Sports personality

There's a softer side to Josh Kerr that is in stark contrast to the ultra competitive athlete that the public sees. But, as Euan Crumley discovers, that empathy also helps to give the reigning world champion an edge over his opposition

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According to his coach, Danny Mackey, there are two sides to Josh Kerr. One is the super confident, hyper competitive figure that the public sees and is also only too happy to throw in the occasional verbal hand grenade to provoke a reaction from his opponents.

The other is the softer, “thoughtful” individual who dotes on Mackey’s three-year-old daughter and “makes you feel cared for”. Both are very real, but to see the latter traits as some kind of weakness would be a big mistake.

“My mentor, [the renowned coach] Dan Pfaff, does a lot of work with Special Forces, and one of the highest qualities in military people is empathy,” explains Mackey, head coach of the US-based Brooks Beasts group.

“They're just softies and Josh is like that. He's very empathetic. But I think that quality makes him so competitive, because another side to empathetic people is that they put their heart into things, and they feel those things, and they wear their emotions on their sleeve.”

Does that empathy also mean the reigning world 1500m champion is better at reading the room, picking up signals from his opponents, and potentially using them to his advantage?

“For sure,” says Mackey. “He'll say things to me that, as a coach, I should be aware of first and I'll be like: ‘It’s crazy that he watched a race of one of his competitors and picked up something on them’. And he'll do it during races, too. He's reading them.