It was a bittersweet moment for Bryce Hoppel. Three years ago, he didn’t make the Olympic final in the men’s 800 meters. Tonight at Stade de France, his time of 1:41.67 broke Donavan Brazier’s American record of 1:42.34, earned Hoppel a personal best by more than a second, and would have won gold in Tokyo.
But in a blistering fast race in which the top four men all crossed the line under 1:42, Hoppel finished just off the podium. Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi took gold in 1:41.19, Canada’s Marco Arop claimed silver in 1:41.20, and Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati won bronze in 1:41.50.
He didn’t try to hide his disappointment after the race. When asked if he thought he would run 1:41.67 and finish off the podium, he said he thought that time would be winning the race.
“And it really is heartbreaking that that didn’t get the job done,” he said.
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In 2019, after winning two NCAA titles, Hoppel decided to skip his final season of collegiate eligibility at the University of Kansas to turn professional. Later that summer at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Hoppel finished fourth in his first global championship. Two years later, he made it only to the semifinal of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. He also struggled through the rounds at the 2022 world championships in Eugene, Oregon.
Last year, Hoppel found himself struggling with burnout and staleness in training. He won the U.S. title, but finished only seventh at the world championships in Budapest. After spending six years living in Lawrence, Kansas, he felt the need to switch some things up, he told Runner’s World in June. Since November, the three-time U.S. champion has been training with the Very Nice Track Club, including fellow Olympian Hobbs Kessler, in the high-altitude running haven of Flagstaff, Arizona.
The shift paid off. In March, Hoppel won gold in the 800 meters at the world indoor championships in Glasgow, Scotland. In June, he broke the meet record is a freelance health and fitness writer, author, and podcaster who’s contributed regularly to.
The last American man to medal in 800 meters was Clayton Murphy, who earned bronze at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.
Taylor Dutch is a writer and editor living in Austin, Texas, and a former NCAA track athlete who specializes in fitness, wellness, and endurance sports coverage. Her work has appeared in Runner’s World, SELF, Bicycling, Outside, and Podium Runner.
Cindy is a freelance health and fitness writer, author, and podcaster who’s contributed regularly to Runner’s World since 2013. She’s the coauthor of both Breakthrough Women’s Running: Dream Big and Train Smart and Rebound: Train Your Mind to Bounce Back Stronger from Sports Injuries, a book about the psychology of sports injury from Bloomsbury Sport. Cindy specializes in covering injury prevention and recovery, everyday athletes accomplishing extraordinary things, and the active community in her beloved Chicago, where winter forges deep bonds between those brave enough to train through it.
