They were on their feet inside Stade de France to witness one of the great 1,500 metres rivalries of modern Olympic times unfold, only to be suddenly left in awe of the young American in Paris named Cole Hocker.
No one had seen this coming, least of all defending champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen from Norway, or Britain’s Josh Kerr, who both made pretty much clear beforehand that the only thing worse than not winning, would be losing to the other.
If anyone had that chance of upsetting them, Hocker’s hint was in his name, and by the end the 23-year-from Indianapolis had indeed shocked them both – and clearly himself – with his stunning kick down the homestretch, tearing up on the inside and getting past Kerr just before the line to win in 3:27.65.
That took almost a second off Ingebrigtsen’s Olympic record set in Tokyo, who in the mad dash for the finish found himself run out of the medals entirely, fourth in 3:28.24 – the ghost of another major championship defeat already howling in the bones of his face.
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Yared Nuguse, also from USA, had got up to grab bronze, all three medal positions changing hands in the frantic last 20m dash for the line.
Hocker timed his finish to absolute perfection, just as he’d done in the last two editions of the US Olympic trial. “I saw the line, kind of, and my body did the rest,” said Hocker, who hadn’t broken 3:30 before Paris.
When Ingebrigtsen first made his move for home with only 100m gone, rather than 100 to go, there was always the risk of being run down in the homestretch. Still he appeared entirely confident in his tactic as he passed 400m in 54.8, 800m in 1:51.3, and still had the edge down the backstretch.
Kerr stayed within reach, kicking past him into the straight and appearing poised to add Olympic gold to his World Championship gold won last year.
“It was fast, this crowd was absolutely electric, we went for it, we promised a fast and great race, and that was the result,” Kerr said.
“My ears are gone, my legs are gone. I’m proud of the performance I put out there. I said to myself I’ll control my controllables, I did that. 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. Of course, I was looking for that gold medal, but it’s a better medal than I got three years ago.”
Kerr won bronze on that occasion, and set out here to become Britain’s first men’s Olympic champion winner at the distance since Seb Coe in Los Angeles 40 years ago. Ingebrigtsen set out to become the first repeat event winner since Seb Coe in 1980 and 1984, and only the second ever. All just talk in the end.
“I opened with a 54-second lap, it was at least two seconds too fast,” said Ingebrigtsen. “I was thinking about slowing down, but the next lap was almost the same speed. I ruined it for myself by going way too hard.”
On losing again to Kerr, he added: “It doesn’t mean that much, I’m more disappointed that I ruined the race for myself.”
Perhaps the pre-race narrative had got a little too caught up in their rivalry, the battle between their incredible running talent, and their ego.
Hocker’s potential has also been hampered by injury over the last two years, and free of that this season, no one else on the night could so perfectly balance the endurance and speed required to win a 1,500m, and nowhere else does that count for more than over the three-and-three-quarter laps of an Olympic final.
Any talk of Julien Alfred possibly challenging Gabby Thomas for the women’s 200m gold medal ended shortly after that gun was fired, the US champion producing a storming bend before winning in 21.83 seconds.
Alfred, who won a first medal of any colour for St Lucia with her 100m victory, won silver in 22.08, another positive sign for Rhasidat Adeleke’s prospects in the 400m given they are training partners.
Other gold medals on the night went to Winfred Yavi of Bahrain in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase, also producing an Olympic record of 8:52.76, with Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece defending his long jump title with a best of 8.48m.
But the night belonged to Cole Hocker.
