It is one of the most highly anticipated contests of the Olympic programme, with World Athletics president Seb Coe labelling it “a race for the ages”.
A night after Team GB’s first gold on the track courtesy of Keely Hodgkinson, at 7.50pm this evening Josh Kerr is aiming to become the first British man to win the Olympic 1500m title since Coe’s success in Los Angeles in 1984.
In contrast, Jakob Ingebrigtsen has his sights on defending the Olympic title he won at the age of 20 over the distance.
At one point, the front-running Norwegian had looked invincible before Jake Wightman and then Kerr picked him off down the home straight at back-to-back World Championships.
And the needle between Kerr and Ingebrigtsen — perhaps never as acute in this event since Coe’s rivalry with Steve Ovett in the 1980s — has grown ever sharper.
Ingebrigtsen suggested he could beat Kerr blindfolded and accused him of cowardice for speaking ill of him on a podcast. In contrast, Kerr suggested his rival had weaknesses both on the track and in the manners department.
Even here, Ingebrigtsen has been trying to get the final barbs in after the heats suggesting Kerr, “is known as the Brit who never competes”.
There has already been competition of sorts between the pair as they were drawn against each other in the semi-finals.
Ingebrigtsen crossed the line first, turning his head towards Kerr as if to get a response. With his trademark shades on, he stared straight ahead, happy not to give anything away and to finish on his shoulder in second.
It sets it up beautifully for the proper showdown. It was the 2024 Olympics that Kerr first plotted as his major long-term target as young as the age of 12.
By that point, Ingebrigtsen had already begun on his father Gjert’s plan to coach him into the world beater he has become not always in methods necessarily approved by the athlete and his brothers Henrik and Filip.
I have been picturing this for my whole life. The [spectators] should be expecting one of the most vicious and hardest 1500m this sport has seen for a very long time
The times are in a sense immaterial but such is their desire to push one another it is not beyond the realms of possibility that the world record of 3min 26sec might be under threat tonight.
What is predictable, however, is Ingebrigtsen taking up the pace of the race, hoping to grind down all those behind him in a march to the line while Kerr will stay on his shoulder most likely looking to use his superior finishing speed to beat him down the home straight.
Looking ahead to the final, the Scot said: “I have been picturing this for my whole life. They [spectators] should be expecting one of the most vicious and hardest 1500m this sport has seen for a very long time.
“I am ready to go after it. I think we all are. There has been a lot of talk and words over the last 12 months, even two years. I am looking to settle that on Tuesday and give it my best performance. I will show that in the final.”
Their rivalry is not to overlook the rest of the field, it’s just that this season they have truly been a class apart from everyone else.
Kerr almost seemed relieved the talking was final over. He concluded: “There’s been a lot of words over the last two years. I’m just looking to settle that. I’m ready to go for it.”
Ingebrigtsen was rather more cut-throat. “This is a competition,” he said. “It’s not a love story.”
