Scottish Josh Kerr wins bronze and smashes British record in 1500m
The Edinburgh born runner added to recent success on the track by Laura Muir
Last updated 7th Aug 2021
Josh Kerr won a brilliant bronze to end Team GB's 33-year wait for an Olympic medal in the men's 1500m. The Edinburgh born runner is also the first Scottish man to win an Olympic medal in an individual track and field event since Allan Wells in Moscow 1980.
The 23-year-old ran a personal best of three minutes 29.05 seconds to finish behind Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Kenya's Timothy Cheruiyot.
Stewart Harris, Chief Executive of sportscotland said:
“A phenomenal run from Josh Kerr in the 1500m to take bronze, and so close to taking silver.
“Josh came into these Games to win a medal and that’s exactly what he’s done. Focused and fantastic! A great result for Josh and his whole support team.”
It is the first British medal in the men's event since Peter Elliott won silver in Seoul in 1988 and adds to Laura Muir's second place in the women's 1500m on Friday.
It was also just 0.24s outside Mo Farah’s British record time over 1500m and the third fastest by a British man in history.
Team-mates Jake Heyward and Jake Wightman finished ninth and 10th respectively.
Sifan Hassan won the women's 10,000m - adding to her 5000m title and 1500m bronze - as Eilish McColgan came ninth and Jessica Judd 17th.
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