American emulates Matt Centrowitz to land Olympic crown, while world champion Josh Kerr has to settle for silver and Jakob Ingebrigtsen finishes outside of the medals
All of the pre-race hype had been about who would win the duel between Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Josh Kerr but, with all of the attention on the big two, Cole Hocker took the inside line to win a shock 1500m gold in Paris.
The American becomes his country’s first champion of this event since Matt Centrowitz in 2016 after a race that lived up to the considerable hype and left the Stade de France crowd breathless.
Hocker timed his finishing burst perfectly as he broke Ingebrigtsen’s Olympic record to take gold, clocking 3:27.65. World champion Kerr broke the British record with 3:27.79 as he upgraded his bronze from Tokyo three years ago by the width of a vest from Yared Nuguse, the American producing a PB of 3:27.80.
Perhaps the biggest shock of the night, though, was the fact that Ingebrigtsen, the defending Olympic champion, finished outside of the medals completely.
Coming into the finishing straight, the script had been followed perfectly with the Norwegian and the Scot who have verbally goaded each other out in front and going toe to toe, stride for stride, with the Olympic prize in sight.
As they did so, however – and as so often happens in middle distance races – the leaders moved slightly wide and suddenly a gap emerged on the left. Hocker was only too stride through it to have the last word.
Kerr had looked ready to add the Olympic title to his collection and this defeat will hurt. It won’t feel nearly as painful, however, as the fate which befell the crestfallen Ingebrigtsen.
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