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<\/p>\nJosh Kerr has broken the long-standing mile world record with a 3:42.66s run at the London Diamond League on Saturday.<\/p>\n
This performance was the result of an eight-month build which the Scot branded Project 222, as he wanted to better the 3:43.13s record which Hicham El Guerrouj had held since 1999.<\/p>\n
Led by pacemakers Brandon Kidder (his Brooks Beasts teammate) through to 800m, and then Zan Rudolf to 1,000m, he ticked off laps at a metronomic pace: 54.75s, 55.88s and 55.76s to hit the bell.<\/p>\n
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\n Kerr crossed the line well before his competitors (Michael Steele\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
U.S. record-holder Yared Nuguse was chasing behind him over the final lap, as was Jake Heyward, but Kerr showed supreme speed to win by three seconds and take 0.47s off the world record.<\/p>\n
It means that El Guerrouj\u2019s time, which had stood for longer than any previous mile world record, is finally broken.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was not me, that was my team every single step,\u201d Kerr said in an on-track interview, a reference to the support that Brooks had given him in developing a bespoke spike and speed suit for this race.<\/p>\n
There were six other personal bests in the field, including a German national record for fourth-place Robert Farken (3:46.82s), as nine men broke 3:50s \u2014 that feat has only occurred previously at the Prefontaine Classic (Oregon, USA) and the Oslo Diamond League meet.<\/p>\n
Kerr covered the first 1,500m in 3:27.62s, an improvement on his British record time from the 2024 Olympic final (3:27.79s), and held his form immaculately to hit the line to the sound of a roaring crowd.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is very overwhelming. There was a lot of hype,\u201d Kerr said in the mixed zone. \u201cI am surrounded by amazing people, so I have continued to put the work in, so I knew I had a 3:42 in me. I nearly lost it there at the end, but I got over the line.\u201d<\/p>\n
He has repeatedly spoken of the British legacy in the event \u2014 he\u2019s the seventh British man to hold the mile world record, and the first since Steve Cram in 1985. \u201cThe last lap was incredible. I was deaf in the last 110 meters,\u201d Kerr added.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, Cierra Jackson won the women\u2019s discus with the final throw of the competition, launching a 71.72m effort to beat fellow American Valarie Sion and break the Diamond League record of Sandra Perkovic from 2018 (71.38m), adding nearly four meters to her previous personal best.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so happy, I definitely wasn\u2019t expecting that, I knew it was in there, just not when it was going to come,\u201d the 23-year-old said in an on-track interview after her maiden Diamond League win. Her throw is the second-furthest this year (behind Sion\u2019s 73.10m in April at Ramona) and she jumps from 66th to 15th on the all-time list.<\/p>\n