In the penultimate meeting of the 2024 Diamond League season on Thursday, the men’s 1,500m event saw yet another unanticipated finish; Olympic bronze medallist Yared Nuguse of the U.S. took his third-career Diamond League win at Weltklasse Zurich with a time of 3:29.21. He out-kicked Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen (3:29.52) in the final 50m of the race, beating him for the second time this season.
The 25-year-old, nicknamed “The Goose,” clocked even splits of 55.92, 55.97 and 55.12 (after an opening 300m of 42.2 seconds), to run his third-fastest time of the year behind his Olympic bronze triumph in 3:27.80, and 3:29.13 from Monaco Diamond League in July.
Zurich marked a well-awaited rematch among the men’s 1,500m Olympic podium finishers–Cole Hocker, Josh Kerr and Nuguse–with Ingebrigtsen, who was fourth in Paris. Although the massive upset and win by Hocker in Paris left gold-medal favourite Ingebrigtsen off the podium entirely, Ingebrigtsen had re-established his dominance since then, beating Hocker by more than two seconds at the Lausanne Diamond League and smashing the 3,000m world record at the Silesia Diamond League three days later. Now, Nuguse has knocked Ingebrigtsen off the pedestal once again.
Hocker took third in 3:30.46, Niels Laros of the Netherlands took fourth in 3:31.23, and Olympic silver medallist Kerr took a surprising fifth-place finish in 3:31.46. Kerr said in the pre-race press conference that he took a week off to visit his friends and family in Scotland after the Olympic final.
Nuguse’s win in Zurich came just a day after his commitment to the Diamond League’s rival circuit: Grand Slam Track, for the 2025 season.
Nuguse might not have been the obvious favourite for the win in Zurich, but his performance in the stacked event confirmed that he should not be counted out at the Diamond League final in Brussels next week.
