Josh Kerr rolls on to the finals of the 1500 meters in Budapest...
BUDAPEST, Hungary--Josh Kerr of the Brooks Beasts and Great Britain (far left/Paul Merca photo) took a slightly different approach in his semifinal race early Sunday evening at the World Athletics Track & Field Championships as he ran to a second place finish in the 1500 meter run to advance to Wednesday night's final.
Kerr positioned himself right at the front, taking over the lead at the 800 meter mark in 2:00.30, then increased the pace before ceding the lead to former University of Oregon standout Cole Hocker, who then lost it to heat winner and reigning Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway, who crossed the line in 3:34.98, with Kerr second in 3:35.14.
Former University of Washington standout Sam Tanner of New Zealand, who was pinned towards the back for most of the race, struggled to find room to run, only finding daylight in the last 100 meters and finished a non-qualifying eighth in the same heat, running 3:36.58.
"I told people last year that I wasn't very fit (going into world championships), and this year I've said that I was fit, yet no one believes me."
He spoke to Brooks Beasts head coach Danny Mackey about "going into our bag of tricks (going to the front early), and that option was open right about the 600 mark. The field started stringing out. I wasn't looking at splits, but I probably did it a little too hard, but I got through--so what, who cares."
He thinks that it would take a personal best (currently at 3:29.05, set at the Tokyo Olympic final, where he was third) to medal. "I think that I'm in PB shape. I'd like to run under 3:29 for the first time, but to be honest, I don't care if it's 3:40 or 3:26. I'm here to get a medal, and I hope to keep the world title in the UK."
On what it will take to beat Ingebrigtsen in the final, he said it comes down to making moves at the right time and, "not making mistakes (and) being confident in my decisions and my training."
In finals contested Sunday, Noah Lyles of Team USATF won the featured men's 100 meters in a world leading time of 9.83.
Ethan Katzberg of Canada won the men's hammer with a national record 266-7 (81.25m).
Ivan Vuleta of Serbia won the women's long jump with a world leading mark of 23-5.25 (7.14m), while Joshua Cheptegai of Uganda won the men's 10000 in a season best 27:51.42.
Maria Peréz of Spain won the women's 20k walk in 1:26.51, and Katarina Johnson-Thompson took the heptathlon title with a final score of 6740 points.
Only a single session will be contested Monday. Former Pullman resident and defending world champion Katie Moon will be joined by Capital HS/Olympia graduate and incoming UW freshman Hana Moll in the women's pole vault qualifying at 6:40 pm local time (9:40 am Pacific).
Washington alum Gianna Woodruff will run in her first round heat of the women's 400 hurdles, while Washington State alum CJ Allen, currently the world's number two ranked 400 hurdles, runs in the semifinals of that event.
Finals tomorrow include the men's triple jump, discus and 110 hurdles, with the 100 meters the only women's final on the docket
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NOTE: World Athletics, the WABudapest 23 Organizing Committee, and the federations of Canada, Great Britain & Northern Ireland, New Zealand, Panama and USA Track & Field contributed to this report.
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