Olympic silver medallist suggests there won’t be a rematch between two of middle distance running’s biggest rivals at LA 2028
Will we ever see an Olympic 1500m rematch between Josh Kerr and Jakob Ingebrigtsen? The Scotsman is not so sure.
Still processing the events of the night before, during which he broke the British record and took silver behind surprise winner Cole Hocker, the world champion admitted he “didn’t envy” the Norwegian’s Paris schedule that meant he was straight back on to the Stade de France track to contest the heats of the men’s 5000m on Wednesday morning (August 7).
Ingebrigtsen won his in 13:51.59 and the two-time world champion over the longer distance looked comfortable in doing so. “I’m lucky because I get a second chance to show what I’m good for,” he said.
After a third consecutive global 1500m final in which he missed out on first place – this time finishing outside of the medals completely – it’s natural to question if the 2021 Olympic champion might soon be done with the metric mile, when it comes to championships racing at least.
His record over 12-and-a-half laps is formidable and there have even been suggestions that the half marathon might be a distance to which he is perfectly suited. Even though he is the European record-holder, there is now a clear Achilles heel for the European champion when it comes to the 1500m – Cole Hocker being the latest to expose it, despite the Norwegian’s attempts to destroy the opposition by setting a blistering pace.
The hype around that unforgettable Olympic final was caused, largely, by the feud between Kerr and Ingebrigsten and the fact that both have been tearing strips off one another for the past year. By the time LA 2028 rolls around, however, the event might be in need of another rivalry to build the narrative around.
Cole Hocker (Getty)
Asked if he thinks Ingebrigtsen might start to turn his full attention to the longer events, Kerr said: “He’s obviously pretty dominant in the 5000m and he’s closing faster than all of those guys. We’ll see. I can’t see him running the 1500m for another whole Olympic cycle but, again, he’s running really, really fast times so that’s not for me to determine. I’ll be sticking to my 1500m. I don’t think my 13.23 is going to get me anywhere near the medals in the 5000m any time soon.”
For his part, Ingebrigtsen was magnanimous in defeat, an impressive Instagram post offering warm congratulations to the…
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