Former Coach Terry Lomax Lauds Hamish Kerr's Mental Strength In World Champs Win

Hamish Kerr's mental fortitude was on full display when he won the gold medal at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo overnight, his long-time former coach says.

New Zealand's Olympic high jump champion added a world crown to his glittering resume by equalling his personal best with a leap of 2.36 metres.

The 29-year-old made the highest jump in the world this year at his first attempt and raced off across the infield in celebration when South Korea's Woo Sang-hyeok failed to get over at the same height.

It gave New Zealand a second gold medal at the world championships, a day after Geordie Beamish claimed a stunning gold in the 3000 metres steeplechase.

Kerr had fallen short in the last two World Championships qualifying rounds, failing to even make the final in 2022 (Eugene) and 2023 (Budapest).

Kerr's former coach Terry Lomax, who was watching from New Zealand, told Morning Report that Kerr nailed the opportunity when he got the qualification monkey off his back.

He sent Kerr a text after he secured the gold.

"[I said] something about his mental strength really because that's really what he showed. All the high jumpers can jump high but you've got to be able to turn it on in the top four inches and I think that's really what he displayed last night," Lomax said.

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It was a nervy final for Kerr after needing all three attempts to get through at 2:31m, before he failed twice at 2.34m.

"Everybody wants to get in on their first jump and that's always the goal of a high jumper ...so mentally things change when you miss the first one, there's the doubt ...but if you don't get the second then all of a sudden it's do or die and that's really the challenge the athletes are having to come up against."

Lomax admitted it was stressful watching.

"Nerves are part of it, it's just wishing that he gets it ... in my head I'm going 'just one jump that's all you need, one jump'.

"I did my normal fist pump 'yes' call which is what I do when I see an athlete achieve something like that and the remarkable thing about it really is that in both the Olympics and in this competition he hit his personal best and that is an extra achievement really."

Woo, who was hoping to give South Korea their first ever world championship title, finished second to add another silver medal to the one he won three years ago in Eugene after clearing 2.34m at his third attempt.

Czech Jan Stefela took bronze on the countback over Ukraine's Oleh Doroshchuk after they both cleared the bar at 2.31m but failed all three attempts at 2.34m.

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