Unfortunately, it wasn’t much of a surprise that the US men’s 4 x 100 relay ended with a botched baton exchange. The men’s 1500 final did have a surprise: the US unexpectedly won!

Cole Hocker of the US wins the 1500.

Here’s how the race set up as described in The Final-Lap Frenzy That Delivered a Shocking U.S. 1,500 Meter Gold in the Wall Street Journal, August 6, 2024:

SAINT DENIS, France—Months of bluster and braggadocio had set up a heavyweight fight in Tuesday night’s 1,500-meter final. 

On one side, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the pretty boy Norwegian whose family is athletic royalty. On the other, Josh Kerr, a swashbuckling Scotsman whose mouth may be the only thing that runs faster than his feet. 

The rivals have been locked in a battle for “metric mile” supremacy since the previous Olympics in Tokyo. So as they raced side by side at the Paris Games, they jostled for position, and watched each other’s every move.

What they didn’t see coming was a man-bunned American named Cole Hocker stealing into the lead.

In a shocking come-from-behind victory at the Stade de France, Hocker surged to victory in the home stretch to become only the second American runner to take the Olympic 1,500 meter title since 1908. Kerr finished second as Hocker’s teammate, Yared Nuguse, took the bronze medal.

You can watch the race in its entirety here. The Norwegian is in white and leads most of the way; the Scot is in black.

The “pretty boy Norwegian” came in fourth!

Ben-hadad sent to him and said, “The gods do so to me and more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people who follow me.” And the king of Israel answered, “Tell him, ‘Let not him who straps on his armor boast himself as he who takes it off.’” (1 Kings 20.10 – 11, ESV)