CENTRE OF ATTENTION
Kerr excited to tap into Stateside support as he homes in on glory on the world stage
THE newly-acquired mortgage has become a source of hefty motivation, Josh Kerr admits. ‘I’m now getting up thinking: “Bloody hell, I need to be able to afford this”,’ he explains. The Olympic 1500metres bronze medallist’s well-appointed first home is not located in his native Edinburgh but in his adopted hometown of Albuquerque in the thin mountain air of New Mexico.
He may be an American resident but he considers himself a proud Scot with a foot in each camp, thereby doubling the size of support available when the World Athletics Championships begin in Oregon on Friday.
‘I sit in the middle a little bit,’ he laughs. ‘When it comes to individual fans wanting photos and autographs, I get a lot of Americans for that.
‘It’s good for sponsorships as well, where I have an audience on both sides. And that’s great. Hopefully, people like me. But sometimes, I’m polarising, so we’ll see the reaction I’d get if I won.’
His brashness surely plays well across the Atlantic. He is potentially a popular victor given the absence of any genuine hope flying the flag for Uncle
Sam. By contrast, Scotland’s central belt supplies a trio of contenders — Kerr, his Edinburgh club-mate Jake Wightman and the Glaswegian Neil Gourley.
All of them demonstrated prime form prior to their 1-2-3 at last month’s UK Championships and all three were finalists at the previous Worlds in
2019 in Doha.
That event felt an oddity. World
Athletics, lured by
Middle Eastern money, taking a jaunt outside track and field’s European heartland.
The 2022 edition, delayed by a year, is cut from similar cloth. The host city of Eugene — self-styled as Track Town USA — is of similar size to Dundee. Its stadium, Hayward Field, has been renovated but even with temporary seating its capacity is only 22,000. Sebastian Coe, World Athletics president, has decreed this as a golden chance to crack America. Stateside, ‘track’ remains a niche, Kerr observes, and the prism of interest is very much narrower than abroad.
‘The UK crowd, they’re very knowledgeable, they’re up to date on the gossip of track and field,’ he explains. ‘From a US point of view, they know what’s going on. They know who most people are. But they’ll just be mostly cheering for the Americans and their University of Oregon athletes.’
Kerr frequently trains in nearby Seattle, where his coach Danny Mackey and the group of middledistance movers and shakers funded by his chief sponsor, Brooks, is located.
From his Tokyo success have come multiple perks, including bonuses on top of his six-figure endorsement cheque and lucrative
‘I HAVE AN AUDIENCE ON BOTH SIDES AND THAT’S GREAT. SOMETIMES I’M POLARISING, SO WE’LL SEE WHAT THE REACTION IS LIKE IF I WIN’
bumps in appearance fees. Homestead apart, he has treated himself to a top-of-therange Tesla and funds are available to plan a glitzy wedding to his fiancée in the sunshine of the Dominican Republic. The 24year-old is setting himself up for life and that demands he pushes himself in the present. He has already claimed a European mile record indoors in the spring and now will now attack Mo Farah’s British outdoor best during the forthcoming fortnight.
To the uninitiated, he notes, running looks easy. Two hours daily, then rest. A contrast to the regime of his elder brother Jake in rugby’s Premiership, where gym and analysis supplement graft on the pitch. ‘The actual effort of training is so strenuous,’ Kerr counters. ‘If anything, it’s punishment.’
If he is to achieve his aim of becoming the golden boy in America, he must thwart his compatriots and the brilliant Jakob Ingebrigtsen. The Norwegian already boasted an aura prior to his Olympic victory. Stood on that podium at his side, any element of anonymity Kerr had retained was lost.
Being a marked man suits, he claims. Kerr will bet the house on himself. ‘I tried to win the Olympics last year, and I went in thinking I could,’ he says. ‘I think I can win the world championships, and I’m going in thinking I can.
‘There might be more people thinking it’s more of a realistic goal. But I have a very high expectation of how I’m going to handle myself at the Worlds and what my goals are.’