You didn't need to tell Josh Kerr that finishing seventh in his Olympic heat wasn't good enough.

Tipped as a medal chance in the 1500m, the Edinburgh star is ranked eighth in the world this year but emerged scorched from his first-ever Games race.

The first two laps of the day's first heat were scrappy but Kerr made his move at the bell, drawing alongside reigning world champion Timothy Cheruiyot and Samuel Tefera. 

Kerr held his position until the straightaway when he was overtaken by six athletes, missing out on automatic qualifying but progressing on the strength of his 3:26.29 time.

"I was just trying to stay focused and push all the way, but it just wasn’t a good run for me," said the 23-year-old.

"I am fit and ready and I have had no problems. There are just no excuses for that. I just raced it badly." 

Kerr ran the fastest-ever 1500m on American soil earlier this season and it shocked the Olympic Stadium to see an athlete with seemingly perfect preparation miss the top six. 

“I need to go home and have a really good think about that one because it wasn’t good enough," said Kerr, who is based in New Mexico.

"It’s not really the best time to have a bad race but that’s just part of the sport and you can come back and fight another day or feel sorry for yourself. 

"I need to go home and have a think and analyse the race and hopefully feel better in the next round. 

"I don’t really see this as any different to any other major championships but sure I guess I could put it down to nerves, but it just wasn’t my day today.” 

Thanks to National Lottery funding our Olympians and Paralympians have been able to train full time and benefit from world class facilities, technology, coaching and support teams. This has never been more important in getting them to the start line after a turbulent year. 

Progress was far more serene for Kerr's Edinburgh Athletics Club peer Jake Wightman, finishing third in a much slower heat.

Fifth at the 2019 World Championships, Wightman settled into a great position at the front on the back straight and didn't need to over-exert himself to qualify automatically.

"Whatever is on paper doesn’t really count for this – it’s all about how you position yourself and how well you race," said Wightman advisedly. 

"I tried to make sure I stayed in as good a position as possible which felt pretty good in the end. 

"I didn’t feel like I was pushing too hard and felt like I could have probably eased in a little bit more, but we’ve got a day off after this so it’s not like we’ll be fighting for recovery.”

There was disappointment for Olympic debutant Nicole Yeargin who was disqualified from her 400m heat having stepped out of her lane. 

Yeargin, who was born in the USA with a mother from Dunfermline, finished third in her heat and would have advanced.

A world record came crashing down in the final race of the morning with Norway's Karsten Warholm lowering his own mark in the 400m hurdles and winning gold with 45.94.

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