The British middle distance duo will compete indoors for the first time in New York on February 1.
Jake Wightman and Josh Kerr are both part of the world-class two-mile series at this year’s Millrose Games in New York.
It is the first time the 2022 and 2023 world champions have faced each other indoors, having already competed on track, road and cross-country.
Wightman, who will be making his debut at the Millrose Games, has never run a race longer than two miles before, either indoors or outdoors. However, he has a personal best of 7:37.81 over the 3000m.
This won’t be Kerr’s first appearance at the meeting, considering he Set a world best of 8:00.67 over two miles in the 2024 edition.
The pair last ran into each other 1500m final at the World Athletics Championships where Wightman narrowly missed out on gold to Portugal’s Isaac Nader. Meanwhile, Kerr suffered a right calf injury but still limped home to cross the line in Tokyo.
Wightman and Kerr both ran for Edinburgh AC as juniors but their first race against each other came 10 years ago when the pair battled it out at the Scottish Cross Country Championships at the Great Edinburgh Cross Country International.
Since then, they have competed in a number of races together, including the Olympics and World Championships. The pair also hit the roads on New York’s 5th Avenue Mile.
While there is considerable British interest in the two-mile race at the Millrose Games, Wightman and Kerr are just two of the many world-class athletes in the event.
For starters, the prestigious field also includes Grant Fisher and Cole Hawker.
Fisher, an Olympic 5,000m and 10,000m bronze medalist from Paris, is the indoor world record holder in the 3,000m (7:22.91) and 5,000m (12:44.09), having beaten Hawker in the 3,000m at last year’s Millrose Games.
In the 2024 edition, where Kerr set an indoor two-mile best, Fisher edged the Briton to second in 8:03.62, moving into third place on the all-time indoor list by a US athlete.
Hawker, an Olympian in the 1500m and reigning 5000m champion, was third in the race two years ago in 8:05.70, which puts her sixth on the all-time indoor list.
Other athletes to watch out for are world 3000m champion George Beamish, Ethan Strand and Kee Robinson. The rest of the cast includes Graham Blanks, Drew Hunter, Edwin Kurgat, Cooper Teare and Parker Wolfe.
