The Tokyo World Athletics Championships have been treating the Americans well. Tara Davis-Woodhall jumped 7.13 meters to win gold in the long jump, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden clocked her third sub-10.70 of the season (10.61s), to win the women’s 100m world title, and Ryan Crouser threw 22.34 meters to win his third consecutive shot put title. But for all the success, there have been some disappointments too. Like Noah Lyles losing his 100m world title, finishing behind Kishane Thompson and Oblique Seville. And now another Olympic gold medalist has suffered a big blow to his medal hopes.

Cole Hocker has been disqualified from the 1500m semifinals for jostling. For those who might not know, it’s the physical interference between runners: actions like bumping, obstructing, cutting across too sharply, elbowing, or otherwise obstructing another athlete’s progress. The Olympian violated rule 17.2.2 of World Athletics, which reads, “if another athlete is found by the Referee to be responsible for the jostling or obstruction, such athlete (or their team) shall be liable to disqualification from that event.” Though the USATF contested the decision, the appeal was denied.

Hocker was seen pushing between Germany’s Robert Farken and the Netherlands’ Stefan Nillessen, leading to his DQ. Now, America’s only hope lies in Jonah Koech, who finished fifth in 3:36.89, and  Ethan Strand, who placed eighth in the first semifinal, recording 3:36.15 on the clock. Niels Laros won that race in 3:35.50 while Josh Kerr came second in 3:35.53. Nonetheless, Hocker was the big hope for the U.S., and his absence from the final will be significant, given his heroics at last year’s Olympics.

At the 2024 Paris Olympics, the American clocked a time of 3:27.65, setting a new Olympic record, overtaking the big names Josh Kerr (silver) and Jakob Ingebrigtsen (4th) for the Gold. Yared Nuguse took bronze for the USA in 3:27.80, giving the U.S. two men on the 1500m podium. However, this year, Nuguse, the self-confessed Taylor Swift fan, finished 5th in the finals of the USATF Championships, missing out on qualifying for the World Championships entirely. But Hocker’s DQ is going to hurt, but he is not alone in being disqualified in these Championships.

From Olympic champions to the whole team: DQs at the 2025 World Athletics Championships

The women’s 1500m did not go without any disqualifications either. In the semifinals, Italy’s Marta Zenoni was disqualified after a physical clash with Germany’s Nele Weßel. The two athletes made contact during the race, which disrupted Weßel’s rhythm and set her back in the pack. Although she didn’t fall, the interference cost her valuable momentum.

Then, the reigning 200m Olympic gold medalist, Letsile Tebogo, was disqualified from the 100m finals on September 14th. Reason? The Botswana native took off just before the starting pistol fired. Yup, a false start, after which he was flashed a red card.

Adding to the spate of DQs, Kenya’s mixed relay team consisting of Mary Moraa, Brian Tinega, Mercy Oketch, and Allan Kipyego clocked a time of 3:10.73 in heat 2 of the 4x400m relay, finishing second. But they were DQ’ed for lane infringement, losing out on a spot in the finals. There’s still plenty of action left to unfold at the World Athletics Championships; we can only hope that disqualifications don’t prove to be the reason for more heartbreaks.