Back from injury, former Oregon star Cole Hocker will return to the world stage
For Cole Hocker, third place never felt so good.
A year after Achilles’ injuries in both legs ruined his summer, the former Oregon star will be back on the world stage.
Hocker finished behind Yared Nuguse and Joe Waskom in the men’s 1,500-meter final Saturday night during the U.S. Track & Field Outdoor Championships meet at Hayward Field, earning a spot on the American team heading to Budapest in August for the World Athletics Championships.
Nuguse was the clear winner as he crossed in 3 minutes, 34.90 seconds.
But to the delight of the crowd of 8,965, it was chaos behind him as Waskom, the Washington junior, was second in 3:35.32, just a step ahead of Hocker, who stumbled through the line in 3:35.46 as he leaned hard to hold off former Duck Sam Prakel (3:35.83) and Henry Wynne (3:35.99).
“A year ago, I think I would have been extremely disappointed with a third-place finish at a U.S. championship,” Hocker said. “I really wanted to win today, but I can put it in perspective. I can be content with that right now because I know where I'm going.”
It’s been a long road back to the big stage for Hocker, the 2021 U.S. champion and sixth-place finisher at the Tokyo Olympics.
Hocker’s injuries kept him out of the final at last year’s U.S. Outdoor Championships and prevented him from participating in the world championship meet taking place just blocks from his home near Hayward Field.
He returned to racing in April and has been slowly looking like his old self again with each successive race.
Hocker was sharp Saturday, staying with the pace set by Nuguse. His kick — Hocker’s calling card — got him near the front coming off the final turn but it wasn’t enough to track down the two leaders.
“I just think a couple more repetitions of that, couple more races under my belt this year and it's gonna be even smoother and I'm gonna have that fire back at the end of the race,” Hocker said.
The win for Nuguse was hardly surprising. He’s in the midst of a sensational season and has run 3:29.02, the second-fastest time ever by an American.
“I’ve just really been training for a moment like this,” he said. “This was just a really fun race to really give it my all.”
Near the back of the pack was Matthew Centrowitz, the former Duck and 2016 Olympic champion who finished in 10th place in 3:37.23 and was disappointed he let the race get away from him.
“I think I was expecting it to be a much faster race and I definitely played it pretty safe,” Centrowitz said. “Which I thought was gonna be the best strategy for me and now I see how things played out and I wish would have been a little bit more aggressive … I was just tactically stupid.”
Injured Devon Allen advances in 110 hurdles
Devon Allen wasn’t sharp Saturday during his 110 hurdle preliminary race.
But he also didn’t come to Eugene 100% healthy, either.
The former Oregon star, two-time Olympic finalist and NFL wide receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles finished fourth in his heat in 13.51 to qualify for Sunday’s semifinals on time.
It was Allen’s first race since he ran 13.04 at the NYC Grand Prix on June 24 in New York.
Soon after he injured his left calf during training and hadn’t attempted to clear a hurdle since, including during warmups Saturday afternoon.
“Just kind of being a little bit cautious,” said Allen, who was wearing a sleeve on his left calf and limping after the race. “You know, I don't want to ultimately hurt myself seriously. I got (NFL) training camp coming up in two weeks.”
Despite the injury and lack of training the past two weeks, Allen is still eyeing a spot in Sunday’s final.
“I'm pretty confident,” he said. “I do pretty well at these championships. I always seem to squeeze it out no matter what's going on. So this is no different for me.”
Other notable results from Saturday
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone stepped away from the 400 hurdles this summer, but not her record-setting ways. McLaughlin-Levrone won the women’s 400 in a world-leading 48.74 to set both a meet record and personal record. The reigning world champion in the 400 hurdles will now have a decision to make for which event she’ll run in Budapest.
Maggie Ewen came into the meet as the U.S. leader and she’ll leave as the U.S. champion in the women’s shot put. Ewen threw 65-feet, 4¼ inches to defeat a field that included reigning world and U.S. champion Chase Ealey, who was fourth at 61-1¼. Oregon’s Jaida Ross finished sixth with a mark of 58-5¾.
Nikki Hiltz blitzed past Athing Mu down the homestretch to win the women’s 1,500 in 4:03.10. Mu, who has a world championships bye in the 800, was second in 4:03.44 and Cory McGee was third in 4:03.48, barely surviving a dive across the line by reigning U.S. champ Sinclaire Johnson, who was fourth in 4:03.49.
Bryce Deadmon ran a PR 44.22 to win the men’s 400. Vernon Norwood was second in 44.39 and Quincy Hall was third in 44.41.
Follow Chris Hansen on Twitter @chansen_RG or email at chansen@registerguard.com. For more sports coverage, visit registerguard.com. Want more stories like this? Subscribe to get unlimited access and support local journalism.
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Back from injury, Cole Hocker will return to the world stage
