JOSH KERR may have run two indoor personal bests in the past two weeks but he knows that with less than five month until the start of the Olympic Games, he still has a considerable amount of work to do if he wants to be competitive in Tokyo.
Kerr finished fourth at the Muller Indoor Grand Prix at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow ten days ago before finishing fourth once again at the British Indoor Championships last weekend at the same venue.
He may have run his fastest ever time indoor at the British Championships but having taken the race to the other runners by surging to the front from the bell and front-running for most of the four laps, he suddenly felt the effort in his legs and began going backwards, allowing eventual winner Guy Learmonth, as well as Andrew Osagie and Piers Copeland to overtake him in the home straight.
Kerr crossed the line in 1 minute 47.37 seconds but if he didn’t know he had work to do before the outdoor season begins, he certainly does now.
“I thought there was a half percent chance of me getting to the front in that first 50m,” he said.
“I got there though so I thought I’d keep pushing on from the front but I just ran out of steam.
“It was a good race. I was watching on the big screen which was probably a mistake because they were coming after me.
“I was giving it all I could but I just got beat.
“I had a really good time at the championships and I’ve run consistently 1:47 every race.
“The Scottish crowd are always the best and I’ve got to take some lessons away.
“You learn from every race and I’ve enjoyed my time in Scotland but it’s time to go back to the US and get some hard work done because those fitness levels won’t cut it when it comes to June.”
Kerr is based in New Mexico in America where he will now head back to for another block of training ahead of the summer.
The 22-year-old finished in sixth place in the 1500m final of the World Championships last year and so he knows that if he can continue to make progress, he has the opportunity to make a real mark come Tokyo, assuming he navigates the British trials safely.
And while it is still too early to predict how things will go come the Olympic Games, the Edinburgh native is happy with how his indoor season played out.
“Getting through an indoor season injury free hasn’t happened to me in the last four years so this has been a good start,” he said of the last few weeks.
“The British Champs gave me a nice little bit of pressure in a championship final and so remembering what that’s like is always good.”
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