Britain's Kerr smashes long-standing world mile record

British athlete Josh Kerr shattered the 27-year-old world record for the mile run at the London Stadium on Saturday, achieving his "Project 222" goal and shaving nearly three seconds off his personal best.

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Going after records like that is not really anything about fitness, it's about wrapping your mind around that time. That's why this was called Project 222

Roared on by a capacity crowd of 60,000, the 28-year-old clocked a time of 3 minutes 42.66 seconds, surpassing Hicham El Guerrouj's long-standing mark by 0.47 seconds. El Guerrouj set the previous record in 1999, when Kerr was just one year old. The 2023 world 1,500m champion had targeted the Moroccan's record earlier in the year, incorporating specific ice-bath recovery protocols into his training.

Kerr stated that pursuing such records is as much a mental challenge as a physical one. "That's why this was called Project 222," he explained. He received a $50,000 prize for breaking the record and expressed his elation at bringing it back to the UK. "I feel very lucky to push this forward and bring it back to the UK because I feel like that's where the mile belongs. Hopefully, it can stay for a while," Kerr said.

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I feel very lucky to push this forward and bring it back to the UK because I feel like that's where the mile belongs. Hopefully it can stay for a while.

He added, "I knew I had 3:42 in me. If I'm going to leave my mark on this sport as a British athlete, I have to be able to do those performances. And those performances take every single part of you and every single part of your team. This feels incredible."

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I knew I had 3:42 in me. If I'm going to leave my mark on this sport as a British athlete, I have to be able to do those performances. And those performances take every single part of you and every single part of your team. This feels incredible.

In other track events, Britain's Keely Hodgkinson won the women's 800m in 1:56.21, her first outdoor victory of the season. America's Brandon Miller secured a surprise win in the men's 800m with a personal best of 1:42.19, while Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi finished fourth. Pole vault star Armand Duplantis withdrew from his event due to a thigh issue, with American Sam Kendricks taking the win.

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The only reason I came here today was because I wanted to win for the home crowd. I'm happy to get that out of the way