Josh Kerr of Great Britain shattered the mile world record on July 18, 2026, running 3:42.66 at the Novuna London Athletics Meet at London Stadium, part of the Wanda Diamond League. He shaved nearly half a second off the previous mark of 3:43.13 set by Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj in Rome in 1999.
Kerr, 28 and from Edinburgh, had publicly declared his intention to go for the record in late March. After the race he acknowledged the pressure around the attempt: “It’s very overwhelming with the amount of hype,” he told BBC Sport. “It’s silly to call your shot that early, obviously a lot of things can go wrong. But I’m surrounded by amazing people, and I was able to just stay consistent, put the work in.”
The bid—branded by Kerr and sponsor Brooks Running as “Project 222” for the target number of seconds—was unusually focused on a single time goal rather than a championship race. Coach Danny Mackey described the campaign as laser-focused on the mathematical target in the lead-up. Kerr trained at altitude in Albuquerque, New Mexico, documented the preparation in a series of videos, and used custom spikes and a speed suit provided by Brooks.
On the day, two training partners helped keep Kerr on the required splits. He finished comfortably clear of American Yared Nuguse, who was about three seconds back in second place; Britain’s Jake Heyward took third.
Kerr brings significant credentials to the achievement: he is the 2023 world champion at 1500 meters and won the Olympic silver medal in the 1500m at the 2024 Paris Games. He is also an alumnus of the University of New Mexico, where he set the collegiate 1500m record in 2018—a mark that stood until Yared Nuguse broke it in 2021.
Breaking the mile record on home soil ties Kerr into a long British tradition of mile greats. He would be the seventh Briton to hold the world mile record, joining figures such as Roger Bannister—who first ran under four minutes in 1954—and the famous Coe–Ovett exchanges of 1981. Kerr’s performance not only rewrote the record books but also added a new chapter to Britain’s storied history in the mile.