American Cole Hocker pulls off Olympic stunner for the ages in the 1,500 meters

PARIS — Three years ago, an international track and field statistics manual spelled Cole Hocker’s last name Hooker.

The world knows his name now.

Hocker won what was billed as the race for the ages Tuesday, the most anticipated event in the 11-day Olympic track meet at Stade de France, the men’s 1,500-meter final that would settle once and for all the trash-talking rivalry between reigning gold medalist Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway and reigning world champion Josh Kerr of Great Britain.

Two days earlier, Hocker landed in the same semifinal heat as the event’s two giants, and both beat him again — making him 0-7 lifetime against them. But he hung with a blistering pace and skipped into the media interview area talking about how it gave him the final piece of confidence, a moment of unsubstantiated bravado largely dismissed by those who heard it.

“We’ve seen everything happen in the Olympics, and I’m not writing myself out of that gold medal quite yet,” Hocker said. “You have to beat 11 guys in the final. Anyone who wants to win gold here has to do the same thing.”

Darned if he didn’t call it.

Hocker burst through an opening on the rail left by Ingebrigtsen, either out of sloppy race management or sheer disrespect, to record the most improbable victory of this meet, and maybe these entire Olympics.

His time of 3 minutes, 27.65 seconds is an Olympic record and a personal best by a guy who had never cracked 3:30. Kerr needed to out-lean American Yared Nuguse for the silver by one-hundredth of a second, but that still meant a pair of U.S. medals in track’s iconic middle distance race for the first time since, gulp, 1912.

It is the second 1,500 gold by an American man in the last three Olympics, but the other was from Matthew Centrowitz in 2016 in 3:50.00, a bizarre race in which the finalists jogged around the track until a mad dash for the line and had the slowest winning time since 1932.

The first lap that night was 66.83. Tuesday, Ingebrigtsen took it out in 54.82.

That was expected, since Kerr has a better kick and the Norwegian wanted to take the sting out of his legs with a blistering pace. What wasn’t expected was he would take it out that fast.

“It was at least two seconds too fast,” said Ingebrigtsen, who was fourth and, incredibly, off the podium. “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.

“I can only blame myself. It’s a difficult game, balancing your energy.”

Kerr knew it was coming and went with him.

“Just expect one of the most vicious, hardest 1,500 meters that the sport has seen in a very long time,” he had predicted after Sunday’s semifinals.

Hocker went with him, too. So did Nuguse and Hobbs Kessler in the first Olympic 1,500 final with three U.S. runners since 1968.

Hocker was in fifth at the bell lap, 10 meters back of the charging Ingebrigtsen. He surged with 300 meters to go and moved into third, then pulled alongside Ingebrigtsen with 100 to go.

Then faded.

Then, somehow, somewhere, summoned reserves he probably didn’t know he had, extending his arms wide as he crossed the line first.

“I kind of told myself that I’m in this race, too,” Hocker said. “If they let me fly under the radar, then so be it. ... I’m still searching for the words to describe that moment, but every part of me knew this was the Olympic final. I knew what I had left and I kind of knew I was going to get a medal.

“It was, ‘Let’s get silver,’ then ‘Let’s get gold,’ and with 10 meters to go I felt like I knew I had gold — insane. I feel like I’ve lived that scenario a lot of times in real life, racing people and trying to kick people down, and this time it just happened to be the Olympic final. I’m still trying to figure out how to comprehend that.”

So is everyone else.

As Hocker and his man bun celebrated, the incredulous British commentator on EuroSport TV screamed: “The upset of upsets has happened. Oh my word, the king is dead. The prince is now king. Hocker was one of those pretenders behind. He is one of the most unexpected champions. ... Jakob Ingebrigtsen beaten, but not by the man that was expected, not by Josh Kerr. That was astonishing.”

Hocker had a distinguished prep career in Indianapolis and won the Foot Locker National Cross Country Championships in San Diego on Balboa Park’s Morley Field course in 2018. He went to Oregon, then was sidetracked by the pandemic. He made the Olympic team three years ago and at 19 became the youngest American finalist in a half-century.

Still, he finished sixth. He was seventh at last year’s World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, watching Kerr and Ingebrigtsen battle ahead of him in an epic race despite clocking a personal-best 3:30.70.

Now, 3:27.65. Now, the Olympic record. Now, the gold medal.

Kerr’s time of 3:27.79 broke the British record ... and was only good enough for silver.

“The fastest that I’ve ever run by almost two seconds,” he said. “It wasn’t enough today. That’s sport. I’m very proud of myself and my preparation coming in. I left no stones unturned and that’s the result today.”