Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Kerr not focused on rival
WORLD 1500m champion Josh Kerr insists his rivalry with Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen is the last thing on his mind as he looks to back up that title with Olympic gold.
Kerr, 26, starts his quest with this morning’s heats, the day after World Athletics president Lord Coe, speaking at a Paris press conference, branded the impending showdown as a potential “race for the ages.”
Ingebrigtsen, who won 1500m gold at Tokyo 2020, further stoked the fire yesterday when he told Norwegian media Kerr “is known as the Brit who never competes.”
But speaking before the Scandinavian’s latest barb, Kerr dismissed the clash of big personalities, at least off the track, as “not something that I spend too much time thinking about.”
He said: “I’m known to say what’s on my mind, and then the backlash is whatever the backlash is, really.
“So, no, I haven’t really thought much about it.
“And no we haven’t seen each other. I’ve been mostly Stateside for my two camps this year. I like to be in my own zones, and kind of away from as many things within my own environment and stuff I can control, so not too much gone into that.”
Kerr said he has not heard of, nor watched, the pre-paris hype video Ingebrigtsen made with his brothers Henrik and Filip, a pop song called Ingen Gjor Det Bedre (Nobody does it better).
“That’s not something I’m playing around with at the moment,” said Kerr, who earlier this week was named captain of Great Britain’s athletics squad at Paris 2024.
“I’ve been very focused since British champs just on my goals. I’ve had a very smooth camp and I’m coming in really confident, I’m surrounded by the right people.”