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Josh Kerr (runner)
British middle-distance runner (born 1997) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Josh Kerr (born 8 October 1997)[4] is a British middle-distance runner who competes primarily in the 1500 metres. He won a gold medal in the event at the 2023 World Championships, a silver medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics, a bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics, and a gold medal at the 2015 European Junior Championships. He is also the 2024 World Indoor champion in the 3000 metres. Kerr holds the world best time in the short track 2 mile, and the British record in the outdoor 1500 metres and mile.
Kerr competed for the University of New Mexico from 2015 to 2018, where he was a three-time NCAA champion. He set a collegiate record in the 1500 m in April 2017 that stood until May 2021. Kerr turned professional in 2018 to compete for the Brooks Beasts Track Club. In 2023, Sportscotland named him Scottish sportsperson of the year.
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Early life and background
Kerr was born on 8 October 1997 in Edinburgh, Scotland.[5] His mother works as a physiotherapist, and his father is a former rugby player. His older brother Jake is a professional rugby player. Kerr began running with the Edinburgh Athletics Club at the age of 8. He was educated at George Watson’s College.[6] At 16, he started reaching out to athletic coaches at colleges in the United States, aiming to compete in the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA).[1][7] Kerr received several negative responses from coaches, except from the coach at the University of New Mexico, who offered the teenager a full athletics scholarship. In the summer before he started college, Kerr won gold in the 1500 m at the 2015 European Athletics Junior Championships.[1] The following month, at age 17, he moved to Albuquerque and began competing for the University of New Mexico, majoring in exercise science.[2]
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Collegiate competition
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While at the University of New Mexico, Kerr won three NCAA titles and set the collegiate record in the 1500 m. In March 2017, he won his first national title in the indoor mile, defeating Edward Cheserek, the collegiate record holder in the event and a 15-time NCAA champion.[1] In June 2017, Kerr secured a second national title by winning the outdoor 1500 m, becoming the first man since Leo Manzano in 2008 to achieve both the indoor mile and the outdoor 1500 m titles in the same year.[8] He repeated his success in the indoor mile in March 2018, claiming another national title. On 20 April 2018, Kerr broke the collegiate record in the 1500 m with a time of 3:35.01, surpassing Sydney Maree's 1981 record of 3:35.30.[9] This record stood for 3 years and 24 days, until it was broken by Yared Nuguse in May 2021. Kerr's final collegiate race was in June 2018, where he finished third in the 1500 m at the NCAA Championships.[10]
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Professional competition
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2018–2020: Early professional career
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Kerr turned professional in June 2018, forgoing his senior year of eligibility in the NCAA.[11] He signed a sponsorship deal with Brooks Sports, a Seattle-based company, to train under coach Danny Mackey as part of the Brooks Beasts Track Club. The Scotsman divided his training time between Seattle and Albuquerque. In August 2019, he participated in the 1500 m at the British Athletics Championships, where he secured a silver medal, finishing behind Neil Gourley. This performance qualified him to represent Britain in the 1500 m at the 2019 World Championships later that month, where he placed sixth in the final.[12]
2021: Olympic 1500 m bronze
In May 2021, Kerr set a personal best of 1:45.74 in the 800 metres. The following month, he won his first National title in the 1500 m at the British Championships.[13] This victory secured his spot to represent the British team at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, which were rescheduled to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the Olympic 1500 m final, Kerr won a Bronze medal in a personal best of 3:29.05, finishing behind Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Kenya's Timothy Cheruiyot.[14]
2022: European record in indoor mile
On 27 February 2022, Kerr ran 3:48.87 for the indoor mile at the Boston University Last Chance Meet. This performance broke Eamonn Coghlan's European indoor mile record, which had stood since 1983, and Peter Elliot’s British indoor mile record from 1990. Additionally, Kerr's 1500 m split of 3:32.86 enroute to the finish set a new British national record for the indoor 1500 m, surpassing Elliot’s previous record.[15][16] In July, the Scotsman competed in the 1500 m at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon. He finished in 5th place with a time of 3:30.60.[17]
2023: Gold medalist at World Championships
On 23 August 2023, Kerr defeated Norwegian favorite Jakob Ingebrigtsen in the final of the 1500 metres at the 2023 World Athletics Championships. It was the second successive World Championship where Ingebrigtsen was upset in the final of the 1500 metres by an athlete from Edinburgh Athletic Club, following teammate and compatriot Jake Wightman's victory in Eugene in 2022.[18]
Later that month, on 31 August 2023, Kerr competed in the Diamond League Final for the 1500 m, aiming to break the British record.[19] He finished second to Yared Nuguse in a time of 3:30.51. This mark was 1.7 seconds off the national record.
