How a case of 'Déjà Vu' led Josh Kerr to 1500m World gold

Athletics 24 Aug 23

The Oxford English Dictionary describes 'Déjà Vu' as 'an illusory feeling of having previously experienced a present situation'.

And as Josh Kerr stormed down the home straight to win 1500m World Championship gold in Budapest, onlookers were treated to a rather unlikely case of the feeling.

Kerr, 25, overhauled heavy favourite and Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen in the final 200m, stealing gold from directly under his nose, in an almost exact replica of fellow Briton Jake Wightman's famous 2022 World Championship victory.

"There's a big reminiscence of Wightman in the last part of this race," said Kerr.

"It's quite an overwhelming experience but I'm so proud of myself and of my team and my family that got me here.

"I just threw my whole 16 years of this sport in that last 200m and didn't give up until the end."

In the aftermath, we take a look back at how Great Britain sealed back-to-back World Championship victories in the men's 1500m.

2022

Wightman wins first British middle-distance title in 38 years.

It was an historic moment as Wightman crossed the line for World Championship gold in Eugene, Oregon.

The then 28-year-old became the first British man to win a world or Olympic middle-distance title since Seb Coe's 1984 Olympic gold in a time of 3:29.23.

The Scot's sit-and-kick style, built on 800m speed, had previously seen him finish tenth in the final of the 1500m at the Tokyo Olympics.

But Wightman evolved his approach to steal a march on the world and claim gold at the World Championships one year later, overtaking favourite Ingebrigtsen on the 200m mark in a shock statement.

2023

Ingebrigtsen hungrier than ever

Ingebrigtsen, 22, has been the talk of the middle-distance crowd since he won double gold at the 2018 European Championships at just 17 years old.

Slightly too young and inexperienced to take on Kenya's Timothy Cheruiyot at the Doha 2019 Worlds, the Norwegian finished fourth before storming to Olympic glory in Tokyo.

Denied the world title on his second try by Wightman, Budapest was his for the taking. His 'third time's a charm' moment.

And with the reigning champion not set to defend his title due to a foot injury, Ingebrigtsen was the favourite for gold once more.

But this time it was Kerr ready to strike.

Welcome to Budapest

Kerr came into Budapest with an Olympic bronze medal and a fifth-place finish at Oregon 2022 to his name.

As the competition got underway, both Kerr and Ingebrigtsen fizzed through their heats and semi-finals, with the Norwegian causing a bit of a stir with his arm waving in their earlier rounds.

The final was fast paced from the start as Ingebrigtsen surged to the front of the pack after 200m and Kerr found himself in the middle of the bunch.

But a careful race plan was in place for the Scot, who had his sights set on silverware.

"It was a fast race from the offset," he said.

"I got bumped back into sixth or seventh, but I stayed calm and just wanted to execute a race I'd be proud of.

"I knew I was capable of a gold medal for Great Britain."

The final 200m

Comfortable in the middle of the pack, Kerr slowly began to move himself up the field with 800m to go, settling on Ingebrigtsen's shoulder ahead of their final lap.

The pace accelerated once more as the finalists jostled for space, with the Norwegian still leading the charge with 300m to go.

But it all changed from there, as Kerr notched it up a gear and fought to get ahead of the leader on the final bend in an almost exact blueprint of Wightman's efforts from a year before, making his move just slightly later.

"I was battling with Jakob pretty hard, and you can see on my face that I'm throwing everything I have at this guy and we're both hurting," said Kerr.

"I was just thinking that I've wanted this my whole life and I'm not letting anyone get in the way of that."

And it ended in a glorious victory for Kerr as he outkicked the Norwegian on the home straight to cross the line and clinch gold in incredible fashion.

"50 metres to go, I kind of broke him and it was all just about holding form at that point and getting a quick cadence," he added.

"You can see me look up at the screen and I didn't see anyone coming so I made sure to pump all the way home.

"I just wanted to be proud and know that I had given everything I had in that situation whether it was gold, silver or bronze.

"But I've had the bronze before, and gold is a lot sweeter."

Looking on from the BBC studio was Wightman himself, eagerly watching his teammate reproduce a similar manoeuvre to his own just 12 months earlier.

He said: "At 200m I think that Jakob was confident going into that bend which is a position he probably wanted as supposed to where he was last year.

"I was thinking that Josh was running quite wide there and hoped he still had something for the home straight.

"And Jakob just didn't seem to have a response.

"He should have learnt to avoid being in the same position as last year.

"Moving on the bend, if you do it right and get in front then your competition feels the stress and feels the pressure as Jakob doesn't usually have that threat on his shoulder."

The future

The future of British 1500m running now lies with Kerr's phone password: 0326.

Or more likely his former password after his fiancée revealed the four-digit code following the race.

The password recounts the current men's 1500m world record of three minutes and 26 seconds dead by Morocco's Hicham El Guerrouj, a time that Kerr is ambitious to achieve.

"Literally, the password on his phone is 0326 because he wants to run that time one day," said his fiancée, Larimar.

And with Britain now boasting the 2022 and 2023 world champions in the men's 1500m with just one year to go until the Paris 2024 Olympics, it is fair to say that British middle distance is well and truly back in business.

Sportsbeat 2023

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