Josh Kerr breaks 27-year-old mile world record with 3:42.66 in London

The Project 222 mission

Josh Kerr turned the mile world record into a meticulously planned operation he called Project 222. The target was 222 seconds (3 minutes 42 seconds), and the 28-year-old Scot left nothing to chance. He spent months sleeping in an altitude chamber at his training base in Albuquerque, New Mexico, simulating an extra 900 metres of elevation. His sponsor Brooks built him a custom spike, the Hyperion 222, with no foam in the heel, abundant midfoot cushioning, and a tapered toe that acted like a rocker. A laser-cut black racing suit completed the package. Kerr had announced his ambition months in advance, telling reporters he wanted to bring the record back to Britain and into the modern era.

The race

On 18 July 2026, before a crowd of 60,000 at the London Stadium, Kerr executed the plan. Two pacemakers guided him through the early laps, with green lights on the track rail showing the required tempo. He passed 400 metres in 54.75 seconds and 800 metres in 1:50.63, both ahead of the splits Hicham El Guerrouj recorded during his 1999 record. At 1,000 metres the second pacemaker dropped out, leaving Kerr alone. He reached 1,500 metres in 3:27.51, faster than El Guerrouj's 3:28.21. Over the final lap he pulled away from American Yared Nuguse, who finished second in 3:45.69. Kerr crossed the line in 3:42.66, shattering the 3:43.13 mark that had stood since 7 July 1999.

That last lap was crazy, I went deaf with 110 metres to go, I couldn't hear anything.

A record returns to Britain

The mile is a distance with deep British roots. Roger Bannister first broke the 4-minute barrier in 1954, and the record passed through the hands of Steve Ovett, Sebastian Coe, and Steve Cram before North African runners took over in the 1990s. Nurdin Morceli lowered it to 3:44.39 in 1993, and El Guerrouj set the 3:43.13 that survived 27 years. Kerr, a world champion at 1,500 metres in 2023 and Olympic silver medallist in 2024, had spoken of wanting to experience a "moment of a lifetime" in the stadium that hosted the 2012 Olympics. His run returns the mile record to Britain for the first time since Cram's 3:46.32 in 1985.

Preparation and reaction

Kerr's preparation was obsessive. He filled notebooks with training details, studied biomechanics with Brooks engineers, and tested the Hyperion 222 spikes on a treadmill designed to simulate race conditions. Before the event, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe, himself a former mile record holder, had warned that beating El Guerrouj's mark would be extremely difficult. After the race, Kerr said he had believed he could run even slightly faster. The performance was the centrepiece of a Diamond League meeting that gave British athletics a landmark moment on a day when the country's football team had been eliminated from the World Cup.