American Cole Hocker delivers all-time Olympic shock to win 1,500m track gold

PARIS – American Cole Hocker was happy to have “flown under the radar” as he produced a devastating finish in the home straight to pull off an upset victory in the men’s 1,500m in Paris on Aug 6.

The 23-year-old, who had never won in any major competition, outran defending champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway and Britain’s world champion Josh Kerr to take gold in an Olympic record of 3min 27.65sec.

“That’s an unbelievable feeling,” said Hocker.

“My body just kind of did it for me. My mind was all there and I saw that finish line.

“Winning gold was my goal this entire year. I wrote that down and I repeated it to myself even if I didn’t believe it.

“My performances showed me that I was capable of running 3:27. I knew I was a medal contender, and I knew that if I get it right, it would be a gold medal. I’ve been saying that.”

He also said he was happy to have flown in relatively unnoticed, when nobody gave him a chance.

“I told myself that I’m in this race, too. If they let me fly under the radar, then so be it. I think that might’ve just been the best,” the 2024 world indoor championships silver medallist added.

Kerr bagged silver in a national record of 3:27.79, while Ingebrigtsen came fourth after being passed by another American, Yared Nuguse, who clocked a personal best of 3:27.80.

Ingebrigtsen, who timed 3:28.24, was asked if he had employed the wrong strategy.

“When I saw I had run a 54-second first lap, I was really surprised. I thought though that is fine, I feel strong and in good-enough form. It was a misjudgment in the end. Of course it’s a tactical error that I’m not able to reduce my pace over the first 800,” he said.

Kerr, meanwhile, said that he was proud of his performance.

“I said to myself I’ll control my controllables, I did that today. I executed the fastest that I’ve ever run by almost two seconds. But it wasn’t enough. That’s sport. I left no stone unturned and that’s the result today,” he said.

In other events, Gabrielle Thomas of the United States streaked to 200m glory ahead of Julien Alfred to deprive St Lucia of a famous sprint double.

Alfred had claimed a first-ever medal for her tiny Caribbean island nation when she won the 100m on Aug 4, but she had no response when Thomas powered away down the final straight at the Stade de France.

The US took gold and bronze either side of Alfred (22.08sec), as Thomas clocked 21.83sec for the victory and Brittany Brown rounded out the podium with 22.20sec.

There was more hammer throw joy for Canada as Camryn Rogers won the women’s competition with 76.97m. Her victory came just 48 hours after teammate and fellow world champion Ethan Katzberg clinched the men’s gold.

There was no surprise in the men’s long jump as multiple medallist Miltiadis Tentoglou emerged victorious, while there was a second Olympic record on the night as Bahrain’s world champion Winfred Yavi won the women’s 3,000m steeplechase in 8:52.76. AFP, REUTERS