London Diamond League: 'Overwhelmed' Josh Kerr smashes Hicham El Guerrouj's 27-year mile world record with a time of 3:42.66
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Published 18/07/2026 at 17:26 GMT+1
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Josh Kerr was left very overwhelmed by the scale of his achievement after producing one of the greatest middle-distance performances in athletics history, smashing the men's mile world record at the London Diamond League on Saturday.
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The Scottish star delivered on months of bold promises by storming to a remarkable 3:42.66 at a sold-out London Stadium.
Roared on by a crowd of 60,000 fans, Kerr took almost half a second off the Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj's world record of 3:43.13, which had stood untouched since 1999.
In doing so, the 28-year-old became the first Briton since Steve Cram in 1985 to hold the prestigious mile world record and the seventh British athlete overall to claim one of the sport's most iconic marks, according to the BBC.
Having spent months publicly pursuing the record through his meticulously planned "Project 222" campaign, Kerr backed up every word with a performance that returned the mile world record to British hands and cemented his place among the sport's all-time greats.
Despite the magnitude of the occasion, the Olympic 1,500m silver medallist admitted the emotion of finally achieving his ambition had almost got the better of him.
Kerr told BBC Sport: "It's very overwhelming with the amount of hype... It's silly to call it that early because there's a lot of things which can go wrong, but I am surrounded by amazing people and was just able to stay consistent, put the work in, and I knew I had 3:42 in me. I nearly lost it there at the end, but I got over the line.
"If I'm to leave my mark on this sport as a British legend, with the legends behind me and following in their footsteps, I have to put in those performances.
"Those performances take every single part of you, every single part of your team, and the amount of work behind the scenes for me is incredible. Today it was a performance I was able to bring out - I just hoped it would be a little bit faster!"
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Kerr has cemented his place alongside British greats Roger Bannister, Steve Ovett, Sebastian Coe and Steve Cram in the mile's storied history
Image credit: Getty Images
The Diamond League event at the capital's Olympic Park unfolded exactly as Kerr and coach Danny Mackey had envisaged, as pacemakers guided the field through the opening stages before stepping aside after the 1,000-metre mark, leaving Kerr alone in pursuit of the electronic wavelights that measured world-record pace around the track.
American Yared Nuguse, the fourth-fastest miler in history, was expected to provide Kerr's biggest challenge, but once the Scot took control there was little sign anyone could stay with him.
Passing 1,500 metres quicker than his own British record over the distance, he maintained his relentless rhythm through the final bend before powering down the home straight to erase one of athletics' longest-standing records.
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The achievement was the culmination of months of meticulous preparation following the calf injury that curtailed his World Championships campaign in Tokyo last year.
Every aspect of the attempt - from altitude training to bespoke racing equipment and carefully rehearsed pacing - had been geared towards rewriting history.
Kerr was quick to pay tribute to the team behind the performance.
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Kerr's historic run not only eclipsed one of the sport's most revered records
Image credit: Getty Images
"I am lucky to be able to string the training together with the people who I had behind me," Kerr said, whose focus will soon turn to the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
"It felt like I had a kitchen full of amazing, incredible chefs, and I was like: 'What the hell are we going to make?' And I was like: 'This is the dish I want to make, let's get to work!'
"That's what it felt like. There was no point in going through this year thinking it was an off year, and we can wait until next year. It's about doubling down, building a performance to bring British athletics back to the mile to this stadium."
At the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Kerr will look to carry his record-breaking form into another major championship challenge.
The event will be shown live on TNT Sports and HBO Max between July 23 and August 2, and the Scot will arrive among the leading contenders after delivering the most significant performance of his career.
As the atmosphere reached fever pitch over the closing lap, Kerr admitted the deafening support from the home crowd became almost surreal as he closed in on history.
"It was just incredible in that last lap," he continued. "It was just me, my shoes and track, so it was deafening in the last 100 metres.
"To be honest, I knew I might have it in the bag with the legs and started to glide, so I was like: 'I better get to the line' and to see anything at 3:42 anything was my goal, so it was great."
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