USA’s Olympic 1500m champion, Cole Hocker, was disqualified from his semi-final at the world championships in Tokyo on Monday after he barged his way through a crowd on the home straight.
Hocker was boxed in on the inside with nowhere to go – just as he had been in the Olympic final a year ago. He saw a sliver of a gap open and charged through, making contact with Germany’s Robert Farken, and then broke clear to finish second. Farken, who appeared to have his rhythm disrupted, went on to finish 10th.
The 24-year-old was disqualified for “jostling”, which World Athletics regulations define as “physical contact on one or more occasions with another athlete or athletes that results in an unfair advantage or causes injury or harm to them or, consequently, to another athlete or athletes.”
After the race, Hocker explained his thinking. “It was tight, I was looking for any kind of gap I could find,” Hocker said. “I tried my best to get through there as cleanly as possible, but I knew everybody was going to be coming from behind really fast.
“I got a little bit trapped in there. I have been in that position a few times before and I just tried to stay calm. I trust my instincts and just try to move through as well as I can.”
On this occasion his instincts did not work out and the US team’s appeal was rejected.
The Dutchman Niels Laros was the fastest qualifier for Wednesday’s final, with the British duo Josh Kerr and Jake Wightman – the last two world champions – going through strongly. Hocker’s compatriot Jonah Koech also advanced to the final.
