The race was billed as a bar brawl between the two baddest 1,500-meter runners in the world.
Nobody figured the little-known American guy would sneak up on both of them, steal the show and take the Olympic gold medal with him.
Cole Hocker threw a jolt into track Tuesday night, first catching up to -- then slipping his way past -- fierce rivals Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Josh Kerr to pull the upset of the Games with an unexpected victory in a much-hyped showdown that wasn't supposed to involve him.
"I think I surprised a lot of people. Didn’t’ surprise myself as much, but still a little bit," Hocker said. "There were so many people that texted me and were praying for me, I felt the power of the stadium carry me through the finish. It was the loudest stadium I ever heard."
Hocker bettered his personal best by nearly three seconds to win in an Olympic-record 3 minutes, 27.65 seconds.
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“If you’ve been following my season, you knew I was capable of it,” Hocker said. “But still, things had to go my way today.”
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Taking advantage of a blistering early pace set by Ingebrigtsen, the 23-year-old product of University of Oregon pulled from fifth, to third, then finally to first, over the final 300 meters to pass the gassed-out favorites.
This was supposed to be all about a chance for the defending Olympic champion (Ingebrigtsen) and the reigning world champion (Kerr) to finally settle a feud that's been brewing for over a year. Kerr said the race would be "one of the most vicious and hardest 1,500s the sport’s seen in a very long time.”
Instead, the guy taking home the $50,000 winner's check was an up-and-comer who was listed as much as a 30-1 long shot. Kerr finished second by .14 seconds. Another American, Yared Nuguse, was third, and Ingebrigtsen faded to fourth.
So what helped fuel Hocker to his unlikely win? He said the crowd was unlike anything he had ever experienced.
“It was a deafening noise. I've never heard that in a stadium before,” Hocker said of the 80,000 screaming fans in the Stade de France. “I kind of lost feeling in my body and it didn't feel like the Olympics anymore until it did.”
"There was no feelings in the last 150 (meters), it was just all in my mind. Just get to the line," he said.
