Eight years on from AW's coverage of the ill-fated Athletics World Cup London 2018, we look back at how a then-20-year-old Josh Kerr was quietly laying the foundations for a world record-breaking career.

Just as in 2026, eight years ago the pages of AW heavily featured both the advent of a new event on the athletics calendar, as well as the exploits of a then 20-year-old up and coming athlete called Josh Kerr. 

The issue of February 8, 2018 revealed details of the new Athletics World Cup London 2018, a project devised and organised by UK Athletics. Taking place at the Olympic Stadium almost exactly one year on from the World Championships having been held there, the World Cup was to be a “fast-paced, two-day event which will pit the top eight athletic countries in the world against each other. The track will host races up to and including the 1500m and there will be straight finals. Both evening sessions will end with relay events, while all field events will feature, too.”

The UKA chairman at the time, Richard Bowker, said: “It’s a very exciting format and the events will be those that are designed to be quick and punchy. World Cups are hugely successful in other sports and with this every race counts, every point counts, the teams all get behind it and we think this is going to make for a really exciting event.”

The project ultimately fell short of its aims, with poor ticket sales and it being scheduled on the same weekend as the Football World Cup and Wimbledon finals contributing to the loss of almost £2 million for UKA. 

These are more stable financial times for the governing body, helped by star names such as Kerr bringing huge attention to events such as the London Diamond League. In early 2018, the now world record-holder admitted he was “getting comfortable” with racing against top-class opposition, having finished second to fellow Scot Chris O’Hare at the Wanamaker Mile in New York with a time of 3:54.72.

Then coached by Joe Franklin and still in the early stages of his time at the University of New Mexico, Kerr admitted he had taken time to settle into his new surroundings. 

“The first year-and-a-half or so was a bit rocky, because I was trying to get used to living by myself and just the normal stuff of moving to university. As soon as I figured that out it kind of started going extremely well. I’m enjoying what I’m doing and having so many people around me to help me do what I need to do is so inspiring for me.”

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