Josh Kerr of the Brooks Beasts finishes second in Olympic 1500m race of the ages...

SAINT-DENIS, France--Tuesday night's final of the Olympic men's 1500 meter run at the Stade de France lived up to the pre-race hype amidst the trash talk between the camps of defending champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Great Britain's Josh Kerr (photo courtesy British Athletics), who lives and trains most of the year in Seattle as part of the Brooks Beasts.

For about 1450 meters, that remained true.

However, the race is 1500 and not 1450.

The Norwegian took the lead as the twelve finalists entered the first turn, and took the field through single file 400 in 54.82.

Kerr was positioned in third, making sure he was in position to cover any moves, as Ingebrigtsen continued to lead through 800 meters in 1:51.38, a 56.56 lap.

As the field rounded the turn towards the kilometer mark, Ingebrigtsen was still in command, with Timothy Cheruiyot, the silver medalist from Tokyo in second, and Kerr third, crossing the mark in about 2:19.

Ingebrigtsen still maintained command, with Cheruiyot and Kerr second and third through the 1200 in 2:47.26, a 55.88 lap.

In the next 100, the Norwegian ratcheted up the pace. As they entered the final turn, he looked to his right and saw that he hadn't shaken off Kerr. At the same time, he saw both Americans Cole Hocker and Yared Nuguse bearing down as well.

Exiting the turn, it was Ingebrigtsen in front with Kerr on the outside and Hocker on the inside.

Ingebrigtsen swung to the outside of lane 1 as Kerr went past him, opening up a gap for the former Oregon Duck to sneak inside, catching Kerr with about 20 meters to win in an Olympic record 3:27.65.

Kerr hung on for second in a personal best and British national record 3:27.79, 1/100ths of a second ahead of the charging Nuguse, who got a personal best in third.

Ingebrigtsen was fourth in 3:28.24, and third American Hobbs Kessler was fifth in a personal best 3:29.45.

Afterwards, Kerr told reporters, “I’ve put out a performance today that I can be super proud of."

“I ran the fastest and best tactical 1500m of my life and when you start worrying about what other people do from the results, you’ll never be satisfied."

"I told you guys we were going to put on a 1500m that would go down in generations and we did that today."

“It’s not the color of medal I wanted but it’s working towards the right color from bronze to silver. I’m 26, this road is not over.”

"Being able to upgrade my medal was bittersweet, but I got beaten by the better man. I've got to walk away from this championship with my head held high...we clearly showed we were the best three on the day today."

In the first event of Tuesday's morning session, University of Washington rising senior Sophie O'Sullivan (photo courtesy Athletics Ireland) finished seventh in the first of three heats in the first round of the women's 1500.

O'Sullivan, stepping on the purple track of the Stade de France, positioned herself in the middle of the pack, going through 400 in 64.9, and 2:10.5 at 800.

She moved to fifth at 1200 in 3:13.4, then made a late charge. 

With about 150, she and Japan's Nozomi Tanaka bumped into each other, causing O'Sullivan to lose momentum.

The Irish national champ made a late charge, falling short in seventh, but ran a personal best of 4:00.23.

That time puts the Husky rising senior at number 3 all-time in collegiate history on the all-dates list. Only Addy Wiley of NAIA Huntington (3:59.17) and Jenny Barringer of the University of Colorado (3:59.90) ever ran faster. It’s the second straight year that O’Sullivan has run her PR on the world stage, as she went 4:02.15 in the first round of the World Championships last summer.

In the mixed zone, O'Sullivan told media members, “It’s great to run your best, you always want to run your best and that’s all you can really ask for,” she said. “It’s obviously hard, but it was more comfortable. And I felt with a lap to go I definitely had something left in my legs to close it out.

“I honestly felt really good. I was surprised as I didn’t think we were going very fast at all. And the crowds were crazy, you can’t really understand how big it is until you walk in and you’re like, ‘Oh’. It’s so cool to see you almost forget to be nervous. It was great.”

Her time would have been the second-fastest time in heat two, and faster than the winning time of heat three, yet O’Sullivan will need to race the repechage round tomorrow for another shot at the semifinals. 

OTHER TUESDAY FINALS...

Camryn Rogers of Canada added to her world title, winning the women's hammer throw with a mark of 252-6 (76.97m), as the Cal alum took care of surprise American silver medalist and Cincinnati alum Annette Echikunwoke's season best 247-8 (75.48m), and China's Zhao Jie's 243-8 (74.27m).

Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece won his second straight men's long jump title with a best of 27-10 (8.48m), ahead of former Arkansas All-American Wayne Pinnock of Jamaica's 27-5.25 (8.35m). Italy's teen sensation Mattis Furlani was third at 27-4.5 (8.34m).

Burundi's Winfred Yani also added the Olympic crown to her world championship from last year, winning the 3000 steeplechase in an Olympic record 8:52.76. Defending champion Perth Chemutai of Uganda was second in a national record 8:53.34, and Kenya's Faith Cherotich was third in a personal best 8:55.15.

Gabby Thomas of Team USA won the evening's final race, taking the women's 200 in 21.83, beating fellow Austin resident and newly minted 100 meter champion Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia, 21.83 to 22.08. Iowa alum Brittany Brown of the USA was third in 22.20.

ON THE DOCKET WEDNESDAY...

Wednesday's competition will have numerous athletes with Washington ties on the line at the Stade de France.

In the morning session, Maribel Caicedo of Ecuador and Charisma Taylor from the Bahamas, both of whom ran at Washington State, run in the first round of the women's 100 hurdles.

Caicedo goes in the first heat at 1:15 am Pacific/10:15 Paris time, while Taylor runs in heat three sixteen minutes later.

Both will need to place in the top 3 or get one of the three time qualifiers to avoid running in the repechage Thursday.

Almost an hour later, Washington alum Brian Fay of Ireland goes in the first round of the men's 5000 meters, where he looks for a top eight finish to go to Saturday's finals. Brandon Miller of the Brooks Beasts runs in heat 3 of the first round of the men's 800 meters at 3:11 am Pacific/12:11 pm local time.

Sophie O'Sullivan, who had the fastest time of anyone not earning an automatic qualifying spot, runs in the repechage round of the women's 1500 meters for a shot at the semifinals at 3:45 am Pacific/12:45 pm Paris time. She'll need to place in the top three to advance to Thursday night's semifinals.

In the evening session, Katie Moon looks to defend her title in the women's pole vault at 9:15 am Pacific/6:15 pm Paris time.

The pole vault was moved up 45 minutes earlier due to the field expansion from 12 to 20 athletes from Monday's qualifying round.

Washington State alum CJ Allen runs at 10:43 am Pacific/7:43 pm local time in the second of three semis of the 400 hurdles.

Wednesday's session ends at 12:40 pm Pacific/9:40 pm local time when College Place's Kenneth Rooks goes in the finals of the 3000 steeplechase.

The start lists and results for the Olympic track and field competition is available on the World Athletics microsite, which is available here.

In the United States, streaming is available on the NBCOlympics.com site or Peacocktv.com ($).

Wednesday's session will also be shown live on USA Network starting at 1 am Pacific, while the evening session will be broadcast on NBC starting at 9:45 am Pacific, and on KING5 in Seattle (times were current as of 3:30 pm Pacific Tuesday. Times for the evening session may change due to the updated start of the women's pole vault to 9:15 am Pacific).

In Canada, Olympic action will be shown on CBC and streamed on CBC.ca.

NOTE: World Athletics, Athletics Ireland, British Athletics, and the sports information office of the University of Washington contributed to this report.

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