Josh Kerr: Reigning World Champion and 2x Olympic Medalist on Relentless Discipline, Brutal Self-Honesty & the Competitive Fire Behind Greatness

THE RUNNING EFFECT PODCAST

Dominic Schlueter

Running, Sports

4.8 • 686 Ratings

🗓️ 9 July 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This isn’t just a running interview. It’s a front-row seat to what greatness sounds like.

Josh Kerr is the reigning 1500m World Champion, an Olympic silver (Paris 2024) and bronze medalist (Tokyo 2020), and the fastest Brit of all time, stopping the clock at a jaw-dropping 3:27.79 in the 1500m at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

And his résumé doesn’t stop there. Josh’s current personal bests include: 3:27.79 in the 1500m outdoor (British record); 3:45.34 in the outdoor mile; 7:30.14 in the indoor 3,000m (Scottish indoor record) and 8:00.67 in the 2-Mile indoor short track (a World Best).

From breaking NCAA records at the University of New Mexico to stunning the world in Budapest and Paris, Josh has built his career on intent, aggression, and an unshakable belief in his process.

He’s not about fluff. He’s about focus. And whether it’s skipping warmups or setting world bests, he’s never afraid to do it his way.

Josh has much to say about the mindset behind the medals, the rivalries that keep him sharp, and the hunger that still drives him, even while he’s already at the top.

He isn’t here to play it safe. He’s here to take over.

In today's conversation, Josh takes me deep into his mindset, chase for greatness, parts of his journey that go untold, his desire to be the best, rivalries, what you can do to become a better runner today, and so much more.

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	I don't win now. I don't know if I ever can.
0:03.5	This would be an incredible upset and it's going to happen again.
0:07.0	I didn't want to muck this up. Like, I didn't want to muck up my opportunity.
0:10.0	What do you feel like is a part of your story that you feel like most people don't know about or goes unnoticed?
0:15.0	You know, when I signed to New Mexico, everyone was like, oh, why in New Mexico?
0:18.0	It's like, that was my only offer. I tried to get sign when I was 16. I hadn't ran all that fast. Again, I didn't have all the offers. I wasn't
0:25.9	this, you know, big, sexy recruit. I had a couple of years there from when I was about 14 to 16
0:31.9	that just things were not clicking super well. I found running and I was like, this is really interesting. There's no back then,
0:40.8	there's no skill here. It's how long can you hurt for the work that you put in? You're going
0:46.3	to see those results on the other side of it. It's just another way of making my life suck.
0:51.5	And that's my biggest goal. Body should just do what it's fucking tall.
0:55.0	Sometimes it doesn't and the reason it doesn't is because of, you know,
0:59.0	cutting corner and got everything I could out of that.
1:01.0	I love going into a stadium and the pressure's on and just coming out and performing.
1:06.0	That's the kind of stuff that drives me.
1:08.0	I'm the world champion.
1:09.0	Josh Kerr! With the performance of his lifetime.
1:13.1	It's my title, if anyone wants to come talk some shit, and I'm here for you.
1:17.3	I think I can be the most medal fitting under me at runner of all time.
1:21.1	I think that would be pretty awesome.
1:22.4	You do kind of embody that, like, MJ spirit, that Kobe spirit, that like Patrick Mahom's spirit.
1:30.3	Running is such a short-lived sport. If you don't want to have regrets and you have to kind of invest and push yourself,
	...

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