Cam Myers wins Brussels 1500, Ingebrigtsen rips field
A 20-year-old Australian beat the Olympic champion and the world's best, then the post-race interview took over.
Cam Myers won the Diamond League 1500m final in Brussels in 3:30.14, holding off 19-year-old Phanuel Koech by 0.04 seconds. CITIUS MAG described a very physical final lap with pushing, shoving and kicking, and Jakob Ingebrigtsen ended up on the track diving for fourth in 3:30.52. Jonathan Gault noted Myers is the first Australian to become a Diamond League champion in a distance event.
Ethan Strand was third in 3:30.50 off the fastest close in the race, 1:51.00 for the last 800m and 53.60 for the last 400m, per Chris Chavez. Yared Nuguse took fifth in 3:30.56, Hobbs Kessler sixth in 3:30.71, and Cole Hocker, last week's Diamond League winner, ran out of gas for seventh in 3:30.80. Six men set season's bests. Nobody broke 3:30.
Koech's second place secured his spot at the World Ultimate Championships and, per Chavez's full results, bumps American Vince Ciattei out of the Budapest quota if everyone accepts their spots. Ciattei had entered the race sitting in the final qualifying place and finished 11th in 3:33.67.
Ingebrigtsen goes after Hocker's team
When nobody went with the pacemaker, Ingebrigtsen pressed from the front himself. Afterwards he called his own run shitty and terrible and said he had been racing a bunch of cowards. LetsRun's recap of the race says the pacing lights were set to 3:27 pace and nobody seemed interested in going with it after 200 meters.
A day later Ingebrigtsen walked part of it back to Norwegian outlet Dagbladet, in comments relayed by Chavez. He apologised for calling the finalists, himself included, losers. He did not apologise for the rest. He said Hocker's team told the other athletes and the organisers they were targeting a specific pace and bringing in their own pacemaker to set it, then did something completely different. He added that he and Hocker talked it through after the race, that as far as they are concerned the matter is settled, and that he does not understand why Hocker's agent is getting involved now.
That claim about Hocker's team is Ingebrigtsen's alone. What is not in dispute is the result. A stacked field produced no sub-3:30, a 20-year-old outkicked the Olympic champion and the world's most decorated 1500m runner, and an American lost a world championship spot at the line. The same men line up again in Budapest next week, which David M summed up by posting about Jakob running into Cole there.
Very disappointed in the race and result racing a bunch of cowards.
I shouldn’t have called anyone losers. I apologise for that. It was beneath me, regardless of the adrenaline and emotions. But I stand by what I said about Cole and his team acting cowardly.
Cam Myers is the first Australian to become Diamond League champion in a distance event.
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