Josh Kerr takes stunning silver medal in dramatic 1500m final

Athletics 06 Aug 24

Josh Kerr won a glittering 1500m silver medal in a new British record at Paris 2024.

Set-up as a showdown for the ages, with world champion Kerr going up against defending Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway, all the talk was about these two.

But it was the USA's Cole Hocker who pulled off a surprise victory to upset both 1500m giants, setting a new Olympic record of 3:27.65 whilst doing so.

Kerr set a new personal best and national record of 3:27.79, breaking the previous time set by Sir Mo Farah, to take the silver ahead of the USA's Yared Nuguse and become the first British man to reach back-to-back 1500m Olympic podiums since Lord Sebastian Coe.

A performance that, despite it not being the golden colour he was after, Kerr expressed he way undeniably proud of.

"I can't walk away from a championship disappointed," he said.

"I said what my goals were and it was pretty obvious but I've put out a performance today that I can be super proud of.

"I ran the fastest and most tactical 1500m of my life and when you start worrying about what other people do from the results you'll never be satisfied.

"It's not the colour of medal I wanted but it's working towards the right colour from bronze to silver.

"I just want to thank everyone in my team and the family members who supported me to get me in position to leave it all out there and that's what I did today."

Tokyo 2020 champion Ingebrigtsen finished outside of the medals in fourth after leading from the front for the majority of the race.

The Norweigan took the pace out quickly but was unable to hold on in the final 100m, overhauled by all three medallists on the home stretch.

And with the rest of the field knowing how Ingebrigtsen likes to race, Kerr noted that with a perfectly executed race, there was nothing more he could have done.

"I knew we had to weather a storm early, keep calm and make sure I was as emotionally as locked in as I could be," he said.

"At 600 to go I felt like I had quite a lot left and I got pushed out slightly on the last bend.

"I had to work hard, got around Inge but there was so much running left at that point and it's so hard to keep track of everyone in the last 100m.

"The result is what the result is but I'm super proud of how I executed."

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