After the injuries and the trash talk, Britain’s Josh Kerr delivered where it mattered most on Saturday night by winning a thrilling 3,000m world indoor title with a last-lap surge.
It had been billed as the race of the championships, with all three 1500m medallists from the Paris 2024 Olympics going mano a mano once more. On that occasion Kerr had been pipped to the line by the American Cole Hocker, who took a shock gold medal, with Yared Nuguse taking bronze. This time, though, Kerr was not to be denied.
He made hard work of it as he was in a tricky position with three laps remaining and then hold off the fast-finishing Hocker to win in 7min 35.56sec. Hocker was second, 0.24sec back, with the Frenchman Yann Schrub taking bronze.
“I created the problems myself,” said Kerr. “People watching, that it is not how you win a world medal. I knew I had to get the close right, otherwise I would have had a pretty tough conversation with my coach. I was extremely fit coming into this and I needed this one.
“I got in my own head about trying not to lose energy and there were some moves that made me have to show my hand to move up. I couldn’t find my position, I couldn’t relax. I was trying to relax in the chaos a bit and trust that I am fitter and better than the guys in there. But that’s racing.”
For much of the race it was a Ethiopian one-two, with Addisu Yihune and Getnet Wale pushing the train. Hocker and Nuguse were close behind in third and fourth, while Kerr was several metres back before moving up around halfway.
The decisive move came on the penultimate lap as Kerr pushed and Hocker found himself boxed in. Hocker tried to recover, but he had left himself too much to do. “I didn’t look back, I felt like I had good power in the last 100, but it would have been nice to watch it,” said Kerr. “Because when I went, it was a little early, but I had some juice in me in the last 100m so I was happy.”
It meant Kerr, who limped out of the 1500m world championships final in Tokyo last September with a calf injury, had regained the world title he won in Glasgow in 2024. “From where we were in Tokyo, it’s all down to coaching, and its down to my physio, my mum,” he said.