Josh Kerr runs 3:42.66 in London mile in run reported to break 27‑year world record

Britain’s Josh Kerr ran the mile in 3 minutes 42.66 seconds at the London Diamond League on Saturday, a performance widely reported as breaking the men’s world record held by Hicham El Guerrouj, though formal ratification by World Athletics was still pending in the immediate aftermath.

If approved, Kerr’s time would take 0.47 seconds off El Guerrouj’s 3:43.13, set in Rome on July 7, 1999. That mark had stood for 27 years and is one of track and field’s most famous records. Kerr’s run would also make him the first man to break 3:43 for the mile, a distance that is not contested at the Olympics but remains one of the sport’s most prestigious events.

Kerr produced the time in the Emsley Carr Mile at the Novuna London Athletics Meet at London Stadium, the London stop on the Diamond League circuit. The effort had been built publicly as “Project 222,” a targeted attempt to run a 222-second mile, or 3:42.00, with pacemaking planned in advance.

The result was a breakthrough in a signature event for Kerr, a British runner from Edinburgh, Scotland, who has established himself among the world’s best middle-distance athletes. He won the 1,500 meters world title in 2023 and took silver in the Olympic 1,500 in Paris on Aug. 6, 2024, when he ran a British record 3:27.79.

Before Saturday, Kerr’s best-known mark in the mile was the British record of 3:45.34, set at the Prefontaine Classic on May 25, 2024. Saturday’s run in London cut nearly three seconds from that performance and, if ratified, would give Britain the men’s mile world record in one of the sport’s marquee distances.

Kerr had openly signaled his intentions before the race. “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,” he said beforehand. The Guardian also reported that Kerr said he was “not scared of failure” as he targeted the record.

Those comments underscored how deliberate the attempt was, but the procedural point remains important: In the hours after the race, the performance was being reported as a world-record run, while formal World Athletics ratification had not yet been issued.