Yahoo Sports Alpha males Josh Kerr and Jakob Ingebrigtsen royally upstaged by a member of the chorus line
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After all the trash-talking, all the needling, all the obsessive treatment of a 1500m race as a duel to the death, the two leading men forgot to consider the supporting cast.
In perhaps the greatest Olympic final ever staged at this distance, Josh Kerr won his own deeply personal battle with Jakob Ingebrigtsen but lost the war, denied the ultimate prize by a hard-charging Cole Hocker. The American, who took over three seconds off his personal best to seize a shock gold, did not so much rewrite the script as rip it into a million pieces.
For months, Ingebrigtsen and Kerr had hyped themselves up as the Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier of their event, ready to produce their own Fight of the Century over 3¾ laps. Each swaggered out of the tunnel and into the sultry Paris night, gurning for the cameras as if on a ringwalk. But in their fanatical man-marking, in the sheer bitterness of their mutual antagonism, they seemed to forget about the wider picture. And just when Kerr pounced on Ingebrigtsen’s botched tactics to launch his attack, Hocker swept past them both to break the Olympic record.
WOW!! 🤯
USA's Cole Hocker just shredded the script! He's taken gold with GB's Josh Kerr in silver. Jakob Ingebrigtsen dropped to fourth!#BBCOlympics #Olympics #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/TgAigLmcD0— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) August 6, 2024
It was a spectacle that deserved capturing for posterity. Until this final, only six men in history had broken the 3min 28sec barrier. None of the three medallists at Stade de France had done so, with Kerr sandwiched between the US duo of Hocker and Yared Nuguse, a podium nobody had seen coming. For Ingebrigtsen, the outstanding favourite on the start line, the anguish could only be guessed at. The Norwegian had set off with the sole aim of ruining Kerr but wound up only ruining himself.
In one sense, it was difficult to be too harsh on Kerr. The Scot ran faster than all the British titans who had come before, from Sebastian Coe to Steve Ovett to Steve Cram, and discovered that a national record was sufficient only for silver. But in another, this was a salutary lesson in the risks of treating middle-distance running purely as a personality contest. It might have been in vogue in the Eighties, when the country was cleaved in two depending on your loyalties to Coe or Ovett, but the breathless build-up benefited neither Kerr nor Ingebrigtsen here. Ultimately, the two alphas were royally upstaged by a member of the chorus line.
Kerr was wreathed in smiles at the end, as if trying to soothe the pain of Hocker’s surprise move with the knowledge that at least Ingebrigtsen had not beaten him. You wonder, though, if it is productive for him to keep viewing his career through the prism of a single rancorous rivalry. Each time his nemesis baits him, he hits back with interest. But the 1500m is not some boxing-style virility test. It is the subtlest game of strategy, determined by track positioning and carefully timed changes of pace. Hocker, sensing this only too well, outsmarted the headliners, slingshotting past Kerr with an audacious flourish.
“My ears are gone, my legs are gone,” reflected Kerr, second by 14 hundredths in 3min 27.79sec, a lifetime best by over a second. “I’m proud of the performance I put out there. I ran the best and the fastest tactical 1500m I have ever done. I can’t walk away from a championship disappointed. It’s obviously not the colour of medal I want, but it is working towards it, from bronze in Tokyo to silver now. I’m 26 years old, this road is not over. It makes me hungry for more.”
It was Coe who had billed this as a “race for the ages”, and it justified every ounce of hype. Ingebrigtsen, true to habit, dashed to the front, seeking to act as his own pacemaker while exhausting the chasing pack. On paper, it was an astute calculation: he was the quickest in this stacked field by daylight, having run 3min 26.73sec in Monaco last month. But his greatest strength can also be his fatal flaw. The 23-year-old is a time-triallist rather than a master strategist, and for the third successive global championships he misjudged the plan horribly. Having been vanquished by both Kerr and Jake Wightman at world championships, he saw his chance of being the first man since Coe to win back-to-back Olympic 1500m crowns vanish in the frantic denouement.
With an opening lap of 54.8, it looked briefly as if a world record was not out of the question. But as Kerr, Nuguse and Kenya’s Timothy Cheruiyot massed in his wake, Ingebrigtsen’s composure evaporated. Kerr accelerated past, in a mirror image of the trap he had sprung in Budapest last year, but this time he had Hocker for company. The man from Indiana bided his time, hugged the inside line, and was clearly the freshest of everybody over those desperate last strides.
