Olympic Medalists Face Prospect Of Fast 800s On Opening Weekend Of Grand Slam Track In Jamaica

By David Woods for DyeStat

John Nepolitan photos

Whether you regard Grand Slam Track as an innovation or another doomed pro track league, both sides of the room should agree on this:

We will see match-ups we would not witness otherwise. Foremost among them will be 800-meter races featuring the Paris Olympics 1,500-meter podium – Cole Hocker, Josh Kerr, Yared Nuguse.

The four-meet series introduced by Michael Johnson opens Friday with a three-day run at Kingston, Jamaica. Subsequent stops will be in Miami, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

The league signed four Racers in each of six categories: short sprints (100/200 meters); short hurdles (100m/100m or 110m hurdles); long sprints (200/400m); short distance (800/1,500m); long distance (3,000m/5,000m).

Four Challengers complete a field of eight in each category. Runners with the best combined finishes of two races earn $100,000.

Live broadcasts will be on Peacock, the NBC streaming service, and The CW network. Meets will be broadcast in 189 countries and territories, according to Grand Slam Track.

The first men’s short distance is a 1,500 Saturday night. The eight entries have won a combined 15 global medals.

The 800 is Sunday, when the aforementioned milers meet the likes of Emmanuel Wanyonyi, Marco Rop, Bryce Hoppel and Mohammed Attaoui. They went 1-2-4-5 in the 800 at Paris.

“Who knows? I think I’m capable of a world-class 800-meter time, which now is 1:42,” Hocker said. “We’ll see how the season goes. If anything, it gives me comfort knowing that when I’m uncomfortable is when I’m growing. I know I’m going to be pretty uncomfortable in the 800.”

These are the half-milers’ PBs: Wanyonyi, 1:41.11; Rop, 1:41.20; Hoppel, 1:41.67; Attaoui, 1:42.08.

For the milers: Kerr, 1:45.35 (from 2019); Hocker, 1:45.63; Nuguse, 1:46.30.

“I’m not a huge 800 runner,” Nuguse said. “Maybe I’ll become one. You never know.

“I’m better than I give myself credit for in the 800.”

Kerr pulled out of February’s Millrose Games mile because of illness and has not raced since last Sept. 8, when he won the 5th Avenue Mile at New York in a record 3:44.3. The 27-year-old Scot raced in three outdoor meets ahead of the Paris Olympics, including an 800 victory in 1:45.94 at the Oregon Relays.

The milers’ PBs inevitably will drop.

“We have a lot more we can do,” Kerr said. “But we’re going to be running some good 800 guys, and that distance has moved along a lot lately, so that’s good to see. We’ll always be competitive in those races.”

It is a cliché to assert it is a long season . . . but it is. The climactic World Championships in Tokyo are not until September. Runners essentially try to time their peak for then and work backward.

Nuguse, in particular, has been fit through September. He won a Diamond League race last Sept. 5 in 3:29.21 at Zurich (beating Jakob Ingebrigsten, Hocker and Kerr), and Nuguse set an American record of 3:43.97 in finishing second to Ingebrigsten in a mile Sept. 16, 2023, at the Prefontaine Classic.

“You don’t really need to change that much,” Nuguse said. “You just have to make sure you’re peaking in September.”

Oddly, no Olympic 1,500 champion has won gold at that distance in the subsequent worlds. So Hocker aims to be the first to do so. He acknowledged he peaked perfectly in Paris before going 0-3 in post-Olympic 1,500s.

“I knew those weren’t as important as the Olympics. Yet I have to go to the line and be ready to hurt really bad,” Hocker said. “So those were pretty challenging. But I walked away from those, I was top three in all of those. It was pretty much the Olympic finals for those three. I was really happy with what I did, considering what my headspace was for those.

“I’ve had a chance to set the reset button. That medal doesn’t guarantee me that I’m going to be a medalist this year. So just reminding myself of that is the motivation  I need. Especially all of the chatter that happens in the ‘15’ makes it pretty easy to keep the fire. “

At the Millrose Games, he broke the world indoor record for 3,000 meters but was beaten (by .23) by Grant Fisher. In Boston , he won an indoor 5,000 in 12:57.82 to meet the standard for Tokyo, where he hopes to run a 1,500/5K double.

Hocker said he is excited about Grand Slam.

“That’s usually when I race best, when I’m excited. When the stakes are high, I rise to the occasion,” he said. “Grand Slam did a really good job of positioning themselves and not interfering with a lot of the season.”

Grand Slam signed other marquee figures such as Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Gabby Thomas. Among those declining the series were Ingebrigsten, Noah Lyles, Grant Holloway and Sh’Carri Richardson. The unsigned athletes could still run in meets as Challengers.

Contact David Woods at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.