Ezekiel Kemboi's decade-long dominance of global steeplechasing is over, and Evan Jager finally captured some hardware. Conseslus Kipruto ran 8:03.28 for a win and new Olympic record, Jager ran 8:04.28 for second (also under the old OR), and Kemboi staggered home in third.

It's the ninth straight Olympic steeple win for Kenya and the first American medal since 1984. 

​UPDATE: ​The results now have Kemboi DQ'd under 163.3b, which essentially means he ran inside the curve at the water jump at least once. It's a harsh way to go out for the GOAT, and means that France's Mahiedine Mekhissi Benabbad is upgraded to bronze. It's the fifth global medal for Benabbad, who won silver at the last two Olympics and bronze at the 2011 and 2013 world championships. Enjoy this photo of Kemboi and Benabbad in happier times; our original race recap continues below.


Kipruto hammered the pace early, going through 1000m in 2:41 (8:03 pace), with Jager right behind him and the rest of the field a meter back. But Kipruto slowed down a little bit after the 1K, and 3:36 into the race, Jager took over the lead and kept hammering. He towed the field through 2K in a slightly slower 5:25 (2:44 for that kilometer), but that was fast enough to drop the rest of the field.

With one lap to go, Jager, Kipruto, and Kemboi were well clear of the field, and the only question looked like the rest of the medals. (Though Jager knows after falling on the last barrier in Paris last summer that nothing is a lock at any point in a steeple.) For the last twelve years, if Ezekiel Kemboi was within striking distance on the last lap, he almost always trounced the field with an easy gold. Kemboi won the steeplechase at the 2012 Olympics and the 2004, 2009, 2011, 2013, and 2015 world championships. But not this morning.

Ezekiel Kemboi and Hicham El Guerrouj won their first Olympic gold medals on the same night.

— Nick Zaccardi (@nzaccardi) August 17, 2016

Kipruto and Kemboi passed Jager on the first hurdle of the last lap, and Kipruto dropped Kemboi and Jager shortly after. Jager stayed tucked in behind Kemboi while Kipruto telescoped away, opening up a gap much larger than his eventual 1.00 second margin of victory.

Kipruto--in a performance worthy of grabbing Kemboi's flamboyant throne--started celebrating right off the water jump. And Jager started kicking furiously. Kemboi was out of juice, Jager went around, and the steeplechase American record holder is now the best U.S. Olympian in the event since Horace Ashenfelter won gold in 1952.

Kemboi announced after the race that he's retiring. He's only the sixth-fastest steeplechaser ever, but indisputably the greatest steeplechaser of all time.

​Results:​
1. 8:03.28 Conseslus Kipruto (KEN) Olympic record
2. 8:04.28 Evan Jager (USA)
3. 8:08.47 Ezekiel Kemboi (KEN) DQ
4. 8:11.52 Mahiedine Mekhissi (FRA)
8. 8:22.74 Hillary Bor (USA)
9. 8:25.81 Donn Cabral (USA)

Jager and Cabral were sixth and eighth at the last Olympics. The silver medal continues an unbelievably hot Olympics for American distance running. In events 800m and longer, the U.S. won two medals at the 2012 Olympics, four at the 2013 world championship, and one at the 2015 world championship. This is the fourth American distance medal of the Olympics. Men still have the 1500m, 5K, and marathon to run while women still have the 800m and 5K finals remaining.

It's the second straight global championship with a major medal for Jerry Schumacher's Bowerman Track Club after Emily Infeld took bronze in the 10K at worlds last summer.

Check out full 100m splits from the race:



And watch our deep dive on how Jager went from eighth at NCAAs as a freshman to one of the best steeplechasers in the world: