Slow Pace Plays Into Hocker's Hands As He Makes U.S. Team In Two Events; Houlihan Wins U.S. Title After Serving 4-Year Ban

By David Woods for DyeStat

Photos by Becky Holbrook

EUGENE – Take it from Shakespeare and Henry IV, Part 2:

Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.

Cole Hocker felt the burden. Suggestions he might be a one-hit wonder didn’t vanish when he barely made the world team Saturday in the 1,500 meters, in which he wears the Olympic gold medal.

“There was a lot of noise all year,” Hocker said. “I guess that’s what happens when you’re the defending Olympic champion. I try my best to embrace it. It does get hard. There’s a lot of naysayers.

“I can walk away from this meet knowing that none of that noise matters.”

He ran away Sunday in the 5,000 meters on the climactic day of the USATF Championships at Hayward Field. He effectively controlled the race by leading at a slow pace – recall Matthew Centrowitz in the 2016 Olympics – and rode the rail to victory, as he did in the 2024 Olympics.

“I was smiling to myself, thinking like, ‘They’re going to let me do this,’ “ Hocker said. “So let’s do it.”

Hocker, 24, of Indianapolis, asserted he is more confident going to Tokyo next month for the World Championships than he was going to Paris last year. He told Japanese media he is going for gold in both 1,500 and 5,000.

Hocker finished in 13:26.45, sprinting the last 200 meters in 12.63 seconds -- almost as fast as Cooper Lutkenhaus (12.48) did in a U18 world record at 800 meters. Hocker needed such a kick, considering he was back in seventh with 200 meters left.

Perhaps we could have seen this coming after Hocker ran under the world indoor record in the 3,000 at the Millrose Games Feb. 8. On that day, Grant Fisher beat him. This day, Hocker beat Fisher.

“Cole is the defending Olympic champion in the 1,500. He’s a tough guy to beat in the last 100,” Fisher said.

Fisher, a double Olympic bronze medalist, was second in 13:26.75. Nico Young was third in 13:27.05. They were second and first, respectively in the 10,000 Thursday.

Drew Hunter was fourth in 13:27.16 and Cooper Teare fifth in 13:27.56. Graham Blanks, also on the 10K team, was 13th in 13:31.94.

Top three all have the standard of 13:01 and thus did not need a fast race to make it to worlds.

Hocker led every lap until the last one, mostly around 67 seconds per lap. Not a jog but little more than a tempo run. He suggested others “got antsy” when they went around him, and he said he stayed in rhythm.

“I was thinking, ‘If they can close in 50, then so be it,’ “ he said.

Hocker closed in 51.75, and that was it. He acknowledged this 5,000 was “much easier” than Saturday’s 1,500.

“I felt I was running pretty freely today,” he said, “Yesterday, it’s always very, very challenging.”

Fisher said he was stuck in traffic and thus could not begin the last kilometer with his planned 57-second lap. In a do-over, he said, he would have strung out the field, as he did in winning last year’s Olympic Trials. Hocker was seventh in that 5,000.

“Ultimately, I still got on the team,” Fisher said. “That’s the main thing coming out of these championships. You look around at all the events, and there’s a lot of surprises this week.”

This was Hocker’s sixth national title at a third distance. He had not won an outdoor final in 362 days – or since winning Olympic gold. He had been 0-11 since Paris.

Hocker is to become the first American to run 1,500 and 5,000 at worlds since Bernard Lagat in 2009. Lagat won 1,500 bronze and 5,000 silver that year, and golds in both in 2007.

The inaugural worlds were in 1983, and the Olympic champion has never won the 1,500 at the subsequent World Championships. Coincidentally, the 5,000 in 1983 was won by a miler, Eamonn Coghlan, in a 13:28.53 race.

Houlihan Runs Back To World Stage

Shelby Houlihan continued her comeback season, taking a tactical 5,000 in 15:13.61.  With a lap to go, seven women were within a second of leader Josette Andrews.

Elise Cranny, second in the 10,000, was second at 5,000 in 15:14.26. Andrews was third in 15:15.01, just ahead of Weini Kelati Frezghi, 15:15.89.

Top three have all met the world standard of 14:50.

Houlihan, 32, returned to the sport this year after serving a four-year doping ban. She also qualified for indoor worlds, winning a silver at 3,000.

“I felt like I worked really hard the last four or five years to maintain that fitness as well as I could,” she said. “So I felt like it was there. It was just whether or not I kept my body feeling good on the day.”

Tokyo will be Houlihan's first outdoor worlds since 2019, when she was fourth in the 1,500 in an American record of 3:54.99.

Contact David Woods at dwoods1411@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.