Didn’t he watch the men’s 10,000m final? Didn’t he see the three Ethiopians exchange the lead throughout the race? Didn’t he see them set a wicked fast pace, but not fast enough to drop the field? Didn’t he see the world record holder Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda hiding in back before emerging late snd accelerating for the gold with 500m to go, with American Grant Fisher taking the bronze, and only Berihu Aregawi recovering late to nab silver?
It may not be as great advantage as in cycling or wheelchair racing, but drafting has its consequence in foot racing, too. You better be two deviations in talent above your opposition If you think you can front run to an Olympic gold medal much less at world record pace.
Who did he think he was, David Rudisha in London 2012? Evidently Jakob Ingebrigtsen from Norway believed he had that sort of power. His fourth place finish belied his belief.
Last time we saw an Olympic middle distance front running world record was 2012 in London when the aforementioned Kenyan, David Rudisha, already the 800m world record holder (1:41.01, Rieti 2010) drove to the front, split the 400m at 49.28 and then pulled completely free with 300m to go to break his own world record by 1/10 of a second in 1:40.91.
18-year-old Nigel Amos of Botswana took silver in 1:41.73, tying Sebastian Coe’s old world record. And 17-year-old Timothy Kiptum from Kenya taking the bronze. But Rudisha was already the record holder who had been dominating the Diamond League. His belief had substance.
Even the great Aussie, Herb Elliot, bided his time in the 1960 Olympic 1500m final in Rome. He didn’t take the lead till just 600 meters remained on his way to gold and a 3:35.6 world record, winning by nearly three seconds over Jazy of France.
For Ingebrigsten, it was pride before fourth. The look on his face after America’s Cole Hocker, Great Britain’s Josh Kerr, and USA’s Yared Negusse collected the Olympic medals was as much shock as crestfallen. How come that didn’t work? Because history told you it wasn’t going to work. You don’t lead the Olympic 1500m final at record pace and think the other guys aren’t going to hang on and have something to say about it.
You can’t dismiss an Olympic final field. How do you think they got there? You’re good. But the last two years World Championships should have told you that you’re not invincible.
And Hocker having to reload after getting closed off by Ingebrigsten at the top of the stretch and then being able to re-gather and find his closing gear again when the path opened on the inside, it’s one thing to kick off a slow pace, it’s another thing to kick off an Olympic record pace. We knew Cole had the speed in the finishing kick, but now he had the strength to put it into play where the medals are won.
At least Mr. Ingebrigsten was appropriately humble and gracious in defeat. So we salute him for that. I don’t know, sometimes people do all that pre-race trash talking not so much to intimidate others as much as to uplift themselves. They paint themselves into the corner verbally that they then have to race their way out of. Some people need that sort of motivation.
Always seems better to let your legs do the talking and let the mouth follow. Cause you sure can come away with egg on your face the other way around. At least Jakob gave us another classic Olympic 1500 m final.
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tonireavis.com 
I’m an old guy who remembers Abebe Bikila winning the Marathon in bare feet in Rome in 1960.
I also remember Billy Mills in the 10,000 in 1964. The Paris 1500 belongs with those epic races.
In 1968 David Hemery won the 400IM hurdles and set a world record for the UK.
He was a student at Boston University. BU did not have a track, so he trained at Boston College.
I was on the BC track team at that time, and David Hemery was the nicest guy. He would never trash talk
anyone. I hope Jakop Ingebrigtsen learns from this. Great run Cole Hocker!
Instant classic.
“You gotta play this game with fear and arrogance,” Crash Davis. Nuke: “Right, fear and ignorance.” Either way, Jakob forgot about the fear, aka respect. Cole ran with fear and ignorance, oblivious to the fact that he stood no chance. As did Yared and Hobbs. No qualifiers needed, all three ran great, courageous, smart races.
The announcers, production folks, interviewers, and interviewees were outstanding. More, please!
And I actually heard an announcer say that running fast is a tactic. Woohoo!
Rico
All three Americans looked great in the semis. They knew they were ready and wouldn’t be intimidated in the final, no matter the pace. Ingebrigsten getting beat in the last two World Champs by the Brits gave heart to the field, too.
He said later he went out on the first lap about 2 seconds too fast and didn’t realize it until too late. If Jakob had gone out in 56 instead of 54 it might have been a different race. Anyways all credit to Ingebrigtsen for making it a classic race. None of this 2016 jog and kick nonsense.
In any case, he wasn’t sufficiently in control of his emotions or Adrenalin, and once committed had no choice but to carry on, probably knowing he had effed it up. Thanks for sharing. Toni