Sports
In the 'Mile of the Century,' Josh Kerr adds fuel to the Olympics' hottest rivalry
EUGENE, Ore. — With about 700 meters to go in the Bowerman Mile, Josh Kerr, Great Britain’s star middle-distance runner, flipped the script in one of track’s most riveting rivalries. Because a message needed to be sent. Because Kerr had heard enough from Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the superstar from Norway, declaring he had no equal. Because beef brings something extra out of competitors.
So Kerr made his move early.
“I think it scared the coaching staff because they told me specifically not to do that,” Kerr said afterwards. “And I said, ‘If I feel like it’s time, I’m gonna go.’ … I don’t really listen to other people when it comes to race strategy. I’m going to go with my instinct.”
By the start of the second turn, Kerr was in the front. He’d surged past the UK’s Jake Wightman. Past American Yared Nuguse. Past Ingebrigtsen. Past Kenya’s Abel Kipsang. For the final 600 meters, in the marquee event and ultimate race Saturday at Hayward Field in the Prefontaine Classic, Kerr put his fiercest foe behind him. A rebuttal without words. He flaunted his confidence and training. He dared the world No. 1 to catch him.
Ingebrigtsen couldn’t. Not on this day.
Kerr’s 3:45.34 established a new world-leading time in the mile and set a new British record. Most intriguing, though, was the layer of novelty it adds to the rivalry. Kerr’s move Saturday tweaked the board in this developing chess match between the greatest middle-distance runners in the world, adding more suspense to what’s possible when they duel for medals in Paris this August.
What a run by Josh Kerr!
It’s a new British record in the men’s mile race.#BBCAthletics #EugeneDL pic.twitter.com/lDnHddRWEe
What a run by Josh Kerr!
It’s a new British record in the men’s mile race.#BBCAthletics #EugeneDL pic.twitter.com/lDnHddRWEe
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) May 25, 2024
It was Ingebrigtsen’s second consecutive loss to his fellow elites. So you just know his A-game is coming. The reigning Olympic gold medalist in the 1,500-meter will respond as champions do.
He ran 3:45.60, in Saturday’s mile, his first action since an Achilles tendon injury forced him to skip the indoor season.
“I tried to fight him,” said Ingebrigtsen, whose last race was the 3,000-meter at the 2023 Prefontaine Classic in September. “But to me, today was all about time trial. Of course, we’re racing but it’s definitely some difference in terms of approach to this race. For some people, this is their final test even before the Olympics in Paris. But this is not my final test. So it’s definitely a big difference the way that we all kind of see this race. But it’s a good fight.”
This race was so stacked with talent it was being dubbed the “Mile of the Century.” Amazon is following Ingebrigtsen around with cameras, documenting the Norwegian star’s run-up to Paris. This was the most hyped showdown of the year. The eyes of a global sport were on them. And it was Kerr’s Prefontaine debut.
He made it abundantly clear Friday that he came to the University of Oregon looking for some Norwegian smoke.
“I’m not here to settle tension,” Kerr said. Sitting to his left when he said it: Ingebrigtsen. Kerr’s stern expression, the absence of reconciliation in his tone, revealed his level of fed up.
“I’m here to run a fantastic mile that will hopefully go down in the century. I’m here trying to be the best in the world. … And if that annoys people or ruffles up competitors, I’m sure it will because the whole world is trying to do what I’m doing.”
Settle tension? Nah. This is the hottest beef since Kendrick Lamar and Drake.
And, yes, Kerr listens to Kendrick.
“Yeah, of course,” he said, smiling to affirm he understood the reference.
Kerr had every intention of turning the tension all the way up. He is convinced of his superiority in the discipline. Going out front so early was the kind of flex that fuels this juicy soap opera.
He usually plays the role of the kicker. It’s Ingebrigtsen who takes off early and dares the rest to keep up with him. It’s a power move. If his competitors get to conserve energy while he bears the brunt of pace-setting, and they still can’t catch him, it only proves his dominance. But Kerr didn’t hang back this time. He was trying to strike a chord, and it would likely be major.
