Josh Kerr (born 8 October 1997) is a British

middle-distance runner Middle-distance running events are track races longer than sprints, ranging from 500 metres up to . The standard middle distances are the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile run, although the 3000 metres may also be classified as a middle-distanc ...

who competes primarily in the

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1500-metre run is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletics since 1983. It is equivalent to 1.5 kilomet ...

. He won a gold medal in the event at the 2023 World Championships, a silver medal at the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

, a bronze medal at the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

, and a gold medal at the 2015 European Junior Championships. He is also the 2024 World Indoor champion in the 3000 metres. Kerr holds the world best time in the short track 2 mile, and the British record in the outdoor

and mile. Kerr competed for the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; ) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1889 by the New Mexico Territorial Legislature, it is the state's second oldest university, a flagship university in th ...

from 2015 to 2018, where he was a three-time NCAA champion. He set a collegiate record in the 1500 m in April 2017 that stood until May 2021. Kerr turned professional in 2018 to compete for the

Brooks Beasts Track Club Brooks Beasts Track Club is a professional running team based in Seattle and sponsored by Brooks Sports. The group includes runners specializing in distances from the 800 meters to the 5000 meters. The group trains primarily in Seattle under coach ...

. In 2023,

Sportscotland Sportscotland (officially styled sport) (), formerly the Scottish Sports Council, is the national agency for sport in Scotland. The Scottish Sports Council was established in 1972 by royal charter. The body works in partnership with public, ...

named him Scottish sportsperson of the year.

Early life and background

Kerr was born on 8 October 1997 in

Edinburgh, Scotland Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. His mother works as a physiotherapist, and his father is a former rugby player. His older brother

Jake Jake may refer to: Name * Jake (given name), including a list of persons and fictional characters with the name * Katrin Jäke (born c. 1975), German swimmer * Jake (gamer), American ''Overwatch'' player and coach * Jake, a member of the band Enhy ...

is a professional rugby player. Kerr began running with the Edinburgh Athletics Club at the age of 8. He was educated at

George Watson’s College George Watson's College is a co-educational private day school in Scotland, situated on Colinton Road, in the Merchiston area of Edinburgh. It was first established as a hospital school in 1723, became a day school in 1871, and was merged with ...

. At 16, he started reaching out to athletic coaches at colleges in the United States, aiming to compete in the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA). Kerr received several negative responses from coaches, except from the coach at the

, who offered the teenager a full athletics scholarship. In the summer before he started college, Kerr won gold in the 1500 m at the

2015 European Athletics Junior Championships The 2015 European Athletics Junior Championships were the 23rd edition of the biennial European U20 athletics championships. They were held in Eskilstuna, Sweden from 16 July to 19 July. The medal table was topped by Great Britain with 17 medals ...

. The following month, at age 17, he moved to

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

and began competing for the University of New Mexico, majoring in

exercise science Exercise physiology is the physiology of physical exercise. It is one of the allied health professions, and involves the study of the acute responses and chronic adaptations to exercise. Exercise physiologists are the highest qualified exercise ...

Collegiate competition

While at the University of New Mexico, Kerr won three NCAA titles and set the collegiate record in the 1500 m. In March 2017, he won his first national title in the indoor mile, defeating

Edward Cheserek Edward Cheserek (born 2 February 1994) is a Kenyan distance runner. He is a 17-time NCAA champion collegiate distance runner for the University of Oregon. Cheserek was the most highly recruited high school distance runner in the nation out of Sai ...

