Cole Hocker must have had the shock of his life when he saw Grant Fisher nudging ahead of him! With the Millrose Games concluding just shortly, the races were electric, to say the least. Coming to the 3000m category, all eyes were on Cole Hocker. The Olympic gold medalist at 1500m was the firm favorite going into the race. And much like the expectations, things started off on quite a pretty note for Hocker too. But that was until the last four laps!

As Hocker made his move with 400m remaining, things looked to be going smoothly for the Olympic champion. Unfortunately, Grant Fisher, who was following suit closely, had some entirely different plans. Fisher closed in on the distance and ran tantalizingly close to Hocker. And right at the final curve, Fisher pulled his trigger! With a blistering time of 7:22.91, Grant Fisher created a new world record and took home a whopping 5-figure prize worth $25,000. Now, while Fisher is currently enjoying the cream of the crop, what about Hocker?

Cole Hocker doubles down on his defeat post a tiring showdown

The loss was a significant dent to his confidence as an Olympic champion. Thus, it was quite an interesting chat when, post-run, CITIUS MAG caught up with Hocker to learn about his point of view. Straight up, the Olympic gold medalist mentioned that he did not know exactly how to pinpoint his emotions. “The win would have been obviously nice, and I just yeah I can’t pinpoint exactly what l’m feeling. But um it’s just kind of an interesting thought process to work through,” said Hocker. 

Next up, the 23-year-old was asked about his thought process at the time when Fisher nudged ahead of him in the last 50m. Hocker pointed out that by the end of the race, things were beginning to hurt both for him and Fisher. Thus, despite having the lead, it was always on Hocker’s mind that he had some more work to do.

The Olympic gold medalist also mentioned how he knew that Fisher might be saving up energy for one final blast of speed. And indeed, that made all the difference! Hocker said to CITIUS MAG, “I was clipping him, waiting to go around him, and then he was clipping me….. I knew that he was saving something left, and my legs were definitely starting to go in the last 200.” He further added, “….I was hoping to put him in a bit of a hole before we got to that point, but as you can see, that’s how close it was.”

Well, while this race surely turned out to be a classic, the seeds were sown much before!

A look at what stats spoke

If Cole Hocker came into the race being an Olympic gold medalist, Grant Fisher too had a double Olympic bronze to show off. Fisher also looked quite confident coming into the race. He did admit that the 5000m category was his strong point. But he has definitely left a mark in 3000m as well. If you remember, last year in July he placed second in the London Athletics Meet of the Diamond League (GW Category) by clocking 7:27.99 in the 3000m. Also, in 2023 he finished in third place in the same event with 7:25.47.

While Cole Hocker missed the podium finish in the Millrose Games in 2024, he had an incredible time of 7:35.35. But in 2023, the 1500m specialist won the LILAC Grand Prix in 3000m. Also, in the same year, he won again in the Flanders Cup DCLA, by clocking 7:42.93. Thus, going by the stats, it looks like anybody’s game.

But surely enough, with an incredible dash, Fisher did prove that he had just enough in his tank to outclass Hocker and bag the lucrative $25,000. But also probably knew winning against Cole wasn’t an easy task! Thus, Fisher termed going against a strong force such as Hocker as ‘scary,’ but he was thankful that he pulled it off. So, now it feels like Cole Hocker will be going back to the drawing board to come back strong. And as for the track fans, they are in for some more mouth-watering clashes between the two as the season progresses.