New mile world record holder Josh Kerr says he is “100 percent” certain he has raced against doped athletes in the past and that athletics is “riddled” with a doping epidemic.
The Scot has broken out of the athletics bubble and into the mainstream this summer for his exploits on the track. He broke Hicham El Guerrouj’s long-standing record over the distance at the London Diamond League this July, running 3:42.66 – half a second quicker than the Moroccan’s benchmark from 1999. He followed his new world record with gold in the mile at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow shortly after.
The former 1,500m world champion is now targeting the world record over that distance, which is also held by El Guerrouj and which has stood since 1998, and Olympic gold in LA 2028.
He told The Times that his squeaky-clean approach, which involves a team of 16 people and a perfectly tailored regime including sleeping in an oxygenated chamber, drives him to go faster in a sport which continues to battle doping.
One of the big stories of the sport this summer has been how an elite field of women’s 800m runners is inching closer to breaking the highly controversial world record, set by Czech athlete Jarmila Kratochvilova 43 years ago. At the time the country was running a systemic doping regime, although Kratochvilova has always strenuously denied doping.
Kerr said he had “100 percent” competed against athletes who were cheating. He said: “I raced in the first round of the 1,500m World Championships in London in 2017 against people who were then done for doping. Our sport is riddled with it.” (Kenyan Elijah Manangoi, who won the title in 2017, was banned for two years in 2019 for missing three doping tests.)
“[Kerr’s mental coach] Jose [Maresma] has done a lot of work on this with me. He asks me, ‘What are you hiding from me?’ Because he wants all my vulnerabilities out there. In a race, you go into the deepest, darkest part of yourself.
“If I’ve cheated, that would ruin my mindset because I would know it. But if I know I’ve done everything right — from training to nutrition to sleep and hydration — then my mind is at peace. I can even lose a race and still feel I’ve given everything.
“Doing things right makes me stronger. And knowing competitors are cutting corners makes me faster still.”
The 28-year-old also weighed in on his longstanding rivalry with Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen, whom he has repeatedly sparred with before major races.
The pair will renew their rivalry at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship this September, after the Norwegian accused Kerr and other athletes who miss major events – Kerr sat out the European Championships after his world record and the Commonwealth Games – of “ruining” the sport.
Kerr said: “I haven’t raced him in a while but we have very similar personalities so, from a competitiveness standpoint, we clash for sure. You know he’s not going to bite his tongue and I won’t either. But it draws crowds and brings out fantastic races and I’m proud of that. Right now, though, I’m focused on me. I’m focused on being remembered as the best miler of all time.”
