While headlines centered on Cole Hocker shocking the track and field world by winning the Olympic gold medal in the 1,500-meter race, there were those who knew he could do it.
Although Hocker had never beaten Olympic favorites Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway and Great Britain’s Josh Kerr,
Hocker — a former Geist-area resident and 2019 Cathedral High School graduate — said people in his camp and training partners were the least surprised about his victory.
“It’s some of my closest friends who, after the fact, told me that they had been thinking I could win long before I believed I could win,” he said.
Hocker, a 21-to-1 long shot, won the 1,500 Aug 6 in an Olympic record time of 3 minutes, 27.65 seconds in Paris. Kerr finished second and Ingebrigtsen placed fourth. American Yared Nuguse was third.
“I think what surprised me the most was that this was my first time executing my race exactly how I wanted to on the world stage in a global championship,” Hocker said. “In previous years, I just did not have the fitness to run with the best guys in the world. But this year, I knew I had the fitness, but I had yet to truly prove it on the day. I knew I was capable of a race that fast but it’s one thing to say it and it’s another to actually do it.”
Hocker enjoyed the attention being focused on Ingebrigtsen and Kerr.
“I think the headlines not being centered around me definitely didn’t hurt me,” Hocker said. “Although I had a feeling that I was being left out of the conversation, it was again a matter of proving it on the day.”
Hocker said he has improved year by year, but there have been big dips in training because of injury in each of the past three years. He finished sixth in the 1,500 meters in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
“After Tokyo, the next season was plagued by injury and I missed the U.S. world team that year, and then in 2023, I had a very truncated season where I qualified for the World Championships but was not in the shape that I knew I could be in,” he said. “This year was uninterrupted by injury or sickness, and I think that is why I had such high expectations for this Olympics.”
Hocker said the attention has created endorsement opportunities. Following his gold-medal performance, he appeared on the “Today” show on NBC and “SportsCenter” on ESPN.
“I’m looking forward to fully capitalizing on what I’ve done in this sport and reaping all of the benefits of my accomplishments,” Hocker said.
Hocker, 23, was second in the IHSAA state cross country meet in 2017 and won the state title in 2018. He was state champion in the 800 and 1,600 meters in the IHSAA state track and field meet.
Jason Moyars, who was Hocker’s assistant track coach at Cathedral and cross country head coach, said he realized how special Hocker was during the summer before his senior year.
“We went to a national meet with a distance medley team, and we were 12th when he got the baton and he got us all the way to third,” Moyars said. “That’s when I started to see how special a runner he was. His senior year he continued to excel. Freshman year at (the University of) Oregon is when I really saw that true talent that came out with winning the indoor 1,500 and 3,000 that year.”
Hocker ran for Oregon from 2019 to 2021, winning the NCAA outdoor title in the 1,500 meters in 2021. He left Oregon early and turned pro that September.
Hocker’s father, Kyle Hocker, ran at Lawrence North High School, but said he was usually at the back of the pack.
“He’s definitely a student of racing, so I never have an input. I only tell him one thing before the race. I just say, ‘Run fast,’” said Kyle, a former Lawrence North teacher. “It takes all the emotion out of it to just run fast, and I think that’s what he does.”
Another rematch
Cole Hocker has never backed away from a challenge.
“I’m looking forward to racing the best guys in the world as many times as I can,” he said. “I still have a lot of goals in this sport that I know I need to continue to work extremely hard for. The guys on the circuit right now are the best to push me to do that.”
Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who finished fourth in the Olympics in the 1,500 meters, won and Hocker was second in an Aug. 22 race in Lausanne, Switzerland,
On Sept 5, Hocker, Great Britain’s Josh Kerr, American Yared Nuguse and Ingebrigtsen will compete in a Zurich race. All should keep Hocker on the path for his next goals.
“I would love to make a legit attempt at attacking the world record, but it’s something you cannot take lightly and you must 100 percent prepare for,” Hocker said. “As far as 2028 goes, in the athlete’s mind that’s a lifetime away and I’m focusing on tomorrow and the next day, and so I can’t really allow my mind to think four years ahead, but it would be an incredible honor to compete in my third Olympic Games in my home country.”
The 2028 Olympics will be in Los Angeles.
