British runner Josh Kerr smashes world record for mile last set in 1999 | Other | Sport

British runner Josh Kerr set a new world record in the mile at the London Diamond League, demolishing the one that had stood for 27 years. The Scottish Olympic 1500m silver medallist and 2023 world champion announced his intention in March to wipe out Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj’s 27-year-old mark of three minutes and 43.13 seconds.

Completing four laps at the London Stadium, with a capacity crowd of some 60,000, Kerr looked jubilant as he crossed the finishing line. Decked out in a custom Brooks speed suit and spikes, the 28-year-old athlete blazed to the finish in three minutes, 42.66s, smashing his Moroccan counterpart’s time. He finished well ahead of Paris 2024 1500m bronze medallist Yared Nuguse, who was second in 3:45.69, while Briton Jake Heyward rounded out the podium in a personal-best 3:46.73.

The Edinburgh athlete had branded the attempt “Project 222”, a nod to the number of seconds it takes to run a 3:42.00 mile, his ambitious target.

Kerr’s previous personal best, the 3:45.34 British record he set at the Prefontaine Classic in 2024, was also 2.21 seconds slower than El Guerrouj’s mark.

The Scot made a similar statement of intent months before breaking Sir Mo Farah’s indoor two-mile record in February 2024, and said he had not missed a training session in the build-up to this attempt.

On Friday evening, Kerr revealed via his YouTube channel that he had run a hand-timed 1200m split of 2:42.45 at 5,335 feet of elevation in Albuquerque in a recent training session, though it was with a flying start.

It was nevertheless 3.989 seconds faster than El Guerrouj at the same point in his world record race, and 2.3secs faster than the Moroccan’s split – believed to have been the fastest recorded at 1200m – when he attempted to break his own record in 2002.

Kerr’s achievement is bringing back into British hands the record, after Roger Bannister famously became the first person to run under four minutes in 1954.