"Absolute chills" - Mardy Fish and Serena Williams' ex-coach react as USA's Cole Hocker's "insane" 1500m run lands him gold medal at Paris Olympics
The USA's Cole Hocker pulled off an incredible upset to win the men's 1500m gold medal at the Paris Olympics. Hocker's performance stunned Mardy Fish and Serena Williams' ex-coach Rennae Stubbs.
A video of Hocker's victory was posted by NBC Olympics' official X (formerly Twitter) account and former American tennis star Fish reposted it. He wrote:
"Absolute chills."
Stubbs also reposted the video and wrote:
"This was insane!! What a gutsy win! Omgggg"
The men's 1500m final took place on Tuesday, August 6 and was being billed by many as a showdown between Great Britain's Josh Kerr and Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen. The Brit is the reigning 1500m World Champion, while the Norwegian is the Tokyo Olympic gold medallist.
Until the final stretch, the race seemed to be a battle between the two heavyweights of the distance. However, Hocker's final push was phenomenal. He split Kerr and Ingebrigtsen and went through to take the lead inside the final 100 meters. The push helped him finish in an Olympic record time of 3:27.65.
Kerr held the silver medal spot to finish with a personal best time of 3:27.79. Ingebrigsten was also overtaken by the USA's Yared Nuguse, who claimed bronze in 3:27.80. The Norwegian finished fourth.
"It’s an unbelievable feeling... I just felt like I was getting carried by the stadium and God. My body just kind of did it for me. My mind was all there and I saw that finish line," Hocker said after the race.
"Winning gold was my goal this entire year... I wrote that down and I repeated it to myself even if I didn’t believe it," he added.
Serena Williams' ex-coach reflects on the recently concluded Paris Olympics tennis event
Serena Williams' ex-coach Rennae Stubbs, who has participated in four Olympic Games, reflected on the recently concluded tennis event at the Paris Olympics. She took to X to congratulate all the medalists from the five different events.
"@Olympics tennis is over for another 4 yrs. The tears, excitement, joy, intensity of this will always be special. Congrats to all the medalists, with a special mention to my Aussie boys @mattebden @johnwpeers on a gold🥇& Novak for his achievement of winning 🥇 in his 5th Os," Stubbs wrote.
She reserved a special mention for Andy Murray and Angelique Kerber, both of whom retired from the sport after their exits. Along with that, Stubbs also congratulated the women's singles medalists Zheng Qinwen, Donna Vekic, and Iga Swiatek. The former Australian player opined that men's singles silver medalist Carlos Alcaraz would be back for the gold medal at the next Games.
Stubbs also congratulated the doubles winners, as also Rafael Nadal and Dan Evans for their Paris Olympics participation.