Josh Kerr shattered the 27-year-old world record in the men’s mile at the London Stadium on Saturday.
The 28-year-old ran three minutes 42.66 seconds before a capacity crowd of 60,000, breaking Hicham El Guerrouj’s long-standing mark by 0.47 seconds.
El Guerrouj set the previous record in 1999, when Kerr was just one year old. Kerr becomes the sixth British athlete to hold the mile world record.
Kerr, the 2023 world 1,500m champion, had publicly targeted the record earlier this year. His training program included 222-second ice-bath recoveries as part of a sub-223-second goal.
He was awarded a $50,000 prize for the record-breaking run.
“It’s very overwhelming with the amount of hype,” Kerr said after the race.
“It’s silly to call the attempt that early because there’s a lot of things which can go wrong, but I am surrounded by amazing people and was able to stay consistent and put the work in.”
Kerr said he aimed to secure his place among British sporting legends through performances like Saturday’s.
“Those performances take every single part of you, every single part of your team. The amount of work behind the scenes is incredible,” he said.
“Today it was a performance I was able to bring out, I just hoped it would be a little bit faster.”
