That guy from Indy

 Somewhere in Indiana today there's a kid or two -- 8, 9 years old maybe  -- who's begging his or her parents for a pair of running shoes.

Somewhere there's another kid, or several, stepping outside under a gray lid of morning sky and running 100 yards, then 200, then all around the neighborhood.

Somewhere in Indiana, a journey began. And it's all because another Indiana guy looked up yesterday and saw a sliver of daylight, and began to sprint through it.

By now you've seen the replay a hundred times, if you're not making your home under a chunk of limestone: There at the head of the stretch were the two bitter rivals in the Olympic men's 1500 meters, Jakob Ingebrigsten of Norway and Josh Kerr from Great Britain, joining their anticipated battle at last as the final meters whirled away.

Just behind, like an afterthought, was the Indiana guy, 23-year-old Cole Hocker, Indianapolis native and Cathedral High School grad.

He looked tiny and frail next to the two rivals, and he'd already tried to slip by Ingebrigsten along the rail and failed. It looked as if he might medal, but only might.

And then ...

And then, of course, we know what happened.

Ingebrigsten drifted over toward Kerr. Daylight beckoned. And suddenly, with just 50 meters to the tape, the Indiana guy summoned a finishing kick out of legend, sprinting past the Norwegian, then sprinting past Kerr in the final five strides, then flinging his arms toward heaven as back in Indiana people grabbed their heads and screamed HOLY CRAP HE ACTUALLY WON!

It was the upset of the Paris Games, at least in track and field.

It was an Olympic record, 3:27.65 -- equivalent to a 3:44 mile, and more than three seconds faster than Hocker's previous best in the 1500.

It was the first time since 2016 an American had won gold in the 1500. And when Yared Nuguse summoned his own blazing stretch run to nab the bronze, it marked the first time since 1912 two Americans had reached the podium in the event.

Nuguse, in fact, closed so fast that, had the race been half a stride longer, the U.S. would have finished 1-2. Kerr beat him to the line by an eyelash.

It was a 1500 final for the ages, and doubtless now will be part of the Olympics montage the networks will roll out every four years from here to eternity. That's what happens when a man closes with a guts stretch run that will ring down the decades, literally shocking the world and maybe even himself.

Hocker said later he knew he had it in him, but what neither he nor anyone else could predict was how the race would spin out. As it happened, it spun out exactly the way it had to for the guy from Indy -- with Ingebrigsten going out too fast, and he and Kerr focusing solely on one another across the final 200 yards. As they turned for home, incredibly, both seemed to have forgotten Hocker was even there.

And now?

Now kids doing what kids do, across Indiana.

Now Cole Hocker's sprint doing what sprints with the world watching inevitably do, which is fire the imaginations of a whole bunch of future Cole Hockers.

Somewhere in Indiana this morning, they all stepped outside and began running. Who knows where they'll end up?