By Paris
CNN
—
The men’s 1,500-meter final always promised to deliver drama, but perhaps not quite like this.
This was supposed to be a showdown between Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the reigning Olympic champion, and Josh Kerr, the world champion. So it was a shock to everyone inside the Stade de France when a different runner entirely surged into the lead in the final straight to claim an unlikely, improbable win.
Cole Hocker’s victory was arguably the biggest upset of the Games so far, a wild ending to a thrilling race for the ages. The American stretched out his arms in delight as he crossed the line and capped off a superbly executed sprint finish, taking the gold medal in an Olympic record time of 3:27.65.
Great Britain’s Kerr took the silver medal in 3:27.79, while Hocker’s compatriot, Yared Nuguse, was a hundredth of a second back in third.
And Norway’s Ingebrigtsen, the brightest middle and long-distance talent of this generation? He was fourth, stunningly outside of the medals having led for much of the race.
Instead, this was a night for the underdog – though Hocker said never saw it that way.
“That’s an unbelievable feeling,” the Indiana native said after the victory. “I just felt like I was getting carried by the stadium and God. My body just kind of did it for me. My mind was all there and I saw that finish line.
“Winning gold was my goal this entire year. I wrote that down and I repeated it to myself even if I didn’t believe it. My performances showed me that I was capable of running 3:27, whatever it took. I knew I was a medal contender, and I knew that if I get it right, it would be a gold medal. I’ve been saying that.”
When Ingebrigtsen, who set an Olympic record in this event three years ago, set off at a strong pace and Kerr followed not far behind, it looked like the race would play out as many expected, a straight shootout between the two fierce rivals who have been trading barbs for months.
And when Kerr moved past the Norwegian in the last 100 meters, victory was squarely in his sights, a repeat result of last year’s world championships in Budapest.
But then came Hocker. The 23-year-old drove up the inside of the finishing straight in a perfectly-timed surge, the second American in the last three Olympics to win this event after Matthew Centrowitz in 2016.
And then came Nuguse, flying past Ingebrigtsen and chasing down Kerr. His bronze in a personal-best time marked the first time in the history of the modern Games that the US has had two men on the 1,500m podium.
For American middle-distance running, this result was as brilliant as it was unexpected. Hocker’s only other major accolade heading into the Olympics was a 1,500m silver at this year’s world indoor championships, while Nuguse’s was a medal of the same color in the 3,000m.
Both men took also chunks off their personal bests – Hocker by nearly three seconds.
“Cole Hocker you got me screaming my head off,” his countryman and Olympic 100-meter champion Noah Lyles wrote on X.
Kerr, an Olympic bronze medalist three years ago, didn’t get the victory he so desperately craved, but the Scottish athlete still came away with a silver medal and a British record.
“My ears are gone, my legs are gone,” he said.
“I’m proud of the performance I put out there today,” he added. “I said to myself I’ll control my controllables and I did that today. I executed the fastest that I’ve ever run by almost two seconds. It wasn’t enough today. That’s sport.
“I’m very proud of myself and my preparation coming in. I left no stones unturned and that’s the result today. Of course, I was looking for that gold medal, but it’s a better medal than I got three years ago.”
As for Ingebrigtsen, it will be fascinating to see how he bounces back for the 5,000 meters, an event in which he has won back-to-back world titles. On Tuesday, he ultimately paid for a too-fast start, forced to watch on as a trio of runners moved past him.
Did he regret those tactics? “No and yes,” the 23-year-old told reporters. “Of course, it’s a tactical error that I’m not able to reduce my pace in the first 800, it was just a little too hard.
“But I think you saw on the back straight with probably 50, 60 [meters] to go, they were opening a little bit of a gap. I tried to respond by going just a little bit too much on the gas and it was just 100 meters too much today.”
