Before the men’s Olympic 1500 meters final, British middle-distance runner Josh Kerr was the clear favorite, followed by his big rival in the race, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the superstar from Norway, who started at a world-record pace and led much of the race.
None of them, including the fans, saw American middle-distance runner Cole Hocker coming.
Naturally, the 23-year-old turned the men’s 1500-meter final on its head—creating one of the biggest upsets so far on the track at Stade de France—when he emerged victorious against the heavily favored athletes in a final mad dash that earned him the gold medal.
USA’s Cole Hocker IS COLD BLOODED as he pulls off the MASSIVE UPSET to win Olympic Gold in the 1500m in Paris.
Yared Nuguse took Bronze.
Two Americans haven’t been on the podium of the 1500m at the Olympics since 1912.
USA Middle Distance IS BACK!!!
pic.twitter.com/wpRR43D9XA— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) August 6, 2024
“I’m still looking for words to describe that moment,” Hocker said of his win, in which he beat his own personal best time by roughly three seconds. “I felt the moment, I felt the magnitude of it.”
NBC commentator Kara Goucher noted during the broadcast, “I have never seen a race of the 1500 go off that fast. And everyone knows they have to just go with it.”
Going into the race, there had been 20 instances of athletes running a sub-3:28 1500m—nine of those were from Morocco’s world-record holder Hicham El Guerrouj. This final was the first instance of three men running 3:27 in the same race, not including Ingebrigtsen, the only one who had previously broken the 3:28 barrier.
