed beyond high school. FIRST OFF,he DIDN'T peak for the Trials he tapered, BIG DIFFERENCE. Secondly that leaves room for improvement, now of the 5 or 6 guys who have run faster than him, MOST Sof them will not improve upon that PB. I think Bryce coach has his training DAILED in to peak for the Olympics, just like he did for Indoors when he won the 800. WORLD 🌍 Indoor 🥇. LAST if think athletes don't reassess their goals and training to target NEW GOALS DURING the season in many different sports (not just athletics), than you don't know sports.

You’ve been locked into this take for whatever reason. Guys like Attaoui, Tual and Pattison running crazy-fast just adds more contenders to beat him. Attaoui and Pattison are great closers and have somewhat similar styles to Bryce. Kinyamal hitting 1:42.0 just validates he might be able to hold on the last 100 better. It’s a crowded field and Monaco/Paris made me go from well Bryce could finish bronze-6th in my eyes instead to real concern about the always cutthroat semis. If he’s in a heat with Sedjati, Pattison and Ben would you feel comfortable?

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Yes I would feel comfortable with him in the semis against them because I feel 1:42.77 isn't the best for Bryce Hoppel in 2024!

Be thankful you don’t root for Andrew Wiggins’ team.

Some fraction into his first year training in Flagstaff with Kessler has Bryce Hoppel faster and easier than ever coming into the Olympics and it was smart of him to scratch if there was anything wrong at all, even a twinge. You don't spoil the main course for an appetizer, no matter how good. After the Olympics, the hope is that he will run a very fast one, but the Olympics itself might do the trick with guys like Wanyonyi to take it out and Sedjati to push the last 150m. Whether he can contend for medals with 1:41 guys this first year, I don't know but I'm very happy to see him ready to go low 1:42 or better so soon with the new training setup after years of stagnation.

Doggy?

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You might be correct, I definitely feel he can improve on 1:42.77 this year but the question by how much? Honestly I feel if he runs his best race if the year then 1:42.1- 1:42.4 is quite realistically for Bryce but I wouldn't mind him exceeding our expectations and run faster at the Olympics.

I was so bombed when we had TWO Americans go SUB 1:43 in the Olympic Final and didn't medal (guess who won and his winning time?).