Josh Kerr breaks mile world record with 3:42.66s run at London Diamond League

Josh Kerr has broken the long-standing mile world record with a 3:42.66s run at the London Diamond League on Saturday.

This performance was the result of an eight-month build which Kerr branded Project 222, as he wanted to better the 3:43.13s record which Hicham El Guerrouj had held since 1999.

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.

Kerr crossed the line well before his competitors (Michael Steele/Getty Images)

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.

It means that El Guerrouj’s time, which had stood for longer than any previous mile world record, is finally broken.

“That was not me, that was my team every single step,” 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.