Josh Kerr defeats rival Cole Hocker to reclaim 3,000m world indoor gold

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Josh Kerr reclaimed the men’s 3000m world indoor gold he first won two years ago in Glasgow after crossing the finish line in 7:35.56 in Poland.

The Scotsman hovered patiently behind the pack leaders, picking his moment to surge in front on the last lap.

Kerr held off a final-stretch fightback from Cole Hocker, the man who pipped him to Olympic 1500m gold in 2024.

(AP)

Kerr, the 2023 world 1500m champion, sustained a grade-two calf tear in the 1500m final at last summer’s world championships in Japan, leaning on his mother to work him back to top form.

“From where we were in Tokyo to right now, having another world gold medal, that’s all down to coaching, it’s all down to physio and my mum. That’s a family win right there,” Kerr told the BBC.

Kerr hovered patiently behind the pack leaders, picking his moment to surge in front with about 200 metres remaining, and managed to hold off a final-stretch fightback from Hocker, who took silver in 7mins 35.70secs, just enough to beat Schrub, who rounded out the podium one millisecond later.

Kerr said before these championships that there was a time he could not even walk himself to breakfast, but he had surprised even himself with the speed of his recovery.

The 2024 Olympic 1500m silver medallist had hoped to compete in the 3000m final at the British indoor championships last month, but was granted a medical exception, reportedly due to back issues.

Kerr was full of confidence approaching Torun, declaring himself still “the best athlete in the world at these distances”.

He was not wholly pleased by how the race unfolded in Poland, nor parts of the event’s execution, but was nevertheless relieved to get the job done after troubleshooting on the fly.

“For people watching, that is not how you win a world final,” Kerr said. “I knew that I had to get that close right, or else I might be having a pretty tough conversation with my coach.

“I was extremely fit coming into this. Obviously I had some problems coming into British champs, but this was the main goal. From a coaching and staff standpoint, and from just general work, I just… I needed this one.”