JOSH GO FOR IT
Confident Kerr fears no one in 1500m
JOSH KERR insists he won’t fear anyone in the hunt for World Championship medals in tonight’s 1500m final in Oregon.
He will join Edinburgh AC club-mate Jake Wightman in trying to knock Jakob Ingebrigtsen off his throne. But after taking bronze at last summer’s Olympics behind the Norwegian, Kerr believes he can cause an upset to land a major title.
The 24-year-old won his semifinal in 3:36.92 with Ingebrigtsen and Tokyo silver medallist Timothy Cheruiyot behind him – and Glaswegian Neil Gourley missing out on the final by one-hundredth of a second in sixth.
Kerr said: “I was very patient and made strong and smart decisions. It was all about taking a deep breath and making a decision I’m going to stick with and I felt pretty good coming down the home stretch.”
Wightman was third in the other semi in 3:34.48 to earn a shot at bettering his fifth place in Doha in 2019. But it will be Ingebrigtsen who, Kerr admits, will have the big target on his back.
The Scot said: “I could beat him last year as well because anyone can have a bad day. I look at his world indoors – he came second and claimed he’s got Covid despite running well. You can be under the weather, have food poisoning, a bad night’s sleep, get tripped up – anything can happen in a 1500, or any race.
“If I don’t have the expectation of going in and trying to win, why am I there? And that’s probably the expectation of the top six guys.”
Kerr’s burn-up resulted in the elimination of potential rivals Samuel Tefera and Ollie Hoare, as well as unlucky Gourley who had to bounce back from catching Covid last week. He said: “I fell a bit in the last three metres so I lost a bit of momentum.
“It was a final minus a couple. These are the top guys in the world so it is always tough.”
Wightman followed home Kenyan Abel Kipsang, fourth behind Kerr in Tokyo but perhaps the biggest threat to Ingebrigtsen this evening.
At 28, Wightman senses he has hit his prime. Results this season, including victory at the British Championships, underscore he’s found a new gear since his 10th place in the Olympic final.
He said: “A fourth-place finish would be something I’d be pretty disappointed with. I don’t put too much pressure on it. If I’m not good enough then I’m not good enough.
“I could potentially never get a global medal. But I still believe this is a good opportunity and there will still be opportunities after that. I’ve got five years left and I hope I’ve got a few good moments.” Nick Percy fell to his knees in despair after ending up two places shy of reaching the men’s discus final. The Scottish record holder could only produce a best of 63.20m to end up 14th, with British team-mate Lawrence Okoye one place above but also missing out. Percy said: “I’m seven and a half metres up on what I did five years ago at the London World Champs so I’ll take the positives away. “I’m proud to be in such close contention with these boys. It’s a shame me and Lawrence just missed out but we’re so close to having two Brits breaking into that world final.”