The Week of August 28, 2023

Photo of 1500m World Champion, Josh Kerr. Taken by Ryo Gokita

Beast Mode

In the semifinal of the 1500m at the World Championships in Budapest, Jakob Ingebrigtsen pulled up on the outside of Josh Kerr on the homestretch. Kerr had led most of the qualifying race and Ingebrigtsen, the odds-on favorite had placed himself in the rear of the field until the final lap when he worked his way up and next to the Scotsman. The effort looked as if to be a demonstration of dominance, showing that even in a slower paced race, the Norwegian could place himself in the back of the pack and still make up ground when everyone else began kicking like mad. When Ingebrigtsen pulled even with Kerr, he pointed to the crowd straight-faced and gestured to make noise, like a triple jumper at the top of the runway. In the inside lane, behind his signature gargantuan Oakley sunglasses, Kerr fought off his competitive urges to kick to the line ahead of Ingebrigtsen and mustered the strength to smile, not a cheerful smile, but one aimed to show that he too was quite comfortable, and that he would not be made to feel small- like just another member of the 1500m chorus by the event’s anointed front man.

The Final began hot, with Kenyan, Abel Kipsang going to the front early through 300m in 41 seconds and 400m in 56. Ingebrigtsen would follow closely until 500m when he took the lead.

There had been speculation around what it might take to beat Ingebrigtsen again at the World Championships. Generally, Jake Wightman’s 1500m WC win in 2022 is viewed more an aberration on an otherwise sterling record. The Nike sponsored, speed suit wearing, tiny tattoo adorned athlete who has looked even more dominant on the scene this year than last year surely has learned his lesson, whatever it was that caused him to claim silver in the most important race of the year. Throughout this year’s regular season, he has dominated the distance, not having lost a race at 1500m or in its vicinity in a rabbited affair since 2021. His increasingly dominant strength showcased over these wins would lead many to assume that his best course of action would be to step on the gas from the gun and front run to gold… or if he could get some help from someone else hot out the gates and ease by them at some point, even better. He could drag the field into deep water and squeeze the kick out of any challengers. In response to a question from a reporter about there being no rabbits at the World Championships, Ingebrigtsen replied: “I’m pacing every race. When the pacemakers drop out, I’m the pacer.” Game… Set…

When Ingebrigtsen took the lead from Kipsang at 500m, Josh Kerr was roughly 5 meters back, with 7 bodies between himself and the front.

Josh Kerr is a force in the 1500m, but he is very much a purist. So much so, that when he won the 3000m at the Millrose Games this winter in 7:33, it came as a surprise to many. That shouldn’t be the case for a 3:29 1500m runner with an Olympic Bronze hanging in his parlour, but outside of that race, Kerr has never really been a contender in the longer distances, not nearly in the way that Ingebrigtsen is. The two athletes’ 5000m bests are 35 seconds apart and their 800m bests are separated by little more than a second. The vice clamp is tight.

Although he is from Scotland, Kerr has spent most of his elite running life in the United States, first at the University of New Mexico and since with the Brooks Beasts in Seattle. Up until 2022, Kerr had never even run a Diamond League race. Not in Europe or at the Pre Classic, historic Hayward Field or otherwise. Outside of Eugene, on the North American continent, however, Kerr is a terror. Until the recent success of the On Athletics Club athletes, Olli Hoare and Yared Nuguse, in 2019, 2020 and 2021, no one challenged Kerr. In a land where milers still play the sit and kick game, the Scotsman’s signature gut punching move from 600m out was a knockout blow. But as effective as it is against stateside competition, in the game of comparing strengths, the toolset did not seem to be the right combination to defeat a superior engine firing on all cylinders over the entire 3 and ¾ laps. It seemed like the upset would come again from someone with a wily last 100m, who could stay close, shorten up and pip the (k)Ingebrigtsen at the line. Someone like the recent American record holder and US champ, Nuguse. Reading this likely makes Kerr’s blood boil.

Josh Kerr has a popping, powerful stride. It is not a smooth, liquid-looking back kick that gives the impression of gliding and causes fanboys’ eyes to roll back as they clutch the table and bite their lips. It is a minor explosion off the ground that bounces his blonde pomp of hair with every forceful shove into the textured polyurethane. It is aggressive. At top speed it looks like it takes 8 strides to get around the track. It also looks like energy lost. It exhibits the power and pugnacious id of a guy born from the rugby culture. Kerr may not be 7 ft tall, but the dog in him blocks out any sliver of light attempting to shine through a doorframe.

At 700m, Kerr had moved up the straight to 4th, quickly drifted back to 6th on the curve on outside of lane 1. Ingebrigtsen was still running at the front, on the rail, taking the shortest line. Kipsang sat in second position, but no one was challenging as Cheruiyot had in Eugene the year before. By 900m, Kerr had pulled into second, having moved down the back straight to get into position.  At the bell, the order remained unchanged, and the clock showed 2:35.80. At 1200m, 2:49.50. Still unchanged.

