SAINT-DENIS, France — One race ended with a shocker; the other was pure dominance.
American Cole Hocker pulled the upset of the Olympic track meet Tuesday night, outracing favorites Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Josh Kerr to the finish line for the gold medal in the 1,500 meters.
A short while later, American Gabby Thomas dominated the women’s 200 meters, finishing in 21.83 seconds to add a gold to the bronze she took home in the event from Tokyo three years ago.
“I mean, this is six years in the making, at least,” Thomas said. “And all of it was for this moment. My coach told me everything I’ve done at this point — Tokyo Olympics, world championships — it was for this.”
Hocker won the 1,500 meters in an Olympic-record 3 minutes, 27.65 seconds, pulling from fifth to first over the final 300 meters to beat his personal best by more than 3 seconds.
He beat Kerr by .14 seconds, while Ingebrigtsen, who set the pace through the first 1,200 meters, ended up in fourth in a time faster than his Olympic record set in…
