For the second year in a row, Norwegian wunderkind Jakob Ingebrigtsen was upset in the World Athletics Championships 1,500-meter final by a Scot—this time, it was 25-year-old Josh Kerr, who pulled even with the world’s best middle-distance runner with 200 meters to go and then beat him to the finish in 3:29.38 to win gold.
The strain was obvious on Kerr’s face in the final 100 meters, but he continued to drive to the finish while Ingebrigtsen ran out of steam and was nearly passed at the line by countryman Narve Gilje Nordas. Just 0.03 separated the two Norwegians, as Ingebrigtsen took home silver for the second year in a row in 3:29.65 while Nordas, who trains under Jakob’s father Gjert, ran 3:29.68 for bronze in his first world championships final.
“I didn’t worry about what was going on earlier in the race, I just made sure I was there with 200 meters to go,” Kerr said after the race. “Then in the last 30 meters, I thought, ‘I want this so badly, I don’t care how much pain I’m in. I’m going to do everything to get to the finish line first’.”
