Josh Kerr: Ultimate Championship 1500m winner ramps up debate over country vs brands kit

After Josh Kerr became Great Britain's first ever Ultimate Champion with a dominant victory in the 1500m in Budapest on Sunday evening, he celebrated in customary fashion - Union Jack draped around him, beaming smile, arms raised before the cheering crowd.

But he also did something less traditional, ramping up a battle over funding at the top of athletics in the process.

The 28-year-old made a clear point of obscuring the Nike sponsor's logo on his Great Britain kit by tying his Brooks-branded running spikes over his shoulder, meaning that the video footage and photographs of his trophy lift highlighted his own personal sponsor rather than his nation's.

After praising the inaugural running of the Ultimate Championship, a new biennial event run by World Athletics with a focus on big names, Kerr explained the meaning behind the move in his interview with BBC Sport.

"There is one last thing that I think we can get right, which is allowing the athletes to represent their own brands versus their country," Kerr said.

"I love my country and competing for them, but we don't make any money from that sadly. We don't have the pay cheques that other sports do yet. So that would be an opportunity to grow."

BBC Sport has contacted World Athletics for comment.

Edinburgh native Kerr has won medals representing Great Britain at both the Olympics - picking up bronze in 2020 and silver in 2024 - and World Championships, having taken gold in 2023.

At those events, Kerr is directly representing his country - there are national medal tables in which the triumphs achieved by compatriots are tallied up together.

But at the Ultimate Championship a much smaller field of athletes are competing for individual titles in their respective events. There is no country medal table, and the new event is billed as a season finale for individual athletes after the conclusion of the Diamond League campaign.

In the Diamond League, athletes are free to show off their own sponsors who provide them with funding by wearing their own kits.

Kerr, and the other athletes who were crowned Ultimate Champions during the three-day competition in Hungary, earned $150,000 (£111,111) for winning.

But his pointed comments made plain the position athletes find themselves in.

Whereas players in sports like football earn a salary based on a contract with the team that employs them, and athletes in individual sports like tennis and golf can earn a great deal from prize money at major tournaments, athletics competitors rely much more heavily on personal sponsorships and endorsements.

That is because they are paid no direct annual salary, and the only standardised prize money on offer is $50,000 (£37,000) for winning gold in one of the 48 track and field events at the Olympics.

That prize money was only introduced at the 2024 Games in Paris, and is paltry compared to the potential millions in winnings on offer in other major sports.

Some nations - including the USA - also choose to pay athletes who win medals from their own resources, but Britain does not.

Instead, athletes are awarded funding and grants by UK Sport, with the majority of the money coming from the National Lottery.

UK Sport ranks athletes by how likely they are to win medals at major events, and gives more funding to those whose chances it believes are better.

Athletes typically use that funding to pay for training camps, equipment, travel and, in some cases, personal support staff like physiotherapists, nutritionists and chefs.

So why would athletes be instructed to wear national team kit at the Ultimates?

The Ultimate Championship is billed as three fast-paced evenings with a record $10m (£7.4m) prize pot on offer for the biggest stars in athletics.

The condensed schedule and focus on star names is designed to appeal to viewers on television and social media - the latter likely playing a role in the focus on short, sharp bursts of action which can capture attention online.

Most viewers of athletics are used to watching athletes compete while wearing national kit at the Olympics and World Championships. Put simply, the use of a national kit makes it easier for the casual viewer to quickly spot who they should be rooting for and feel invested in the action.

But Kerr's comments have highlighted the fact that something which may well improve the viewing experience can be felt as a direct financial negative by the athletes themselves.

With the next edition of the Ultimate Championship set to take place in September 2028, shortly after the Olympics in Los Angeles, the battle between brands and country could continue to heat up.

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