EUGENE, Ore. – Cole Hocker is going to another Olympic Games. This time he is going for gold.
The Cathedral High School graduate crushed the U.S. Olympic Trials record in the 1,500 meters, seizing the lead from 250 meters out and completing a virtuoso performance with a time of 3:30.59.
Notre Dame graduate Yared Nuguse was second in 3:30.86 and 20-year-old Hobbs Kessler third in 3:31.53.
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Hocker’s time was a personal best, bettering his time in finishing sixth at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
Top eight all were under the trials record of 3:34.09 set by Matthew Centrowitz in 2016, the year he won gold at Rio de Janeiro.
Nuguse had won every meeting against Hocker for a 6-0 record since the 2021 Olympic Trials, with three of the races at Hayward Field. In 2021, Hocker beat Nuguse to win at the trials and NCAA Championships.
They never raced each other in 2022, when both coped with injuries.
At these trials, Hocker won his first-round heat in 3:34.54 — just off the trials record — and a semifinal in 3:37.89, slipping through an opening on the rail.
Nuguse was second in a semifinal in 3:37.61 and won a semifinal in 3:34.09, tying the Centrowitz record.
Hocker won a silver medal in the 1,500 at March’s World Indoor Championships.
Contact IndyStar correspondent David Woods at dwoods1411@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Cole Hocker smashes USA Track and Field Olympic Trials record in 1500m
