Before the men’s Olympic 1500 metres final, if you had offered Josh Kerr a British record time of three minutes 27 seconds and a guarantee that he would beat Jakob Ingebrigtsen, his eyes would have lit up.
His ubiquitous sunglasses would have hidden the excitement, but finishing ahead of his rival with a fast time was almost certain to result in Olympic gold.
It did not turn out that way.
If the post-Tokyo Games narrative saw the 1500m reduced to a conflict between Kerr and Ingebrigtsen, Tuesday night’s final proved there was another story to write.