U.S. Champion Cole Hocker Claims 1,500m Olympic Title With Outrageous Kick

The U.S. champion Cole Hocker may have been underrated heading into the Olympic 1,500m final. He had no issues shocking those in attendance on Tuesday.

Aug 7, 2024 by Cory Mull

U.S. Champion Cole Hocker Claims 1,500m Olympic Title With Outrageous Kick

In an Olympic 1,500m men's final that felt like it was destined for greatness on Tuesday inside Stade de France before 80,000 fans, the ultimate shock wasn't in how fast the championship ended up being but in who was the ultimate victor.

It was neither Jakob Ingebrigtsen nor Josh Kerr.

Instead, it was Cole Hocker, the U.S. champion who had finished sixth in the Olympic final in 2021.

It was Cole Hocker who capped off a brilliant race with one of the gutsiest kicks in modern history, winning the men's final in Paris in a new Olympic record of 3:27.65 by sprinting along the rail past the returning Olympic champion Ingebrigtsen and the reigning World champion Kerr.

"With 100 meters left, I knew I had enough," Hocker told reporters afterward in the mixed zone.

It was Hocker who shadowed the front pack for much of the distance, who felt the pace out in the first 400 meters and who throttled it home for an epic performance for the ages.

Hocker became the first American to win an Olympic gold at the distance since 2016, harkening back to Matthew Centrowitz's era. That performance was also the second-fastest recorded time for an American and for Hocker, it also was a major personal best. He chopped off over three seconds from his former top time of 3:30.70.

"On paper, maybe people would be surprised," Hocker said, "but you know based on my USA race, which was only 3:30, which in this era, that won't get it done in a championship. But the way I ran that gave me all the confidence that I was well under sub-3:30 shape."

Bernard Lagat set the American record in 2004 -- in a complicated bit of history -- clocking a time of 3:27.40.

Fellow American Yared Nuguse was third in 3:27.80, while Kerr was second in 3:27.79 by the slimmest of margins. Hobbs Kessler, the third American in the final, was fifth in 3:29.45. All three U.S. athletes hit personal record marks in the races and all entered the U.S. top 10 list, with the trio landing at No. 2, No. 3 and No. 5 all-time.

"Feeling a lot of feelings," Kessler said afterward in the mixed zone. "...if you told me I was going to get fifth, in like any other time of the year, but watching the medals be so close hurts naturally. But I'm super proud and super happy. I'm going to try to process these feelings at a later date."

It was the first time since 1912 that two American men have made the 1,500m podium.

Fate did not hand Ingebrigtsen a great result. The Norwegian was the odd man out, despite having led for all but 50 meters of the race.

The Norwegian impressed his pace out of the starting line and through the first 100 meters, clocking a fast first split of 54.9.

He was asked whether he regretted his tactics in the mixed zone.

"No," Ingebrigtsen said. "And yes, it's of course a tactical error I am not able to reduce my pace the first 800m. It's just a little too hard. I think I saw on the back straight with probably 650m to go that they were opening a little bit of a gap. I tried to respond by going a little too much on the gas. And it was 100 meters too much there."

He carried the race through the 800 meter point at 1:51.5, on record pace, and it was Ingebrigtsen who continued to fend off Kerr across that last lap. Over the course of the last lap, he looked over to Kerr once, twice, maybe even three times.

For much of the last frame, it looked like a battle of those two stars, the eternal rivals, who entered the Olympic final having raced -- and talked -- much of their storyline to death.

But in the end, it was Hocker who slipped past both of them.

Hocker -- who reunited with his college coach Ben Thomas in Virginia in the fall of 2023 to re-charge his training -- chipped away at the gap from 800 meters and put himself into position at the bell.

"My coach is so good at reigning it in," Hocker said, "and he said, 'We still have more work to do (after USAs).' I have so much trust in him where I was able to do that."

By the final curve, he negotiated his position on the rail and tried to move past the Norwegian.

That move didn't take first, but just a few meters later it did. Hocker's kick held off Kerr in the final stages, giving the American -- a former NCAA champion at 1,500m in 2021 -- his first Olympic gold.

Hocker, an Indianapolis native and former high school star, won a Foot Locker Nationals title in 2018. He scored two NCAA titles across his tenure at Oregon.

The U.S. Top 10 1,500m All-Time List

Time	Athlete	Date
3:27.40	Bernard Lagat	8/6/04
3:27.65	Cole Hocker	8/6/24
3:27.80	Yared Nuguse	8/6/24
3:29.30	Bernard Lagat	8/28/05
3:29.45	Hobbs Kessler	8/6/24
3:29.77	Sydney Maree	8/25/85
3:30.40	Matthew Centrowitz	7/17/15
3:30.54	Alan Webb	07/06/07
3:30.90	Andrew Wheating	7/22/10
3:30.98	Leo Manzano	7/18/14

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