The 2024 track and field season has showcased a ton of talents that will be on the top list of fans heading into the next year. 2025 will provide many coveted events, including new ones like the Grand Slam Track, which will feature, as Michael Johnson promised, the fastest in the world. There will be many divisions in the four slams of the track meet, but one of the most intriguing ones would be the 800 meters, which will feature talents like Cole Hocker and others.

So who are the other runners? The 800m category will feature athletes like Josh Kerr, Yared Nuguse, and Marco Arop. All of these have proved themselves to be the chosen ones in the track meet, but the American who secured the 1500m Olympic gold medal this year is looking forward to it the most, as he would be able to challenge his new rival, the 800m area record holder, Arop. However, even though Hocker is optimistic about his new adventure, it might not end on a positive note for him, owing to the current statistics.

Heading into an uncharted territory

Cole Hocker is known for his epic stints in the 1500 meters. However, he has run in the 800m too, but the performances he has put in the category haven’t been much of something to talk about. The 2024 season saw him compete in two 800m outdoor races, The Hill City Twilight and Portland Track Festival, where he didn’t finish (DNF) in the first and placed no. 1 in the second, respectively.

Comparing this to Marco Arop’s career, there’s a major difference. The Canadian athlete was a favorite heading into the 800m in the French capital, owing to his world championship title in the category back in Budapest last year. However, Arop was not able to win the gold in Paris, owing to Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi. But this didn’t overshadow the fact that he’s still the world champion in the 800m and will be defending this title this year in Tokyo.

Just like Hocker is a dedicated 1500m athlete, Arop shines in the 800m, so directly challenging him in the Grand Slam Track will be a major one for the American runner. There’s also a huge difference between their personal bests in the category, as the Canadian athlete stands on top with a time of 1:41.20, which is also the area record and the national record. However, for Hocker, he has a personal best of 1:45.63 in the 800m. For runners like these two, a gap of four seconds is a lot, so the American has a ton of work to do to improve himself in the category.

On X, as seen on Grand Slam Track’s official profile, Hocker has acknowledged the challenge, stating, “I’m really looking forward to not always being pulled around, but competing for those 800s, because I think I can in the same way (Marco) thinks he can in the 1500s – I’m not going to put an exact time to it – but I think I can run a world-class 800m time, which over the past year has gotten faster.” He is aware of the challenge and knows that it won’t be an effortless road to race against his 800m rival. However, he has promised that he would be putting up a promising action, even though the competition has increased in recent times in the category.

Hocker is always candid when it comes to chasing any kind of accolade. However, even if he’s an Olympic champion in the 1500m, the 800m race in GST won’t be an easy task to accomplish. However, similar to his performance at the Stade de France this year, he has a reputation for delivering unexpected results at a highly sought-after event. The 23-year-old also opened up about his victory that made him secure his career-first Olympic gold, but there was a twist in it.

Cole Hocker’s candid reflection on his Olympic gold

Cole Hocker pulled off one of the most unanticipated stints to secure his maiden Olympic gold in an Olympic record of 3:27.65 in the 1500m. This made him an Olympic champion from the United States in the category since Matthew Centrowitz’s feat at the 2016 Rio Olympics. However, while talking to NBC Sports, he described his win, stating, “It was a weird feeling. The last 100m felt like the people weren’t there anymore, felt like there was four guys on the track, and that was just it’s kind of hard to put in the words.”

He knew there were tons of people present at the Stade de France, but he wasn’t able to sense anybody except the runners who were on the track with him. Surely, his win was historic and surprised a ton of fans out there, but it was something that he wasn’t able to digest the way he won the race and became an Olympic champion.