Hard Work VS Talent

According to NCAA rules, athletes must get at least one day off per week from practice. There are a couple guys on our team that would probably practice all day everyday if they could. One of our jumpers in-particular is working incredibly hard this year. He has cleaned up his eating habits, as well as, his social outings. He had a good year last year and now wants to be great. He has some great goals and is doing everything he can to accomplish them. Other guys on the team are good, period. They usually work hard in practice but not always and try in the weight room but don't push themselves. As of now, the naturally talented guys will have a better chance of doing big things at nationals. I am not rooting for any one individual to have better year than a teammate but it will be interesting to see if hard work really does beat talent when talent doesn't work hard.