“This wasn’t the result I wanted,” Ingebrigtsen lamented. “I felt very strong over the first couple of laps, and that’s why I had difficulty calculating the pace, because it was quite fast. It was difficult to slow down and contain myself a little. I was starting to get a gap, so I kept on pushing but it was just 100m too long. It’s not always easy to spend your energy wisely.”
You wonder, frankly, about the wisdom of a few of his decisions leading into this, the defining examination of his young life. Preoccupied with belittling Kerr as the “athlete who never competes”, he became oblivious to just how many threats lurked behind. For all Kerr’s optimistic tone in the aftermath, Ingebrigtsen does not have the luxury of any glass-half-full thinking. Never mind a 1500m gold medal, he finished the night wearing only a thousand-yard stare.
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Kerr takes silver behind shock champion Hocker: As it happened
09:07 PM BST
How Hocker spoiled the party to take gold
08:25 PM BST
Ingebrigtsen getting a bit of a roasting in the Norwegian press
Well, at least from national tabloid Dagbladet who described it as a ‘total fiasko’. You do not need to speak Norwegian to know what that means.
08:20 PM BST
Thom Gibbs’ verdict from the stadium
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08:19 PM BST
More from Kerr on the race and Ingebrigtsen’s tactics
I knew we had to weather a storm early, keep calm and make sure we were staying emotionally as locked in as we could and then at 600 to go I felt like I had a lot left. Coming round the last bend I obviously got pushed out a little bit and had to work hard, obviously was able to come round him but there’s a lot of running left at that point, it’s so difficult to keep track of everything that’s going on in the last hundred or so.
The result is what the result is but super proud of the way I executed today. I am secure in myself as a medallist every time I come to these championships every time bar one in the last four years, I have been consistent at this level and I will get he medal I want when it comes to it at the end of my career but today wasn’t that day but it’s a heck of a step in the right direction.
08:19 PM BST
Kerr reacts to a silver medal
I can’t walk away from a championship disappointed. I said what my goals were, it was pretty obvious. I put a performance out there today that I was extremely proud of. I focused on my controllables. I run the fastest and best tactical 1500m I have done in my life so when you start worrying about what everyone else does from the results you’ll never be satisfied. It’s obviously not the colour of medal I want but it’s working towards the right colour from bronze to silver.
I’m 26 years old, this road is not over. I really wanted it today... and obviously I didn’t get it so there’s going to be that part of me that’s eager and ready for that next one. I’m really, really proud of the way I executed that today. That is just going to have to be enough for just now. It makes me hungry and ready for me, I am just glad I was able to add another tally to the medal count for Team GB today.
08:17 PM BST
Cole Hocker is the Olympic champion
08:06 PM BST
Ingebrigtsen speaks
My plan was to win. It didn’t go according to plan, I felt strong the first coiple of laps and that’s why I had difficulty telling the pace because it was quite fast. It was difficult to slow down and reduce myself a bit. I kept on pushing but it was just 100m too long today.
The guys behind me finishing in front of me did a great race. It’s not always easy to spend your energy wisely but I felt strong and not the result I wanted, but yeah. A 1500m the pace is so fast the whole race, especially with me opening so fast you can’t really tell 100 per cent you’re hitting the wall when you’re hitting it. It was just a little bit too early today.
08:02 PM BST
Ingebrigtsen went hard there
Too hard, in the end. And did not have enough. Wonder if that is helping how Kerr feels. In fairness, he looks delighted and fair enough. Well done.
07:58 PM BST
Kerr is draped in the Union flag
His bronze from Tokyo is bettered by silver here but he wanted gold here. He doesn’t look too upset with silver and, in fairness a personal best and a British record is all you can ask for. Still, I am sure he will be a little upset...
07:57 PM BST
It’s an Olympic record for Cole Hocker!
Silver is confirmed for Josh Kerr who ran a national record. You cannot ask for much more than that.
Ingebrigtsen does not even get a medal... it’s Yarad Nuguse from the United States who gets bronze. But was only 0.01sec behind Kerr.
07:55 PM BST
JOSH KERR TAKES SILVER!
Ingebrigtsen slows up and Kerr looks good heading into the final 50m or so but it’s Cole Hocker from the United States who is there to pounce on Kerr in the final 15 metres or so! Does Kerr even get silver or is it bronze?
07:53 PM BST
FINAL LAP
Ingebrigtsen has slowed a bit? He has. Kerr is closing him in and looks to be the fitter man right now... as they enter the final bend Kerr is right over the Norwegian’s shoulder!
