The world 1500m outdoor champion and double Olympic medallist on his return to the global stage after heartbreak in Tokyo last September.
Josh Kerr couldn’t walk himself to breakfast six months ago. During the semi-finals at last September’s World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, the Brit “overstretched” and sustained a “minor strain” to his calf, before fully pulling it with 600m to go in the final.
With echoes of Derek Redmond’s finish at the Barcelona 1992 Olympics, Kerr limped to the line and finished in 4:11.23, to the applause of tens of thousands in Japan’s Olympic Stadium.
Kerr soon found out that he suffered a grade two tear in his right calf muscle and spent the next fortnight in crutches. Such was the difficulty in walking, that even stairs became an obstacle and general day-to-day rituals became trickier to navigate.
He decided that the best course of action was to stay in Japan to rehabilitate and, with the help of his mum who doubles up as Kerr’s physiotherapist, was able to get off the crutches pretty swiftly.
Within a month Kerr was using an AlterG Anti-Gravity Treadmill, before returning to altitude training in Albuquerque in January.
At the Millrose Games one month later, Kerr placed second over two miles behind Cole Hocker, clocking 8:07.68 in a tactical race in New York City.
The 28-year-old was given a medical exemption to miss the UK Athletics Indoor Championships due to a “niggle”, but now believes he is in the shape needed to regain his world indoor 3000m title in Toruń, Poland.
If Kerr was to achieve that feat it would be the third time he’d stand on the top of the podium at a major global championships, after his respective outdoor 1500m and indoor 3000m golds in Budapest and Glasgow.
Given Kerr only got back into full training two months after Tokyo, it’s an incredible turnaround for a man who is now aiming to win a hat-trick of global crowns.
“It was a tough scene to start with,” Kerr says. “However the turnaround was a lot quicker than you’d expect for a guy that that couldn’t even walk himself to breakfast. This whole journey has exposed some amazing people in my circle, including my mum who is also my physio.
“Her first thing was like, ‘we have to make sure that this recovers in the way that you want it to, so you can move on in this process’. So the next day we were in the pool in Tokyo. I also have Danny Mackey that I work with, who is big on the mental aspects of the sport.
“I’ve been running in major championships since 2017, so you know that things like this are going to crop up at some point. You’re not going to have the best of luck all the time, and it’s realising that it’s part of the process and it shouldn’t get in the way of your your overall goals and who you are as a person.
“If I’d made some bigger, drastic mistakes, then maybe I look back at my systems. But this was more about how the dice were rolled that day, and that’s all right. So I’m not going to change who I am and my goals.
“The fact we’re sitting here talking about going after world indoor title, after everything I’ve been through, is incredible. I know other athletes wouldn’t been able to do that.”
Kerr believes that Toruń represents the perfect opportunity to showcase why he thinks he’s the best middle-distance runner in the world.
The Brit didn’t compete in Nanjing last year but secured the indoor 3000m gold medal on home soil in 2024, by beating Yared Nuguse and Selemon Barega in Glasgow.
Nuguse is once again in the field, but this time round the line-up includes the likes of Hocker, Yann Schrub, Andrew Coscoran and Geordie Beamish.
“I’m the most experienced going into the championships, so I’m excited to regain the title that I believe is mine,” Kerr says. “I just remember sitting in my hotel room in Glasgow and I wasn’t nervous for the event.
“I just wanted to make sure I did my self justice in front of a home crowd. And I was able to do that, which is great. It’s a similar approach going into Poland, where I’m just going to take these races one by one.”
Kerr’s priority is a home Commonwealth Games in Glasgow this summer and, if the body is ready, the the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham a month later. The inaugural World Ultimate Championships occur in Budapest in September as well.
The British 1500m record-holder also reckons that he can go faster than his national mark of 3:27.79, which secured him Olympic silver in Paris two years ago.
He is yet to announce his outdoor season plans – that will wait until after Toruń – but it sounds like he wants to get close to Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s European mark of 3:26.73 or even Hicham El Guerrouj’s 26-year-old world record of 3:26.00.
“I have some pretty big goals for this season,” Kerr adds. “There’s no Olympics or outdoor worlds so I have a little bit more flexibility on timings in proving I’m the best runner in the world over these distances.
“I think you know in those [Olympic] years there’s one day that you can prove that you’re the best athlete in the world. This year, being the best 1500m runner in the world will proved over a season. It’s a fun challenge for everyone to be battling for that top spot and it keeps me motivated and excited.”