Josh Kerr promised ‘to put on a show’ for a home audience at these Commonwealth Games and the new mile world record holder has already delivered on that vow.
The hype around the Edinburgh athlete has grown significantly since he lowered Hicham El Guerrouj’s 27-year mark at the London Diamond League earlier this month, giving a much-needed publicity boost to the Commonwealth Mile whose final on Saturday is shaping up to be the blue riband event of this whole sporting jamboree.
Kerr talks the talk but he can walk the walk, too. The 28-year-old has made winning gold for Scotland his other major target for this summer and he safely made it through the heat to book his place in the final.
The only risk to Kerr’s progression would have been an unavoidable tumble, the fate that befell Australian Olli Hoare, the 1500m champion in Birmingham four years ago, who left himself with too much to do once he had picked himself up off the track.
Kerr took no chances as he cruised away to win, waving his arm to encourage the crowd to roar even louder as he coasted home in a time of 3:58:57. He was joined in the final by Jake Wightman who, with dad Geoff on stadium announcing duties, stuck close to heat winner Cam Myers to qualify safely in second spot in 3:54:05.
Neil Gourley was unable to make it a Scottish triumvirate in the final, an injury-interrupted season leaving him short of his best as he finished ninth. It tees up the prospect of a salivating Saturday night Scotstoun showdown between Kerr and Wightman — the two former 1500m world champions — and the young Australian pretender, Myers, for the podium places.
Josh Kerr looked good as he strolled to victory in his heat, urging the crowd to cheer louder
‘It’s going to be a war out there,’ admitted Kerr. ‘But I felt good today. This is everything that I wanted it to be. The milers have shown up, there’s a great field out there and I’m just excited to be a part of that. Job one done and now for the big one on Saturday.’
Wightman was happy to have made it through the heats without too many complications. He said: ‘It’s always tough at this time in the morning to get up for it. I had an expectation I would be in that final so you play out scenarios where it could go wrong. But I’m relieved to get through.
‘I’m going to try to win (the final) but there are going to be quite a lot of people trying to do the same. But it makes for an entertaining race, doesn’t it?’
Sprinter Alyson Bell was another to enjoy a productive morning after coming through her 200m first round heat with a season’s best time of 22.38 to reach the semi-finals.
There was Scottish success to savour in the evening session too. Melanie Woods went into the T54 1500m final as the favourite and duly lived up that billing as she took gold in a new Games record time of 3:33.39.
The Glaswegian’s fast start meant she avoided the collision that wiped out three of her rivals on the first lap and she eventually sped away to take the acclaim of the crowd.
Jake Wightman advanced and will go head-to-head with countryman Kerr in Saturday’s final
‘It feels like a relief,’ she revealed. ‘I came in here with a bit of a different pressure on my shoulders. People were looking at me as the fastest and that comes with a different race plan. And I was happy that I was able to just go out there and follow that plan.
‘To do it out here with people screaming your name and all my friends and family in the crowd, that feels special. I was using that energy for sure.’
More silverware followed in the long jump where a leap of 8.08m — the longest ever by a Scot in Scotland — was enough to earn bronze for Ullapool’s Stephen Mackenzie, who celebrated by pulling on a kilt over his leggings.
There was disappointment for Erin Wallace and Jemma Reekie who both failed to qualify for the 800m final, while, in the last event of the day, Sarah Tait claimed 10th place in the 3,000m steeplechase.
