American Cole Hocker rebounds from ‘robbed’ 1500m disqualification to clinch men’s 5000m world title
By Jack Bantock, CNN
(CNN) — American runner Cole Hocker soared through the pack to clinch gold in the men’s 5000m at the World Athletics Championships on Sunday, bouncing back from a painful disqualification in the 1500m event.
The 24-year-old made a late surge at a rain-soaked National Stadium in Tokyo, Japan to finish in 12:58.30, ahead of Belgium’s Isaac Kimeli and France’s Jimmy Gressier in 12:58.78 and 12:59.33, respectively.
It crowned Hocker as just the second American to win a 5000m world title, after Bernard Lagat’s 2007 triumph in Osaka, and sealed a cathartic triumph after his hopes of adding to his Olympic 1500m gold were dashed.
Hocker’s win in Paris last year was among the Games’ biggest upsets but his place in the World Championship final was lost after he was deemed to have broken the competition’s “jostling” rules in Monday’s semifinal.
The University of Oregon alumnus was adjudged to have erred while moving through a gap between Germany’s Robert Farken and Stefan Nillessen late in the heat, with an appeal by USA Track & Field denied.
Hocker said he was “extremely disappointed” in a subsequent social media post but dusted himself down to end the championships on the highest of highs.
“Coming off how the 1500m went … I just isolated myself, surrounded myself with my family and just told myself that I wanted to end this championship on my terms,” Hocker told NBC Sports.
“I prep all year long for this championship, to peak here, and to have one race that I felt like was robbed from me, taken away, it felt really personal, and I took it that way.
“This was it. This was my opportunity.”
Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen began the 5000m final chasing a third consecutive world title in the event and had led the field heading into the final 1000m but finished 10th.
The two-time Olympic champion’s preparations had been disrupted by an injury-riddled season, as he failed to make it through the 1500m heats.
Team USA and Lyles finish in style
Much like Hocker, Team USA rallied superbly from an opening blow in the four relay events that closed out the championship’s track schedule.
The men’s team had looked set to clinch its 10th men’s 4×400 relay gold in 11 years before a blitzing final sprint from Collen Kebinatshipi saw Botswana beat the Americans by 0.07 seconds.
Yet the response was emphatic, Isabella Whittaker, Lynna Irby-Jackson, Aaliyah Butler and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone winning Team USA’s third consecutive women’s 4x400m title in a championship record time of 3:16.61.
There was another threepeat in the women’s 4x100m thanks to the quadrant of Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, Twanisha Terry, Kayla White and Sha’Carri Richardson before a rousing finish from reigning Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles saw the US defeat Canada in the corresponding men’s event.
After a fourth successive world gold in the 200m on Friday, it sealed a finishing flourish in Tokyo for Lyles after taking bronze in his attempted defense of the 100m crown behind Jamaican pair Oblique Seville and Kishane Thompson.
Relay success boosted Team USA’s total gold medal haul to 16, bettering the record of 14 the team set at the 2005, 2007 and 2019 championships, with five silver and bronzes apiece taking the total medal count to 26.
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