Britain’s Josh Kerr’s dedication pays off with men’s mile world record at London Diamond League meet
Sign up now: Get the biggest sports news in your inbox
Britain’s Josh Kerr pumping his fist in sheer delight after setting a world record of 3min 42.66sec, beating the previous best of 3:43.13 set by Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj in 1999, to win the men’s mile race at the London Diamond League meet on July 18.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- Britain’s Josh Kerr set a new men’s mile world record of 3min 42.66sec at the London Diamond League, breaking a 24-year-old mark.
- Kerr was paced by training partners and outpaced Olympic bronze medallist Yared Nuguse in front of a 60,000-strong crowd.
- The record continues Britain’s rich mile history, with World Athletics president Sebastian Coe awarding Kerr US$50,000 and a commemorative book.
AI generated
LONDON – Josh Kerr’s men’s mile world record was the fruition of six months of devotion to the task, the foundations of which were built on hitting peak physical form alongside minute planning and the latest in running-shoe innovation.
The Briton established himself as the new king of the milers after clocking 3min 42.66sec at the London Diamond League meet on July 18, smashing the previous best of 3:43.13 set by Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj in 1999.
It was a remarkable performance in front of a near 60,000-capacity crowd at a raucous London Stadium built for the 2012 London Olympics, aided beautifully by two superb pacemakers in the shape of training partner Brannon Kidder and Slovenian Zan Rudolf.
“With the amount of talk that I did over the last six months, hopefully that hype was worth it to get in the stadium and hopefully live a moment that I’m going to hear about in 10 years’ time,” said Kerr, 28.
“Hopefully, someone in this stadium takes inspiration from what I did, goes out and breaks my record.
“It’s important for me to leave a legacy, I’m 28 years old and I’ve been doing this for a long time.”
Kerr said that he knew from within the opening 100m that he was in world-record form.
“Once my pacemakers got into their positions and the splits were exactly what they needed to be, it was just making sure that my mind was available to go down the river, flow with the punches that were thrown at me today.
“I was just out there with some incredible pacemaking, and my coaching staff did their job, I was just out there flowing with it.”
Kerr, who also benefited from track-level Wavelength technology which has lights flashing the pace needed for a record attempt, added: “The lights got ahead of me at points, the lights were behind me at points, but they only needed to be behind me when it came to the finish line.”
In a series of all-encompassing articles for British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, he had laid bare his six-month approach to the race.
“It’s too long. It’s time to bring this record into the modern era through training, technology and effort,” Kerr argued.
“I have won three world titles and two Olympic medals but joining Sir Roger (Bannister), as well as middle-distance legends Steve Ovett, Sebastian Coe and Steve Cram on the roll-call of mile record holders, would be the biggest moment of my career.”
Onlooking World Athletics president Coe, 69, was left speechless while Cram, who was commentating on the race for the BBC, bellowed “Get in!” as Kerr crossed the line.
“Josh is a world champion, he’s won gold medals, run records but the world mile record... perhaps this surpasses everything,” the 65-year-old commentator said.
“It’s an event the whole world knows and understands. Roger Bannister is partly responsible for that,” he said, referring to the Englishman who ran the first sub-4min mile in 1954.
“Phenomenal and it’s more the way he did it, set your stall out and then come on the day and deliver. It was so impressive.”
Kerr said that having the likes of Coe and Cram, who along with Ovett dominated the event from 1979 to 1993, as onlookers was an honour.
“Bringing the record back to where it belongs is what I wanted to do for the last six months,” he said.
Kerr detailed his pre-race preparations for all his rivals to see, including converting his bedroom in Albuquerque, New Mexico, into an altitude chamber to better benefit from the natural production of more oxygen-rich red blood cells.
Devotion to the world-record bid has seen Kerr miss out on life with his extended family in Britain, while he has surrounded himself with a dedicated backroom staff including physiotherapists, mental coaches and even a “performance chef”.
“It was an incredible moment, kudos to Josh,” said Armand Duplantis, who has set 15 pole vault world records in his career.
American Yared Nuguse hung on to Kerr’s coat-tails before the latter pulled away at the 300m mark.
“That race was an amazing race to be a part of,” said the 27-year-old.
“What Josh did was so impressive. I am sure he was confident. Even though I couldn’t keep in contact, I can take plenty of positives into the rest of the year.” AFP
