U.S.A: Great Britain’s Josh Kerr got his payback against Cole Hocker as he won a thrilling 1500-m race at the Grand Slam Track meet.
The 27-year-old athlete had previously lost to the American at the 2024 Paris Olympics last August, where Hocker won the gold medal. However, Kerr now made his comeback. At the race, he made his move in the final meters of the race and overtook Hocker to win by 0.07 seconds. He successfully crossed the line in a season-best time of 3 minutes and 34.44 seconds, solidifying his name as a top contender in the tournament.
Furthermore, Kerr also finished fifth in the 800-m event and narrowly missed out on the $100,000 (£74,000 or S$137,000) top prize for the short-distance category. Unfortunately, he lost by just one point to Canada’s Marco Arop, who won the 800-m category.
In a social media post shared by World Athletics, it stated: “Living up to the hype 🫡…🇬🇧’s @joshhkerr wins the 1500m in a battle to the line against Olympic champ @colehocker with 3:34.44 😳”
Netizens commented on the post and said: “Josh Kerr continues to impress me each race. He’s such a competitor. I’m really glad to see that he’s been racing more now that the grand slam track is a thing this year,”@joshhkerr was running in Beast Mode for this race and it is nearly impossible to win a race against anyone who is running in Beast Mode. Steve Prefontaine ran in Beast Mode all the time. @colehocker made this a great race that was right down to the wire. I love watching the best runners in the world getting after it and giving it their absolute best! We are entering the Golden Era of Track! So exciting! Let’s go ! ❤️🔥,” and “Best runner of the generation.”
Other tournament updates
In the women’s 100-m category, American Melissa Jefferson-Wooden gained victory by clinching the fastest time in the world this year. The Olympic bronze medallist ran a personal best of 10.73 seconds. With this, she becomes the 10th fastest woman ever over the distance, together with France’s Christine Arron.
More so, American Tamari Davis finished second in the women’s 100-m race with a final time of 11.03 seconds. Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith placed fifth with a time of 11.16 seconds.
Moving on to the men’s long sprints group, Great Britain’s Matthew Hudson-Smith won for the second time in three meets. The 30-year-old athlete won the 400-m race with a final time of 44.51 seconds, and he also placed fifth in the 200-m race. His performance was enough to earn him another Grand Slam title.
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The Grand Slam Track is a new tournament made by Olympic legend Michael Johnson. This aims to bring together the world’s fastest athletes to compete for titles and prizes.
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