Ingebrigsten beats Olympic 1500m champ Hocker in Lausanne

22/08/2024 20:14

Norwegian back to winning ways with 3:27.83 as Wanyonyi runs 1:41.11 for 800m and there are British wins for Asher-Smith and Hudson-Smith at the Diamond League

Jakob Ingebrigtsen arrived in Lausanne on Thursday (Aug 22) with a point to prove. After finishing outside the medals in the Olympic 1500m final, he was determined to re-assert himself. Could he beat the man who won in Paris, though?

The answer was 'yes' as he saw off the challenge of Cole Hocker in a meeting record of 3:27.83 as the American ran 3:29.85 in second place, just ahead of US team-mate Hobbs Kessler (3:30.47) in third.

Unlike Paris, Ingebrigtsen had help from pacemakers and Wavelight technology in Lausanne. Zan Rudolf led through 400m in 55.21 and 800m in 1:51.14 before Luke McCann took the runners through to the bell.

Ingebrigtsen had held off the pace by a fraction with Kessler and then Hocker following him. But on the last lap he turned the screw and, with 200m to go, he began to pull away from Kessler and, crucially, Hocker allowed a gap to grow as he was forced to either stay in third around the final bend or move out wide.

Entering the home straight Ingebrigtsen was away and clear and drew further away. At the finish the two men shared a few friendly words and hopefully there will be more clashes this season, with Olympic silver and bronze medallists Josh Kerr and Yared Nuguse expected to join in a re-run of the Olympic final in Zurich on September 5.

Ingebrigtsen said: “It’s been almost two weeks since Paris so there was plenty of time to recover. For me a lot of it has been mental including going home, taking some easy days and then getting back to work. Tonight’s race gave me good answers and I’m looking forward to building on this for my next race on Sunday and the rest of the season.”

Hocker said: “The time is my second best ever, so I can’t complain. Considering the overwhelming past two weeks, it was a solid race. Physically I felt comfortable, but mentally, it’s a new challenge being announced as Olympic champion.”

There was no world record in the men's 800m but Emmanuel Wanyonyi came close to David Rudisha's 1:40.91 as he clocked a world lead and Diamond League record of 1:41.11 to go equal second on the world all-time rankings with Wilson Kipketer.

Ludovic le Meur led through the bell in 49.3 with world champion and Olympic silver medallist Marco Arop of Canada in close pursuit and Wanyonyi third.

But Arop had to suddenly move very wide on the penultimate bend when the pacemaker pulled out to drop out. Then, approaching 200m to go, Arop moved out into lane two while leading, allowing Wanyonyi to surge through on the inside.

From then the Kenyan pulled away as Arop ran 1:41.72 in second, Gabriel Tual of France 1:42.30 in third and Bryce Hoppel of the United States 1:42.63 in fourth. Britain's Elliot Giles was seventh in 1:44.32.

Dina Asher-Smith enjoyed a big win in the women's 100m as she clocked 10.88 (-0.4) ahead of Tamari Davis of the United States, who ran 10.97, and home favourite Mujinga Kambundji, the Swiss athlete clocking 11.06.

“After the Olympics I took some time to refocus and now I’m just enjoying running, feeling fit and injury free,” said Asher-Smith, who was close to her UK record of 10.83 despite running into a slight headwind.

“I’m excited to push on to the two next meets in Silesia and Zurich where the track and atmosphere were amazing. Plus there’s always chocolate!”

Earlier in the evening, Olympic silver medallist Matt Hudson-Smith won the men's 400m in style in 43.96 from Muzala Samukonga's 44.06. Hudson-Smith's GB team-mate Charlie Dobson was fifth in 44.53.

Diribe Welteji of Ethiopia won the women’s 3000m in a swift 8:21.50 as Britain’s Revee Walcott-Nolan clocked a PB of 8:44.26.

Mary Moraa of Kenya won the women’s 800m in 1:57.91 as GB duo Georgia Bell (1:58.53) and Jemma Reekie (1:58.73) were close behind.

The previous evening (Aug 21) meanwhile, Mondo Duplantis won a street pole vault event with 6.15m.

Full results here.

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