Cole Hocker reigns supreme in Paris ahead of Josh Kerr and Yared Nuguse as Jakob Ingebrigtsen is only fourth. But what next for these supermilers?
Bold Ingebrigtsen goes down fighting
In finishing fourth, Jakob Ingebrigsten left the track after the men’s 1500m at the Paris Olympics empty handed. But he gained plenty of new admirers for his racing style and sportsmanship.
After being out-kicked in three global 1500m finals – by Samuel Tefera in the 2022 World Indoors and Jake Wightman and Josh Kerr at the 2022 and 2023 outdoor world championships – he felt he had to run the sting out of his rivals’ finish.
The Norwegian blasted through the first 400m in a sizzling 54.8 and 800m in 1:51.5. There were reports that this is faster than Hicham El Guerrouj’s world record pace from his still-standing 3:26.00 mark set in 1998. Not quite. I was there in Rome that night when the Moroccan went through 400m in an even swifter 54.3 (his pacemaker ran 53.6) and 800m in 1:50.7 (pacemaker 1:50.5) before passing 1200m in 2:46.4 compared to Ingebrigtsen’s 2:47.3 in Paris.
It was a gallant defence of an Olympic title. The 23-year-old put his rivals to the test and they rose to the challenge. As Kerr predicted, it was “vicious and hard”.
Cole Hocker (Getty)
Magnanimous in defeat
In boxing we often see two fighters trash talking each other with venom before later heaping gushing praise and respect on their rival straight after the battle.
Tuesday night in Paris was similar with Ingebrigtsen writing a gracious and magnanimous post on Instagram. In a reference to his infamous ‘the next guy’ quote from last year, he said: “Today, Cole Hocker, Yared Nuguse and Josh Kerr outsmarted me. They were ‘the best guys’ when it really mattered and I want to congratulate them all on a great performance.”
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Shades of Beyer in Prague
There have been plenty of middle-distance upsets over the years. Peter Rono winning the Seoul Olympic 1500m springs to mind, or Noah Ngeny out-kicking Hicham El Guerrouj at Sydney 2000.
But not since Olaf Beyer out-sprinted Steve Ovett and Seb Coe at the 1978 European Championships in Prague have we seen such a high-profile double act taken down by an unheralded outsider.
On that occasion Coe took the race out with an unprecedented sub-50-second first lap with Ovett chasing and Beyer holding back slightly before…
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