Chris Evert amused by Paris Olympics 1500m gold medal winner Cole Hocker's father's hilarious reaction to watching son's incredible last-leg upset
Cole Hocker pulled off an incredible last leg in the Paris Olympics 1500m race to win the gold medal. His father's hilarious reaction to the triumph was captured on camera and it left American tennis legend Chris Evert amused.
Hocker defeated 1500m favorites Great Britain's Josh Kerr and Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen to win the gold medal. In the last leg of the race, Hocker switched on his afterburners and convincingly left the competition behind.
Upon watching his incredible finish, Hocker's father Kyle seemed to have screamed out an expletive. He was as shocked as the rest of the sporting world. A video of Hocker's father's reaction was shared on X and Evert reposted it writing:
"Hilarious!!! Love this! Congratulations"
The Paris Olympics 1500m event was supposed to be a battle between reigning world champion Kerr and Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Ingebrigtsen. Until the very end of the race, it seemed like a contest between the favorites.
However, Hocker's push in the final 200m saw him split the two favorites and go past them to win the race with a new Olympic record time of 3:27.65. Kerr finished with a personal best timing of 3:27.79 to take silver. The USA's Yared Nuguse also overtook Ingebrigtsen to claim bronze in 3:27.80.
"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," Cole Hocker said after his 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.
Mardy Fish and Serena Williams' ex-coach react to Cole Hocker's 1500m Paris Olympics gold medal finish
2004 Olympics silver medalist Mardy Fish was impressed with Cole Hocker's incredible win. He took to X to repost a video of Hocker's triumph and wrote:
"Absolute chills."
Rennae Stubbs, Serena Williams' ex-coach, was also impressed by the triumph. The former Australian player, who has participated in four Olympics, also reposted the same video and wrote:
"This was insane!! What a gutsy win! Omgggg"
Americans Hocker and Yared Nuguse claimed medals in the 1500m event at the 2024 Paris Olympics, which marked the first time since the 1912 Stockholm Games that the U.S. had two medalists in the men's 1500m.