Salvitore Stitchmo wrote:
Let's play "what would he actually have to do then to cash the cheque his interview just wrote"
1) He needs to win the 1500m in L.A - absolute non-negiotiable.
2) He needs another 2 medals from the world champs. I don't think they need to be golds but at least one of them a silver where it could have gone either way I think is necessary
3) He needs to get his PR down to under 3.27.0. He's not getting the WR but sub 3.27.0 (even high 26's) is the rare air that coupled with his racing record (including all of the above) would be important in the resume.
Considerable issues to overcome
1) He's 27. In L.A he will be 30, nearing 31. That would be historically right up there with guys winning the Olympic 1500 and he is going to have a host of younger talent to compete with including the reigning champion on home soil.
2) See above - after a few years in the doldrums the event is now one of the hardest to compete in with a never-ending pipeline of talent.
3) How and where do these fast races happen for a guy who quite simply doesn't run much in the race circuit where the vast majority of these fast races happen? Last year excluding Paris (the Olympic final) the fastest time not run in a DL meet was 3.32.16 by Cooper Teare of all people in Charlottesville. In 2023 excluding Budapest, the fastest time not run in a DL meet was 3.32.10 by Robert Farken in Rehlingen (love this meet btw). You get the picture.
Yet Josh Kerr decided Grand Slam Track was for him - in essence unpaced dual meets where he is signed up to run 4 of them (8 total races) prior to the beginning of July. Considering he has rarely run even more than 5 or 6 outdoor races (excluding championships) across the peak of his career, it's fair to ask the question of where exactly he thinks he is going to run these times and does he understand the massive increase in racing he is going to need to have to do so.
So yeah, talking is easy.
100% right. He hasn’t shown real willingness to go for a time between British Champs and the global champs. That will now have to change. Or 2026 will be a year with no global champs so perhaps that is his chance as there is no singular race he will care about.