This is unbelievable stuff from an absolute beast of an athlete:
From the NYT:
With a massive kick in the final 30 meters, Hocker — born in Indianapolis, and reared at the University of Oregon, the heart and guts of American distance running since the days of Steve Prefontaine — finished in an Olympic record 3:27.65, just under a quarter of a second ahead of Kerr, the reigning world champion.
Yared Nuguse, Hocker's teammate, outkicked [Norwegian Jakob] Ingebrigtsen for the bronze as the defending Olympic champion faded to fourth after setting the pace for the first 1300 meters.
The man's last-second blowpast of the competition is just something to behold:
Note that fellow U.S. Olympic athlete Yared Nuguse also pulled down a medal for his country — the first time two U.S. athletes have been on the 1500m podium in well over 100 years:
