Aug 25 (Reuters) – Tokyo Olympics champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen will renew his fierce 1,500m rivalry with Briton Josh Kerr at World Athletics’ inaugural Ultimate Championship next month after both athletes received exceptional invitations for the meet.
The pair have met multiple times over 1,500m, with Norway’s Ingebrigtsen holding a significant head-to-head advantage over Kerr, though they have not faced each other over the distance since the Zurich Diamond League meeting in 2024.
Kerr took bronze behind his rival in Tokyo but beat the Norwegian to win gold at the 2023 world championships. The Scot also took silver behind Cole Hocker at the Paris Olympics two years ago, while Ingebrigtsen finished fourth.
The pair have traded barbs over the years, with Ingebrigtsen once referring to Kerr as “just the next guy” and boasting he could beat him blindfolded, while Kerr has said the Norwegian has major weaknesses.
Ingebrigtsen stoked the rivalry earlier this month when he said he was disappointed not to see Kerr at the European Championships and that the sport was being ruined by athletes skipping major competitions.
Kerr broke the mile world record in July at the London Diamond League and followed that up with a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in front of home fans in Glasgow, before skipping the European Championships to manage his workload.
“I’ve made some choices this season that have created plenty of noise, but I’ve always wanted to prove myself in the biggest races, against the best in the world,” Kerr said in a statement on Monday.
The stacked 1,500m field at the September 11 to 13 meet in Budapest also includes American Hocker and Portugal’s world champion Isaac Nader.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
