In Josh Kerr and his gold Oakley sunglasses, which will make their championship debut in Wednesday’s world 1500m final, Britain does at least boast the best off-track challenge to the showboating running phenomenon that is Jakob Ingebrigtsen.
Whether Kerr can follow that up with a shock victory on the track remains rather more doubtful, but we can at least say that he is part of a new golden generation of British middle-distance runners.
With Jake Wightman missing the defence of his 1500m title due to injury, Kerr and Neil Gourley will start in Wednesday’s final just 24 hours after Britain made up a quarter of the women’s field. Keely Hodgkinson and Jemma Reekie will expect to compete for medals over 800m while Max Burgin, Daniel Rowden and Ben Pattison all also have plausible hopes of at least reaching their final later this week.
“The country currently have the 1500m world title and I’m not looking to give that up … for Wightman’s sake and for our country’s sake,” said Kerr, who has twice been drawn with (and lost to) Ingebrigtsen, Norway’s 22-year-old Olympic champion in the heats.
Ingebrigtsen, who looks capable of threatening Hicham El-Guerrouj’s 25-year-old world record, even evoked the spirit of Steve Ovett in the semi-final, waving to the crowd before he had delivered his final surge past Kerr and the rest of the field. Not that Kerr, himself the Olympic bronze medallist, appears remotely intimidated.
“When I heard the crowd I knew that Ingebrigtsen had done something, either fallen or bringing it up – he’s a lot of fun in the rounds,” he said.
Asked if it would have been worth striking an early psychological blow, Kerr said: “I tell you what would be a big blow for him [Ingebrigtsen] – finishing in front of him on Wednesday. I’ll worry about doing that.”
And does he think that’s possible? “He’s human like everyone else. I definitely think he’s very beatable but I don’t think that’s a given. You have got to be on your best day. Do I think he’s one of the best 1500m runners ever? Yes, I do, but I don’t think he’s unbeatable … especially in a world final, with the pressure on and no mistakes allowed to be made.
“Jake was an absolute inspiration last year. People will remember it for a long time for lots of different reasons but mainly because he beat Ingebrigtsen.
“He showed last year there are vulnerable spots. I’ve just got to commit when I need to. I’m not looking for an easy medal, not looking to do it in an easy era. It’s as premier an event as it’s ever been which means the money is there, the contracts are going up, there’s excitement.
“It’s within the era of faster spikes, faster tracks, pace lights, pacers. It’s a perfect storm. So it’s just do or die. You see a lot of injuries right now, just because people have to train so hard to be at this level. Some people are kind of throwing s*** at the wall and seeing what sticks.
“We are hoping to get at least one medal. To be honest, if you don’t have that ability, there’s absolutely no point being in the GB team. I’m here to get a medal.”
The crop of British excellence has a particularly strong Scottish influence and, while now based at high altitude in New Mexico, Kerr believes that it comes down to the grassroots.
“What we have in common is the races we grew up doing,” said Kerr. “It’s very gritty. We did the Wednesday nights in Grangemouth, we did the rainy days at Scottish champs. We had amazing experiences as juniors. It’s an amazing era to be in in the UK. You have got that golden era [of Seb Coe, Ovett and Steve Cram]. We are just trying to push the sport on.”
After wearing red-framed sunglasses so far, Kerr, whose brother Jake is a Scotland international in rugby union, has received a special new pair from Oakley for the final.
“I was a bit apprehensive initially [about racing in sunglasses] ... but it makes me very laser focused, because nobody can see my eyes, especially in the [pre-race] call-room,” he said. “It’s fantastic. Someone was [once] swearing at me, ‘Are you like looking at me?’ and I was, ‘I’m not sure mate, you don’t know where my eyes are looking’. It’s a very intimidating thing for people. So it’s a nice little thing up my sleeve. I’ve got the gold ones for the final, so they will be looking cool.”
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