Over the last year, the rivalry between Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Great Britain's Josh Kerr has evolved into a public feud between two fierce competitors. 

Throughout their respective careers, the pair of European milers have clashed on more than one occasion, with their inaugural meeting dating back to their U20 days over eight years ago.

Yet, it wasn't until the 2023 World Championships in Budapest where the animosity between the pair became more apparent throughout the final two rounds of the 1,500m at the National Athletics Centre.

• Subscribe To FloTrack To Watch Track And Field And Cross Country All Season
• Tara Davis-Woodhall Advances, Critttenden Gamble Works: Aug 6 Morning Recap
• Watch Live Olympic Track & Field Analysis, Reactions On FloTrack Everyday
• Paris Olympics Day 4 Recap: Duplantis Sets World Record

Not even a day removed from the final where Kerr shocked Ingebrigtsen in the final stages to win gold, the comments and jabs were already starting to roll in.

Just moments following his second consecutive world championship 1,500m silver, Ingebrigtsen told the media that he didn't feel 100-percent and that it was "not the best run of the day". 

A few days later, Ingebrigtsen won the 5,000m world title, defending his win from Eugene 2022.

While fielding questions in the mixed zone following his second world championship win, the then 22-year-old was asked if he had plans to compete against Kerr for a chance at revenge before the season came to a close. Ingebrigtsen kept it simple.

"If I hadn't run in the final, he would probably have won," he said. "That's how I see the race. Obviously, if you stumble or fall then someone is going to win the race and he was just the next guy."

The Norwegian's comments didn't seem to have any real effect on Kerr, as Kerr responded days later at the Zurich Diamond League press conference.

"But he can be disrespectful to me, that’s fine. I still have the World Championship gold medal and I’m going to be the World champion for the next two years regardless of his comments. Obviously, I don’t love disrespectful comments and I’ve worked hard to get into this position and I beat him on the day. But if that’s the kind of route he wants to go down, that’s fine with me, I’m kind of unbothered by it.”

Over the course of the next year, the 2021 Olympic champion and 2023 World champion exchanged jabs in varying press conferences and podcast studios around the world.

Last November, Kerr went on "The Sunday Podcast" and was asked about the differences between Ingebrigtsen's racing compared to his paced racing in the Diamond League.

Kerr claimed that Kenya's Timothy Cheruiyot practically paced Ingebrigtsen to a gold medal and Olympic record in Tokyo, saying that he doesn't win many non-paced races.

The Scotsman even suggested Ingebrigtsen's 'downfall' to his lack of true racing and his failure to see his own weaknesses.

"There was a question asked to him earlier on in the season: ‘Are you worried about the World championship not having a pacer and all this stuff?’ And his answer was, ‘When the pacer drops out, I am the pacemaker.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, you have, you have no idea. You’ve won so many races, you’ve run fantastic all season – you must be surrounded by so many yes-men that you don’t realize that you have weaknesses.’ I think that was part of his downfall. If he doesn’t realize that he’s got some real major weaknesses, then he will not win the 1,500 meter gold medal next year. I’m okay with that.”

To our knowledge, Ingebrigtsen never publicly responded to that specific comment from Kerr, but when asked about the next time he would face Kerr or Jake Wightman, the 2022 1,500m world champion, he imbued nothing but confidence.

"I'm pretty sure I'll win next time anyway," Ingebrigtsen said. "I know that I win 98 out of 100 times against them."

While he was resting and recovering throughout the indoor season with his attention on the European Championships and the Olympic Games, Kerr was besting World records and winning World indoor titles.

In early February, Kerr broke Mo Farah's short track two-mile world record at the Millrose Games, stopping the clock just under three seconds quicker than Mo Farah's nine-year-old record of 8:00.67.

Even from his couch, Ingebrigtsen was firing on all cylinders. 

In a conversation with TV2, one of Norway's new outlets, the outdoor two-mile world record holder (7:54.1) said that he would have beaten Kerr blindfolded in that race, but that "it's good that people run better than they have before."

Months later, Ingebrigtsen was back to doing his typical training and the pair both had their sights set on the postseason and the Paris Olympics. 

However, before two of the top contenders for Olympic gold could shift their attention, they had a duel on deck at the Prefontaine Classic in the Bowerman Mile.

Throughout the first five months of the year, the pair had been constantly going back-and-forth, responding to the other's comments, eventually leading to a press conference including American Yared Nuguse.

The pair both acknowledged the rivalry and the buildup surround their rematch, but both men weren't there to simply beat the other. But that's not what hey said.

Kerr said that he wasn't there to settle any tension, but simply run a fast and electric mile.

“I’m not here to settle tension, I’m here to run a fantastic mile that will hopefully go down in the century. I’m here trying to be the best in the world. I showed I could do that last year and I want to continue that pursuit. And if that annoys people or ruffles up competitors, I’m sure it will because the whole world is trying to do what I’m doing.”

Ingebrigtsen added that the rivalry brings exposure and interest to the sport, but that he doesn't think that their race should be "put up on a pedestal."

In the end, the race itself was just as good as the lead up into the Bowerman Mile, potentially even better.

Around 200m to go, the pair separated themselves from Nuguse, both charging down the home stretch as Ingebrigtsen was right on Kerr's heels. 

The historically fast race saw Kerr hold off the Norwegian star 3:45.34-3:45.6, breaking the British record. 

Just hours from now, the last 12 months of never-ending and back-and-forth trash talk will become irrelevant. A gold medal will be earned, perhaps by one of these men.