Cole Hocker Pulls Shocker in 1500m Winning Gold, Yared Nuguse Charges To Bronze In A Race For the Ages

With an explosive and scintillating final 100-meter kick surging along the inside of the track, Cole Hocker both overtook and upset race favorite Jakob Ingebrigtsen to win 1500-meter gold.

The 23-year-old middle distance runner defied experts and odds, while also breaking the heavily favored Norwegian star’s Olympic record, clocking a sizzling personal best time of 3:27.65.

Hocker’s U.S. teammate, Yared Nuguse, stormed down the homestretch nearby, nearly overtaking Josh Kerr at the line, in what was photo finish for second. ‘The Goose’ as Nuguse is affectionately referred, secured bronze, just .01 behind his British opponent. The 25-year-old with Ethiopian roots ran a personal best time of 3:27.80, just .15 seconds behind his U.S. teammate Hocker.

The 23-year-old Hocker – who finished sixth in the men’s 1500m at Tokyo 2020 – elaborated upon his golden execution, that resulted in the greatest victory of his running career.

“With 100-meters to go, I knew I had enough – I saw Jakob and I felt like he was thinking about Kerr and started drifting out and I thought I’d take advantage of that, and punch that inside as I’ve been able to do a couple of times in my career,” Hocker explained.

“He is a smart enough racer that he closed that down immediately. I stopped myself, gathered my momentum and I attacked again. I knew I had it at that point,” said the Indiana runner, who competed at the University of Oregon. “It was just incredible.”

Hocker defeated Kerr by 0.14 seconds to triumph in a race for the ages. Ingebrigtsen, who led a fast pace for much of the race, fell back in the sprint to the line and shockingly finished fourth. The defending Olympic champion from Norway, failed to medal.

“Everybody was ready for a fast race in this era of the 1500 – but the first 400 was still jarring. There’s no messing around. I told myself don’t be soft – you’re going to regret this for the rest of your life, if you don’t go for it,” he said. “With 150 to go, I’ve never heard a crowd like that and just went for it.”

It was a riveting, edge-of-your seat showdown at the Stade de France, under perfect racing conditions, on Tuesday night in Paris. It was arguably the greatest U.S. Olympic 1500m final, since American runners swept the medals way back when at the Olympic Games St. Louis 1904.

Nuguse – who missed competing at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, sidelined by injury – expressed his elation.

“It’s so amazing – I really wanted this race to be a really fun and exciting experience, so to have that and to share it with Cole is so huge for American distance running,” Nuguse said.

“We know how deep the 1500 is now, but we really believed in ourselves and to come away with it with Cole is so crazy. That finish was like peak, peak fun.”.

Team USA wasn’t too far off a gold, silver and bronze medals sweep as 21-year-old Hobbs Kessler surged to fifth place, in a personal best time of 3:29.45, just 1.80 seconds behind the gold medalist Hocker.

The pair of 1,500m medals by Hocker and Nuguse on the Stade de France purple track – along with Grant Fisher’s bronze medal in the men’s 10,000m – are quickly thrusting U.S. distance running into the worldwide spotlight. Perhaps they’re even giving the dominant U.S. sprinters a run for their money, on a night in which Gabby Thomas blazed to gold in the women’s 200m.

Nuguse was lightly kidded, albeit complimented by Team USA, about chasing the U.S. Track and Field team’s sprinting superstars medal count.

“I don’t think we’ll ever really overtake them, but we’re holding our own, holding our weight, “Nuguse said, with a laugh. “I think a gold medal in the 1500 is huge and I’m loving contributing to the overall medal count.”

Suffice to say, Hocker won’t ever be considered a pre-race underdog again.  

“I wanted to show people what I’m capable of,” he said. “I just kept on hammering. I had another gear.”

He certainly did.