Edinburgh runner Josh Kerr claims Commonwealth gold in mile race weeks after smashing world record
The Edinburgh runner’s Commonwealth victory comes just two weeks after he smashed the mile world record in London
Edinburgh runner Josh Kerr followed up his world-record breaking moment by claiming gold in the Commonwealth Games mile race in Glasgow.
In front of an excitable Scottish home crowd on Saturday evening (August 1), Kerr crossed the line at Scotstoun Stadium in three minutes and 54.12 seconds.
This was almost 12 seconds slower than his incredible feat in London two weeks ago, when he smashed Hicham El Guerrouj’s 27-year record by running the mile in three minutes 42.66 seconds.
Australian star Cameron Myers claimed silver in the Commonwealth mile race, while Kenya’s Timothy Cheruiyot took home bronze.
Kerr told TNT Sports: “It means everything – this was the championship of my season. With the World Indoors and going after that record in London, this was the one I had circled in the calendar before any of that.
“London was a big stress, pushing my body to the absolute extreme limit. Doing a championship race is a nice clean palate, really using your brain instead of your body, and it’s how I love to race.
“It doesn’t get any better than this – this is absolutely incredible. To do it in front of a Scottish crowd where I learned to race – I came here week after week growing up as a kid.”
The 28-year-old’s victory on the Commonwealth stage, in front of a home Scottish crowd, comes as the mile race returned to the competition for the first time in 60 years.
The last winner was Kenya’s Kip Keino, who claimed victory in 1966 with a time of three minutes 55.34 seconds in Kingston, Jamaica.
Kerr also was seen shedding a tear as the Scottish national anthem ‘Flower of Scotland’ played during last night’s medal ceremony.
He told BBC Sport Scotland: "We rush through these moments so quickly. So I was just telling myself to slow down.
"In my head, I was flashing through all the hard moments and realising that I've come a long way. And to have Flower of Scotland playing versus the GB national anthem, it's just different. Not many times in my career I'll ever have that."
After signing autographs and taking selfies with fans following his victory at Scotstoun Stadium, he added: "I have to take my time out there because they've waited and put their hard-earned money to come out and watch me perform.
"You've got to stay in your lane and realise I'm lucky coming into this championship healthy, ready to go and I'm in the best shape of my life. And to do that in front of a home crowd is very special."