SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) — American Cole Hocker pulled the upset of the Olympics on Tuesday night, beating his personal-best time by almost 3 seconds to outrace favorites Jakob Ingebrigsten and Josh Kerr for the title at 1,500 meters.
Hocker won the race in an Olympic record 3 minutes, 27.65 seconds, pulling from fifth to first over the final 300 meters to take down the two runners whose rivalry dominated the buildup to the much-anticipated race.
“This may be an upset to a lot of people, but if you’ve been following my season, you knew I was capable of it,” Hocker said. “But still, things had to go my way today.”
Cole Hocker, of the United States, crosses the finish line ahead of Josh Kerr, of Britain, and fourth placed Jakob Ingebrigtsen, of Norway, to win the men's 1500 meters final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France.
Ashley Landis / AP
Hocker, a 23-year-old product of University of Oregon, was listed as much as a 30-1 long shot for this race. He beat Kerr by .14 seconds, while Ingebrigtsen, who set the pace through the first 1250 meters, ended up in fourth behind American Yared Nuguse.
All eyes for this one were trained on Ingebrigtsen, the defending champion out of Norway who came in with a point to prove, and Kerr, the Scotsman who beat him last year at world championships.
Ever since that win, Kerr and Ingebrigtsen poked at each other. Among the salvos that stuck was Kerr’s assertion that Ingebrigtsen only won races with pacesetters, the likes of which are not allowed at major races like this.
Against that backdrop, Ingebrigtsen darted to the front quickly and ran there for the first 3 1/2 laps, while Kerr traded between second and third, getting ready for his typical windup and a potential slingshot past the Norwegian over the closing stretch, much the way he did last year.
“Of course, it’s a tactical error that I’m not able to reduce my pace the first 800,” Ingebrigtsen said.
While he and Kerr were wearing each other out, Hocker, at 5-foot-9 1/2 and more than 3 1/2 inches shorter than the top two contenders, almost looked like he was trying to photo bomb them at the end of this race.
As they entered the homestretch, he snuck up on the inside once, only to have Ingebrigtsen block that move.
So, Hocker fell back and wound up for another try with about 50 meters left.
Both he and Kerr, who was racing on the outside, passed Ingebrigtsen, then Hocker beat the Scot to the finish line, first with a look of disbelief on his face, but then thumping his chest twice to celebrate a win hardly anyone saw coming — maybe except for him.
AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games