Josh Hoey wins the 800m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Nanjing 25 (© Getty Images)
Josh Hoey fought off the dual threat of Eliott Cretan and Elvin Canales to win a thrilling men’s 800m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing on Sunday.
Hoey had been earmarked as the overwhelming favourite for gold after clocking 1:43.24 at the US Indoor Championships.
Only Wilson Kipketer had ever run faster for the distance indoors, and there were suggestions his world record of 1:42.67 from 1997 might well be under threat on the third and final day of action at these championships.
In the end, Hoey’s winning time of 1:44.77 was some way short of that mark but this was more about a first major title of any kind than when the clock stopped.
Despite the pre-event favourite tag, this was far from a time trial and he had to scrap from the outset as Belgian Crestan and Hoey’s US teammate Brendon Miller all tried to take the front of the field at the turn.
Hoey won that particular scrap before being forced to wrestle the lead back from Miller when he passed his teammate briefly at the halfway mark. That push seemed to leave Miller without the legs for the home straight for a captivating finale to the race.
Hoey kicked for the line but, in his dying strides, faded badly but did just enough to dip clear of Crestan and take gold by just 0.04. The Honduran-born Canales celebrated his bronze as though the title was his, launching his way around the track in a mix of smiles and tears in the immediate aftermath.
For Hoey, at the age of 25, it was finally a realisation of his talent on the global stage.
He had turned professional after setting a high school national record for the 800m all the way back in 2018. But in the ensuing years, he struggled to make his mark at his national championships, and with that the global events proving out of his reach.
He chopped and changed those guiding him, by his own admission working his way through five or six coaches before finally settling on the Australian Justin Rinaldi 18 months ago.
Rinaldi’s major target was to hold back his athlete a little in training and get him to bide his time to get to a major outdoor final, which had been a target of Hoey in his very first year as a pro.
The patience finally began to pay off during this indoor season in particular. He raised some eyebrows by beating 2024 world indoor champion Bryce Hoppel at the Millrose Games back in February.
That run, combined with a North American record for the 1000m - his 2:14.48 the second-fastest time in history - as well as his impressive outing in the national championships seemed to put him a class apart from the rest of the six-man field in the Nanjing final.
But he needed all his pace, talent, experience and mental fortitude to hold off the various threats in the final.
Matt Majendie for World Athletics
| MEN'S 800m MEDALLISTS | ||
| 🥇 | Josh Hoey (USA) | 1:44.77 |
| 🥈 | Eliott Crestan (BEL) | 1:44.81 |
| 🥉 | Elvin Josue Canales (ESP) | 1:45.03 |
| Full results | ||
