The Scottish cringe gene is evidently not part of Josh Kerr’s make-up.
The Edinburgh athlete is as patriotic as they come but also unburdened by any sense of Caledonian inferiority or self-doubt.
The best athletes are never ashamed to articulate their ambitions — Andy Murray was another Scot who never shied away from that — and Kerr remains refreshingly open about what he still wants to achieve before he finally hangs up the custom-made running spikes for good.
While many of his track and field peers have decided to swerve these Commonwealth Games, the 28-year-old not only committed to it as far back as last year but also made winning a gold medal one of his main targets for the summer.
His other priority, of course, was to break the mile world record, something he pulled off in stunning fashion just a few weeks ago when he took down Hicham El Guerrouj’s 27-year-old mark in a new best time of 3:42.66.
That Kerr manifested the whole thing through his Project 222 (the number of seconds in his new world record time), the details of which he happily shared, was another sign of his outward confidence.
Josh Kerr came through his heat comfortably and is a big favourite for Mile gold at Scotstoun
Kerr roars in delight after breaking the Mile record at London’s Diamond League meeting
Kerr wants to become ‘the best middle distance runner of all time’ which, he believes, will only come if he can win gold at the next Olympics in two years’ time.
That’s the longer term aim for the 2023 world champion but in the meantime there is the small matter of finally getting a Commonwealth Games medal around his neck.
He was too young in 2014, left out in 2018 and then suffered a rare mis-step in 2022 when he ended up trailing in last in the 1500m. Even for someone who has called the United States home for a while now, there is something still quite personal and thrilling about pulling on a Scotland vest and competing in front of an enraptured home audience.
Kerr, then, has been the poster boy for the return of the mile to the Commonwealth Games for the first time in 60 years and most eyes will be drawn his way when he lines up on the Scotstoun start line just before 9pm for one of the most anticipated races of the year.
Of course, this final isn’t all about one man. Far from it. Because what makes this such an intriguing event is the fact that there are no guarantees that Kerr will end up winning it. Or that he will even get a medal at all.
Jake Wightman, for one, won’t let his fellow Scot have it all his own way. Another former world champion and Edinburgh AC alumnus, Wightman is older and not quite as vocal as Kerr but that is not to say he is any less ambitious.
A bronze medal winner in the 1500m at the last two Games, Wightman endured a couple of difficult years marred by injury but bounced back in impressive fashion by taking silver at last year’s world championships. Scotland’s two finest male middle distance runners of the last 10 years both seem to be fit and firing at the same time, qualifying for the final with relative ease.
An expected sell-out crowd would love nothing more than to see a Scot on the top two steps of the podium but a stacked international field will have something to say about that.
Fellow Scot Jake Wightman will also be in the mix for medals in the hotly-anticipated race
The main one to watch is Cam Myers. Australia is having a storming Commonwealth Games and in this 20-year-old phenom they have unearthed another special talent. It was Myers who led Wightman home in their heat following a summer where he also landed impressive Diamond League wins in Paris and Eugene.
Then there is the experienced Kenyan Timothy Cheruiyot, another former world champion and Olympic silver medalist, plus Olli Hoare, the Australian who won the 1500m in Birmingham four years ago and who was reinstated to this final after taking an unfortunate tumble in the heats.
Additional British interest comes in the form of Wales’ Jake Heyward, returning to prominence after three injury-wrecked years, and England’s Thomas Keen.
It promises to be quite the spectacle.
The honour of bringing down the curtain on the athletics programme, however, goes not to the men but the women who take to the start line for their own Commonwealth Mile final as the sun sets around 9.45pm.
Scottish representation in that one comes from Jemma Reekie and Sarah Calvert, while Australia’s Jessica Hull, second in the 5,000m, and Claudia Hollingsworth will start as the favourites.
