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09/17 09:02 CDT Portugal's Isaac Nader is the out-of-nowhere winner of men's
1,500 meters at world championships
Portugal's Isaac Nader is the out-of-nowhere winner of men's 1,500 meters at
world championships
By EDDIE PELLS
AP National Writer
TOKYO (AP) --- This year's out-of-nowhere winner of the men's 1,500 meters
hails from Portugal. It's Isaac Nader, who ran five wide down the stretch
Wednesday night to pull a shocker at world championships, even against a field
that lost three of its top contenders long before the finish line.
Nader took advantage of a leisurely pace and beat 2022 champion Jake Wightman,
who also wasn't expected to contend, by .02 seconds. The winning time: 3
minutes, 34.10 seconds.
Reynold Cheruiyot finished third while one of the favorites, Niels Laros, faded
at the end and wound up fifth. Another, 2023 world champ Josh Kerr, pulled up
lame in the third lap and finished the race nearly 30 seconds off the pace.
The last two Olympic champs, Cole Hocker and Jakob Ingebrigtsen, weren't even
in the final.
The 26-year-old Nader came in ranked eighth in the world and had never placed
in a major championship.
His biggest win this year came in the Dream Mile in Oslo in June. That probably
explained his look of pure shock when he looked up at the scoreboard and saw he
was finishing first, barely ahead of Wightman, who grabbed the lead with about
200 meters to go but could not hang on.
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