Great Britain’s Josh Kerr was made to settle for Olympic 1500m silver behind shock champion Cole Hocker, as Jakob Ingebrigtsen missed out on a medal.

As world gold medallist Kerr and defending Olympic champion Ingebrigtsen played out their anticipated battle for the title, American Hocker found his way past both on the inside to clinch his first global outdoor title.

With a perfectly timed final surge, Hocker took gold in an Olympic record three minutes 27.65 seconds.

Kerr, who upgraded his Olympic bronze from Tokyo, crossed the line in a British record 3:27.79 as another American athlete, Yared Nuguse, ran a personal best 3:27.80 for bronze.

Norway’s Ingebrigtsen led from the front but faded in the closing stages to miss the podium in fourth, having lost out in successive world 1500m finals to Kerr and fellow Briton Jake Wightman since his Tokyo triumph.

Kerr’s spectacular victory in 2023 ignited a fierce rivalry with Ingebrigtsen and the pair have exchanged public comments ever since.

The 26-year-old, winner of world indoor 3,000m gold in March, was bidding to become the first British man to win Olympic 1500m gold since Sebastian Coe beat team-mate Steve Cram at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

It was Coe himself, the World Athletics president, who predicted the “sumptuous” rivalry – reminiscent of his own with Steve Ovett – could produce “a race for the ages” in Paris.

But, with the crowd enraptured as the expected tussle played out before their eyes, Kerr edging on to the shoulder of Ingebrigtsen on the final bend, their attention fixed on each other, Hocker stole in to claim a stunning, unforeseen victory.