07:53 PM BST
2 laps to go
It’s a quick pace with Ingebrigtsen leading the way from Cheruiyot now as the Norwegian stretches his lead at the front. The Kenyan tries to go with him. This is a rapid pace. Kerr in third, still within touching distance, just about
07:52 PM BST
3 laps to go
Ingebrigsten leads the way with Kerr in third. 54.8 for the first lap... the two Kenyans up there too in the top four.
07:51 PM BST
Here we go!
We’re off in Paris and Kerr hits the front straight away. Ingebrigsten is a bit further back initially before bursting to the front...
07:48 PM BST
The walk-ons (are they called that?) are beginning at the Stade de France
Kerr comes out with his customary glasses on, followed by Ingebrigtsen.
07:48 PM BST
The last man to win 1500m gold for Great Britain at the Olympics
07:36 PM BST
Kerr: “I’m gonna be myself and people can take that as they want”
“For me, I am not too worried about people’s perceptions of me. I believe that I am currently the best 1500m runner in the world and I think he believes he’s the best 1500m in the world. People are excited about talking about that rivalry and I am not going to shy away from it. The goal of being an Olympic champion is an addiction... I know I can handle the pressure.”
07:31 PM BST
A bit of an image transformation for the Norwegian in the last five years
Fair enough, really.
07:19 PM BST
Current medal table
Great Britain have just won silver in the men’s team sprint in the velodrome.
Can Kerr claim gold to give Team GB a push for third in the medal table?
07:10 PM BST
Read: Josh Kerr versus Jakob Ingebrigtsen has become athletics’ hottest rivalry
There is an animosity between the two middle-distance runners with the Norwegian describing his rival as ‘the Brit who never competes’.
Read Jeremy Wilson’s full feature here.
06:59 PM BST
Watch: What happened in the Kerr/Ingebrigtsen semi-final
Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen takes the win in the 1500m semi-finals 💪
Team GB's Josh Kerr calmly cruises home in second 🇬🇧#BBCOlympics #Olympics #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/N45HrQmwog— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) August 4, 2024
06:57 PM BST
Men’s 1500m start list and qualification times
Yarad Nuguse, United States - 3min 31.72sec
Hobbs Kessler, United States - 3min 31.97sec
Neil Gourley, Great Britain - 3min 32.11sec
Niels Laros, Netherlands - 3min 32.22sec
Timothy Cheruiyot, Kenya - 3min 32.30sec
Narve Gilje Nordaas, Norway - 3min 32.34sec
Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Norway - 3min 32.38sec
Josh Kerr, Great Britain - 3min 32.46sec
Cole Hocker, United States - 3min 32.54sec
Brian Komen, Kenya - 3min 32.57sec
Pietro Arese, Italy - 3min 33.03sec
So, two Britons, two Norwegians, two Kenyans, three Americans and a lone Italian and Dutch respectively.
04:13 PM BST
Good evening
Welcome to our coverage for tonight’s men’s 1500m final from the Stade de France in Paris. It is always difficult to pick out a single showpiece event when it comes to the Olympic athletics programme (though the men’s 100m is the obvious one) because there are so many potential options. As far as rivalries on the track go, however, this event has to be up there.
Josh Kerr of Great Britain and Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway are not only the two favourites for the race but are also bitter rivals, with the pair duelling on track and engaging in a war of words off it in recent times. Sebastian Coe described the relationship as “probably not a friendship made in heaven”.
Kerr has not run in many events this year which has led his Norwegian rival to label him “the Brit that never competes”. Kerr, though, has said it will be a vicous and hard event as he aims to become the first British man to claim gold in this event since Lord Coe in 1984. In fact, Ingebrigtsen will be aiming to become the first man to defend the gold medal since Coe the very same year.
Of the event in which Kerr won a bronze in 2020 to Ingebrigtsen’s gold in Tokyo, Kerr declared: “They should be expecting one of the most vicious and hardest 1500 metres this sport has seen for a very long time.
“I am ready to go after it. I think we all are. There has been a lot of talk and words over the last 12 months, even two years. I am looking to settle that on Tuesday and give it my best performance.
“This is my fifth major championship final. I don’t miss these because I am good at what I do. I will show that in the final. I have been picturing this for my whole life. It is going to be another day in the office for me. I will put on a performance in front of millions of people. And give our sport the best crowd experience - that’s my job.
“Jakob will try to win, I will try to win, and we will see who wins.”
The event gets under way at 7.50pm BST and we will be here for the build-up, live updates and reaction.
