Olympic bronze 'a step in my career', says ambitious 1500m medallist Josh Kerr

Josh Kerr declared he will not settle for Olympic bronze despite ending Team GB's 33-year wait for a medal in the men's 1500m.

The 23-year-old ran a personal best of three minutes 29.05 seconds to finish behind Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Kenya's Timothy Cheruiyot.

It is the first British medal in the men's event since Peter Elliott won silver in Seoul in 1988 and adds to Laura Muir's second place in the women's 1500m on Friday.

Kerr finished seventh in his first heat on Tuesday to qualify as one of the fastest losers and knew he had to improve but is already eyeing more success.

Kerr said: "It was a fast race, I wanted to win, I said it and everyone laughed at me a little, but I'm here to win it and win medals. I'm not satisfied with a bronze, I'm happy with it being a step in my career.

"My US visa says I'm an entertainer. P1 visa, performance. I wasn't thinking about that (entertaining) but maybe if I watch it back.

"I was throwing everything I had at it. How bad was that first round? That really gives you a kick up the arse.

"It was annoying having the first off day in two years in the first round of the Olympics. I snuck through and made sure I didn't take any step out there for granted.

"I got better every round and that's the name of the game in this sport. I went out there, had some fun, had a smile on my face and was hunting for a medal all day."

Kerr, whose brother Jake has one rugby cap for Scotland, completed GB's athletics medal haul at the Olympic Stadium as they finished with six.

Team-mates Jake Heyward and Jake Wightman finished ninth and 10th respectively.

Earlier, Sifan Hassan of Holland won the women's 10,000m – adding to her 5000m title and 1500m bronze – as Eilish McColgan came ninth and Jessica Judd 17th.

McColgan said: "I know I'm in the shape of my life so I'm a little bit disappointed, but I suppose I have to take into account the heat and humidity.

"It's all fair and well saying I think I can run a PB and I can run fast, but the conditions were just so, so tough."

The women's 4x400m relay squad finished fifth behind the USA, Poland and Jamaica, while the men's 4x400m was also won by the United States.

Morgan Lake pulled out of the high jump final as the British injury curse struck again on the final night of competition at the Olympic Stadium.

The 24-year-old suffered a foot injury and joined Adam Gemili, Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Dina Asher-Smith in having fitness problems ruin their Games.

"During the successful qualification round where she cleared the automatic qualification height of 1.95m – an outdoor season's best – and placed 7th, Morgan sustained a foot injury," a British Athletics statement read.

"Morgan and the medical team have worked hard to resolve the issue, but during tonight's warm up, it became obvious that she was unable to perform at the level she was aspiring to.

"Therefore she and her support team have made the difficult decision to withdraw from tonight's final."