Kerr wins battle but loses war as Hocker rips up script

It was an astonishing end to perhaps the most enthralling 1500m final in Olympic history.

- JACK RATHBORN

The build-up had been dominated by Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Josh Kerr’s bitter rivalry, yet all the focus was misjudged because now there is a new king.

Cole Hocker sneaked up on the inside in lane one just as Kerr had breezed past the Norwegian favourite. The American snatched gold, beating his personal best by three seconds, in a sizzling Games record of 3min 27.65sec. And it was all down to an injection of raw speed: 39.6 seconds for the final 300m.

Indeed, this was a race for the ages and you did not know where to look with daring candidates throughout a stacked field now littered with four new national records and three more personal bests.

Kerr, who would settle for silver, upgrading his bronze from Tokyo, beat out American Yared Nuguse by one-hundredth of a second. He had promised a vicious battle on the lilac of the Stade de France, and so it proved. This was the shock of the Games. But which shock?

Hocker underlined his credentials at the US trials, beating Nuguse, so there were signs. But an even greater surprise came just six-tenths of a second later: Ingebrigtsen left off the podium altogether and down in fourth.

There was a grimace from Kerr as he crossed the line, but he ran the race of his life, timing his kick superbly with 200m to go and hitting the front in the final 100m. A new national record of 3mins 27.79secs, ending Mo Farah’s long-standing best, yet this was a cruel twist with barely a few meters remaining.