Nuguse Victorious In Rematch of The Men’s 1500m Battle

And now it’s Yared Nuguse’s turn to win the men’s 1500m! 

In a rematch of the epic Olympic 1500m final in Paris, the top four men in the world were racing at the Diamond League in Zurich, and it was Olympic bronze medallist Nuguse who won this time ahead of Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen in second, USA’s Olympic champion Cole Hocker in third, while GB’s Josh Kerr, second in Paris, faded in the final 50m to finish a disappointing fifth. 

Ingebrigtsen led from the beginning, but Nuguse was always just a stride behind, and he moved a stride ahead with a few metres to go, out-sprinting the Norwegian to win in 3:29.21. 

After Kerr won the Bowerman Mile in Oregon in May, Hocker won the Olympic final in August, and now Nuguse has won in Zurich. All while Ingebrigtsen remains the favourite every time he’s on the start line. And with good reason: in the 30 days since the Olympic final in Paris, Ingebrigtsen has won Olympic 5000m gold, he won in the Lausanne Diamond League (ahead of Hocker in second), and then he ran an incredible world record in the 3000m in Silesia, with a time of 7:17.55.

Nuguse also arrived in Zurich in great form having run 3:51.9 as the second-fastest road mile of all time four days ago. Kerr hasn’t competed since Paris.  

Ahead of the race, there was a lot of talk and expectation about Ingebrigtsen going out hard, and going out for revenge, potentially in a new world record time. In the pre-race press conference, however, Ingebrigtsen had been ill after Silesia, so hadn’t had the best preparations: “If it’s going to be a world record? Maybe not. But I think it’s going to be a good race.” 

This result now increases the excitement in the men’s 1500m because we know that any one of the four men could win each time they race. 

OTHER ACTION ON THE TRACK IN ZURICH

There was much more than just a 1500m race on Thursday night (following Wednesday’s event in Zurich where we saw pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis beat 400m hurdler Karsten Warmholm over 100m). 

Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet set out at world record pace in the women’s 5000m, and was ahead of it at 3000m before slowing over the final laps. She still ran a brilliant 14:09.52 for the fastest time in the world this year.

USA’s Sha’Carri Richardson won the women’s 100m, beating Olympic champion Julien Alfred. Olympic silver medallist Richardson was behind with 50m to go, but had a superb finish to take the win in 10.84, 0.04 ahead of Alfred with GB’s Dina Asher-Smith just 0.01 behind in third. 

The men’s Olympic champion in the 200m continued his sensational form to run 19.55 and beat Paris silver medallist Kenny Bednarek, who ran a personal best of 19.57.

In the women’s 800m, Kenya’s Mary Moraa, who missed the Olympics after falling in the team trials, won in 1:57.08. GB’s Georgia Bell, who won 1500m bronze in Paris, was second in 1:57.94.

The Zurich Diamond League is the penultimate meet of their season ahead of the two-day Diamond League final in Brussels on 13-14 September. 

Read more about the Diamond League here. 

Photo of Olympic 1500m final. Getty Images / Steph Chambers