It’s the kind of race that will be spoken about by enthusiasts of men’s middle-distance running – especially American ones – for years to come.
USA’s Cole Hocker won the men’s 1500m – in an Olympic record, no less – to push world champion Josh Kerr to silver while Hocker’s teammate Yared Nuguse claimed bronze in what will go down as one of the biggest upsets of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Defending champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen missing the podium was perhaps a bigger surprise than Hocker winning the title.
All four other finals on Tuesday (6 August) largely went to form as world leader Gabby Thomas won the women’s 200m, and world champions Winfred Yavi (steeplechase), Camryn Rogers (hammer) and Miltiadis Tentoglou (long jump) added more gold to their medal collection.
Ingebrigtsen led the 1500m from the outset, setting a brisk pace that no one would be able to stick to. Or at least that’s what he hoped. It didn’t quite play out that way, though, as Kenya’s Brian Komen tracked him for the first few laps, closely followed by Kerr.
When Ingebrigtsen started his big kick on the final lap, Kerr and the US trio – Hocker, Nuguse and Hobbs Kessler – were all still close to the Norwegian. Kerr started to close on the final bend, but Hocker was gaining momentum on the pair and eventually passed them half way down the home straight.
Hocker forged ahead to win in a lifetime best of 3:27.65 while Kerr took silver with a British record of 3:27.79. Nuguse set a PB of 3:27.80 for bronze while Ingebrigtsen clocked 3:28.24 in fourth.
While the men’s 1500m was full of surprises, the women’s 200m was less shocking as USA’s Gabby Thomas lived up to her pre-event favourite status to take gold in 21.83.
She came off the bend level with 100m champion Julien Alfred and Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith, but then pulled clear in the home straight to win by a couple of metres. Alfred took silver – doubling St Lucia’s all-time Olympic medal count – in 22.07, while USA’s Brittany Brown came through for bronze in 22.20.
The opening pace in the women’s 3000m steeplechase was swift, with world record-holder Beatrice Chepkoech leading the field through 1000m in 2:55.1. The next kilometre was covered in a more casual 3:02.5 with six women – including Yavi, Chepkoech and defending champion Peruth Chemutai – forming a breakaway lead pack.
Chemutai started to kick on the final lap but couldn’t shake off the challenge of Bahrain’s Yavi, who kicked into the lead with 100 metres to go and won in an Olympic record of 8:52.76. Chemutai claimed silver in a Ugandan record of 8:53.34 and Kenya’s Faith Cherotich came through for bronze (8:55.15).
For a while in the women’s hammer, it looked as though another reigning world champion and pre-event favourite would be upstaged by a US champion, as had happened in the men’s 1500m. But Canada’s Camryn Rogers came through to win gold with her fifth-round throw of 76.97m.
In the first two rounds, it was China’s Zhao Jie who posed the biggest threat as she took the lead in round two with 74.27m. Rogers responded with 74.47m, but then USA’s Annette Echikunwoke sent her hammer out to 75.48m to leapfrog Rogers and Zhao.
Rogers came close to that with 75.44m in round four, but she then produced her winning throw in round five. Echikunwoke and Zhao held on to silver and bronze respectively, while three-time Olympic champion Anita Wlodarczyk came within four centimetres of the podium, placing fourth with 74.23m.
In an event that went largely to the form book, Greece’s Miltiadis Tentoglou successfully defended his long jump title.
Italian teenager Mattia Furlani took an early lead with 8.34m, but Tentoglou hit back in round two, leaping 8.48m – a mark that eventually stood up as the winner. Jamaica’s Wayne Pinnock bumped Furlani out of the silver medal position with his second-round leap of 8.36m.
The 400m hurdles showdown between defending Olympic champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and world champion Femke Bol is very much on, after both women won their semifinal races.
McLaughlin-Levrone cruised to an easy looking 52.13 – the fastest time ever recorded in a semifinal at any championships. The only performances quicker than that achieved at an Olympics were the three medal-winning runs at the last Games in Tokyo.
The world record-holder finished almost two seconds ahead of France’s Louise Maraval, much to the delight of the home crowd.
Moments later, Bol won her heat in 52.57. USA’s Anna Cockrell (52.90) and Jamaica’s Shiann Salmon (53.13) finished relatively close behind, but European record-holder Bol still looked as though she had more in the tank.
Jamaica’s Rushell Clayton won the first semifinal in 53.00. Canada’s Savannah Sutherland and USA’s Jasmine Jones are the other qualifiers.
Kirani James won 400m gold at his first Olympics in 2012, then took silver in 2016 followed by bronze in Tokyo three years ago. It now looks as though the Grenadian sprinter could start that cycle all over again after winning his semifinal in 43.78 – just 0.04 shy of the lifetime best he set 10 years ago.
Remarkably, it came 12 years to the day of his first ever sub-44 run, which he produced to win Olympic gold in 2012.
But USA’s Quincy Hall (43.95) and Britain’s Matt Hudson-Smith (44.07) looked just as impressive when winning their respective semifinals. Commonwealth champion Muzala Samukonga finished a close second to James, clocking a Zambian record of 43.81. USA’s 2022 world champion Michael Norman also advanced by right.
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics
