After comfortably winning every race he entered, at the 2022 World Championships, Ingebrigtsen was in the lead of the 1500 metres, expecting to continue to the finish.

However, Great Britain's Jake Wightman, who had tracked every move but never put his face in the wind, sprinted around him in the last 200 metres to take the World gold.

Behind him the reigning World Champion, Kerr who had won the one major race between them that year, the Bowerman Mile; the returning Olympic silver medalist Timothy Cheruiyot, Brian Komen, Yared Nuguse, Cole Hocker, Neil Gourley and World Championship bronze medalist Narve Gilje Nordås.

This move was immediately shadowed by Cheruiyot, Kerr, Komen, Nuguse, Hocker and Hobbs Kessler largely in a row.

The clock read 2:33.5 at the bell as the pace did not ease, and at this point Kerr, having sheltered behind the Kenyan while Ingebrigtsen had taken all of the wind, began moving up on the turn.

As they entered the home stretch, the expected duel between Kerr and Ingebrigtsen appeared to come to fruition, with the Scotsman once again looking marginally the stronger.

Kerr began to pass Ingebrigtsen, who drifted away from the rail again to ease Kerr off the shortest distance line to the finish, but in doing so, he again opened the inside lane door for the wild card, Hocker, who seeing his chance reappear, sped through with a brutal finishing kick.

Ingebrigtsen was by now fading badly from his early exertions, as it became a race of the 'kickers' over the last 50 metres between the American and Kerr, but Hocker now had far more momentum, passing 20 meters before the finish to take gold.

With Hocker's gold and Nuguse's bronze, the 2024 1500 meter final was the first time in 112 years that two Americans made it on the Olympic podium in the event.

The result edged the United States just ahead of Great Britain on the all-time medal table for the event.