Filled with the unbreakable confidence that has raised eyebrows and brought admiration in equal measure over the past five years, Josh Kerr is ready to take back what belongs to him.
Six months on from tearing a calf muscle when attempting to retain his 1500m world title, an injury which made his autumn a write-off, and 19 months since being outkicked by Cole Hocker in the Olympic final, Kerr will seek to re-establish his top dog credentials over double that distance at the World Indoor Championships in Torun, Poland on Saturday night.
“I believe I’m the best athlete in the world over these distances and no one in the world can convince me otherwise,” he says. “I’m not looking for opinions on that. Even if the majority of the world don’t believe that’s true, that’s OK. It’s my job to go out and prove it.”
This should be the race of the weekend, a 15-lap barnstormer in which the Edinburgh athlete will battle a stacked field, headlined by Hocker, as he aims to reclaim the 3000m title he won so imperiously on home turf in Glasgow two years ago.
He missed last year’s indoor championships in Nanjing because of illness, another hiccup during a disappointing 2025 that ended with him leaving Tokyo on crutches. Yet after a solid winter of rebuilding, Kerr is both certain he remains the one to beat and determined to remind any doubters.
“I’m the most experienced going into the championships, so I’m excited to regain the title that I believe is mine,” he says, though the form guide clearly indicates he is not the favourite.
That would be Hocker, who kicked past Kerr to win over two miles at the Millrose Games in early February and has subsequently run an American indoor record over the mile. Since that duel, Kerr has been sharpening his tools away from the spotlight, and he is adamant that 3000m is the sweet spot for his physical profile.
“I’m a strength-based 1500m runner, not a speed-based 1500m runner,” he says. “The 3000m is a distance that excites me, 5000m is just not a distance that excites me, but this brings in such a great balance of the great 5000m runners and milers and throws them together to see who has the chops for it.
“It’s a great race for positioning and tactics, but it’s not going to be stupid slow. A 1500m can be slow, but I don’t see this going like that. I’m really excited, it’s an awesome field but I’m ready to go for the top spot.”
Then again, Hocker is the 5000m world champion and possesses both strength and speed in abundance; his only apparent weakness a tendency to make occasional tactical errors.
Fellow American Yared Nuguse – the bronze medalist in Paris and second to Kerr in Glasgow – has looked good in recent outings, while Geordie Beamish, the former 1500m indoor and reigning outdoor steeplechase champ, plus French duo Yann Schrub and Azeddine Habz will fancy their chances. The only notable absentee is Jakob Ingebrigtsen, with last year’s champion working his way back from Achilles surgery.
The field looks daunting on paper, but Kerr’s superpower behind the trademark sunglasses is a calmness in pressured situations. No one can match his know-how, he says, and that is why he feels so confident.
“I don’t think the best runners always win,” he says. “I don’t think it’s a complete fitness contest in indoor championships; you need your head on straight and know what you’re doing.”
Looking back to 2024 he remembers “sitting in my hotel room in Glasgow and I wasn’t nervous for the event. I just wanted to make sure I did myself justice in front of a home crowd. And I was able to do that, which is great. It’s a similar approach going into Poland.”
A mild illness meant he withdrew from the British championships last month, meaning Millrose is the only reference point to how well he has recovered from that heartbreaking injury in the Tokyo final.
“A tough scene,” he says of hobbling on bravely to finish long after the race was won by Portugal’s Isaac Nader. “It was a freak accident,” he believes now, born from finding himself out of position midway through the semi-finals and having to manoeuvre his way through the field.
Guided by his physiotherapist and mum, Jill, along with coach Danny Mackey, Kerr was back to work as quickly as physically possible.
“The next day, we were in the pool in Tokyo, in Japan for 10 days after that doing rehab every morning while travelling around as a family. It came back reasonably quickly.
“I got back into training two months later. The turnaround was a lot quicker than you’d expect for a guy that couldn’t even walk himself to breakfast.”
That is why he describes the potential of a third world title as a “really big stepping stone” early in a year that promises so much – once his body obeys.
Kerr has always raced sporadically, preferring to train for major goals rather than race himself fit. Yet with no major global outdoor championship this summer, the chance to rewrite some records should see him toe the line more frequently.
Medals remain his currency – gold at the home Commonwealth Games is top of the hit list – but it also feels like the right moment to target times.
A rare opportunity to wear a Scotland vest in Glasgow has long been circled on the calendar and that is swiftly followed by the European Championships in Birmingham, which Kerr has previously said he is keen on.
“I want to race in Europe and the UK as much as possible, I want to get back to my roots in racing and back home as much as possible,” he adds.
“High-level competition, as many of the championships I can get into and go after trying to be the best in the world. It’s definitely a year you can go after times because there’s no Olympics or anything like that so there’s flexibility for everyone.
“I have some pretty big goals for this season. When you have this flexibility and no Olympic Games, you can go out and prove you’re the best runner in the world over these distances.
“In those [Olympic] years there’s one day that you can prove that you’re the best athlete in the world. Over this season you’re going to see me try to be the best 1500m runner in the world. That’s not just one day, that’s across the whole season. It’s a fun challenge for everyone to be battling for that top spot and it keeps me excited.”
A long, potentially lucrative, outdoor season is on the horizon, but the outcome in Torun this weekend will go a long way to determining will really be considered the best.
