Hamish Kerr of New Zealand celebrates winning the Men's High Jump final at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. Photo: www.photosport.nz
While it was a high stakes victory in Tokyo, the celebration for Kiwi high jumper Hamish Kerr was very much low key.
"I hung out with my mum, my girlfriend, my coach, and his family, and we just had a few beers outside 7-Eleven here in Tokyo, I was really happy to celebrate with the people who it matters the most to."
Kerr managed a best of 2.36 metres to out-jump South Korean rival Sanghyeok Woo and claim gold at the World Athletics Championships.
"To ride the highs and lows, once I did have that goal secured, it was just an immense feeling of satisfaction and knowing that we put a really good plan together and it worked."
Kerr said he had to dig deep both physically and mentally.
"You do have to go to a hard place and really work through it, just trying to talk myself down from the cliff a wee bit, and then just give myself the freedom to go out and express myself."
The Olympic champion was pushed to his limits by the competition until Woo knocked the bar over.
"I felt like I was on the back foot, but he missed his first attempt and I knew that that was an opportunity for me to take advantage. And so it was just the freedom of just trying to hunt that down and make the most of it. I was able to reset myself just enough and be able to allow that jump to happen. Once I cleared it, I was very, very satisfied."
He said he felt during the run up a special jump was coming.
"Once I put my foot down, if it's in the right place, I know that it's going to be a good jump. It's a pretty fun time when you've got that kind of second or two to rise up and get over the bar and then come back down again."
However, he is not content with a world title and Olympic gold, aiming to jump even higher.
"We go home, we reset, we process what happened and get ready for even bigger next year."
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