Josh Kerr has emerged as one of the biggest names in the 1500m track and field category in recent times. Kerr has been phenomenal, winning both the World Championship gold in 2023 and the World Indoor Championship gold in 2024. However, there was a tinge of sadness that would remain with him forever now. As a matter of fact, Kerr wanted to topple his arch-rival, Jakob Ingebrigsten, and win the gold medal. Unfortunately, only one of these two dreams came true. 

Kerr was able to beat the Norwegian icon quite comfortably. While Ingebrigsten clocked at 3:28.24, Kerr was way ahead with his time of 3:27.79. But even such impressive timing was not enough to get him the coveted Olympic gold. Losing out to Hocker Cole of the United States, Kerr missed a golden chance to ascend to the 1500m summit. Now, in reality, the British long-distance runner’s Paris performance was an upgrade from Tokyo. The 27-year-old clinched bronze back in Japan. 

Josh Kerr looks to ‘reset’ before embarking on new journey

However, his time after the Olympics has not been going well. Competing in the Diamond League, Kerr failed to pick up a victory. He also became quite sporadic in his activities, leading to speculations regarding his future. As the rumors began to rise, the 2x Olympian dropped a major update on his way forward. The British long-distance runner has signed up with the Grand Slam Track as its first athlete. Conversing with Flotrack recently, the 27-year-old mentioned that watching him run is not fun. Most people wouldn’t get an adrenaline rush watching Kerr run—some might even call him slow. Kerr himself admitted, “You would be highly disappointed with how slow I run.” This leaves him with very few options for how he wants to stay in the game.

Spilling the beans, the 2024 Olympic silver medalist said, “So what can we do now to keep making an impact on this sport? Hopefully, cementing my name as one of the best 1500m runners of all time.” But his aspirations did not end there. The British National record holder also opined, “Now, like you say, it’s a reset. I’m not going to be the same athlete. I’m not going to be as picky with my races. I’m going to go out there and show off what I can do and be less cautious when it comes to going out and trying to run fast.”

Surely, such words coming out of Kerr’s mouth would make his fans feel a lot more excited, as things were quite somber right after Paris. Not only did the Olympic medalist miss out on a Diamond League triumph, but he also felt the brunt of competing in back-to-back events. 

Kerr vented out his frustration after Diamond League defeat

The Zurich Diamond League witnessed one of the dream lineups this year in the 1500m category. Going up against each other were Josh Kerr, Jakob Ingebrigsten, Cole Hacker, and Yared Neguse. Being the 1500m world champion, Kerr was a favorite going into the run. Unfortunately, things didn’t turn out alright for the British. Faltering at the final 300m, Kerr ended up clinching the fifth position with a time of 3:31.46. This was a shocker, more so as Kerr took a month off after Paris specifically to prepare for the race.

Reflecting on his loss, Kerr pointed towards his hectic schedule as the culprit. In a video uploaded by Athletics Weekly on X, the 2x Olympian said, “Yeah, I think it’s probably more my fault than Cole’s… I don’t know, that was mentally very tiring; I don’t have like a week-after-week time trial brain, so it’s kind of, races, it’s kind of boring sometimes, so, you know, getting up for it was one thing, and I was excited to race. I am in a good place… Training has been going well.” Thus, coming out of the gloomy phase, Josh Kerr’s latest updates are surely a positive sign for his future.