“I’m having fun with it,” Kerr said. “At this point in your career, you’re always going to look back and think, ‘Those were the glory days.’ And I know they are right now. So I’m just enjoying it as much as possible.”
It was a stacked field. The world-leading time — the best in the calendar year — entering Prefontaine was 3:47.83 by Nuguse at the Millrose Games in New York in February. Saturday at Hayward Field, Wightman matched that time and finished fifth. Seven runners posted sub-3:49.
But after three of the four laps, Kerr, Ingebrigtsen and Nuguse had moved out ahead. It was underscored how this trio, heading into Paris, is the Big Three of middle distance.
Nuguse, the American record holder, finished third at 3:46.22. He is for sure the J. Cole in this. Easily the most delighted of the trio, Nuguse has stayed out of the animosity. He keeps a smile worthy of an amusement park, as if it were painted by a caricature artist. Fitting for a future orthodontist. He consumes positive vibes only. He’d much rather break down Pokemon or vibe out to Taylor Swift than get into the competitive banter.
Getting to run in the shadows as an underestimated threat is, Nuguse said, one of the benefits of all the attention focused on the tension between Kerr and Ingebrigtsen. He believes it makes him dangerous in Paris.
“I’ve always believed that happiness is such a stronger emotion than anger,” Nuguse said Friday. “Especially when you race. Anger is something that kind of comes and goes and peters out really fast. But I think if you’re really enjoying what you’re doing, having fun, I think that’s what propels you on to keep moving and what really helps those last 200 meters. I’ve always thought that, and it’s always worked out for me.”
The track and field magazine Citius has a full timeline of the Kerr-Ingebrigtsen beef, which began in earnest in August 2023.
But for the sake of a crash course, it began at the Tokoyo Olympics in 2021. Ingebrigtsen became a global star when he blew away the field to win gold in the 1,500 meters in 3:28.32, besting Kenya’s Timothy Cheruiyot. Kerr used a late surge to capture the bronze.
Then at the 2022 world championships in Eugene, with Ingebrigtsen still sparkling from golden glory, Wightman stunned him in the 1,500, pulling away in the final 300 meters to snatch the gold from Ingebrigtsen.
Josh Kerr leads Jakob Ingebrigtsen during the 1,500-meter final at the 2023 worlds. Kerr bested his rival again Saturday in Eugene, Ore. (David Ramos / Getty Images)
This made the 2023 world championships in Budapest the next massive stage for Ingebrigtsen to reclaim his status as superior. But a late surge by Kerr, similar to Wightman’s, pushed Ingebrigtsen to silver again. After he lost, Ingebrigtsen said he wasn’t 100 percent, taking a bit of luster from Kerr’s breakout victory.
When asked later if he looked forward to the rematch with Kerr, Ingebrigtsen revealed he wasn’t fully healthy and dismissed the notion of Kerr being on his level by calling him “just the next guy.”
In November, Kerr fired back. He said Ingebrigtsen’s ego is pretty high and he had major weaknesses he’d better address or he wouldn’t win gold in Paris.
In February, Ingebrigtsen told a Norwegian-language publication he’d win “98 out of 100 times” against Kerr and Wightman.
Then two weeks later, after Kerr set a new world record in the two-mile in the Millrose Games, Ingebrigtsen — out with an injury at the time — declared he would’ve beaten Kerr blindfolded.
In March, Ingebrigtsen declared his rivals irrelevant and said to The Times UK, “The biggest issue is giving people like Kerr attention. That’s what he is seeking. He is missing something in himself that he is searching for in others.”
Yeah, the tension has been building for nearly a year now. Saturday was not the time to tone it down. But let feet do the talking. The packed house of savvy race fans at Hayward Field all but salivated over the palpable tension. Olympic-level drama at a Diamond League meet. What went down at Prefontaine on Saturday only makes it more captivating when they meet again in August.