, the collegiate record holder in the event and a 15-time NCAA champion. In June 2017, Kerr secured a second national title by winning the outdoor 1500 m, becoming the first man since

Leo Manzano Leo is the Latin word for lion. It most often refers to: * Leo (constellation), a constellation of stars in the night sky * Leo (astrology), an astrological sign of the zodiac * Leo (given name), a given name in several languages, usually masc ...

in 2008 to achieve both the indoor mile and the outdoor 1500 m titles in the same year. He repeated his success in the indoor mile in March 2018, claiming another national title. On 20 April 2018, Kerr broke the collegiate record in the 1500 m with a time of 3:35.01, surpassing Sydney Maree's 1981 record of 3:35.30. This record stood for 3 years and 24 days, until it was broken by

Yared Nuguse Yared Nuguse ( ; born June 1, 1999) is an American middle-distance runner who specializes in the 1500 meters and mile. He was the 2019 NCAA Division I champion and bronze medalist from the 2024 Summer Olympics in the former. Nuguse is the Nort ...

in May 2021. Kerr's final collegiate race was in June 2018, where he finished third in the 1500 m at the

NCAA Championships The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and 1 in Canada. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and helps ...

Professional competition

2018–2020: Early professional career

Kerr turned professional in June 2018, forgoing his senior year of eligibility in the NCAA. He signed a sponsorship deal with

Brooks Sports Brooks Sports, Inc., also known as Brooks Running, is an American sports equipment company that designs and markets high-performance men's and women's sneakers, clothing, and accessories. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Brooks products are ...

, a Seattle-based company, to train under coach Danny Mackey as part of the

. The Scotsman divided his training time between Seattle and Albuquerque. In August 2019, he participated in the 1500 m at the

British Athletics Championships The British Athletics Championships is the premier national championship in track and field held in the United Kingdom, and are organised by British Athletics. The event has doubled as the main trials meet for international team selection for maj ...

, where he secured a silver medal, finishing behind

Neil Gourley Neil Gourley (born 7 February 1995) is a Scottish middle-distance runner specialising in the 1500 metres. He won the silver medal in the event at both the 2025 World Athletics Indoor Championships and the 2023 European Indoor Championships and ...

. This performance qualified him to represent Britain in the 1500 m at the 2019 World Championships later that month, where he placed sixth in the final.

2021: Olympic 1500 m bronze

In May 2021, Kerr set a personal best of 1:45.74 in the

800 metres The 800 metres, or 800 meters (American and British English spelling differences#-re.2C -er, US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of a ...

. The following month, he won his first National title in the 1500 m at the British Championships. This victory secured his spot to represent the British team at the

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, which were rescheduled to 2021 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. At the Olympic 1500 m final, Kerr won a Bronze medal in a personal best of 3:29.05, finishing behind Norway's

Jakob Ingebrigtsen Jakob Asserson Ingebrigtsen (born 19 September 2000) is a Norwegian Middle-distance running, middle- and Long-distance running, long-distance runner who is the world record holder in the short track 1500 metres, short track Mile run, mile, 2000 ...

and Kenya's

Timothy Cheruiyot Timothy Cheruiyot (born 20 November 1995) is a Kenyan middle-distance runner specialising in the 1500 metres. He is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic silver medallist in the event and the 11th fastest athlete all time over the distance. At the World Athle ...

2022: European record in indoor mile

On 27 February 2022, Kerr ran 3:48.87 for the indoor mile at the Boston University Last Chance Meet. This performance broke Eamonn Coghlan's European indoor mile record, which had stood since 1983, and Peter Elliot’s British indoor mile record from 1990. Additionally, Kerr's 1500 m split of 3:32.86 enroute to the finish set a new British national record for the indoor 1500 m, surpassing Elliot’s previous record. In July, the Scotsman competed in the 1500 m at the

2022 World Athletics Championships The 2022 World Athletics Championships was the eighteenth edition of the World Athletics Championships. It was held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, United States, from July 15–24, 2022, with the country hosting that competition for the ...

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lane County, Oregon, United States. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie River (Oregon), McKenzie and Willamette River, Willamette rivers, ...

. He finished in 5th place with a time of 3:30.60.

2023: Gold medalist at World Championships

On 23 August 2023, Kerr defeated Norwegian favorite

in the final of the 1500 metres at the

2023 World Athletics Championships The 2023 World Athletics Championships (), the nineteenth edition of the World Athletics Championships, were held from 19 to 27 August 2023 at the National Athletics Centre (Budapest), National Athletics Centre, in Budapest, Hungary. The tourna ...

