The question of who’s the greatest-ever is an impossible one to answer.
But, over the past fortnight, Josh Kerr has gone quite some way to not only putting himself into contention, but pushing himself right to the top of the list.
The easier question is who is Scotland’s greatest active sportsperson.
The answer to this is, unequivocally, Kerr.
Also in the picture for this accolade has to be Duncan Scott, Scott McTominay, Laura Muir, Bob MacIntyre, Bruce Mouat and, perhaps, Finn Russell.
But the past couple of weeks, and everything Kerr has achieved, has ensured the 28-year-old has leapfrogged all of these remarkable individuals to the top of list Scotland’s greatest active athletes.
Such status is entirely justified given the not one but two quite astonishing performances he’s produced over the past fortnight.
The first came two weeks ago in London when Kerr broke the 27-year-old world mile record.
Months ago, the Scot revealed he was targeting bettering Hicham El Guerrouj’s long-standing time of 3 minutes 43.13 seconds. Most observers, while admiring Kerr’s ambitions, doubted it was possible.
But confounding all those doubters, Kerr didn’t just break El Guerrouj’s record last month, he smashed it, crossing the line in 3 minutes 42.66 seconds in what is not only one of the best track and field performances in history but one of the best sporting performances ever.
To break such an established record, in the dominant manner in which he did, was truly breathtaking. It will likely be quite some time before any other man even threatens, never mind breaks, Kerr’s record.
The US-based Scot’s new status as mile world record holder meant he, justifiably, headed into the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games as heavy favourite to win gold in the mile.
I, and many others, though, weren’t sure things would be entirely straightforward for Kerr at Glasgow 2026.
How wrong we were.
After a painfully slow first half of the race, Kerr kicked into gear and with 300m to go, showed exactly why he’s athletics’ newest global superstar.
He left a world class field in his wake to add Commonwealth Games gold to his collection.
On paper, Commonwealth gold is one of Kerr’s least impressive major medals. World champion, Olympic silver and bronze, double World Indoor gold and the world mile record are all higher caliber achievements given the Scot had to beat the world to achieve them.
Read more: Josh Kerr lives up to superstar billing to become Commonwealth champion
But despite the Commonwealth Games not being a global championship, Kerr’s victory at Scotstoun Stadium on Saturday was mightily impressive. The competition was strong, despite it not being a global field - on the start line in Glasgow were the fastest man in the world over 1500m this year, as well as two former world champions.
Following his world record run, many had already hung Commonwealth gold around Kerr’s neck before he even laced up his spikes and so he lined up with it all to lose.
But Kerr, to his immense credit, ensured winning Commonwealth gold was as straightforward a victory as they come. A slow first half of the race preceded the Scot putting his foot down and easing away to what ended up a comfortable victory. It wasn’t nearly as fast as his world record run, but the way Kerr handled the pressure and expectation was masterful, and the way he recovered from the physical, mental and emotion toll of setting a new world record was striking.
Few athletes in the world could have navigated the past few weeks as smoothly as Kerr has.
And it’s this past fortnight that has, for me at least, ensured Kerr has cemented his place as Scotland’s greatest active athlete.
The others in this conversation are all astonishing individuals, who have achieved more than most athletes could ever dream of. However, what Kerr has done, in my eyes, surpasses Duncan Scott’s sizeable medal tally, MacIntyre’s tournament wins and McTominay’s achievements in both a Napoli and Scotland shirt.
But Kerr can be included in the even bigger picture of not only Scotland’s greatest active athlete but Scotland’s greatest-ever athlete.
He is now right up there alongside Andy Murray, Sir Chris Hoy, Kenny Dalgleish, Josh Taylor, Denis Law and Ken Buchanan.
What makes Kerr’s achievements quite so impressive is the global nature of athletics. Every country on the planet has people who run, and almost all these nations compete internationally in track and field. The same cannot be said for, say, track cycling, or even tennis.
So, for Kerr to be the fastest miler who’s ever set foot on the planet is truly mind-blowing.
As a person, Kerr is intriguing.
Such is his self-confidence, it could easily tip over into arrogance but, amazingly, it doesn’t. Or not distasteful arrogance, anyway.
Kerr has long been supremely confident about what he’s capable of (some would say brash), and he’s not, unusually for a Scot, shy about telling people just what he expects from himself. He revealed his goal of breaking the world mile record months in advance of his attempt which could have been a risky strategy. But instead, he did in London exactly what he’d been saying he would do - ran 3 minutes 42 seconds. And this is why Kerr remains on the right side of the line of confidence without tipping over into arrogance. It’s hard to knock someone for talking themselves up when they then do exactly what they’d predicted.
What’s so interesting about Kerr is there’s likely more to come from him.
The talk is his next goal, potentially within the next few weeks, will be a stab at the 1500m world record. Set in 1998 by El Guerrouj, the mark of 3 minutes 26.00 seconds has rarely been threatened in the intervening 28 years. Kerr breaking it is far from a given but, given his current form, momentum and confidence levels, few would put yet another historic performance past him.
And the other remaining gap on Kerr’s resumé is Olympic gold. If he remains fit between now and LA 2028, Kerr will certainly be amongst the favourite to win the greatest prize in track and field.
Regardless of what Kerr achieves in the future, though, he is already a Scottish great. Certainly the best active athlete and arguably, the best we’ve ever seen.
