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Josh Kerr was expecting one of the “most vicious and hardest 1500 metres” in recent memory as he clashed with bitter rival Jakob Ingebritsen in Paris.
However, Cole Hocker went over the top of them both as he grabbed a shock gold, with Kerr having to settle for silver – one a number of places for Team GB on day 11 in Paris.
The men’s sprint team was happy with silver against the dominant Netherlands team in the velodrome, while Sky Brown defied injury issues to take bronze in the skateboard park competition.
With five days left to go, we look back at the latest British Olympic achievements.
Hocker shocker
Kerr claimed 1500m silver after the United States’ Hocker stormed to a shock gold in Olympic record time.
The Stade de France final was billed as the showdown of the century between the world champion Scotsman and his arch nemesis Ingebrigtsen, the Tokyo 2020 gold medallist.
The Norwegian quickly saw himself in front and held the lead into the final lap, when Kerr made his move along the back straight.
Just as it looked like Great Britain might have their second gold medal on the track, Hocker surged forward to snatch the title away as American Yared Nuguse claimed bronze, with Ingebrigtsen fourth.
Silver lining
Jack Carlin, Ed Lowe, and Hamish Turnbull won Olympic men’s team sprint silver for Great Britain as pre-race favourites the Netherlands broke the world record twice on their way to gold.
In a repeat of the result from the Tokyo Games, the Dutch trio of Harrie Lavreysen, Jeffrey Hoogland and Roy van den Berg retained their title, breaking their own world record in the first round and then again in the final, winning in a time of 40.949 seconds
Although beaten in the final, there were smiles and celebrations from the British squad, who had been well aware of the task they faced against this all-conquering Dutch team, who have won the world title in five of the last six years.
Bronze for Brown
Brown defied a shoulder injury to claim a bronze medal for Britain at the women’s skateboard park competition at La Concorde.
Brown matched her bronze medal in Tokyo with a score of 92.31 in her second of three runs to cap a remarkable comeback having dislocated her shoulder last month.
The 16-year-old had also been close to tears after appearing to aggravate the injury during the qualifying competition, in which she was placed fourth with a score of 84.75 but fell heavily during the last of her three runs.
A tearful Brown had vowed to “fight through” the pain, and she rose from fourth place after her first run into serious medal contention.
A huge run from Australia’s Arisa Trew lifted the Australian into first place with Brown sitting second until the last skater, Cocona Hiraki, who also pipped her to silver in Tokyo at the age of 12, edged in front.
Fell at the last
After a fantastic equestrian programme that yielded five medals for Team GB, the jumpers suffered a rare reversal in the concluding event, the individual jumping final.
Team competition heroes Scott Brash, Ben Maher and Harry Charles were all set to shoot for solo gold, but a minor setback for Romeo 88 saw the last-named rider withdrew.
Brash and Maher, who was the defending champion, each had a fence down seeing them finish sixth and ninth respectively, as German Christian Kukuk got the best of a three-way jump off.