. It was the second successive World Championship where Ingebrigtsen was upset in the final of the 1500 metres by an athlete from Edinburgh Athletic Club, following teammate and compatriot

Jake Wightman Jake Wightman (born 11 July 1994) is a British Middle-distance running, middle-distance runner who primarily competes in the 1500 metres. He won the gold medal at the 2022 World Athletics Championships, 2022 World Championships, the first global ...

's victory in Eugene in 2022. Later that month, on 31 August 2023, Kerr competed in the

Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fifteen invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics one-day meet competitions. The inaugural season was ...

Final for the 1500 m, aiming to break the British record. He finished second to Yared Nuguse in a time of 3:30.51. This mark was 1.7 seconds off the national record. In his final race of the season on 10 September 2023, Kerr won the New Balance 5th Avenue Mile, clocking a time of 3:47.9. He ended the year ranked third in the

World Athletics Rankings The World Athletics Rankings are an individual athlete ranking system for the sport of athletics, managed by World Athletics. It is used to establish the number one athlete within an athletics event and to partially determine qualification into t ...

for the 1500 m, behind Ingebrigtsen and Nuguse. He was named Scottish sportsperson of the year in 2023 by

2024: World best, world indoor champion, Olympic 1500 m silver

In his first race of the year on 11 February, Kerr set a world best in the short track 2 mile at the

Millrose Games The Millrose Games are an annual indoor athletics (track & field) meet held each February in New York City. Among the world's most prestigious indoor track meets, the games started taking place at the Armory in Washington Heights in 2012, after ...

. His time of 8:00.67 surpassed the previous world best of 8:03.40 held by

Mo Farah Sir Mohamed Muktar Jama Farah (born Hussein Abdi Kahin; 23 March 1983) is a Somali-British former long-distance runner. Considered one of the greatest runners of all time, his ten global championship gold medals (four Olympic and six World tit ...

since 2015. On 2 March, Kerr ran 7:42.98 for

3000 metres The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track. It is debated whether the 3000 m sho ...

to claim gold at the

World Athletics Indoor Championships The World Athletics Indoor Championships are a biennial indoor track and field competition served as the global championship for that version of the sport. Organised by the World Athletics, the competition was inaugurated as the ''World Indoor G ...

Glasgow, Scotland Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

. On 20 April, Kerr opened his outdoor season in the Pro Men's

800 m The 800 metres, or 800 meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event sin ...

Challenge at the Oregon Relays, winning in a time of 1:45.94. On 25 May, at the

Prefontaine Classic The Prefontaine Classic is a track and field meet held at Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Organized by the Oregon Track Club, it was previously one of the IAAF Grand Prix events, and ...

, Kerr won the Bowerman Mile in a new British record time of 3:45.34, ahead of Jakob Ingebrigtsen (3:45.60) and Yared Nuguse (3:46.22). This eclipsed Steve Cram's previous British record of 3:46.32 by almost a full second. The race was a highly anticipated rematch between Kerr and Ingebrigtsen, and as such was billed as the "Mile of the Century." This performance ranked Kerr as the sixth fastest miler in history. At the

2024 British Athletics Championships The 2024 British Athletics Championships (sponsored by Microplus Timing) is the national championships in outdoor track and field for athletes in the United Kingdom, which also served as a qualifying event for the 2024 Summer Olympics. The even ...

in late June, Kerr chose to compete in the 800m. In the final, Kerr finished in last after colliding with

Elliot Giles Elliot Levi Giles (born 26 May 1994) is an English middle-distance runner from Birmingham, specialising in the 800 metres. He won a bronze medal at the 2016 European Championships and holds the current road mile world record at 3:51.3. Caree ...

on the home straight. Just days earlier it was announced that he had signed up for the inaugural season of the Michael Johnson founded

