The 2025 British Athletics Champs: Two 1500 races to savor, by Stuart Weir
On paper, the men’s 1500 could have been the most exciting event of the Championships, with Josh Kerr and Jake Wightman (world champions both) racing Neil Gourley (2015 World Indoor medalist), George Mills (3:28.36 PR in Paris this year), and Elliott Giles (2024 Olympian) battling for three world championship places. However, it didn’t quite work out that way.
Josh Kerr, with a wild card to Tokyo as the reigning champion, chose to run the 5000 meters at the GB trials, winning comfortably. George Mills was tripped in the London Meeting last month and had not recovered sufficiently to be ready to run. Jake Wightman ran well in London, then announced that he had a “nasty stomach bug which has knocked me for six”. Then there were two.
Miramar, Florida, USA
May 2-4, 2025, photo by Kevin Morris
Gourley and Giles were on paper 5 seconds faster than the rest of the field, so the outcome seemed never in doubt. Giles would have had unpleasant memories of last year’s trials when he and Josh Kerr had a clash of legs within meters off the finish line in the 800, leaving him out of the Paris Olympics until he got a late call-up to replace Jake Wightman. This year, the race went as expected until the last 3 meters, when Gourley and Giles collided legs and Giles almost went down again (see photo).
The final result was
1 Neil Gourley 3:47.062 Elliot Giles 3.47.203 Samuel Charig 3.47.424 Thomas Keen 3.47.425 James McMurray 3.47.53
A lot closer than expected and perhaps a lot closer than it needed to be, given that Gourley and Giles are both 3.30 men. Afterwards, Gourley said: “It feels good to take three British titles in a row. The British Champs are always fun, but there is also a lot to lose. The goal today was obviously to secure the top two spots, and that was achieved. Elliott (Giles) apologised for the near miss at the finish line. I don’t think he realised how close we came, but it all works out as we are both on the same plane. I am starting to find my form in training; it would have been lovely to have Josh (Kerr) and the others in the race to test me a bit more, but you can only race those who are there, and I am happy with how that went”.
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