I rewatched the Olympic men’s 1500m final.  If you have not seen it, watch it. If you have seen it, rewatch it!

There were so many times that Cole or Yared could have given up. The pace was brutal the entire race. There was a lot of banging in that last lap, both Cole and Yared had to break stride or move around…but they kept coming back. Just beautiful.

Here is the top-ten all-time 1500m list:

  1. 3:26.00: Hicham El Guerrouj, Morocco, July 1998
  2. 3:26.34: Bernard Lagat, USA/Kenya, August 2001
  3. 3:26.69: Asbel Kiprop, Kenya, July 2015
  4. 3:26.73: Jakob Ingebrigsen, Norway, July 2024
  5. 3:27.37: Noureddine Morceli, Algeria, July 1995
  6. 3:27.64: Silas Kiplagat, Kenya, July 2014
  7. 3:27.65: Cole Hocker, USA, August 2024 Olympic Gold
  8. 3:27.79: Josh Kerr, Great Britain, August 2024 Olympic Silver
  9. 3:27.80: Yared Nuguse, USA, August 2024 Olympic Bronze
  10. 3:28.13: Noah Ngeney, Kenya, August 2000

Three of the top ten in one race!  Wow. Listening to the annoucers go nuts gives me chills, too…they are fans as well as announcers. You can tell they LOVE this sport!

Kerr is the only athlete to medal in both Tokyo and Paris, by the way. Ingebrigtsne, Kerr, Hocker, and Timothy Cheruiyot were the only four men from the final in Tokyo who made it to the finals in Paris. It’s tough to stay at that level, requiring lots of grit and long-term commitment…and joy in the process. You can’t work that hard for so long without cherishing the work along the way.

Go to 2:20 in this video and watch Yared Nuguse come directly to Cole after the finish to congratulate him with a huge smile on his face. I love Yared and the joy he runs with! I believe you always compete your best with a smile on your face and in your heart. I see that in Yared.

By the way…you are all one degree of separation from that 1500 final. What am I talking about? Check out this MVXC zoom meeting:

Yes, that is Josh Kerr, Olympic medalist, 8th fastest 1500m ever, in the second row/far left, for a zoom meeting with MVXC.  Pretty cool! Distance running is a smaller world than you might think…