Great Britain’s Josh Kerr produced the shock of the championships so far as he stormed to gold in the men’s 1500m at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, on Wednesday (23 August).
The Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist started the race having seen his teammate Jake Wightman beat favourite Jakob Ingebrigtsen to the line at the Oregon 22 World Championships.
But with the Norwegian Olympic champion entering the 2023 championships in dominant form, with a world lead time of 3:27.14, the feeling was that this year history could not repeat itself.
Or could it?
In a race hugely reminiscent of last year’s final, Kerr kicked for the finish line with 200 metres to go, passing his more decorated rival to secure victory in a time of 3:29.38 in front of a Budapest crowd that looked as stunned as the winner himself. Ingebrigtsen held on for silver in 3:29.65 with his compatriot Narve Gilje Nordås – who is coached by Ingebrigsten’s dad – winning bronze in 3:29.68.
“I’ve been in four major championship finals and I’ve come away with only a bronze, so I knew it was my time to come away [with gold], and when you’re the underdog you come out and take what’s yours and you’re not handed anything,” said Kerr after the race, before later explaining just what this championship victory means to him: ‘It’s a long, long road to get here and it’s just so surreal to be in this position and I’m enjoying every moment of it.”
And while disappointed not to have won gold, Ingebrigtsen was gracious in defeat. “All credit to Kerr, he did a good race, but I feel a little bit unlucky for being in this position. I got a little bit of a dry throat in the semi-finals and it escalated to a sore throat. It got a little bit better this morning but obviously not a hundred per cent. Today, I wasn’t the best in the field – I would have loved to be in a different scenario feeling a little bit better. I don’t feel like I could have done much different.”
Kerr now has another shining medal to add to his collection – but this one will be special. The 25-year-old has become the second Scottish athlete in as many years to climb to the top of the World podium in the metric mile and he marked the emotional moment by running to celebrate with his parents in the stands.
And for Team GB, who have already witnessed Katarina Johnson-Thompson own the underdog tag on her way to victory in the heptathlon, another surprise victory shows their athletics team is in fine fettle less than a year out from Olympic Games Paris 2024.