Josh Kerr

Professional competition 2018–2020: Early professional career

Kerr turned professional in June 2018, forgoing his senior year of eligibility in the NCAA. He signed a sponsorship deal with Brooks Sports, a Seattle-based company, to train under coach Danny Mackey as part of the Brooks Beasts Track Club. He divided his training time between Seattle and Albuquerque. In August 2019, he participated in the 1500 m at the British Athletics Championships, where he won a silver medal, finishing behind Neil Gourley. This performance qualified him to represent Great Britain in the 1500 m at the 2019 World Championships later that month, where he placed sixth in the final.

2021: Olympic 1500 m bronze In May 2021, Kerr set a personal best of 1:45.74 in the 800 metres. The following month, he won his first national title in the 1500 m at the British Championships. This victory secured his spot to represent the British team at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, which were rescheduled to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the Olympic 1500 m final, Kerr won a bronze medal in a personal best of 3:29.05, finishing behind Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Kenya's Timothy Cheruiyot.

2022: European record in indoor mile On 27 February 2022, Kerr ran 3:48.87 for the indoor mile at the Boston University Last Chance Meet. This performance broke Eamonn Coghlan's European indoor mile record, which had stood since 1983, and Peter Elliot's British indoor mile record from 1990. Additionally, Kerr's 1500 m split of 3:32.86 en route to the finish set a new British national record for the indoor 1500 m, surpassing Elliot's previous record. In July, he competed in the 1500 m at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon. He finished in 5th place with a time of 3:30.60.

2023: Gold medallist at World Championships

On 23 August 2023, Kerr defeated Norwegian favourite Jakob Ingebrigtsen in the final of the 1500 metres at the 2023 World Athletics Championships. It was the second successive World Championships where Ingebrigtsen was upset in the final of the 1500 metres by an athlete from Edinburgh Athletics Club, following teammate and compatriot Jake Wightman's victory in Eugene in 2022.

Later that month, on 31 August 2023, Kerr competed in the Diamond League Final for the 1500 m, aiming to break the British record. He finished second to Yared Nuguse in a time of 3:30.51. This mark was 1.7 seconds off the national record.

In his final race of the season on 10 September 2023, Kerr won the New Balance 5th Avenue Mile, clocking a time of 3:47.9. He ended the year ranked third in the World Athletics Rankings for the 1500 m, behind Ingebrigtsen and Nuguse. He was named Scottish sportsperson of the Year in 2023 by Sportscotland.

2024: World best, world indoor champion, Olympic 1500m silver

In his first race of the year on 11 February, Kerr set a world best in the short track 2 mile at the Millrose Games. His time of 8:00.67 surpassed the previous world best of 8:03.40 held by Mo Farah since 2015.

On 2 March, Kerr ran 7:42.98 for 3000 metres to claim gold at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow.

On 20 April, Kerr opened his outdoor season in the Pro Men's 800 m Challenge at the Oregon Relays, winning in a time of 1:45.94. On 25 May, at the Prefontaine Classic, Kerr won the Bowerman Mile in a new British record time of 3:45.34, ahead of Jakob Ingebrigtsen (3:45.60) and Yared Nuguse (3:46.22). This eclipsed Steve Cram's previous British record of 3:46.32 by almost a full second. The race was a highly anticipated rematch between Kerr and Ingebrigtsen, and as such was billed as the "Mile of the Century." This performance ranked Kerr as the sixth fastest miler in history.

At the 2024 British Athletics Championships in late June, Kerr chose to compete in the 800 m. In the final, Kerr finished in last after colliding with Elliot Giles on the home straight. Just days earlier it was announced that he had signed up for the inaugural season of the Michael Johnson founded Grand Slam Track in 2025.

On 5 July, Kerr was selected to race in 1500 metres at the 2024 Summer Olympics. Just before the athletics events got underway, he was also named as the Great Britain athletics team captain for the Games in Paris. The final at these Games was anticipated because of Kerr's rivalry with fellow European middle-distance runner Jakob Ingebrigtsen.

