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The Olympics before the athletics begins is a little like a feast without its main course: the abundance of choice is tantalising at first, but when the centrepiece is introduced it can be difficult to look anywhere else.
And while the Stade de France and its brand new purple track staged the blockbuster, electrifying 100m finals over the weekend, it’s another event that has been dubbed a “race for the ages” by World Athletics president Seb Coe. The clash of reigning Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Great Britain’s current world champion Josh Kerr in the final of the men’s 1500m tonight is one of the most highly anticipated of Paris 2024.
Kerr and Ingebrigtsen have developed a sizzling rivalry since the Scot beat the Olympic champion at last year’s World Championship in Budapest. With neither lacking confidence and both unafraid to take shots at each other in the media, Kerr and Ingebrigtsen have routinely stoked the flames ahead of their showdown in Paris and the barbs continued even after the Olympics had begun.
Ingebrigtsen, a middle-distance running prodigy from Norway, won gold in the 1500m in Tokyo three years ago at the age of just 20, setting an Olympic record in the process. With it, a star was born. Ingebrigtsen was tipped for greatness from the age of eigth, as the youngest of three brothers trained as professionals by their father Gjert from an early age.
In the following two years, however, Ingebrigtsen suffered two shock defeats two British runners. The first came to Jake Wightman in the world championship 1500m in Eugene in 2022, as Wightman surged around the outside with 200m to go and held on to claim gold. Then, in Budapest last year, Kerr pulled off the same move, bursting past Ingebrigtsen to win the world title.
The victory was a seismic one for Kerr, who hails from the same Edinburgh AC club as Wightman but moved to the United States at the age of 17 to pursue a running career. Supremely confident and emboldened by his world title, Kerr was asked in a podcast last November about Ingebrigtsen’s defeats in the world championship finals and replied with startling honesty. He said his rival had “major weaknesses”, a “pretty high ego” and was surrounded by “yes-men”.
In turn, Ingebrigtsen has doubled-down on the bravado. He claimed he would have beaten Kerr “blindfolded” when the Scot broke the two-mile record in New York in February, where the Norwegian was absent. Then, ahead of the Olympics, Ingebrigtsen said it was hard to view the Tokyo bronze medallist as a rival when he is “known as the Brit who never competes”.
The 26-year-old Kerr shrugged off the comment after setting a 3:35.83 in heats in what was his first 1500m race this year, noting that the Norwegian had chosen to overlook their last meeting in the mile race at Eugene in May. “We ran against each other earlier this year, and we saw how it went,” he said.
“He’s obviously a big character and a big name in our sport and so he draws a lot of eyeballs, and those are the questions that sometimes people want to ask me,” Kerr told The Independent.
“I give honest answers and reviews and I think he does the same. I don’t think it really cuts too deep on either end. There’s no ill will towards him. It’s just I’m a competitive guy and I want to win and so sometimes that comes out in different ways.”
Fireworks were expected at the Olympics and were duly delivered as early as the opening morning on the track. Racing in separate heats, both were happy to sit back until reaching the final bend, where they cruised around the outside to comfortably qualify for the semi-finals. On Sunday night, they raced in the same heat in what was a dress rehearsal of the main event, exchanging glances at the finish line as Ingebrigtsen first in 3:32.38 then Kerr in in 3:32.46.
Afterwards, Kerr declared: “They should be expecting one of the most vicious and hardest 1500 metres this sport has seen for a very long time. I am ready to go after it. I think we all are. There has been a lot of talk and words over the last 12 months, even two years.”
It builds a fascinating rivalry between characters and competitors, charged by self-confidence. But what promises to make Kerr and Ingebrigtsen’s battle so anticipated is the feud is set to continue long after the race is run as well.
