Josh Kerr ready for ‘real battle’ as Niels Laros qualifies quickest for world 1500m final

Josh Kerr is bracing for a “real battle” to defend his world 1500 metres title after qualifying second from his semi-final behind 20-year-old Dutch upstart Niels Laros.

The Scot led for almost the entirety of the first heat in Tokyo but was beaten after a physical finish, which ended with Laros crossing three hundredths of a second quicker in three minutes 35.50 seconds.

Jake Wightman, the 2022 gold medallist, qualified from the same heat third in 3:35.56, and Neil Gourley scraped through the second semi in 3:36.93 to make it a trio of Scots in Wednesday’s final, on a night at the Japan National Stadium that also saw Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis set another new pole vault world record of 6.30 metres.

“I have my work cut out for me, but I feel pretty confident,” said Kerr.

“We’re getting places. I would say it’s one of the most confident I’ve gone into a world final. But each championships bring their own kind of challenges and fun, and I’ll keep doing what I can to show up and medal and go after the gold.

“It’s my title, it will be a real battle for whoever wants to come take it off of me, and I (just need to) keep an eye on the last lap. I’m going to get some work done.”

Olympic champion Cole Hocker, who beat runner-up Kerr to Olympic gold last summer, initially looked to have booked his place from heat two but was later listed as disqualified under rule TR17.1.2 for “jostling”.

The American’s appeal was denied.

Kenya’s Reynold Cheruiyot won heat two in 3:36.64, while Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Timothy Cheruiyot – no relation – was fourth-quickest behind Laros, Kerr and Wightman, and Ireland’s Andrew Coscoran also booked a place in the final as the fifth-fastest in 3:35.65.

Before these championships, Kerr partially pointed to letting the Paris crowds influence him too much in the Olympic final, and on Monday admitted he “probably shouldn’t have eased off near the end.”

He added: “These evening sessions are a lot livelier than the morning sessions, so it was nice to have a great crowd out there. I think Wednesday is shaping up to be a fantastic event and final, and I’ve done a fair few of them, so I’m excited to think I might be the only one that’s made the last five or six world and Olympic finals.”

Wightman, whose father, Geoff Wightman, is one of the in-stadium announcers in Tokyo, has battled his way back from injury-plagued seasons since beating Kerr’s arch-rival Jakob Ingebrigtsen to the world title in 2022.

Even before he was forced to withdraw from the Paris 2024 Olympics, Wightman was wondering how much longer the enormous personal sacrifices that accompany a professional athletic career would feel worth it.

Reminded of those comments, he said of the “pretty special” result: “I relocated my whole life away from London to Manchester, and I haven’t really processed that because I did it probably the day after I got injured before Paris.

“I haven’t settled in as a home, but I think so far it’s paid off, because I wasn’t at a champs last year, and this year I’m at the final of a global champs again. Stuff’s worthwhile, so I just need to make sure I give a good account of myself on Wednesday.”