Brooks Beasts' Josh Kerr says he's capable of setting the world mile record Saturday...
LONDON--At a press conference Friday morning at London Stadium, Josh Kerr (Paul Merca photo) of the Seattle based Brooks Beasts spoke to the assembled media about Saturday's Emsley Carr Mile, the penultimate event of the Novuna London Athletics Meet.
Kerr, along with sprinter Amy Hunt and middle distance runner Keely Hodgkinson were the featured British athletes the meet brought to promote Saturday's event, the eleventh stop on the season-long Wanda Diamond League tour.
With one day to go, the meet at last count had approximately 1500 tickets remaining.
When asked what he thought about his chances of getting under the world record of 3:43.13 set in July 1999 by Morocco's Hicham El Guerrouj, Kerr said, "It's in my favor. My body is capable of the mark, and so my job tomorrow is to have my mind available to let my body do its job."
"I'm very excited, and it's been a long journey. Obviously you guys have known about this since March. It's been on my mind and it's been on my team's mind since then."
"Every race has a moment where you can see an athlete go from 'this is really hard' to 'I'm gonna get this. That's the moment that I'm looking for."
"What's going to transpire tomorrow is going to be my moment, and I'm excited to see what that looks like, and to be able to watch that back for years to come."
Kerr's Brooks Beasts teammate Brannon Kidder and Slovenia's Žan Rudolf are the designated pacesetters. Rudolf was the main pacer in Azeddine Habz‘s 3:27.49 1500m race last year in Paris, as well as Cam Myers' 3:28.00 in Paris.
If Kidder and Rudolf can go through in about mid 1:50s through 800, and roughly 2:18 through the kilometer, they'll be on world record pace. Mackey hopes that Kidder can run to about 950, with Rudolf going to 1150 and possibly to 1200. As has been the case in most of the meets in the Wanda Diamond League circuit, there will be Wavelight technology on the track so fans and athletes can track how fast they're running relative to world record pace.
Besides Kidder, the Americans in the field include 2025 Washington grad Nathan Green, and Seattle resident Sam Prakel, who has continued to train under UW men's head coach Andy Powell.
Green last raced on June 26th in Zagreb, Croatia, getting the win over 1500 meters in 3:32.46 at the Boris Hanžeković Memorial. Prakel won the Morton Mile last week in a meet record 3:50.97, missing his personal best of 3:50.94 set in 2019.
Other Americans include Olympic bronze medalist Yared Nuguse, Ethan Strand, and Simeon Birnbaum, this year's NCAA 1500 meter champion from Oregon.
Other events to watch at the Novuna London Athletics Meet include the women's 800 featuring Keely Hodgkinson of Great Britain, as she goes against Femke Broeders-Bol, competing in her first full season at 800 after being a mainstay at the 400 hurdles, along with Addy Wiley of the USA.
Kerr's Brooks Beasts teammate Brandon Miller, who has entered the winner's circle three straight meets after winning at the LA Track Festival, the USATF LA Grand Prix, and the Nike Prefontaine Classic, faces his toughest test in the men's 800m.
Miller goes against a stacked field that includes world and Olympic 800m champ Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya, who ran 2:11.83 last week at the Monaco Diamond League meet. Great Britain's Max Burgin, who beat Wanyonyi at the Diamond League stop in Rabat, is also in the field, as well as Marco Arop of Canada, the Paris 2024 Olympic silver medallist.
American Bryce Hoppel is in the race, after establishing himself among the world’s elite after a fourth-place finish at the Paris Olympics, setting a new US record in the process.
Other races to watch include the women's 200 featuring Briton Amy Hunt against Saint Lucia's Julien Alfred, a double Olympic medalist. Also in the field are Americans Gabby Thomas and Anavia Battle; the men's 100 which features Botswana's Latsile Tebogo, the defending Olympic 200m champ; the women's 3000 with Oregon alum and Olympic 1500m silver medalist Jessica Hull; and the men's pole vault featuring Sweden's world and Olympic champion Mondo Duplantis going against Greece's Emmanouil Karalis.
In the USA, Flotrack ($) will stream the Novuna London Athletics Meet starting at 5:00 am Pacific, with the event concluding before 8 am Pacific.
GROUP OF FIVE DAWGS RACING IN HEUSDEN SATURDAY...
While the Diamond League makes its annual start in London, a group of four current and Husky alums will race Saturday in Heusden, Belgium at the Nacht van de Atletiek (Night of Athletics) meeting, a World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze meet at Stadion De Veen.
Amina Maatoug, Reuben Reina Jr, Sam Tanner, and Aaron Ahl are all entered in the women's (Maatoug) and men's 1500 meters.
In addition, Max Davies of the Brooks Beasts is also entered in the mens' 1500.
NOTE: Brooks Running, the Wanda Diamond League, World Athletics, the Novuna London Athletics Meet, and the Nacht van de Atletiek contributed to this report.
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