Josh Kerr was relieved to banish his “demons” after beating Cole Hocker to reclaim the 3000m world indoor title he won two years ago on home soil in Glasgow.
He struck gold in seven minutes and 35.56 seconds, enacting revenge on Hocker, the American who pipped Kerr to Olympic 1500m title at Paris 2024 Olympics, but on Saturday night finished second behind the Scotsman at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Torun.
Kerr was unable to even walk himself to breakfast just six months ago after sustaining a grade-two calf tear in the world 1500m final in Tokyo, and leaned on physiotherapist mum Jill to aid in his recovery.
“Today was very special,” said Kerr, the 2023 world 1500m champion. “I took it for granted a couple of years ago.
“Obviously winning in front of a home crowd I thought there is nothing that can top it, but the relief of getting another win and being back on top is very special for me right now.
“I have a lot of family here to support and I owe it to them, and I ran the last 400m with passion. Last time I was in a speed suit was a few months ago, where I dragged my leg across the line. Today a lot of demons were cracked, a resilient story for me today.”
The men’s 3000m final was billed as the most exciting event of these championships, and even Kerr’s family had difficulty getting into the sold-out evening session, eventually managing to snag some tickets.
Kerr hovered patiently behind the pack leaders, picking his moment to surge in front with about 200 metres remaining, and managed to hold off a final-stretch fightback from Hocker, who took silver in 7mins 35.70secs, just enough to beat France’s Yann Schrub, who rounded out the podium one millisecond later.
Kerr gave his mum a shout-out on the BBC after the race, one he branded a “family win” and adding: “From a coaching and staff standpoint, and from just general work, I just… I needed this one.”
Dina Asher-Smith tied her own national record, 7.03 seconds, to qualify for the women’s 60m final, where she finished seventh in 7.07 seconds.
She revealed afterwards she and her new coach Michael Ford had tested out a technical change before the final.
“It was all part of a learning process,” Asher-Smith told the BBC. “Everybody does it, sometimes it goes well, sometimes I might not just execute it the right way, and that clearly happened, but it’s why we race.
“I’m disappointed, because I’m definitely in a great place. I was hoping to go sub-seven today, but it just wasn’t to be. It is what it is.”
Asher-Smith’s emerging rival Amy Hunt did not make it out of the semi-finals of the same event, historically not the world 200m silver medallist’s strongest.
Earlier, Keely Hodgkinson strolled through to Sunday’s women’s 800m final.
The Olympic champion is a hot favourite for gold after setting a new world indoor record in France last month.
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