Kerr Takes 1500m Bronze, Britain's First Since 1988

Josh Kerr took bronze in the Olympic 1500m final in Tokyo, ending a long British drought in the event. It was Great Britain's first men's Olympic 1500m medal in 33 years, since the golden era of Coe, Ovett, Cram and Elliott.

A dash down the home straight, third by inches

The final was run at a fierce pace, and the podium was settled in the closing metres. Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen took gold in an Olympic record 3:28.32, with Kenya's Timothy Cheruiyot second.

Kerr stormed past Kenya's Abel Kipsang on the home straight and almost caught Cheruiyot for silver. He crossed the line third in 3:29.05, with the top three split by less than eight-tenths of a second.

That time cut a full 2.5 seconds from his personal best. His Games had nearly ended in the heats, where he finished seventh and scraped through only as a fastest loser.

Third-fastest British metric mile, and a place among the greats

The bronze was Team GB's sixth athletics medal of the Games. Kerr's time was just 0.24 seconds outside Mo Farah's British record and the third-fastest 1500m run by a British man.

Speaking afterwards, the 23-year-old Scot reflected on his rocky start. "This has been a hard Championships for me, the first run wasn't great," he told reporters. "I had to go back, think about it, recalibrate and come back to these next rounds fighting for every single step."

Tokyo proved the first rung of a steep climb. World gold in Budapest, Olympic silver in Paris and a world mile record would follow, but this was where Kerr first joined the British 1500m line.