Hamish Kerr and Geordie Beamish in Tokyo (© Getty Images)
Geordie Beamish and Hamish Kerr led a record medal haul for New Zealand at the World Athletics Championships – respectively getting gold in the 3000m steeplechase and the high jump in Tokyo in September.
It continued a “special bond” between the two athletes, one that covers their journey from winning as teenagers at the New Zealand High School Championships in 2014 to becoming world indoor champions in 2024 and then repeating the feat at the World Championships in Tokyo.
In Glasgow, Kerr claimed his world indoor crown first – winning the high jump before Beamish took to the track to take the 1500m title.
The order switched in Tokyo, Beamish blasting to 3000m steeplechase gold before Kerr soared to success again in the high jump.
It was the first time that athletes from New Zealand had won two gold medals at a single edition of the World Athletics Championships.
And Beamish managed the first part of that historic double despite suffering a heavy fall in his heat just two days earlier.
“I was at the track training when his qualifying race was on,” explained Kerr in an exclusive World Athletics video feature. “Suddenly, I had all these messages come through, saying ‘what the heck did Geordie do?’
“I didn’t know what happened. I went on my social media and saw the photo of the shoe in his face and I just couldn’t believe it.”
But Beamish got back up, ran himself into a qualifying position, and then won the final two days later, pipping defending champion Soufiane El Bakkali.
“It took me three goes,” said Beamish, who was fifth in the world final in 2023 and ran in the 5000m heats in 2022, “but I’m happy to have made it.”
Kerr watched from his hotel room.
“The night before my competition, I was lying in bed, just about to go to sleep,” said Kerr. “I was like, ‘I’ll just watch Geordie’s race.’ I have to say, I was super stoked for him, but also kind of nervous because then I knew that I had to do the same.”
He channelled that energy and ended up doubling his nation’s gold medal haul, clearing a world lead and equalling his own Oceanian record in the process.
“To this time set the bar for him the day before and to come back in and repeat that again, in the opposite order, is just unreal,” said Beamish. “The chance of that happening is just crazy.”
Kerr reflected: “Everybody in that final was an amazing athlete physically, and so the thing that sets me apart is my ability to control my emotions and control my energy and mind.
“Yeah, Kiwis can fly.”
Interview and video production by Marta Gorczyńska for World Athletics