On 6 August, in the Olympic men's 1500 metre final, Kerr unexpectedly finished second to Cole Hocker of the United States in a sprint finish. Kerr nearly got caught at the finish line by American Yared Nuguse who finished third, while Jakob Ingebrigtsen uncharacteristically finished fourth and had led for nearly the entire race at a fast pace. In the final stretch, Ingebrigtsen was initially leading, and was passed by Kerr, while behind the two was Hocker. However, when he had room, Hocker passed Ingebrigtsen and Kerr to win the race in a new Olympic record and North American area record of 3:27.65. Kerr's time to secure the silver medal was a new personal best and new British national record of 3:27.79, breaking Mo Farah's previous British record of 3:28.81 by over a second. Nuguse was one hundredth of a second behind Kerr in a new personal best of 3:27.80, while Ingebrigtsen finished in 3:28.24.

On 8 September, Kerr won the Fifth Avenue Mile in New York City, running a new course record of 3:44.3. This eclipsed Sydney Maree's previous record of 3:47.52 by more than three seconds, which had stood for 43 years, since the inaugural edition of the race in 1981. Kerr had previously won the race in 2023 as well, in a time of 3:47.9.

In October, Kerr was named Scottish Athletics' athlete of the year.

2025: British 5000 m champion Kerr en route to winning gold in the 5000 m at the 2025 UK Championships. In February, Kerr intended to compete in the Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games, but dropped out due to illness. In April, he finished seventh overall in the Short Distance event group at the 2025 Kingston Slam. In May, at the 2025 Miami Slam, with 16 points earned, Kerr was crowned Slam Champion of the Short Distance event group, having won the 1500 metres, and having finished fifth in the 800 metres, in a new personal best of 1:45.01.

In July, Kerr finished second to Phanuel Koech in the 1500 metres at the London Athletics Meet. In August, he became the British 5000 metres champion after winning the title at the 2025 UK Athletics Championships.

In September, at the 2025 World Athletics Championships, Kerr sustained a right calf injury in the final of the 1500 metres.

2026: Mile world record In March, at the 2026 World Athletics Indoor Championships held in Toruń in Poland, Kerr won the world indoor 3000 metres title for the second time. That same month, Kerr announced that he would make an attempt at the world record in the mile race at the London Diamond League meet in July later that year. At the time, Kerr stated, "It needs to be a legal attempt, not a time trial. That was number one. Second, it needs to be in the UK. And third, I wanted to commit my season around it because this isn't a record that you can steal." Prior to the record attempt, Kerr raced in only two 800 m races in the following months, focusing on training for his record attempt. For five weeks prior to the record attempt, he had been training at altitude in Albuquerque, at of elevation. In the build-up to his world record attempt, Kerr completed a 1200 m time trial in 2:42.45.

On 18 July, Kerr broke Hicham El Guerrouj's mile world record of 3:43.13 at the London Diamond League, clocking 3:42.66, 2.68 seconds faster than his prior personal best. Kerr was assisted by two pacemakers in the attempt, Brannon Kidder through 800 m and Žan Rudolf through 1000 m. En route to the world record, Kerr ran a new British national record of 3:27.62 for his 1500 m split.

At the Commonwealth Games held in Glasgow, Kerr won gold in the mile. In a slow and tactical race, Kerr was able to pull away from second-placed Cameron Myers and Scottish compatriot Jake Wightman over the final 200 m to secure the gold medal infront of a home Scottish crowd. Following the race, Kerr stated "It means everything, this was the championships of my season, this was the one that we had circled on the calendar. I owed the British crowd that." Personal life Kerr and his wife Larimar reside in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He enjoys listening to audiobook podcasts.

Kerr's team includes a personal chef, nutritionist, physiotherapist, chiropractor, and strength and conditioning experts.