World mile record holder Josh Kerr says he "loves racing" and he aims to sign off a spectacular season with victory at the Ultimate Championship this weekend – but he shrugged off claims from his old foe Jakob Ingebrigtsen that he avoids head-to-heads.
Kerr smashed the 27-year-old mile mark with a 3min 42.66sec clocking in London in July, bettering the time set by Hicham El Guerrouj in 1999.
The US-based Scotsman followed that up with an assured victory in the mile at the Commonwealth Games in front of an admiring Glasgow crowd.
As a result, Kerr did not take part in the European Championships two weeks later, sparking an outburst from Ingebrigtsen, the Norwegian who has won Olympic golds at 1 500 metres and 5 000m.
Ingebrigtsen, who did run in Birmingham and win after returning from an 11-month injury layoff, said he was "very disappointed" that Kerr was not at those championships, suggesting it was "ruining the sport" if athletes avoided each other.
Kerr refused to directly address the Norwegian's criticism, but speaking to reporters from his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, he said: "I'm not trying to avoid racing. I think that's maybe where the misconception is.
"I love racing. I just don't love racing when I'm not ready to go and when that risk (of injury) is high. The reason I can race so well is because I pick my races," he added.
"I'm a human being at the end of the day... I'm not a robot.
"When you boil it down, I'm very happy that (Ingebrigtsen) is back running and racing. I think it's great for our distance. He's one of the best 1 500 metre runners, 5K runners of all time," he said.
"And I'm excited to go out and race him. I'm not going to lose but I'm excited to go out there and race."
'INDIVIDUAL SPORT'
Kerr explained that his season had been carefully built around that attempt on the mile record and the Commonwealth Games, with a potential big payday at the Ultimate Championship in Budapest an extra bonus.
"What's been fun for me about this process is this is still an individual sport," Kerr said. "It's not a sport where we're forced into specific racing strategies and things like that.
"Every athlete's different in the way that they approach the season. The way that I approach it is circling two to four big dates and working my way around those and also to get in and out of a year without massive problems."
With an eye on the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, 28-year-old Kerr added: "This next three years are going to be some of the biggest in my career and I'm not shortsighted with that. I'm not going to get greedy."
In fact, it seems likely that the rivals will be in separate races in Budapest, with Kerr competing in the 1 500m and Ingebrigtsen the 5 000m.
Kerr raised some eyebrows when he derided his $50 000 prize money for setting the world record, but he is unapologetic.
"The comment was just because you go back and you watch El Guerrouj's world record, and it's the same world record bonus. That's a bit ridiculous," he said.
As Kerr points out, he travels with a support team that includes medical staff, with his doctor wife Larimar Rodriguez, and a personal chef – which does not come cheap.
So he welcomes the Ultimate Championship, a new event devised by World Athletics where winners of individual events will receive $150 000, a first in the sport of athletics.
"We're seeing progress," he said. "$150 000 is a lot of money. It's not as much as other big sports, but they've earned that through years and years of continuing to push into marketing, and we're moving in the right direction with these championships, so I can't complain."