Josh Kerr: "Come championship day, I am the best athlete in the world. And no LetsRun article is going to tell me otherwise.”

Yes. They have the same personalities, which is why they hate each other so much.

Now all he needs to do is change his name to back up that swagger! Good luck, Josh...hope you enjoy serving crow someday.

Heats do not count in your W-L column. With the exception being if you advance everyone who didn't takes a loss. Everyone who advances gets a nil against each other. Got it?

Kerr just put himself up to his ears in moral quicksand, and nobody is going to throw him a rope.

T. Cheruiyot stopped to be a thing since at least 2 years. Even his style of of running curving is back don't lead to any good optimism.

The only thing that can change J. Kerr is motivation (on paper he is a medium elite middle distance runner with nothing exceptional) and since the "mile" is some sort of "religion" in the British athleticism they will motivate him and they will way for him to progress more than the last year.

I personally love it, anything that annoys the Jakob fanboys is good in my book

Kerr was sick too, sick of the excuses!

Sigh. I personally think Josh Kerr is a phenomenal athlete - he's the reigning world champion and Olympic medalist in one of the toughest events in the sport - just a great talent who is already in the history books.

But dude, why go out of your way to sound like an absolute tw@t and be so unlikeable, because that is exactly what he is doing.

Just to be be clear, on the 23rd of August last year you were the best athlete in world over 1500m, the same way on the 19th of July 2022 Jake Wightman was and the same way Jakob was on the day of the Tokyo 1500m final. One race doesn't definitively make you the best championship runner in the world at any event, in that case Wightman could say "hey well I was injured and wasn't even there so it's still me" or Jakob could say "but the DL finals are also championship races and I won there so it's really me" - it's just as stupid thing to say with so many flaws.

Sadly for Josh he's coming off as extremely unconfident and insecure vs what he's trying to come across as. He doesn't need to validate his excellence - he's done it on the track. I don't really believe anyone has invalidated him at all - including Ingebrigtsen. It's also ironic he has taken some high road here of manners (very British thing to do) when he's coming off as the one with "manner" issues.

I know some people revel in this "Muhammad Ali" inter-rival conflict stuff - personally I find it contrived, overplayed and nauseating.

Come championship day, Josh Kerr WAS the best athlete in the world in 2023.

There are several athletes who may well prove to be the best male 1500m runner on the day in 2024. Nordås and Nuguse come to mind, as well as Jakob.

Kerr is quite the peacock, shooting his mouth off as he does. A nice combo of entertaining and annoying.

Something tells me there's going to be some serious thread bumping this summer.

I want Nuguse to show up wearing a “next guy” t shirt and smoke them both.

Seriously if this lets Kerr make some money for a race, good for him. Otherwise it is just hot air.

In the unlikely event that Jakob comes across the article, he'll give a quick chuckle as he heads out the door for his second threshold of the day.

I agree, the British and Moroccans are the two worst about this here.

Ingebrigtsen is Josh Kerr father

In all fairness Ingy has also only won one time in the event they both run

Both Ingebrigtsen and Kerr have a "high ego". You almost have to have that crazy level of self-confidence in order to succeed at the highest levels.

Ingebrigtsen may not be perfect in the "manners realm" but he does not call out and disrespectfully criticize other individual athletes like Kerr is doing to him.

Kerr should pay more attention to his own manners and flaws. He might find that such introspection will come in handy later this summer.

Its always tempting to be a cocky winner, but much more admirable to be a gracious loser,

I don’t think Jakob hates Kerr. -He calls his competitors “just the next guys” not to belittling them but because to make this point: He wants to be good enough in himself, and therefore not having to think of the other guys; therefore “just the next guy / guys”…. And I think this also explains why Jakob consistently refuses to use his competitors names, or answer who he thinks will be the toughest to beat…

I think difference the between the two is explained by the difference between thinking and knowing.

Kerr thinks he's the best, or at least tells himself and others that he's the best to try and convince. Jakob knows he's the best.

I like your post overall, but have always disagreed with this sentiment. Perhaps that puts me in the minority.

I absolutely DO NOT believe having a crazy level of self-confidence is a prerequisite for succeeding at the highest levels. What is true is that succeeding at the highest levels is likely to LEAD TO lots of self-confidence. If you've won every race you ever entered up to age 18 and now you're still the best, making lots of money in front of the cheering fans, you're likely to think highly of your own abilities.

On the other hand, success is a combination of talent and performing to the best of your abilities. The latter includes having a clear enough head to meet the moment in a big race, which suggests at least some confidence, but not necessarily more than the average person. And committed training could be fueled by self-belief, but it could also be fueled by self-doubt (and I'd bet on the latter as more powerful).

What's likely more important than confidence is a deep desire to win, or at least perform one's best. I find it hard to believe anyone could stay on top of the world for very long without this.