At the time, Kerr gave his answer as the bell tolled. In a flash, he made his move, bursting to the outside in pursuit of Myers and Cheruiyot, who made theirs momentarily first.
With 250m to go, Kerr left them behind. Wightman gamely tried to follow but how do you chase down a man this fast? His brave gamble failed and the bronze medallist from the last two Games trailed home in sixth.
By then, Kerr was already celebrating gold, with Myers coming through for silver and Cheruiyot bronze.
“I peeked up at the screen, saw I had a bit of a gap, and I felt great,” added the Edinburgh athlete, who has been racing at Scotstoun since he was a child.
“I was just trying to stay present and enjoy it. I learned how to race on that track – and I’ve had some pretty bad ones out there – so to really enjoy that last 100m was a really important moment.”
It was the moment Glasgow 2026 has been building to. The historic, reinstated, Blue Riband event of these Games got a fittingly elite winner. As a student of the sport’s history, Kerr will appreciate that.
And as a kid who was at the athletics event at Hampden in 2014, he knew how much joy every man, women and child inside this place would derive from every picture he had taken, every word he shared with them, and every scrawl of his name.
“I have to take my time out there because they’ve waited and put their hard-earned money to come out and watch me perform,” he said.
“You’ve got to stay in your lane and realise I’m lucky coming into this championship healthy, ready to go and I’m in the best shape of my life. And to do that in front of a home crowd is very special.”
