Britain's Josh Kerr ran the fastest mile in history on Saturday, July 18, clocking 3 minutes, 42.66 seconds at the Novuna London Athletics Meet to break a world record that had stood for 27 years.
Kerr's time eclipsed the previous mark of 3:43.13, set by Morocco's Hicham El Guerrouj in Rome in 1999, one of the longest-standing records in men's middle-distance running. The run came at the London leg of the Wanda Diamond League, the 11th stop of this year's series, in a race Kerr and his team had specifically targeted as a season priority. American runner Yared Nuguse finished second, roughly three seconds behind, with Britain's Jake Heyward taking third. Kerr's coaching setup had arranged pacing support from training partners to help him execute the effort, and the runner has since described the experience of the closing stages as intense enough that he briefly lost hearing in the moment he crossed the line.
The record arrives in a season that, notably, does not include the Olympic Games or the World Athletics Championships for Kerr, meaning the mile stood as one of his marquee objectives for the year in the absence of a global championship title on his calendar. It also continues a strong run for middle-distance records in 2026, following Kenyan runner Emmanuel Wanyonyi's world record in the men's 1,000 meters earlier in July at the Monaco Diamond League.
Kerr's run has generated significant attention beyond the sport itself in the days since, including detailed data released this week from his training and race-day metrics, and interviews in which the Scottish runner has described his celebrations following the record. The performance has been widely discussed among athletics commentators as a signature moment for a sport looking for standout individual storylines outside of championship years.
Attention within middle-distance running now turns to whether the mark can be challenged again this season, with several of the sport's top runners, including Nuguse, still competing on the European circuit through the remainder of the Diamond League calendar. The 2026 Diamond League season continues over the coming weeks before its finale later this summer, while the next global championship on the middle-distance calendar remains more than a year away, meaning Kerr's record could stand as the year's headline individual mark in the event.
