Oh my Josh! It’s the first 1500m medal since 1988
Edinburgh athlete Josh Kerr smashed a hoodoo that had lasted for 33 years by winning bronze in the Men’s 1500m in Tokyo yesterday. And there were medals galore for Team GB as they moved into fifth place in the table going into today’s final day of the Games.
Josh Kerr declared he will not settle for Olympic bronze despite ending Team GB’S 33-year wait for a medal in the men’s 1500m.
The 23-year-old Scot ran a personal best of three minutes 29.05 seconds to finish behind Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Kenya’s Timothy Cheruiyot.
It is the first British medal in the men’s event since Peter Elliott won silver in Seoul in 1988 and adds to Laura Muir’s second place in the women’s 1500m on Friday.
Kerr finished seventh in his first heat on Tuesday to qualify as one of the fastest losers and knew he had to improve but is already eyeing more success.
Kerr said: “It was a fast race, I wanted to win, I said it and everyone laughed at me a little, but I’m here to win it and win medals. I’m not satisfied with a
bronze, I’m happy with it being a step in my career.
“My US visa says I’m an entertainer. P1 visa, performance. I wasn’t thinking about that (entertaining) but maybe if I watch it back.
“I was throwing everything I had at it. How bad was that first round? That really gives you a kick up the backside.
“It was annoying having the first off day in two years in the first round of the Olympics. I snuck through and made sure I didn’t take any step out there for granted.
“I got better every round and that’s the name of the game in this sport. I went out there, had some fun, had a smile on my face and was hunting for a medal all day.”
Kerr, whose brother Jake has one rugby cap for Scotland, completed GB’S athletics medal haul at the Olympic Stadium as they finished with six.
Team-mates Jake Heyward and Jake Wightman finished ninth and 10th respectively.
Earlier, Sifan Hassan of Holland won the women’s 10,000m – adding to her 5000m title and 1500m bronze – as Eilish Mccolgan came ninth and Jessica Judd 17th.
Mccolgan said: “I know I’m in the shape of my life so I’m a little bit disappointed, but I suppose I have to take into account the heat and humidity.
“It’s all fair and well saying I think I can run a PB and I can run fast, but the conditions were just so, so tough.”
The women’s 4x400m relay squad finished fifth behind the USA, Poland and Jamaica, while the men’s 4x400m was also won by the United States.
Morgan Lake pulled out of the high jump final as the British injury curse struck again on the final night of competition at the Olympic Stadium.
The 24-year-old suffered a foot injury and joined Adam Gemili, Katarina Johnsonthompson and Dina Ashersmith in having fitness problems ruin their Games.
“During the successful qualification round where she cleared the automatic qualification height of 1.95m – an outdoor season’s best – and placed 7th, Morgan sustained a foot injury,” a British Athletics statement read.
“Morgan and the medical team have worked hard to resolve the issue, but during tonight’s warm up, it became obvious that she was unable to perform at the level she was aspiring to.therefore she and
her support team have made the difficult decision to withdraw from tonight’s final.”
Meanwhile, Joe Choong made it a sensational double for Great Britain in modern pentathlon by emulating Kate French and taking gold.
The 26-year-old paced himself to perfection in the final laser run having led throughout the competition, and becomes the first British man to win an individual Olympic medal in a sport that has been in the programme at every Games since 1912.
Choong looked like he might be overtaken by Egypt’s Ahmed Elgendy heading into the final 800 metres lap but the British athlete had something in reserve and he sprinted across the finish line.
French was the sixth British woman to win a medal in the
sport since 2000, but the men had always fallen just short until now.
Choong was relieved to have held off the challenge of Elgendy in the closing stages of the laser run.
“I was thinking down the last straight: ‘He’s going to catch me,’ ” said Choong. “I’ve always said I wanted to be the best in the world at something and this is a dream come true.
“My swimming was good, my fencing was good. My shooting was a bit sketchy again. But I pulled myself together and this time I’ve nailed it.”
On becoming the first British man to win an individual modern pentathlon medal – 24 hours after French’s gold in the women’s event – Choong joked: “To be honest I couldn’t let Kate have all the limelight.”