Josh Kerr breaks Hicham El Guerrouj's 27-year-old mile world record in London

British athlete Josh Kerr has broken Hicham El Guerrouj's long-standing world record for the mile, a record that stood for 27 years. Kerr achieved this feat on Saturday, July 18, at the London Diamond League meeting, completing the 1,609.34 meters in 3 minutes, 42 seconds, and 68 hundredths. This time improved upon the previous record of 3 minutes, 43 seconds, and 13 hundredths set by Moroccan legend El Guerrouj on July 7, 1999, in Rome. Kerr, 28, had been preparing for this attempt for several months through a program called "Project 222," aiming to run the mile in under 223 seconds. The 2023 1,500-meter world champion had publicly announced his intention to challenge the Moroccan's record and chose to do so in front of his home crowd at the London Stadium, where over 60,000 spectators were present. In addition to setting a new world record, Kerr also improved his personal best for the distance by nearly three seconds. His performance earned him a $50,000 prize from the organizers. While El Guerrouj loses his mile world record, he still holds two other major world records: the 1,500 meters with a time of 3 minutes, 26 seconds set in 1998, and the 2,000 meters. He also remains the only athlete to have won both the 1,500m and 5,000m titles at the same Olympic Games, which he accomplished in 2004 in Athens.