Top run and top one: Josh winning race to be labelled our greatest ever
Photos by British Athletics via Getty Images
Mile magic! Extraordinary Josh run takes down World Record
By Peter Jardine, Head of Comms
The late, great football manager, Brian Clough, was known for having a high opinion of himself.
Not for nothing was the man who guided lowly Nottingham Forest to two European Cups – and the best manager England never had – universally nicknamed as ‘‘Old Big Head’.
‘I wouldn’t say I was the best manager in the business. But I am in the top one,’ he once said, memorably.
For Clough back then read Josh Kerr right now.
Not necessarily in the high opinion sense but certainly in taking ownership of the top one label. Top Scottish track and field athlete of all-time, that is.
Any lingering question over that status was swept away over 3 minutes 42.66 seconds in the London Stadium, we would respectfully suggest.
Eric Liddell, over a century ago, and Liz McColgan are among those Scots to have held World Records and their places among the very first inductees of the Scottish Athletics Hall of Fame reflect their achievements.
But it seems inescapable, certainly in the view of this correspondent, that Josh has edged ahead on the home straight in this particular race.
Even prior to Super Saturday 2 – when can we call him El Kerrouj ? – it felt as if the middle distance runner was getting to the front.
*Josh is the only Scottish athlete in track and field to win medals at two Olympics. He won bronze in Tokyo in 2021 and silver in Paris in 2024.
*Josh repeated Jake Wightman’s gold success at the World Champs outdoors in Budapest in 2023 (Jake having won in Eugene in 2022). But, since then, Josh has added two more global titles over 3000m at the World Indoors in 2024 (Glasgow) and 2026 (Torun).
So the medal count already looks to be in Kerr’s favour; and with the Commonwealth Games incoming for the 28-year-old from Edinburgh AC there is immediately another podium opportunity.
But the double-edged nature of athletics is that some track events are also measured via times.
Like the 100m, the World Record for The Mile has iconic status. It has done since Sir Roger Bannister broke the four-minute threshold one night at Ifley Road track in Oxford.
That was in 1954. Some 25 or so years later and men like Steve Ovett, Seb Coe and Steve Cram passed the mark back and forth as if it was a relay baton.
It was not. That trio was special and so was the 3:43.13 clocked by Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj in Italy in 1999.
Nobody has been faster this century . . . until now.
‘He’s getting ahead of the wavelights, everybody,’ gasped Cram with around 150m remaining on Saturday.
Later Cram gave this verdict.
‘Josh is a world champion, he’s won gold medals, run records but the world mile record perhaps surpasses everything.
‘Just for what it means in the sport – it’s an event the whole world knows and understands. Roger Bannister is partly responsible for that.
‘To join that list of great names – I know when I did it, I so wanted to be in that club of world mile record holders. Welcome to the club, Josh!’
Josh with Seb Coe in London
As the dust settles – and Josh broke the British Record for 1500m, too – it is well worth once again highlighting his (grass) roots.
We’ve mentioned this previously of course but it bears repeating.
Josh is a totemic ‘product’ of the athletics pathway in Scotland. He raced the East League Cross Country for his club, Edinburgh AC. He raced at the Scottish Schools and the Young Athletes Road Races.
He represented Scotland at U15 level at the London Mini Marathon. That particular event involves a long bus journey for those kids but many selected stick around for a longer athletics journey.
Across our social media channels last week, our #ThrowbackThursday feature included photos from the Scottish Schools at Hampden. This was in June 2014 with the champs effectively a test event for the impending Commonwealths. Josh was among seven athletes photographed that day (by our own Bobby Gavin) and now in the selection for Team Scotland for Scotstoun.
A dozen years on and those young teenagers have arrived at another staging post on their collective journey.
That is retention and, dare we say it, legacy.
Josh will be back in Scotland this week and while he deserves a hero’s welcome there is more business to attend to. Unfinished business, arguably.
Four years ago in Birmingham he’d lost an edge (Covid) after Eugene and underperformed.
Safe to say he is bringing his A+ game to Glasgow 2026 . . .
Historical context from Arnold Black:
Josh becomes only the fifth Scot to set an official world record in an individual event (in mainstream track and field).
He follows Gerard Anderson’s 56.8 over 440 yards hurdles in 1910; Eric Liddell with his 47.6 400 metres record at the 1924 Olympics, Jim Alder twice over 30,000 metres on the track in 1964 and 1970, and Liz McColgan over 5000 metres indoor in 1992.
These are officially recognised distances and performances by World Athletics. Josh has aWorld Best for a two mile run indoors.
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