“Some of my competitors,” Ingebrigtsen said, “have clearly taken a step in the right direction. But not as big of a step that maybe is needed to be a favorite in Paris.”
(Top photo of Josh Kerr beating Jakob Ingebrigtsen Saturday in the Bowerman Mile: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Oba Femi and Brock Lesnar’s feud will come to a head at SummerSlam in August, and the showdown has the potential to be WWE’s match of the year.
Femi beat Lesnar at WrestleMania 42 and led to “The Beast Incarnate” deciding to retire – at least for a moment – at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Lesnar made a dramatic return a few weeks later, challenging and beating Femi at Clash in Italy.
COMPLETE PRO WRESTLING COVERAGE ON FOX NEWS DIGITAL
Oba Femi looks on during Monday Night RAW at Allstate Arena on July 6, 2026, in Chicago, Illinois. (Melina Pizano/WWE via Getty Images)
At SummerSlam, Femi and Lesnar will do battle inside a Hell in a Cell.
WWE Hall of Famer John Bradshaw Layfield called the next meeting between Femi and Lesnar a “generational matchup.”
“I’ve never seen anything like Oba – well, I have. I’ve seen Brock,” he told Fox News Digital. “It’s very much the carbon copy of Brock coming in. Brock coming in was like, oh my God, who is this guy? The guy can even talk, and he’s gonna be one of the biggest stars in wrestling. Not only could he talk, he’s a really smart guy. Brock became one of the biggest draws in professional wrestling. He came one of the biggest draws in UFC. It’s an unbelievable story, and now you got somebody who can rival that character.
Brock Lesnar in action against Oba Femi during “Monday Night Raw” at TD Garden on March 23, 2026, in Boston, Massachusetts. (Michael Owens/WWE via Getty Images)
“This Oba Femi comes out with the silly little walk he does. Everyone kinda does it, it’s like The Bushwackers. But the whole arena does it. I was in Vegas and I didn’t want to go to the matches and deal with the traffic and deal with the backstage area, and so I kinda just watched it in a sports bar. I stood in the back where nobody could recognize me, and as soon as Oba came out, the entire sports bar was sitting there doing that Oba Femi dance. The guy is just unbelievably over.
“I really think that somewhere in the NFL this year, you’re going to see an entire NFL arena doing this dance. You’re gonna have somebody like Saquon Barkley or ‘King’ (Derrick Henry) or some of these guys do this dance, and it’s infectious. Once one of them does, one of these great running backs or wide receivers, or somebody scores a touchdown, that’s when I think you’re gonna see entire arenas doing it. I just think Oba Femi is lightning in a bottle and Brock has always been that way. This is, to me, a generational matchup.”
Brock Lesnar and Oba Femi face off during WrestleMania 42: Night 2 at Allegiant Stadium on April 19, 2026, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Georgiana Dallas/WWE via Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
SummerSlam will take place on Aug. 1 and 2 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
Sports
Commentary: ‘I don’t want any handouts.’ Amid the Angels’ drought, a starry homecoming for Mike Trout
Mike Trout last played in an All-Star Game seven years ago. It’s crazy, really. The best player of the previous decade, the link that ties Barry Bonds and Albert Pujols to Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani, has not taken an All-Star at-bat this decade.
Injuries, mostly. And he turns 35 next month.
Next week’s All-Star Game takes place in Philadelphia, about 40 miles north of Trout’s hometown of Millville, N.J. Major League Baseball reserves a potential All-Star roster spot or two each summer for distinguished players: Bryce Harper and Justin Verlander this year, Clayton Kershaw last year, Pujols and Miguel Cabrera in past years.
That could have been Trout’s spot this summer: a worthy honor for a three-time most valuable player, a local hero feted on the national stage the Angels have failed to provide him.
“I wouldn’t have done it,” Trout said.
Not even at home?
“It’s an honor to get voted in and represent the American League,” he said. “For me, I don’t want any handouts.”
