World Athletics Indoor Championships: Josh Kerr wins 3,000m gold for Great Britain as Keely Hodgkinson reaches 800m final
Josh Kerr beats American Cole Hocker, the man who pipped him to Olympic gold in Paris in 2024, to finish fastest in 7:35.56; Dina Asher-Smith suffers disappointment in women's 60m final, finishing seventh; Keely Hodgkinson cruises through to Sunday's women's 800m final
Last Updated: 22/03/26 3:21pm
Josh Kerr won gold for Great Britain at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Poland, reclaiming the men's 3,000m title he first won two years ago in Glasgow.
The Edinburgh athlete bounced back from an injury-plagued 2025 to beat American Cole Hocker, the man who pipped him to Olympic gold in Paris, to finish fastest in 7:35.56.
Kerr, the 2023 world 1,500m champion, sustained a grade-two calf tear in the when defending his title at last summer's World Championships in Japan, and credited his mum for his return to top form.
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"Crossing that finish line, knowing and proving to myself - and everyone around me - that you're still the best in the world, it's a huge honour," Kerr told Sky Sports after his victory.
"The freak injury that happened with the fall in Tokyo, you can't really do much about that - that's a bit of bad luck. But to be able to turn it around the way that we have, it's a massive ode to coaching, physio, my medical team and everyone.
"I'm definitely the horse that runs, but I have a team of incredible people around me. My mum is finally getting the flowers that she deserves.
"I think she might have been the loudest one in the crowd yesterday."
Kerr added: "Mentally, just getting over those hurdles, as well as physically, it's a huge moment and a great step forward.
"I'm definitely not taking this one for granted - world titles don't come around as often as I would have wanted in my career.
"Back on top, and that's where I intend to stay."
Kerr added that before these championships in Torun there was a time he could not even walk himself to breakfast, and that the speed of his recovery had surprised even himself.
He was not wholly pleased by how the race unfolded in Poland, however, but was nevertheless relieved to get the job done.
The Scotsman hovered patiently behind the pack leaders, picking his moment to surge in front with about 200 metres remaining, and managed to hold off a final-stretch fightback from Hocker, who took silver ahead of France's Yann Schrub in bronze.
Though it's still more than two years away, Kerr spoke of his Olympic ambitions as he targets gold at Los Angeles 2028, following silver at Paris 2024 and bronze at Tokyo 2020.
"It's everything," he said. " I've got the gold medals, but there's one medal that's not around my neck right now.
"The Olympics is obviously the pinnacle of our sport and, as soon as Paris came and went, then it was like how do we get better?
"It's been on my mind ever since the night of that final. This is a life pursuit that I've been going after for the last 28 years, and I'm not looking to give up on that anytime soon."
Asher-Smith misses out in sprint final as Hodgkinson cruises through semi
Elsewhere, as part of the Saturday's evening's action in Torun, Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis won a fourth world title with a championship record 6.25m clearance.
There was disappointment, meanwhile, for British sprinter Dina Asher-Smith as she finished seventh in the women's 60m final.
The 30-year-old had tied her own national record, 7.03 seconds, to qualify for the final, where her time of 7.07 wasn't quite enough for a place on the podium.
"I'm disappointed, because I'm definitely in a great place," Asher-Smith told the BBC. "I was hoping to go sub-seven today, but it just wasn't to be. It is what it is."
Earlier, in the afternoon session, Britain's Keely Hodgkinson strolled through to the final of the women's 800m as she controlled her semi-final from the front.
The Olympic champion is a hot favourite for gold after setting a new world indoor record of 1:54.87 in France last month, and she crossed the line here in 1:58.53.
"It was good to get back out there again. Looking forward to my day and a half off now," the 24-year-old told the BBC with half an eye on Sunday's final.
"Even if you're not running at your full exertion, the adrenaline of coming to the stadium and getting on the start line, you still get nervous every round and you can underestimate how much energy it takes out of you.
"But this is the exciting part. I'll see what we can bring tomorrow."