With 200m to go, Kerr pulled even with Ingebrigtsen, using the straight to ramp up his pace, launching his back foot into the rubber. Ingebrigtsen responded and held Kerr on the outside around the bend. Running the longer distance, Kerr remained even to the final stretch and kept his head of steam. With 50m to go, in an inverse of positioning from the semifinal the day before, Kerr pulled ahead, this time, both men betraying no discomfort on their faces. Ingebrigtsen slumped to the line, his head hung low just edging his hard-charging countryman, Narve Nordas for the silver. Ahead of them, Josh Kerr broke the finishing barrier in disbelief and remained that way for 10 shortening steps before he snapped back to his boisterously confident self, angry that anyone would ever doubt him, screaming at the crowd- “I got the gold!... I GOT THE GOLD!” while pointing at his chest.

For the second time in 2 years, the 1500m world title belongs to a man from Great Britain, and not just that, Jake Wightman and Josh Kerr grew up running for the same club in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is an amazing feat for the stiff upper lip crowd, who dominated the distance with Coe, Ovett and Cram 40 years ago. Before 2021, the Olympic 1500m record was 3:32.07. In the 3 global championships since, the race has been won in 3:28.32, 3:29.23, 3:29.38. Faster than Coe and Ovett ever ran.

Kerr’s victory is also a gigantic win for his team, the Brooks Beasts. Early in the World Championships, an article came out in the New York Times titled: The Most Impressive World Championship Team Isn’t a Country. It’s a Brand. The subject of this article was On Running, specifically the Swiss brand’s flagship team: The On Athletics Club. Two members of the OAC- the aforementioned Yared Nuguse and Spain’s Mario Garcia Romo were in the men’s 1500m final, placing 5th and 6th. On Running has made it a point to invest in the sport and in athletes competing, providing a team infrastructure preeminent in the sport. Backing the team is a marketing strategy authentic to the sport and the mission of the brand to ignite the human spirit through movement. The Times article displays the robust and dedicated infrastructure of a professional team funded for the love of the game, but also as a marketing initiative for the brand… which must rely on articles in the New York Times for marketing rather than having their team wear their gear in the arena, on the biggest stage. Josh Kerr is a member of the Brooks Beasts, a team sponsored and supported by Brooks Running in Seattle. Kerr is fiercely defensive and proud of his team as are the OAC athletes. Following a win at the Lilac Grand Prix in 2022, Kerr pulled off his Brooks Running spike and waved it to the crowd, touting its superiority as demonstrated by his victory. Kerr’s World Championships win marks the first time that a US-based Brand-backed team has won a distance event in a major global championship since the days of the Oregon Project (Emma Coburn’s steeplechase victory in 2019, brilliant as it was, was achieved as a member of Team Boss- a brand agnostic group with different brand-sponsored athletes training together).

The Brooks Beasts have traveled a long road to get to this point. Founded in 2013, they had only 2 Americans make World Outdoor Championship teams during their existence until this year (Nick Symmonds and Cas Loxsom in the men’s 800m in 2015). The team in yellow has played second fiddle to the Nike-sponsored groups in their pacific northwest home- The Bowerman Track Club, The Oregon Track Club, The Union Athletics Club and the defunct Oregon Project. Because of this, as well as their coach Danny Mackey’s predilection for mixed martial arts and the warrior’s mentality they embrace the underdog role and run with a bit of a chip on their shoulders. When Josh Kerr joined the team in 2018, he arrived in Seattle having KO’d stout fields for 3 NCAA titles. To track fans, his signing didn’t seem like the most likely decision given the presumed prospects of such a highly accomplished individual. Many questioned whether it was the right move for the young athlete’s career development.  But as discussed earlier, Josh Kerr is not your average distance runner. The electric current he brings to the track runs counter to conventional energy. In a shop of porcelain picadors, he is a Toro Bravo. It is safe to assume that Josh Kerr is not a man who aligns crystals and looks at them apprehensively trying to find his destined path, instead, he opts to hack through the brush and make his own damn way. Through this lens, the decision to align himself with Mackey’s no-holds barred, cage match, don’t give a shit about what you think mentality makes a little more sense. Welcome to the Thunderdome. The confidence must be infectious and success breeds success. This year, Beasts Nia Akins and Isaiah Harris both made the US team with Akins winning the women’s 800m at USA’s and Isaiah Harris placing 2nd in the men’s race. Marta Pen Freitas competed in the women’s 1500m at the World Championships for Portugal. Kerr rounded out the Beastly foursome- just as many athletes at the World Champs as the Bowerman Track Club and 3 shy of the OAC… but the Beasts have something none of the other stateside groups have, Josh Kerr’s got a gold. Decisions were made and results were born from those decisions, and a lot of hard work. In an event presumed to be one of the most predictable in the sport given the presence of a singular talent like Ingebrigtsen, it continues to be one with the most parity, and this year, Josh Kerr is on top. The king in yellow.