Josh Kerr of Brooks Beasts wins his second world indoor 3000m title...
TORUN, Poland--Thanks to a 55.05 last 400, Great Britain's Josh Kerr (photo courtesy Brooks Running), who competes for Seattle's Brooks Beasts, won his second World Athletics indoor 3000 meter title Saturday night at Kujawsko-Pomorska Arena Toruń.
Kerr, whose 2025 ended with a last place finish in the Tokyo world championships in the 1500 after aggravating a calf injury suffered in the semifinals, worked his way from tenth place at 1000 meters in 2:39.42 to seventh at 1500m which he crossed in 3:56.26, and fifth in 5:11.44 at 2000m.
With two laps to go, he was sitting on the shoulders of Ethiopians Getnet Wale and Addisu Yihune, before pouncing on the outside at the bell.
On the final lap of the race, he covered the last 200 in 26.34 to finish in a time of 7:35.56.
Oregon alum Cole Hocker, the reigning Olympic champion at 1500 and the world champ at 5000 meters, rallied to finish second in 7:35.70, while France's Yann Schrub was third in 7:35.71.
Kerr's victory was his second world title, with the first coming in Glasgow two years ago.
Kerr (photo courtesy British Athletics) was the only athlete with Washington ties competing Saturday.
Afterwards, he told reporters in the mixed zone, "It's nice to be back to where I was. This race didn't go the way I wanted it to go but racing is all about dealing with the situations you are put in. I shouldn't worry much about the mistakes in the race, although there were a lot of them today. I didn't have time to think about them, I had to push. I wanted this gold medal so badly. I had all kind of scenarios in my head and I am just pleased it all went in my favor today."
"I put a lot of pressure on myself before this race and I was stressed. This is the place where I started my semi-professional career. I always had great vibes from this country. I wanted this gold so badly. I am going to enjoy this medal. I have won at world outdoors and world indoors back to back and I took it for granted. I thought I would be at the top of the sport for a long time but, after missing a couple of opportunities that I wanted, I am really going to enjoy this gold. It took a lot of work to be standing on the podium today."
Looking ahead to Sunday's finale at the world indoor championships, Washington alum Nathan Green runs in the finals of the men's 1500 meters at 10:38 am Pacific time.
Green got the final qualifying spot in his heat on Friday, taking third in 3:40.97.
Sunday morning's session begins at 2 am Pacific time, while Sunday night's session starts at 9:40 am.
Peacock ($) will live stream the final day of the world indoor championships.
NOTE: World Athletics, Brooks Running and British Athletics contributed to this report.
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