Jakob Ingebrigtsen fires back after Josh Kerr reignites bitter rivalry

The 1500m stars have a long-running feud

Jakob Ingebrigtsen has hit back at Josh Kerr’s suggestion that the Norwegian would be “a deer on ice” running 800m, saying he doesn’t take the British world champion seriously.

Ingebrigtsen, 24, won 5,000m gold at the Paris 2024 Olympics but missed out on a medal in defence of his 1,500m crown as Cole Hocker, Kerr and Yared Nuguse surged past him in the home straight.

The pair have held a long-running feud which was reignited in December when Ingebrigtsen expressed his doubt that rivals including Kerr would be able to compete at cross country after romping to a third European title. “If you don’t feel like you can perform, you won’t do it,” he said. “The people that aren’t here are most likely not able to perform in different races.”

Kerr responded this week with his own jibe, suggesting Ingebrigtsen won’t be participating in the new Grand Slam Track event because he wasn’t comfortable running 800m, as he would have to in the unusual format devised by Michael Johnson.

“If he was in the 800/1500 group, watching him run the 800 would be like a deer on ice,” Kerr told the Citius Magazine podcast.

But Ingebrigtsen hit back once more, telling Norway’s TV2: “The day he contributes to the race for world records, I will take him seriously. But only then.”

It was recently confirmed that Ingebrigtsen’s father, Gjert, will stand trial in 2025 after being accused of mental, physical and verbal abuse of Jakob and brothers Henrik and Filip.

Gjert Ingebrigtsen denies the allegations.