Josh Kerr wins silver medal with American Cole Hocker stunning the Briton and favourite Jakob Ingebrigtsen to win gold in sensational men's 1500m final at the Paris Olympics
Tuesday 6 August 2024 22:11, UK
Josh Kerr took silver in the men's 1500m at the Paris Olympics with American Cole Hocker stunning the Brit and favourite Jakob Ingebrigtsen to win gold.
Hocker pulled the upset of the Olympics, outracing Kerr and Ingebrigsten to the finish line.
The Stade de France final was billed as the showdown of the century between the world champion Scotsman and his arch nemesis Ingebrigtsen, the Tokyo 2020 gold medallist.
The Norwegian quickly saw himself in front and held the lead into the final lap, when Kerr made his move along the back straight.
Just as it looked like Great Britain might have their second gold medal on the track, Hocker surged forward to snatch the title away as American Yared Nuguse claimed bronze, with Ingebrigtsen fourth.
The 23-year-old American won the race in an Olympic record 3:27.65, pulling from fifth to first over the final 300m to beat his personal best by more than three seconds.
He edged ahead of Kerr - who ran his fastest time ever with a new national record of 3:27.79, while Ingebrigsten, who set the pace through the first 1200m, ended up in fourth behind American Yared Nuguse.
Kerr told BBC Sport: "I can't walk away from the championship disappointed. Obviously, I said what my goals were, it was pretty obvious.
"But I've put a performance out there today that I was extremely proud of. I focused on my controllables, I ran the fastest and best 1500m I've ever done in my life and so when you start worrying about what everyone else does from the results, then 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."
Ingebrigtsen said: "My plan was to win. It didn't go according to plan. But I felt very strong the first couple of laps.
"I had difficulty telling the pace because it was quite fast. But it was difficult to slow down and reduce myself a little bit.
"I saw I was starting to get a little bit of a gap and I kept on pushing but it was just 100 metres 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.
"At 1500m the pace is so fast the whole race, especially with me opening so strong. You can't really tell 100 per cent when you're hitting the wall before you hit it - it just a little bit too early today."
Dina Asher-Smith and Daryll Neita were unable to break into the medals for the women's 200m final as they were forced to settle for fourth and fifth respectively.
Gabby Thomas of the United States won gold, with 100m champion Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia settling for silver this time and American Brittany Brown pipping the two Brits in claiming bronze.
Matthew Hudson-Smith booked his place in Wednesday night's 400m final with a dominant semi-final performance at Stade de France.
The Wolverhampton athlete immediately started chasing down his challengers, and was ahead by a few metres at the final stretch.
He flew towards the finish in 44.07 seconds before seeming to slow down as he approached, and pumped his fist after getting the job done.
It is a second Olympic final for the 29-year-old, who finished last at the Rio 2016 Games and missed Tokyo 2020 due to injury.
He claimed his first major medal with world bronze in 2022, then upgraded to silver at last year's World Championships in Budapest.
Charlie Dobson, the other Briton in the mix, was unable to progress from the first semi-final.
The 24-year-old at one point held the lead as the men entered the back stretch before dropping back, digging deep to claw back to see himself across the line fourth in 44.48.
Laviai Nielsen's Olympics came to an end in heart-breaking fashion after falling at the final hurdle in her 400 metres hurdles semi-final.
The 28-year-old was in with an outside shot of booking an automatic place with a top-two finish, locked in a late battle for third with before ruling herself out.
Nielsen was part of the 4x400m mixed relay team who won bronze for Great Britain on Saturday.
The evening session kicked off with a medal presentation ceremony for Monday night's medallists, including British 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson.
The Atherton athlete, who was presented her gold medal by World Athletics president and two-time Olympic champion Lord Coe, shed a tear on the podium as 'God Save the King' played.
Bahrain's Winfred Yavi won the women's Olympic 3,000m steeplechase gold medal.
Uganda's Peruth Chemutai took silver and Kenya's Faith Cherotich claimed bronze with Britain's Lizzie Bird finishing seventh.
Jacob Fincham-Dukes finished fifth in the long jump in his maiden Olympic final with Greece's Miltiadis Tentoglou winning gold, Jamaican Wayne Pinnock taking silver and Italy's Mattia Furlani claiming bronze.
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