Great Britain’s Josh Kerr broke the long-standing world record for the men’s mile in a spectacular display at the London Diamond League, Yankee Scores reports.
Kerr had said in March he wanted to break Hicham El Guerrouj’s 27-year mark on home soil and he did it in style, crossing the line in three minutes 42.66 seconds.
Before a sell-out crowd of 60,000 at London Stadium, the five-time global medallist improved on the Moroccan’s record – set in 1999 when Kerr was just one-year-old – by nearly half a second.
The 28-year-old became the seventh British athlete to hold the record for the mile and the first since Steve Cram in 1985, per BBC Sport.
Kerr is the sixth fastest man ever over the mile, his personal best of 3 minutes 45.34 seconds a British record.
Joining him on the start line in London was American Yared Nuguse, fourth on that all-time list and a real threat to the Olympic silver medallist’s challenge.
But at the end of the day it was always going to be Kerr.
Aided by two pacemakers at the start, both of whom had dropped out by the 1000m, the Scot was peerless as he pressed on towards the wavelights on the edge of the track that measured his progress.
Kerr ran the 1500m faster than his British record for the distance, bringing the crowd to its feet, never faltering and then raising his arms in celebration, the emotion clear on his face.
“It’s very overwhelming with the amount of hype [I created]. It’s silly to call [the attempt] that early because there’s a lot of things which can go wrong, but I am surrounded by amazing people and was able to stay consistent and put the work in,” Kerr told BBC Sport.
“If I am to leave my mark on this sport as a British legend, following in the footsteps of the legends behind me, I have to put in those performances.
“Those performances take every single part of you, every single part of your team. The amount of work behind the scenes is incredible. Today it was a performance I was able to bring out – I just hoped it would be a little bit faster!”
