Josh Kerr breaks mile world record
· Yahoo Sports
Brit Josh Kerr broke the world record in the mile that had stood for 27 years, running 3 minutes, 42.66 seconds at a Diamond League meet in London Saturday.
Kerr, an Olympic silver and bronze medalist in the 1500m, broke the world record of 3:43.13 set by Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj in 1999.
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Kerr ran behind two pacers, then led Saturday's race from the front from 1000 meters through the finish with American Yared Nuguse behind (second in 3:45.69).
HE'S DONE IT 2⃣2⃣2⃣@joshk97 sets the London Stadium alight and breaks the WORLD RECORD in the men's mile with 3:42.66.#LondonDL#DiamondLeague
— Wanda Diamond League (@Diamond_League) July 18, 2026
@DanVernonPhotopic.twitter.com/qmQevUfy9H
The mile (1,609 meters) is rarely raced on the top international level. Instead, the 1500m is contested at major meets like the Olympics and World Championships.
Since El Guerrouj’s world record race in Rome in 1999, the closest any man had come to the mile record time was when Tokyo Olympic 1500m gold medalist Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway ran six tenths shy of it at the 2023 Prefontaine Classic.
Before Saturday, Kerr’s best mile time was 3:45.34 — more than two seconds shy of the record — from winning the 2024 Pre Classic, his only time racing a mile on an outdoor track since 2019.
Still, Kerr oozed confidence going into Saturday's meet at the 2012 Olympic Stadium.
“It’s in my favor, for sure,” he said Friday. “My body is capable of the mark, and so my job tomorrow is to have my mind to be available to let my body do its job.”
Kerr, a 28-year-old Scot, announced in March his attempt to break the world record.
He called it “Project 222,” for the 222 seconds that equals 3 minutes, 42 seconds.
“It’s time for that record to have a real go at it,” Kerr said Friday, “and I’m going to be that guy to do it.”
Kerr brings the mile world record back to Britain; previous Brits to hold the world record included Seb Coe, Steve Ovett and Steve Cram in the 1980s, plus Roger Bannister, who in 1954 ran the first sub-four-minute mile at Oxford's Iffley Road track.
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