Josh Kerr: I want to be the best 1500m runner of this era - "That means I need to have more titles.. and run faster times."

Does he regret driving around in a Cybertuck, er, truck?

King Ranch? Now that’s a truck.

I've posted this before, but I'm gonna keep posting it:

The last time someone broke 3:30 in a race where Jakob WASN'T present was in 2019 (Cheruiyot in Paris, june 2018 with 3:29.71)

The fastest races the last seasons in races where Jakob wasn't present:

2020: 3:30.51 (McSweyn in Doha)

2021: 3:30.48 (Cheruiyot in Doha)

2022: 3:30.12 (Oliver Hoare in Birmingham)

2023: 3:30.44 (Yared Nuguse in London)

2024: 3:30.59 (Cole Hocker in Eugene)

It's about time someone breaks 3:30 without the help of Jakob.

I hope Kerr runs the European Championships in 2026. He has zero reasons to skip it. It's not a "I have to prepare for the big championships later in the season"-scenario as 2026 is a year without Olympics and World Championships (2022 would've been a similar year, if it hadn't been for Covid)

Kerr didn't run in Berlin 2018, he wasn't in the top 3 in the UK championships.

In 2020 the EC was cancelled due to Covid.

In Munich 2022 he skipped it. The top 5 in the Eugene WC were all European and the other guys ran in Munich. Wightman ran the 800m and got silver. Jakob did both 1500m and 5000m and won both. Katir ran the 5000m and got the silver. Garcia ran the 1500m and got the bronze. Kerr, for some reason, skipped the championships.

He also skipped Rome 2024. I'm guessing Olympic preperations was his reasoning.

Kerr has never ran an outdoor OR indoor European Championships. I find that a bit dissapointing. If "Jakob is easy to beat in championships" and/or "Jakob does bad in/can't win non-paced races" then Kerr should have nothing to fear if he participates in an EC. I'd like to see him in both this year's indoor EC, and next year's outdoor EC.

(He has competed in the U20 edition of the EC, where he won gold in 2015)

You think so? I like him more for that, it's 1000% exactly how I'd be with any level of fame lmao, if someone said something I disagree with in my area of expertise then I'm letting them know. Public comments invite public criticism.

Of course my personality isn't for everyone, but personally I like people who say what they believe without regard to how people feel about it, so long as I think they have some foundation for it, even if I ultimately disagree with it.

Yeah not sure this is by design - I think it's just more so that these guys obviously show up to these championships pretty much in their best shape of the season (at least you'd think that was the goal) and the races have just fallen into place for them thanks to Jakob.

But clearly this is a not a good season-wide "PR strategy" to take for obvious reasons. Because you know that when you toe the line in Oslo, Monaco, Lausanne, Silesia, Zurich etc etc etc, the race is going to be fast enough for you to run fast if you are good enough. When the gun goes off in a World final, you are basically hoping that Jakob (in the past TC) is going to drag you through in 1.52/2.48.0 but you can't and shouldn't be completely sure he will. And I'm not sure we are going to see 3.27.xx in a final for a while now - that was a very special race with very special circumstance (including a quite frankly stupid opening 600m from Jakob I don't think we are going to see again). So he now needs to run under 3.27.79 to PR and if his goal is to best of this era it has to be in 26's. You really think this is happening in the Tokyo final?

Anyway none of this would matter if he ran regularly on the DL circuit and put himself out there to run fast. But he doesn't and he can say all he wants about running GST then fronting up in the DL but that's easier said than done. It's a massive change to his season - he's going from a guy that clearly has a strategy of limited racing in the goal of showing up to the major events in his best shape to win (which has absolutely worked), but now he's not facing a season of limited racing, he's going to face a season where his race workload is going to double. And you can say all you want about the GST races not being as taxing because they are un-paced/tactical etc, but it doesn't work like this. It's two high quality races over the course of 3 days, 4 times in 12 weeks - and during a period in the season he's traditionally raced very sparingly as he get's himself ready for August/September.

My observation with Josh is that very quick to jump on and play the soundbite game, but the action realities of his plans don't seem to logically align with his "bites". But we will see - I've been wrong plenty of times before so maybe I'll get it wrong here too.

dweeb

Yeah, the guy who’s run 3:29 and 3:30 for the past however many years can suddenly run 3:26. Right. Is he counting on Jakob pacing him?

I much prefer Jakob but to be fair Kerr does have the indoor 2 mile “world best” to his name. Not that Jakob couldn’t take a blowtorch to that record if he was so inclined.

he ran 3:27.79 last year

Zero loyalty. Just ask his New Mexico DMR teammates. Kerr does only what’s best for Kerr.

The same guy has lost 3 times straight to Kerr in the last couple of years, including 2 global championship finals and at DL.

No, we aren't. Careers change, and we are seeing that shift, where Kerr now dominates Ingebrigtsen.

That's what a fan would say. That isn't necessarily a sane person.

Except Kerr routinely finishes in front of Jakob, the most important metric.

So what if Jakob helps them run faster times when they also beat him in those races. 3 guys in Paris are grateful for his pacing them. He - less so.

Isn't this the same argument that the guy who hasn't run faster than 12:48 for 3 years is suddenly going to beat 12:35?

What if your metric is the last 2 championships (the 2 most competitive championships ever)?

you think Josh Kerr can go from 3:29 to 3:26 in 2 seasons? After he’s been on the circuit for a number of years? 3:27 was an unbelievable PB. A perfect race. And now he’s going to chop almost another second off that? Why didn’t El G just run 3:24? He ran 3:26! Just go faster dude.

You say a lot of good things, but to owe all fast races to Jakob is a bit strange, cause he used to lose a lot to a certain Kenyan runners....and thats not more than 5 years ago.