In his final race of the season on 10 September 2023, Kerr won the New Balance 5th Avenue Mile, clocking a time of 3:47.9.[20] He ended the year ranked third in the World Athletics Rankings for the 1500 m, behind Ingebrigtsen and Nuguse.[21] He was named Scottish sportsperson of the year in 2023 by Sportscotland.[22]
2024: World best, world indoor champion, Olympic 1500 m silver
In his first race of the year on 11 February, Kerr set a world best in the short track 2 mile at the Millrose Games.[23][note 1] His time of 8:00.67 surpassed the previous world best of 8:03.40 held by Mo Farah since 2015.
On 2 March, Kerr ran 7:42.98 for 3000 metres to claim gold at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland.[24]
On 20 April, Kerr opened his outdoor season in the Pro Men's 800 m Challenge at the Oregon Relays, winning in a time of 1:45.94.[25]
On 25 May, at the Prefontaine Classic, Kerr won the Bowerman Mile in a new British record time of 3:45.34, ahead of Jakob Ingebrigtsen (3:45.60) and Yared Nuguse (3:46.22). This eclipsed Steve Cram's previous British record of 3:46.32 by almost a full second. The race was a highly anticipated rematch between Kerr and Ingebrigtsen, and as such was billed as the "Mile of the Century."[26] This performance ranked Kerr as the sixth fastest miler in history.[27]
At the 2024 British Athletics Championships in late June, Kerr chose to compete in the 800m. In the final, Kerr finished in last after colliding with Elliot Giles on the home straight.[28] Just days earlier it was announced that he had signed up for the inaugural season of the Michael Johnson founded Grand Slam Track in 2025.[29]
On 5 July, Kerr was selected to race in 1500 metres at the 2024 Summer Olympics.[30][31] Just before the athletics events got underway, he was also named as the Great Britain athletics team captain for the Games in Paris.[32][33][34] The final at these Games was anticipated because of Kerr's rivalry with fellow European middle-distance runner Jakob Ingebrigtsen.[35]
On 6 August, in the Olympic men's 1500 metre final, Kerr unexpectedly finished second to Cole Hocker of the United States in a sprint finish. Kerr nearly got caught at the finish line by American Yared Nuguse who finished third, while Jakob Ingebrigtsen uncharacteristically finished fourth and had led for nearly the entire race at a fast pace. In the final stretch, Ingebrigtsen was initially leading, and was passed by Kerr, while behind the two was Hocker. However, when he had room, Hocker passed Ingebrigtsen & Kerr using his notorious kick to win the race in a new Olympic record and North American area record of 3:27.65. Kerr's time to secure the silver medal was a new personal best and new British national record of 3:27.79, breaking Mo Farah's previous British record of 3:28.81 by over a second. Nuguse was one hundredth of a second behind Kerr in a new personal best of 3:27.80, while Ingebrigtsen finished in 3:28.24.[36][37]
On 8 September, Kerr won the Fifth Avenue Mile in New York City, running a new course record of 3:44.3. This eclipsed Sydney Maree's previous record of 3:47.52 by more than three seconds, which had stood for 43 years, since the inaugural edition of the race in 1981. Kerr had previously won the race in 2023 as well, in a time of 3:47.9.[38][39]
In October, Kerr was named Scottish Athletics' athlete of the year.[40]
2025
Kerr initially intended to compete in the Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games in February, but dropped out due to illness.[41] In April, he finished seventh overall in the Short Distance event group at the 2025 Kingston Slam. In May, at the 2025 Miami Slam, with 16 points earned, Kerr was crowned Slam Champion of the Short Distance event group, having won the 1500 metres, and having finished fifth in the 800 metres, in a new personal best of 1:45.01.[42] In August, he became the British 5000 metres champion after winning the title at the 2025 UK Athletics Championships.[43]
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Achievements
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Information taken from World Athletics profile.[4]
Circuit performances
International competitions
Personal bests
Honours
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Notes
- Kerr's time in the indoor 2-mile is recognized as a world best rather than an official world record by World Athletics, the international governing body for athletics. See best performances in non-WA World Record events.
References
External links
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