Josh Kerr and Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s hotly-anticipated rivalry revival will not come at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship after the latter announced he would miss Sunday’s 1500 metres final.Ingebrigtsen returned from an 11-month lay-off last month in spectacular style, defending his European 5000m title in Birmingham, and on Friday night he claimed one of the $150,000 (£110,000) prizes at the inaugural Ultimate Championship when he beat the United States’ Cole Hocker over the same distance.The Norwegian double Olympic and world champion and Scottish mile world record holder Kerr were both given special exemptions to compete in Budapest but on Saturday Ingebrigtsen decided another race was one too many.In a video shared with his Instagram followers, he said: “I’ve just tested for a session on the treadmill just now and ultimately I’ve made the decision to not participate in the 1500m.“Unfortunately, I’m not in a position where I am able to go back-to-back races, a little bit for the same reasons why I did not double in Birmingham. I would love for it to be a little bit different and for it to be a little bit sharper in terms of recovery, but coming from a very difficult last two years with injury problems and Achilles surgery, I am forced to be more sensible than I would like to be.“Ultimately, it’s about getting back into racing, getting back into 100 per cent fitness and continuing like this. Thinking about 2027, hopefully getting into the next couple of months and the winter as well-prepared as I can, getting the training so that I am able to do the work that’s needed.“Fitness cannot be faked. It’s about doing the work every day, it’s about showing up to training and the athlete that does that the best for the longest time is the best.“Just looking back a short time ago, it’s unbelievable that we have been able to get this far in 2026, that we’ve been able to be here and get all these races, which I’m very fortunate and happy about.”PA