Superstar Ingebrigtsen goes completely blank in the rage duel
Norway's running star Jakob Ingebrigtsen surprisingly goes medal-less over 1500 meters, three years after his gold in Tokyo. The 23-year-old dictates the race for a long time, but in the end, American Cole Hocker unexpectedly wins in Olympic record time.
In a twist of fate, Cole Hocker stole the show from Norway's wonder runner Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Britain's Josh Kerr, securing an unexpected Olympic gold medal in the 1500 meters. The American won the dramatic final in an Olympic record time of 3:27.65 minutes. Kerr (3:27.79) settled for the silver medal, while Tokyo Olympic champion Ingebrigtsen (3:28.24) had to settle for fourth place behind Hocker's teammate Yared Nuguse (3:27.80) in a spectacular race.
Initially, all eyes were on the duel between the superstars Ingebrigtsen and Kerr. European champion Ingebrigtsen, who missed out on his first World Championship title over 1500 meters against Kerr last year in Budapest, and his rival have exchanged verbal jabs in the past. Ingebrigtsen once accused Kerr of avoiding competitions, including direct duels with him. For instance, the World Championship winner missed the European Championships in Rome in July.
Kerr aimed to respond on the track in Paris. In the semi-finals, both met and nearly crossed the finish line simultaneously, locking eyes on the final 20 meters. In the race for gold, Ingebrigtsen, who initially targeted a gold double over 1500 and 5000 meters in Paris, confidently took the lead and maintained a high pace. Around 250 meters before the finish, Kerr attacked and dared to hope for gold. However, Hocker had the best final sprint.
Leipzig's Robert Farken narrowly missed the final, falling short by just 32 hundredths of a second. The second German starter, Marius Probst, was eliminated in the repechage.
Despite Ingebrigtsen's initial dominance and fast-paced race, the field of Athletics at the Olympics was unpredictable. Kerr's determination to respond to past verbal exchanges with Ingebrigtsen resulted in a close finish, but it was Hocker who outperformed them all, securing a victory in Athletics' 1500 meters event.