Trout is an All-Star for the 12th time, the old-fashioned way: He earned it.
Fans voted him into the starting lineup, with the most final-round votes of any AL outfielder. His peers voted him as one of the top three outfielders in the AL.
“It means a lot,” he said. “I’ve been through a lot of hurdles, a lot of adversity. I put some hard work in, and I did not let up. I could have easily got down on myself and not pushed through it and not come back.
“I know what I am capable of. I know I have the confidence to get back to the player I used to be.”
His .874 OPS entering play Thursday ranks second among AL outfielders, a career season for many players. In 11 of his 14 full seasons — all but the previous three — he has posted a higher OPS.
In April, in a four-game series against the New York Yankees, Trout hit five home runs and drove in nine runs.
“Everything was clicking,” he said. “When I first came up, that’s how I felt the whole season.
“Just to be able to get that feeling back, that little spark, to know it’s still in there, it makes you feel pretty good.”
For him, so does playing in Philadelphia. The first time he played there with the Angels, Millville basically closed down for the night, and just about everyone in town boarded a bus to the game. Then Trout had an exceptionally rare experience, a visiting player cheered at the home of the boo.
Mark Gubicza can testify to that. Gubicza, the two-time All-Star pitcher and now the Angels’ television analyst, grew up in Philadelphia.
“I don’t care if you were God himself, if you were wearing a different color uniform, I was still booing you,” Gubicza said. “But he was cheered.”
Still is. Trout is a diehard Philadelphia Eagles fan, with his season tickets not in some climate-controlled luxury suite but along the sideline.
“The players all walk by him and say ‘Trouty!’ ” Gubicza said. “Before they all go out to get their heads beat in, they’re all saying hi.
“He’s not one of those guys that comes there to be seen. He’s going there to root. That’s why they love him: He’s one of us.”
Said Trout: “I know how passionate I am about the Eagles. From my experience as an Eagles fan, it’s just different.
“It’s like win or die.”
It’s not like that in Southern California, where almost no one listens to sports-talk radio, and where a nice day is always a day away.
No one would begrudge Trout for living year-round along the Orange County coast. (OK, maybe Philadelphia fans would.)
Roy Hallenbeck, Trout’s high school coach, remembered visiting years ago on what he called “a perfect day” and asking Trout how he could ever get tired of all that sunshine.
“Yeah, coach, I couldn’t live here,” Trout told him. “‘I need my seasons.”
Trout built a family home near his boyhood home. He built his Trout National golf resort, with a course designed by Tiger Woods, in Millville.
He is as loyal to the Angels as he is to Millville. He appreciates the team that “took a chance on a kid from a little town in southern New Jersey” and signed him to two nine-figure contract extensions.
Trout was the last Angels player to take a postseason at-bat, in 2014. Even amid baseball’s longest playoff drought, he still considers Anaheim a special place, and always will.
“It’s where it all began,” Trout said. “I think the fuel of people doubting us kind of makes it more of a fire for me to try to get back to the playoffs. I think that’s the biggest key for me.
“Could I take the easy way out and just leave? Yeah. But I think — I said this last year around this time, but it’s the same feeling I’ve been having — I really haven’t sat down and talked to anybody about it specifically, but I know there’s a time where, if things change, who knows? I don’t know. But, for me, right now, my focus is on trying to get this club back in the playoffs.”
At the All-Star Game, Trout might well hear Phillies fans beseech him to come play for the home team. However, Hallenbeck said, the hometown folks no longer are as strident in that long-held wish.
“I think the overriding sentiment of most people I talk with, even Phillies fans, is we would all — as people that know him, love him and care for him — love to watch him play relevant baseball in August and September,” Hallenbeck said. “It doesn’t matter where. It doesn’t matter who. Just being relevant late in the season would be something we would all love to see.
“Hopefully, it’s with the Angels. They’ve been so good to him. We’d love to see it there.”
