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Josh Kerr’s one track mind

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British miler talks about that Olympic final, his hopes for the Grand Slam Track League and why he won’t be keep any thoughts on his rivals to himself

So far, this hasn’t been a winter of discontent for Josh Kerr. There has been no brooding or moping around his Seattle home over an Olympic 1500m final of epic proportions that he had done so much to build up but ended with him falling fractionally short of the outcome he so desperately wanted. 

The silver lining of coming second to Cole Hocker’s searing Stade de France surge in the closing metres is the knowledge that “nothing was left on the table” as he replaced Mo Farah as the British record-holder with a run of 3:27.79. It was very much the case that Hocker won gold rather than the world champion giving it away.

“What allows me to be content is that I did everything I could for the best result, and that was the best result I could ever get,” says the Edinburgh AC athlete. “I’m not like: ‘I should have done this or that, and the result would have changed’. That was the best 1500m race I’ve ever run, and could be the best 1500m race I will ever run in my life. [Silver] wasn’t what we wanted but I’m still very proud of what it was.”

It was a final that lived up to the considerable hype, much of it generated by the very public and less than friendly verbal sparring that had played out between Kerr and his arch rival Jakob Ingebrigtsen. In the end, Paris didn’t come down to a prize fight between those two big names and instead it was Hocker who delivered the knockout blow. 

“I feel like I’m a massive reason why that race was as hyped up as it was, and I feel a great amount of responsibility for that,” says Kerr. “I know the other 1500m guys are pretty thankful for how big a stage we made that. I think we put on a show. We made people care about our sport.”

Olympic 1500m final (Getty)

Expect more of the same in 2025. When asked about the likes of Hocker and third-placed Yared Nuguse having gatecrashed the party, and if that means the mind games and outspoken exchanges with Ingebrigtsen are likely to be dialled down, Kerr’s response suggests that, if anything, the flames are going to be fanned even more vigorously. 

“I’m trying to be the best 1500m runner of our era, and that means I need to have more titles than everyone else and run faster times, so anyone that’s going to challenge that will hear my honest opinion on their life and their racing,” states Kerr. “I wouldn’t say I have a particular standpoint on any of these guys right now, but if they say something or do something that I don’t quite agree with, I will let them know that.”

All of the above plays further into the ambition to place athletics and middle distance running even deeper into the public consciousness. Kerr takes his role in doing that very seriously, which was part of the reason behind him being one of the first athletes to sign up to Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam Track League, which will feature four meetings – in Kingston, Miami, Philadelphia and LA – between the beginning of April and the end of June. 

Kerr is an ambassador for the project being spearheaded by the former Olympic 200m and 400m champion that is being staged in the hope of generating more attention, income and structure to the sport. In a recent interview, Johnson spoke of being hopeful that he “can save track” but, as an athlete at the heart of an event which consistently generates headlines, does Kerr feel the sport actually does need saving?

“It’s going in the right direction and I think we’re growing as a sport but the big thing with Grand Slam Track [is that it] is bringing a professional league to an amateur sport,” he says. “I could sign you on a Josh Kerr shoe deal right now, and put you in a Diamond League, and you would be a professional athlete. It doesn’t matter what level of performance you are at, it’s who you know, and I think it’s got to be a bit more cutthroat for it to be seen as a professional sport. 

“I think it can elevate each level of our competition by bringing in more races at a higher level. It pushes everyone else’s fees up from an athlete point of view and I think it gives more of a platform for the athletes to have a say in what we’re doing and try and promote our sport. I don’t think we particularly needed saving from a growth standpoint, but I also think this could kickstart a whole new era of track and field, which is really exciting to be a part of.”

Josh Kerr (Bobby Gavin)

Kerr’s role with the project means: “I’m not just a racer, I’m also part of helping them design what we think is the best way [forward], especially from the athletes’ point of view. 

“There are definitely a lot of things that us athletes get to have an opinion on, which is really nice and if I pick up the phone and speak to anyone at the league, then they’ll listen, and will take it into consideration. I think it’s really good for the athletes and the brands that they work with individually as well. There is no shoe partner as part of the league and that allows us to show off our biggest brands and hopefully create some more income for the athletes. Hopefully that then trickles down into every professional athlete in the sport.”

Every competitor has to run twice at each of the Grand Slam Track meetings, meaning we will be seeing a lot more of Kerr – an athlete known for racing very sparingly – than normal in 2025. 

Tackling a new and different challenge is part of what helps to keep motivation levels up after a gruelling Olympic cycle, while there is also the small matter of having a world title to defend in Tokyo come September. It looks less likely that we’ll see him defend his world indoor 3000m crown – won so convincingly in Glasgow – during the spring but there is also a feeling that the shackles are being loosened, if not completely removed.

“I think it’s back to research mode,” says Kerr of the year ahead. “When you’re building into an Olympics, you have to decide what has been working and what hasn’t been working, and then you kind of stick to that in the couple of years leading up to it. 

“For me, now it’s more: ‘Well that was an awesome ride and we did everything we could and now it’s like, let’s go back and see what else we can change’. I’ll be racing the four [Grand Slam] meets and then I want to come home and race, plus I have some titles to try and hold, so it’s going to be a busy year. You’ll definitely see me on the track a lot more.”

Josh Kerr (John Nepolitan)

For the moment, Kerr is unable to travel too far given his application for a Green Card. That suits him fine, though, and allows the base building on America’s west coast to continue. A 10,000m track time trial is in his near future as he and the Brooks Beasts team, led by coach Danny Mackey, plot their next moves. It’s noticeable that, when speaking about his work, Kerr regularly refers to “we” rather than “I”, preferring to speak of the collective. 

“It’s such a team effort and, in a three-year cycle, we have been able to come away with Olympic bronze, Olympic silver and two World Championship gold medals,” says the 2021 Olympic bronze medallist. “You have to respect the sport for what it’s really good at – and that’s keeping you honest and pulling you back down to reality a lot. 

“We can go back and forth all year with really good 1500m runners and then we can just be blasted with someone completely new. I’m not cheating so you have to accept the results for what they are. You can’t be too worried about what’s going on in other people’s camps and what other people are doing, because you just have to focus on yourself, accept those results and move on to the next one. The sport’s good at being pretty fast paced and there’s always another competition on the horizon.”

As he steps into the beginning of another Olympic cycle that will come to a head at LA 2028, the 27-year-old feels in a very different position to the man who finished third in Tokyo three years ago. Much has happened to him in a very short space of time.

“It’s been developing into the athlete I always aspired to be,” he says. “I’m packing my safe up with all these different medals and I’m like: ‘This is awesome’. But we, as athletes, normalise [that] very quickly and we try to just go out and get more. I don’t know if it’s the best mentality, but I think it’s one that hopefully helps you keep winning.

“It’s a very busy life but at the core of it is just go out and train. I think the biggest balancer in anything is time. The watch won’t slow down for you just because you’re good. It will be very honest.”

 

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