A LATE ENTRANT, HOPPEL HOPES FOR MERRIE MILE SUCCESS
By Rich Sands, @sands
(c) 2023 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved, used with permission.
HONOLULU (07-Dec) — When five-time U.S. 800-meter champion Bryce Hoppel heard that many of his new training partners were heading to the Aloha State for this week’s Kalakaua Merrie Mile, he wanted in. Sure, he hadn’t raced at 1500 meters or the mile in more than two years, but the chance to take a break from the grind of fall training to hit the beach was appealing.
“I was like, man, it’s pretty cool here in Flagstaff, but Hawaii sounds amazing,” he told Race Results Weekly on Thursday. “I was ready to just tag along for vacation and to train with them.” He made his interest in racing known, and event organizers invited him as a late addition to the field for Saturday’s race.
Hoppel, who won his second straight USATF Outdoor title in July (and has taken three of the last four indoor national titles as well), has spent the fall in Flagstaff, Arizona, roughly 7000 feet (2100 meters) above sea level, running among other professionals for the first time in his career.
After winning NCAA indoor and outdoor titles as a University of Kansas junior in 2019, Hoppel turned pro and has since spent most of his career training in Lawrence, Kansas, under the guidance of his college coach, Jayhawks assistant Michael Whittlesey, among collegians during the school year and solo in the summers.
That set-up put Hoppel on a promising trajectory. He sports a personal best of 1:43.23 in the 800 (making him the seventh fastest American of all time), was a 2021 Olympian in Tokyo, and took the bronze medal at the 2022 World Athletics Indoor Championships. He also made the final at the Outdoor Worlds in 2019 (finishing fourth) and this past summer in Budapest (seventh).
But ahead of the Olympic season, and frustrated by his performance at worlds, Hoppel decided to mix things up this fall, putting in his first altitude training block and running alongside other pros. “Whitt and I have done incredible things together, and I never want to diminish that,” Hoppel says. “But I think I’m just ready to have motivation from other places, and I know these guys hold me accountable.”
Whittlesey is still writing his workouts, but now Hoppel has company, primarily Hobbs Kessler of the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Very Nice Track Club. He’s sharing a house with Kessler and 5000-meter specialist…
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