LONDON: Britain’s Josh Kerr etched his name into the pantheon of milers when he set a new world record in the men’s mile at the London Diamond League on Saturday.
The 28-year-old Scot, based in the United States, clocked 3 minutes and 42.66 seconds at the London Stadium to beat the previous record of 3:43.13 set by Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj in Rome in 1999.
Kerr has built his season chasing El Guerrouj’s previous best mark.
The Scot had threatened before the race that his body was “capable of scoring.”
Kerr, the British record holder and Olympic silver medalist in the 1,500 metres, entered the race with a personal best of 3:45.34, sixth on the all-time list.
Kerr, a two-time world indoor 3,000m winner, was guided to perfection by training partner Brannon Kidder and Slovenia’s Zan Rudolph.
Olympic bronze medalist Yared Nuguse, the American record holder and fourth on the all-time mile list, held on to Kerr until the final 200 meters.
The Scot then turned on the afterburners in front of a crowd seating nearly 60,000 in a raucous stadium built for the 2012 London Olympics.
He roared through the line, punching the air in ecstasy, the ecstatic crowd rising to its feet in a deafening welcome to their new hero.
Before El Guerrouj established himself as a world record holder, British milers were an institution on the track.
Roger Bannister was the first man to run a mile in under 4 minutes in 1954.
Then came middle distance legends Steve Ovett, Sebastian Coe and Steve Cram, who dominated the event between 1979 and 1993.
World Athletics President Coe was on hand to present Kerr with a check for $50,000 and a book on how to earn miles.
