sports

American Cole Hocker stuns favorites, wins Olympic gold in 1,500


SAINT-DENIS, France — American Cole Hocker pulled the upset of the Olympic track meet Tuesday night, outracing favorites Jakob Ingebrigsten and Josh Kerr to the finish line in the 1,500 meters.

Hocker won the race in an Olympic-record 3 minutes 27.65 seconds, pulling from fifth to first over the final 300 meters to beat his personal best by more than 3 seconds.

He beat Kerr by .14 seconds, while Ingebrigsten, who set the pace through the first 1200 meters, ended up in fourth behind American Yared Nuguse.

Hocker is Team USA’s first gold medalist in the event since Matthew Centrowitz in 2016, and it was the first time since 1912 that the Americans placed two runners on the 1,500-meter medals podium.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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