Josh Kerr: Team GB's middle distance star forged in the USA
Born in Scotland but coached in the United States, Josh Kerr became Britain's only male track medallist at Tokyo 2020. However, it took a leap of faith, mental development and a strong desire to pay back his family's faith in him to get there.
Athletics
British men competed in 26 track and road running events at Tokyo 2020, from the 100m sprint all the way through to the marathon. However, by the end of the Games only one man boarded the plane home with a medal in his luggage. His name is Josh Kerr.
When Kerr stood on the starting line of the Olympic 1500m final, he was flanked by such behemoths of the sport as Kenya's 2019 World Champion and four-time Diamond League winner Timothy Cheruiyot and the new superstar of the distance, two-time European Champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway**.**
Even when compared to his GB teammates, the name on most people's lips was Jake Wightman, a homegrown talent and Scottish record holder who had won his semi-final handily with a season's best mark of 3:33.48.
But by the end of a final in which Ingebrigtsen etched his name in the history books with gold and an Olympic record, Kerr stormed back from fifth at the bell to win a hugely impressive bronze, falling just short of catching Cheruiyot for silver at the line.
From fastest loser to an Olympic podium
In the press conference that followed the final, Kerr, who is 24-years-old, looked back on his Olympic experience with a mixture of joy and cold analysis.
"I feel like I ran a perfect race today," Kerr said after the final. "I was up against two titans of our distance. I was the fastest loser in the first round, so it was time to go home and think about my tactics."
The self-reflection clearly worked. To come from barely making it out of the heats to winning an Olympic medal is no small feat.
However, unlike many of his compatriots, Kerr's tactics have been honed, not in the traditional confounds of Loughborough, England - where so many Team GB athletes train, but in the altitude of U.S. mountain ranges and the elevated landscapes of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
It's a long way from the biting cold climes of Edinburgh, where the British track sensation grew up.
A Scottish star born in the USA
Kerr began running in Scotland at age eight and joined Edinburgh Athletics Club. At just 17, he made the decision to leave his family and move to the USA to chase his dream in the U.S. collegiate system. He had never even visited the country but, as he said in an Instagram post days after winning bronze, he "has always been someone who trusts my gut with big life decisions."
In 2018, he broke the NCAA 1500m record, showing his immense potential to the world, before turning pro out of college and joining the athletics club, Brooks Beasts.
Coached by Danny Mackey, Kerr went from strength to strength, shaving seconds off his 1500m time. However, one of the main contributors towards his success has been the mental aspect, which has improved immeasurably during his time in the States, with the constant help of a mindfulness coach.
“It’s so important to not psych yourself out of these big moments,” Kerr told Runner’s World in March 2022. “I’ve got some deep weaknesses in my mind that we’re working on.”
His work on mindfulness has led to a routine that helps optimise his readiness for the pressures of race day. It includes daily meditation, journaling and a consistency in his everyday life that has paid dividends.
“Just having that morning routine that doesn’t change is how I’m able to stay in the moment and be very appreciative of the position I’m in," he explained.
Now before races, instead of being overrun by negative emotions, he concentrates on mantras of gratitude.
“Having positive memories and words that I have ready for when these negative thoughts come into my head always helps combat the scary moments."
A medal for his family
While winning an Olympic medal has always been a personal dream of Kerr, he dedicated the bronze he won at Tokyo 2020 to his family who, while thousands of kilometres away in Scotland, sacrificed their time throughout his formative years to allow him to reach the position he is in today.
"I left at 17, for the last seven years I haven’t lived anywhere near my family," he said in a post-Games episode of the Sit & Kick podcast he co-hosts. "For me, the first medal is going to be like, ‘this is for everything you’ve done for me.’
"And so, I needed to get a medal… and as much as if I’d never even made the Olympics or went professional, they would never need that, but for me it was like 'they’ve done so much for me, I needed to give them that.'"
Now he and his family have an Olympic medal to share but also a bright future ahead. Just last February, Kerr broke the British and European indoor mile record with a time of 3:48.87. It was also the third fastest time in history.
And with the World Championships just months away - this time in Oregon in Kerr's adopted home country of the USA - even more honours may be on the horizon for GB's middle distance star who has been forged in the USA.