Josh Kerr warns Jakob Ingebrigtsen to expect ‘vicious’ 1500m final at Paris Olympics

Josh Kerr has warned bitter rival Jakob Ingebrigtsen to expect the most “vicious” 1500m final the sport has seen in a long time at the Paris Olympics.

The world champion has been embroiled in a tense rivalry over the last two years, beating the Olympic champion in Budapest last year to claim gold.

It was the second successive World Championships at which Ingebrigtsen was beaten by a British runner after Jake Wightman won gold in Eugene a year earlier.

In a strange scenario, the pair raced in the same semi-final on Sunday night in Paris, with Ingebrigtsen winning in 3min 32.38secs, although Kerr was just eight-hundredths of a second behind.

And the Scot bristled as he raced through his media duties, sending a warning to expect a bruising contest on Tuesday night.

“I tried to stay away from trouble,” Kerr said. “I didn’t think it would be so antsy, a pretty standard race in 3mins 32secs.

“It’ll be one of the most vicious and hardest 1500m races the sport has seen in a very long time. I’m ready to go after it, I think we all are. There has been a lot of talking words, over the last 12 months, even two years, I’m looking to settle that on Tuesday and give my best performance.

“It’s the big thing, I’m here, at my fifth major championship final in a row. I don’t miss these because I’m good at what I do. I’ll show that in the final.

“I’m relaxed, doing media quickly, two and half minutes is all you’ve got. Ask me your hardest question.

“I’ve been picturing this my whole life, it’ll be another day in the office. I’m looking to put on a performance in front of millions of people. Give our sport the best crowd experience we can.”

Cole Hocker, Brian Komen, Stefan Nillessen and Pietro Arese joined the two favorites in qualifying from the first semi-final.

While Team GB colleague Neil Gourley also qualified for the final, advancing from the second semi-final, which was won in 3mins 31.72secs. Gourley was third behind American winner Yared Nuguse, with compatriot Hobbs Kessler second. Niels Laros, Timothy Cheruiyot and Narve Nordas also advanced to complete the star-studded final.