Victory at the World Indoor Tour final in Birmingham in a British 1500m record of 3:32.48 means the 28-year-old is full of confidence going into the European Indoor Champs

After breaking the British 1500m record in Birmingham, Neil Gourley believes it can act as a springboard to take on Jakob Ingebrigtsen at the European Indoor Championships in Istanbul in a few days’ time.

The 28-year-old ran 3:32.48 at the World Indoor Tour Final on Saturday (Feb 25) to beat Josh Kerr’s national mark of 3:32.86 as runner-up Adel Mechaal ran a Spanish record of 3:33.28 and Andrew Coscoran broke the long-standing Irish record with 3:33.49 in third.

Pacemaker Erik Sowinski led through 400m in 56.14 and 800m in 1:53.53 with 1200m reached in 2:50.96. Kerr was running aggressively and held pole position going into the last lap but Gourley unleashed a strong finish to pass Kerr, who faded to fifth in 3:34.93.

“Josh made it hard and I had to hang and bide my time and then punch that last 150m hard,” said Gourley.

The winner added that he made his record-breaking ambitions public last year but ended up running an underpar 3:52.08. “So this time I just went about my business quietly,” he smiled.

His run was not a huge surprise, though, as he clocked an impressive 3:49.46 in the Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games to finish runner-up to American record-breaker Yared Nuguse before blasting to the UK title last weekend ahead of George Mills.

Victory in Birmingham sealed the World Indoor Tour title for Gourley which means automatic qualification for next year’s World Indoor Championships on home turf in Glasgow. But more immediate is the European Indoors starting on Thursday (Mar 2).

“I’ve been talking about winning a major medal for a while now because I’ve not done it, so that’s the first goal,” he said. “But I also want to be challenging for the win.

“It’s going to be challenging because of who is in Europe at the moment. Jakob (Ingebrigtsen) will be there as he doesn’t miss these championships and it will be a case of trying to go toe to toe with him, which is immensely challenging but a compatriot of mine, Jake (Wightman), was able to do it last year so why not me?”

Gourley says he has worked on his stamina more this winter and describes it as “the missing piece” of the jigsaw. “The work I’ve done in the past three months has been so consistent. I’ve barely missed a day,” he explained. “And we’ve been working on the strength side more and I’ve been training a bit more like a 5km athlete with things like a seven-mile tempo instead of just five miles, longer hills and training with more 5km runners.”

READ MORE: British records for Asher-Smith and Hodgkinson

He is known for possessing a blistering finish but now feels he has the endurance to match. “I get fed up of listening to commentators saying, quite rightly, that I’ll be dangerous in a slow race. I want to be dangerous in any kind of race. Championship 1500m races aren’t slow these days either with people like Jakob, Stewy McSweyn, Tim Cheruiyot and others all wanting to take it out.”

After his UK 1500m indoor record @Neil_Gourley explains how he’s added more stamina training to his programme this winter and feels he can give Jakob Ingebrigtsen a run for his money at the Euro Indoors in Istanbul.

?️ @Jason_AW pic.twitter.com/ANvvVAs2b9

— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) February 25, 2023

Coscoran will also be a medal contender in Istanbul after breaking Ray Flynn’s outdoor Irish record of 3:33.5 which was set during the Dream Mile in Oslo in 1982, plus he smashed the Irish indoor record of 3:35.4 which has been held by Marcus O’Sullivan since 1988.

In a great race for the Irish, Luke McCann clocked a PB of 3:34.76 in fourth to also break O’Sullivan’s time whereas in seventh place was 18-year-old Nick Griggs with an outright Irish record of 3:39.94.

Olympic bronze medallist Kerr, meanwhile, did not look too upset with his defeat. The recent Millrose Games 3000m winner knows he is heavy winter training and plans to spend the coming days visiting family and friends in Scotland – plus his brother in Bristol – before returning to the United States to continue training for the summer.

After running 3:34.93 for 5th in the 1500m at the #WorldIndoorTour final in Birmingham, Josh Kerr will enjoy a few days visiting friends and family in Scotland plus his brother in Bristol before returning to the US to prepare for this summer's World Champs.

?️ @Jason_AW pic.twitter.com/QpplTu4kLE

— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) February 25, 2023