Josh Kerr called his shot back in March — a bid to run the fastest mile in history and break one of the longest-standing world records in men’s track.
He delivered emphatically on Saturday.
Kerr, a 28-year-old Scotsman, 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.
He broke the world record of 3:43.13 set by Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj in 1999.
“Very overwhelming, obviously, with the amount of hype,” Kerr, an Olympic 1500m silver and bronze medalist, told the BBC minutes after the race at the 2012 Olympic Stadium. “It’s silly to call your shot that early because there’s a lot of things that can go wrong.
“I felt like I had at least (3:42) in me. Nearly lost it there in the end, but I got over the line.”
Crazy, crazy scenes 🤯
— Wanda Diamond League (@Diamond_League) July 18, 2026
History made by Josh Kerr! One Mile - 3:42.66 ⏱️#DiamondLeague 💎 #LondonDL 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/ettwECWUIu
After two pacers dropped off, Kerr led Saturday’s race from 1,000 meters through the finish with American Yared Nuguse his closest pursuer (second in 3:45.69).
“I was hoping it was going to be a little bit faster, but that’s all right,” Kerr said.
Nuguse, the 2024 Olympic 1500m bronze medalist, called it “a race of pure grit.”
“Even though I wasn’t able to keep up with Josh, it was still just an amazing race to be a part of,” Nuguse told Flotrack.
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.
“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 dubbed the record bid “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,” he said Friday, “and I’m going to be that guy to do it.”
🚨🚨🚨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
📸@DanVernonPhoto pic.twitter.com/qmQevUfy9H
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.
“If I’m to leave my mark on this sport, as a British athlete with the legends I have behind me and following in their footsteps, I have to be able to do those performances,” said Kerr, an Edinburgh native and an NCAA champion for New Mexico.
El Guerrouj, who swept the 1500m and 5000m at the 2004 Athens Olympics, still holds the world record in the 1500m from 1998, the longest-standing world record in an individual men’s race that’s on the Olympic program. The second-oldest is Usain Bolt’s 100m world record from 2009.
Kerr’s split time at 1500m on Saturday was 3:27.65, a personal best but still a ways off El Guerrouj’s world record 3:26.00.
“I think the 1500m record is within my grasp,” Kerr said. “I don’t want to get greedy.”
The track and field season continues with the Toyota USATF Outdoor and Para National Championships from next Thursday through Sunday, airing on Peacock and NBC Sports.
