Kerr targets British record at star-studded London Diamond League
Josh Kerr will aim to retain his world 1500m title in Tokyo this year
- Published
London Diamond League
Venue: London Stadium Date: Saturday, 19 July
Coverage: BBC One, BBC iPlayer, and the BBC Sport website and app from 13:15-16:25 BST.
Josh Kerr will target his own British record when he contests a stacked men's 1500m in front of a sell-out crowd of 60,000 at the London Stadium on Saturday.
Britain's reigning world champion and Olympic silver medallist is part of a star-studded Diamond League line-up, live on the BBC.
The 27-year-old's British 1500m record stands at three minutes 27.79 seconds - the time he ran in finishing behind American Cole Hocker in a dramatic final at Paris 2024.
While rival Jakob Ingebrigtsen has withdrawn because of injury, Kerr is joined by 2022 world champion Jake Wightman and the in-form George Mills among eight men in the line-up to have run the distance in under 3:30.
"What would satisfy me? A win, number one," said Kerr, who as the top-ranked athlete has decided the pace which will be set by the pacemaker.
"But I think I can run pretty fast so I would say go out, be aggressive and see what we can come up with.
"We're going through 800m in about one minute 51. That's the idea. A British record would be a great way for me to run this meet.
"But, at the end of the day, when you have a race like this, when it's so packed with a load of great athletes, the number one priority is to win and you're going to get a good time from that.
"But I'm not here for a slow race."
Fellow Olympic medallists Katarina Johnson-Thompson, Matthew Hudson-Smith and Georgia Hunter Bell are among the British athletes in action.
Global stars including Noah Lyles, Julien Alfred, Letsile Tebogo, Femke Bol, Sifan Hassan and Yaroslava Mahuchikh are also present as athletes build towards September's World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
Watch the action on BBC One, BBC iPlayer, and the BBC Sport website and app from 13:15-16:25 BST.
Who are the big names to watch out for in London?
Katarina Johnson-Thompson is among the British athletes in action in London
Johnson-Thompson continues her preparations before bidding to retain her world heptathlon title later this year in the women's long jump competition.
In May, the two-time world champion withdrew from her first heptathlon event since winning her first Olympic medal at Paris 2024 because of a minor injury, but returned to action last week in a 100m hurdles race.
The 32-year-old is joined in the long jump by former European indoor champion Jazmin Sawyers, who is continuing to rebuild after an Achilles rupture last year.
In the sprints, world indoor 60m champion Jeremiah Azu, Zharnel Hughes and Louie Hinchliffe test themselves against Lyles and Tebogo over 100m.
Dina Asher-Smith and Daryll Neita join Alfred and Ireland's Rhasidat Adeleke in the women's 200m.
'That's a big win!' - Hudson-Smith wins men's 400m with season's best
In the absence of Olympic 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson, who continues to recover from a hamstring injury, 1500m bronze medallist Hunter Bell races over two laps alongside Laura Muir and Jemma Reekie
Hudson-Smith continues to build towards his latest tilt at global gold in the men's 400m, alongside Charlie Dobson.
The women's mile event sees Britons Revee Walcott-Nolan, Katie Snowden and Erin Wallace take on Australia's Jessica Hull and Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay, while teenage talent Innes Fitzgerald is among a strong home contingent in the 5,000m event.
Ben Pattison and Max Burgin line up in a world-class men's 800m, alongside Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi, while Lina Nielsen races Dutch star Bol in the women's 400m hurdles.
Molly Caudery is up against reigning world champion Katie Moon in the women's pole vault, while Morgan Lake has Olympic champion Mahuchikh for company in the women's high jump, and discus thrower Lawrence Okoye is also in action.
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What time are the key events and the star names involved?
All times BST
12:53: Men's long jump - GB's Samuel Khogali, Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou
13:19: Men's discus - GB's Lawrence Okoye and Nicholas Percy, Olympic champion Roje Stona
13:53: Women's pole vault - GB's Molly Caudery, world champion Katie Moon
14:04: Women's 400m hurdles - GB's Lina Nielsen, Dutch star Femke Bol
14:13: Women's high jump - GB's Morgan Lake, Olympic champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh
14:15: Men's 800m - GB's Ben Pattison, Max Burgin and Ethan Hussey, Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi
14:27: Women's 5,000m - GB's Innes Fitzgerald, Megan Keith, Calli Hauger-Thackery, Hannah Nuttall and Alexandra Millard
14:47: Women's long jump - GB's Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Jazmin Sawyers
14:52: Women's 800m - GB's Georgia Hunter Bell, Laura Muir and Jemma Reekie
15:03: Men's 400m - GB's Matthew Hudson-Smith and Charlie Dobson
15:13: Women's mile - GB's Revee Walcott-Nolan, Katie Snowden and Erin Wallace, Olympic 1500m medallist Jessica Hull
15:27: Men's 100m - GB's Jeremiah Azu, Zharnel Hughes and Louie Hinchliffe, Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles
15:38: Women's 200m - GB's Dina Asher-Smith, Daryll Neita and Amy Hunt, Olympic 100m champion Julien Alfred, Ireland's Rhasidat Adeleke
15:48: Men's 1500m - GB's Josh Kerr, Jake Wightman, George Mills, Neil Gourley, Elliott Giles and Ben Claridge
What is on the line in the Diamond League?
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Athletes compete for points in a bid to qualify for the Diamond League Finals in Zurich in August.
The finals take place just over a fortnight before the start of the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
All Diamond League events will be shown on the BBC, which has agreed a deal to broadcast the competition for the next five years.
The Diamond League has increased its prize money to the highest level in its history, with a total prize pot of $9.24m (£6.95m) on offer across the series.
That includes $500,000 (£375,000) at each of the 14 series meetings, and $2.2m (£1.7m) at the Diamond League final.
How does the Diamond League work?
Athletes will compete for points across 32 disciplines at the 14 regular series meetings, which started in April and run through to August.
Points are awarded on a scale from eight for first place to one for eighth place.
After the 14th meeting in Brussels, the top six ranked athletes in the field events, the top eight in track events from 100m up to 800m, and the top 10 in the distances from 1500m upwards qualify for the final.
The two-day finals are a winner-takes-all competition to be crowned Diamond League champion in each event.
Diamond League calendar 2025
26 April - Xiamen, China
03 May - Keqiao, China
16 May - Doha, Qatar
25 May - Rabat, Morocco
06 June - Rome, Italy
12 June - Oslo, Norway
15 June - Stockholm, Sweden
20 June - Paris, France
05 July - Eugene, USA
11 July - Monaco
19 July - London, England
16 August - Silesia, Poland
20 August - Lausanne, Switzerland
22 August - Brussels, Belgium
27-28 August - Zurich, Switzerland