Cole Hocker has qualified for the men’s 1,500-meter final in the Summer Olympics in Paris.
The newly minted Blacksburg resident placed third in the first semifinal of the event at Stade de Paris on Sunday, easily earning one of the 12 spots in Tuesday’s Olympic final.
Hocker, an Indiana native and former NCAA champion at the University of Oregon who now trains in Blacksburg under Virginia Tech track and field coach Ben Thomas, crossed the line in 3 minutes, 32.54 seconds.
Hocker finished behind 2021 Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway, who won the semifinal in 3:32.38 and Great Britain’s Josh Kerr, who was second in 3:32.46.
Other qualifiers from the first semifinal were Kenya’s Brian Komen, Stefan Nillessen of the Netherlands and Italy’s Pietro Arese.
All three Americans qualified for Tuesday’s final.
Yared Nuguse of Louisville won the second semifinal with the day’s fastest time, 3:31.72, just ahead of Hobbs Kessler of Ann Arbor, Michigan, who placed second in 3:31.97.
The other qualifiers from the second semifinal were Great Britain’s Neal Gourley, Niels Laros of the Netherlands, Kenya’s Timothy Cheruiyot and Norway’s Narve Gilje Nordas. Gourley, 29, is a former runner for Virginia Tech.
The men’s 1,500 final is set for 2:50 p.m. EDT Tuesday.
Hocker set a U.S. Olympic Trials record of 3:30.59 on June 24 to become the first American to win the event in back-to-back U.S. trials since Jim Ryun in 1972.
For more on Hocker, see our previous story.
