They say success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out. Alas, sometimes putting in your best efforts also falls short. Something similar happened with Josh Kerr when he came up short of the gold medal despite putting on his career-best at the Paris Olympics. The British middle-distance runner, who competes primarily in the 1500 m, suffered a heartbreaking loss at the Games recently.

Josh is a celebrated name in the world of athletics. The 26-year-old has had a blazing 2024, setting world records, sealing gold at World Indoors, and breaking a world record. With numerous medals and accomplishments already to his name, he was quite confident of adding an Olympic gold to his collection. It looked like his major competitor would be the Norwegian middle- and long-distance runner Jakob Ingebrigtsen. But it seems like fate had other plans.

Josh Kerr’s performance at the Paris Olympics

The 1500m race is a tough nut to crack. It requires a certain kind of planning, preparedness, and tactics. It requires a person to have the persistence, both mental and physical, of a long-distance runner. But towards the end, it requires a sudden, explosive, and fiery finish, without which all the hard work will be in vain. This was exactly how Josh Kerr had planned to proceed in the race, aiming to simply minimize damage in the first 1000 m or so and going full throttle towards the end.

He shared with CITIUS Mag. “You know in the first K or so it’s just minimizing damage and so that was my big goal but you know it was so hard so early that I think maybe that first lap, maybe took a bit of sting out of my legs, but you know, I wouldn’t have changed anything that I did,” Josh said. The men’s 1500 at the Games appeared to be a straight fight between Josh and Jakob, but Cole Hocker came out of the syllabus for everyone.

Cole, the American long-distance runner, stunned everyone when he won the gold medal in the 1500 race. He came as a shocker, outrunning the two major favorites of the game! Flying under the radar for a major portion of the race, he kicked in speed in the last 30–40 meters, finishing with an Olympic record of 3:27.65. This led to a major disappointment for Josh, the reigning world champion, who had to find consolation in a silver medal. But considering the champion he is, he has already started planning ahead.

What’s next for the Track and Field Star?

As for his future plans after this race, Josh Kerr talked about ‘going back to the drawing board’. Now that the race is over, he plans to go back to the start and figure out where his weaknesses lie. With his eyes already set on the next Olympics in L.A., he is keen to work on his shortcomings so as to be able to come back even better.

It is the start of a new cycle for him, and he is planning four years into the future. It is going to be a long journey, he acknowledged but added that he is not here for instant gratification. It is great to see him defying despondency and instead choosing to do better as an athlete!