British team captain ready for 1500m battle as he prepares to lead by example in Paris
The talking is over. The men’s 1500m – one of the most eagerly awaited events of the athletics action at Paris 2024 – gets underway on athletics’ first morning at the Stade de France on Friday (August 2).
After trading numerous verbal blows ever since Josh Kerr beat Jakob Ingebrigtsen to the world title in Budapest last summer, the two main protagonists will begin their journey towards what promises to be a thrilling climax of an Olympic final on August 6.
Both the British team captain and the Norwegian superstar (who even managed to have a dig at his arch enemy in a Eurovision style pop video recently) appear to be approaching this mission from a position of great strength.
Kerr’s year has already featured an impressive indoor season that culminated in the 3000m indoor world title, as well as a British record-breaking mile victory over his great rival that laid down the most emphatic of markers.
That race at the end of May was Ingebrigsten’s first since recovering from an Achilles injury, though, and since then he has landed European 1500m and 5000m gold medals as well as a brilliant European record-breaking run over the shorter distance at the Monaco Diamond League. The pot is simmering nicely.
Kerr maintains that the ultimate goal of qualifying is to do just that – to make sure you’re still in the game. After Tokyo three years ago, he knows from personal experience that reaching an Olympic final is no easy task. But, in a sport where ‘the one per cents’ all play such a big part, will there be a temptation to play some mind games or to send out a message to the competition?
“I haven’t made my mind up about that one yet,” grins Kerr, a bronze medallist in the Japanese capital. “Both probably. I’m sure there’s going to be some showmanship in there.
“To be honest, I’m just looking to get through the rounds and get ready for the big one. The rounds are hard. In 2021, I was doing personal bests and my PB [3:29.05] is still from the Olympic Games final. It shows how few 1500s I run, but I’m good at them so I’m not too worried.”
Remarkably, this will be Kerr’s first 1500m race of the year. It is well known that the Scot and his coach Danny Mackey are forensic about choosing where and when to compete but, even so, such a minimalist approach is striking.
Aside from that aforementioned mile in Eugene, Kerr’s only other races outdoors in…
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