Josh Kerr upgraded his Tokyo bronze to silver in Paris with a new national record as the USA’s Cole Hocker claimed a surprise men’s 1500m victory at the Stade de France.

The pre-race build up centred around the head-to-head between world champion Kerr (Danny Mackey, Edinburgh) and defending champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen and it was the Norwegian who set the pace.

Kerr looked to have played it perfectly as he surged past Ingebrigtsen on the final bend only for Hocker to surge up the inside and claim a dramatic triumph in an Olympic record time of 3:27.65.

Team GB’s Paris 2024 athletics team captain held on for silver in 3:27.79, one-hundredth of a second clear of Yared Nuguse, with Ingebrigtsen in fourth. Neil Gourley (Stephen Haas, Giffnock North) finished 10th in 3:30.88.

Kerr said: “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.

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

Dina Asher-Smith (Edrick Floreal, Blackheath and Bromley) and Daryll Neita (Marco Airale, Cambridge Harriers) finished fourth and fifth respectively in a thrilling women’s 200m final.

Both British sprinters were in contention throughout but narrowly missed the podium, with Asher-Smith crossing in 22.22 – two-hundredths of a second off bronze – and Neita one-hundredth of a second further back.

Asher-Smith said: “It has been a long week and I am proud of that performance.

“Women’s sprinting is really incredible right now. If you go back to 2012, these kind of times would hold up phenomenally well in that era. It’s a great time to be a female sprinter.”

Neita, who also finished fourth in the women’s 100m, added: “I really gave it everything.

“I’m within touching distance and it gives me more motivation than ever. I’m going to figure it out, I promise.”

Another national record fell in the women’s 3000m steeplechase courtesy of Lizzie Bird (Pat McCurry, Shaftesbury Barnet).

Bird finished seventh in 9:04.35, breaking her own previous record by more than three seconds in a race won by Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi in an Olympic record 8:52.76.

“It was so amazing to be out there,” Bird said. “I was trying to take that in a little bit more than usual. The crowd was so loud, especially the last few laps. It was a lot of fun.”

Jacob Fincham-Dukes (Matt Barton, Leeds City) impressed in the men’s long jump final, finishing fifth on his Olympic debut.

Fincham-Dukes started well with a 7.95m opening leap and upgraded that to 8.14m to seal a place in the top five.

“I definitely thought I had something in the fourth and fifth round to contend for a medal,” he said.

“I was trying to leave it all out there as you do with the jumps. It is something special out there. We have 70,000 people all going electric. It is other worldly.

“There was a sea of British flags. I had them right there behind me and it felt amazing.”

Elsewhere on a packed evening, Matthew Hudson-Smith (Gary Evans, Birchfield Harriers) impressively booked his place in the men’s 400m final.

The 29-year-old eased up down the home straight and won his semi-final in 44.07 to set up a showdown with three-time Olympic medallist Kirani James, who was the fastest qualifier.

Charlie Dobson (Leon Baptiste, Colchester) finished fourth in his semi-final, clocking 44.48s – not enough to make it through to a final on Olympic debut.

“It went as well as I could have done,” he said. “It wasn’t the result I wanted but it’s the result I got. I went out and gave it everything, so I can’t not be proud of myself.

“I executed the race differently to previous ones. I had to – it’s the Olympic semi-finals, there’s no messing about here, I had to go for it. It didn’t pay off in the end but I’ll learn from it. The whole experience has been incredible.”

In the women’s 400m hurdles, Jessie Knight (Marina Armstrong, Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow) finished sixth in her semi-final in 54.90s while Lina Nielsen suffered a fall at the final hurdle.

“I’m really disappointed,” Nielsen said. “I risked it, and the risk didn’t pay off.

“However, I can be proud that I fought my way to try and get to that final.

Knight added: “I was quite happy with the way I ran, it is my third quickest time in the season, so it’s not a terrible time at all with tired legs.

“I felt a lot of fatigue in the legs in the latter half of the race. But that will be because I ran the repechage yesterday. Which again is my fault.

“If I did things properly the first time, I wouldn’t have had to do that.”