Ingebrigtsen and Kerr safely on course for 1,500m 'race for the ages'

PARIS : Defending champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen and world champion Josh Kerr safely negotiated the first step on the path to one of the most highly-anticipated races of the Paris Olympics on Friday when they came through their heats of the 1,500 metres.

Briton Kerr flirted with danger, sitting at the back of the pack until the bell then stumbling as his clipped a competitor while surging to the front to come home in three minutes, 35.83 to win the first heat.

Norway's Ingebrigtsen adopted a similar tactic in the third heat, steering clear of danger but leaving his push until the final 200 metres before easing down once safe.

“That was a blast, this stadium is very loud so I was very pleased to get out there and feel my legs,” Kerr said.

Asked about his limited racing season, he said: “I know my body, I know my race and I know my skills and I’m here to win the gold medal.”

When Ingebrigtsen raced to gold in Tokyo he appeared untouchable in the event and nobody, least of all the uber-confident Norwegian, could have foreseen back-to-back world championship defeats before he returned in Paris to defend his Olympic title.

The first came in Eugene in 2022, when Britain’s Jake Wightman had the temerity to pass him entering the last 200 metres, and then hold him off all the way to the line.

A year later at the Budapest worlds, Tokyo bronze medallist Kerr delivered an amazing carbon copy for another British gold.

Kerr backed it up with victory over a mile at the Eugene Diamond League meeting in May this year, though it’s safe to say neither defeat seemed to reduce the confidence of the Norwegian.

"Some of my competitors have clearly taken a step in the right direction but not a big step,” he said, having previously claimed he would have