Cole Hocker and Jakob Ingebrigtsen were involved in a post-event exchange of words after the 1500m rivals clashed at the Diamond League final in Brussels.
The pair were both run out of the medals in Belgium as Cameron Myers secured success, with Ingebrigtsen coming home fourth and Hocker seventh.
The Norwegian accused his American foe of cowardice after Hocker did not take the front on the track having swapped in his own pacemaker and asked for a strong pace.
Ingebrigtsen subsequently apologised for describing Hocker and others as “losers” for their tactics, though doubled down on his suggestion that the man who beat him to a surprise Olympic gold at Paris 2024 had been “cowardly”.
“They told the other athletes and the organisers that they were targeting a specific pace and were bringing in their own pacemaker to set that pace, but then they did something completely different,” the Norwegian siad.
“When you promise the crowd a fast race, you have a responsibility to follow through – at least in my view. This isn’t about me losing. I wasn’t good enough. It’s about taking responsibility for the commitments you’ve made to the meeting organisers, the crowd and your competitors.”
New footage shared by the Olympic champion on his YouTube channel now reveals that he and Ingebrigtsen were involved in a relatively heated discussion on their way out of the venue in Brussels.
The condensed clip shows Ingebrigtsen asking Hocker and pacemaker Christian Jackson about their strategy. Jackson suggested that he had originally been slated to be the second pacemaker, before a late switch forced a rethink.
“It didn’t unfold like I wanted it to,” Hocker explained to his rival. “[Jackson] was supposed to be the second guy, and once that [switch] happened…it was a race. This is the Diamond League final. We weren’t setting a world record. I just wanted to race.”
The pair are set to battle again at the World Athletics Ultimate Championships in Budapest this weekend. Both Ingebrigtsen and Hocker will compete in the 5000m from 7.36pm BST on Friday night, and are slated for Sunday’s 1500m final, too.