So would we. In the meantime, in the absence of a World Series, Trout deserves to enjoy his homecoming game.
Sports
London descends into disorder as Morocco fans flood streets after World Cup elimination by France
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Public unrest began in parts of London late Thursday night, and it appears Morocco’s exit from the 2026 FIFA World Cup at the hands of France is the reason.
France took down Morocco 2-0, eliminating the African country for the second consecutive tournament, this time in a quarterfinal match.
As a result, many feared Paris would erupt into riots, especially after the chaos that followed Paris Saint-Germain’s UEFA Champions League victory over Arsenal in May.
Instead, images and videos from Edgware Road in northwest London showed police clashing with large crowds as smoke billowed through the streets and debris littered the roadway.
A police vehicle is parked in a road as people from pro-Palestinian activist groups gather near the Edgware United Synagogue during a demonstration against the “Great Israeli Real Estate Event” organized by real-estate agency My Home in Israel, which markets property in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, in London, Britain, June 14, 2026. (Toby Shepheard)
Riot police, equipped with shields and body armor, tried to contain the crowds as they clashed with people launching fireworks and throwing debris. One video also appeared to show an officer down.
KYLIAN MBAPPÉ, OUSMANE DEMBÉLÉ FIRE FRANCE INTO WORLD CUP SEMIFINALS WITH WIN OVER MOROCCO
It’s unknown what happened to the officer who was down on the asphalt or how he was injured.
Fans waved Moroccan flags in the middle of the streets, which held up traffic. Some even jumped on top of vehicles trying to get through the area.
Moroccan fans in the stands before a FIFA World Cup 2026 quarterfinal match between France and Morocco at Boston Stadium July 9, 2026, in Foxborough, Mass. (Richard Sellers/SportsphotoAllstar)
Similar scenes unfolded after Egypt’s World Cup exit, when Argentina rallied for a controversial 3-2 victory that featured several disputed officiating decisions.
Paris, on the other hand, looked more like a city celebrating than one on the brink of a riot. Supporters of both France and Morocco flooded the streets, slowing traffic in several parts of the city.
One video showed horns blasting from cars with French and Moroccan flags out the windows on the L’avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris. Supporters on the side of the road, waving their own flags, joined in on the celebration.
France’s Kylian Mbappé scored his eighth goal of this World Cup, which ties him for the most with Argentina’s Lionel Messi. Ousmane Dembélé also scored in the second half for France in the 2-0 win over Morocco.
It’s the third straight semifinal appearance for France, while Morocco still made World Cup history despite the loss. After becoming the first African country to reach the quarterfinals and semifinals in World Cup history in 2022, Morocco added to that by becoming the first-ever African nation to reach more than one quarterfinal.
Moroccan fans react while attending a watch party for the World Cup round of 8 match between France and Morocco in Boston, Massachusetts, on July 9, 2026. (Joseph Prezioso/AFP)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Morocco’s exit means there are no more African nations alive in the World Cup. France will be taking on the winner of Spain and Belgium, while England and Norway and Argentina and Switzerland face off in the quarterfinals.
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
-
Washington, D.C7 minutes agoASGCU leaders celebrate country’s 250th birthday at national conference – GCU News
-
Cleveland, OH9 minutes agoWanted sex offender arrested at the same Cleveland home where missing Tennessee mother found dead
-
Austin, TX15 minutes agoTexas Has One Trait Almost Every National Champion Shares
-
Alabama21 minutes agoFinal 2026 MLB mock draft projections for Alabama’s Justin Lebron
-
Alaska24 minutes agoWatch My Buddy Matt Not Get Eaten by Bears in Alaska
-
Arizona29 minutes agoRoller derby still has a home in Arizona despite myriad obstacles
-
Arkansas36 minutes agoFreshman OL Tucker Young never wavered through Arkansas football coaching changes | Whole Hog Sports
-
California39 minutes agoNorthern California high school graduation shooting suspect arrested in Texas