Grand Slam Track Grand Slam Track is a professional track and field league, first announced in 2024 by American former Olympic champion sprinter Michael Johnson. The first season ran from April to June 2025. After being initially announced in February 2024, the n ...

in 2025. On 5 July, Kerr was selected to race in 1500 metres at the

. Just before the athletics events got underway, he was also named as the Great Britain athletics team captain for the Games in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. The final at these Games was anticipated because of Kerr's rivalry with fellow European middle-distance runner

. On 6 August, in the Olympic men's 1500 metre final, Kerr unexpectedly finished second to

Cole Hocker Cole Hocker (born June 6, 2001) is an American middle-distance running, middle- and long-distance runner who specializes in the 1500 metres, 1500 meters. He won the gold medal in the event at the Athletics at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Men's 1 ...

of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in a sprint finish. Kerr nearly got caught at the finish line by American

who finished third, while

uncharacteristically finished fourth and had led for nearly the entire race at a fast pace. In the final stretch, Ingebrigtsen was initially leading, and was passed by Kerr, while behind the two was Hocker. However, when he had room, Hocker passed Ingebrigtsen & Kerr using his notorious kick to win the race in a new

Olympic record Olympic records are the best performances in a specific event in that event's history in either the Summer Olympic Games or the Winter Olympic Games. Summer Olympics * Archery at the Summer Olympics, Archery (List of Olympic records in archery, li ...

and North American area record of 3:27.65. Kerr's time to secure the silver medal was a new personal best and new British national record of 3:27.79, breaking Mo Farah's previous British record of 3:28.81 by over a second. Nuguse was one hundredth of a second behind Kerr in a new personal best of 3:27.80, while Ingebrigtsen finished in 3:28.24. On 8 September, Kerr won the

Fifth Avenue Mile The Fifth Avenue Mile is an annual road race on Fifth Avenue in New York City, United States. The race begins at 80th Street and heads twenty blocks south to 60th Street. First held on September 26, 1981, the race is currently organized by ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, running a new course record of 3:44.3. This eclipsed Sydney Maree's previous record of 3:47.52 by more than three seconds, which had stood for 43 years, since the inaugural edition of the race in 1981. Kerr had previously won the race in 2023 as well, in a time of 3:47.9. In October, Kerr was named Scottish Athletics' athlete of the year.

2025

Kerr initially intended to compete in the

Wanamaker Mile The Wanamaker Mile is a prestigious indoor mile race for elite middle distance runners held annually at the Millrose Games in New York City. Alongside Oslo's Dream Mile and Eugene's Bowerman Mile, the Wanamaker Mile is among the world's premi ...

at the

in February, but dropped out due to illness. In April, he finished seventh overall in the Short Distance event group at the 2025 Kingston Slam. In May, at the

2025 Miami Slam The 2025 Miami Slam is an outdoor track and field meeting held from 2–4 May 2025 in Ansin Sports Complex, Miami, United States. It was the second meeting of the 2025 Grand Slam Track season, the debut season of Michael Johnson's Grand Slam Tra ...

, with 16 points earned, Kerr was crowned Slam Champion of the Short Distance event group, having won the 1500 metres, and having finished fifth in the 800 metres, in a new personal best of 1:45.01.

Achievements

Information taken from

World Athletics World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

profile.

Circuit performances

International competitions

Personal bests

Honours

Laureus World Sports Award for Breakthrough of the Year The Laureus World Sports Awards is an annual award ceremony honouring individuals and teams from the world of sports along with sporting achievements throughout the year. It was established in 1999 by Laureus Sport for Good Foundation foundin ...

Nominee: 2024

Notes

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kerr, Josh 1997 births Living people Scottish male middle-distance runners British male middle-distance runners World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain Athletes from Edinburgh Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States New Mexico Lobos men's track and field athletes Olympic athletes for Great Britain Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Scottish Olympic competitors Commonwealth Games athletes for Scotland Athletes (track and field) at the 2022 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships winners Athletes (track and field) at the 2024 Summer Olympics NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships winners Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) 21st-century Scottish sportsmen