Britain’s Josh Kerr has smashed the men’s mile world record, which has stood since 1999.
The Scotsman ran an incredible 3:42.66, taking half a second off the previous best.
A huge roar around the London Stadium in the Diamond League erupted as Kerr celebrated.
The Briton completed a lap of honour before finally slowing down and received a cheque for $50,000 (£37,200) for breaking the record.
The Briton smashed the record by half a second
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Josh Kerr has made history at the London Stadium
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Kerr, an Olympic silver medallist in the 1500m, had been targeting the record as part of what he called “Project 222”, referencing the number of seconds he needed to hit to break it.
His previous best was 3:45.34, as he shaved nearly three seconds off that time.
Kerr spoke to GB News ahead of his attempt to break the world record, explaining that he was slowly “chipping off time” with each try.
When explaining how he prepared for today’s attempt, he told the People’s Channel: “We’ve broken it down as Project 222, you know, 222 seconds will break the current mile world record.
Kerr ran an incredible 3:42.66
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“It will be a similar approach [to Eliud Kipchoge’s marathon record]. However, it will be within a regular race, the Diamond League.
“The Diamond League put on such an amazing event that I thought it was the best way to honour the record but also the best way to break it as well – to do it in front of a British crowd.
“There’s been some question marks around things like that, but when you can do it in front of 60,000 people in London.
“It’s a big project. There’s going to be a lot of different stuff going into training.”
The Briton bagged $50,000 (£37,200) for breaking the record
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Reacting afterwards, Kerr hoped that he was a little bit faster, despite breaking the record.
“It’s very overwhelming with the amount of hype that I…it’s silly to call it that early because there’s a lot of things which can go wrong, but I am surrounded by amazing people and was just able to stay consistent, put the work in, and I knew I had 3:42 in me.
“I nearly lost it there at the end, but I got over the line.
History has been made at the London Stadium
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“If I’m to leave my mark on this sport as a British legend, with the legends behind me and following in their footsteps, I have to put in those performances,” he told the BBC.
“Those performances take every single part of you, every single part of your team, and the amount of work behind the scenes for me is incredible.
“Today it was a performance I was able to bring out – I just hoped it would be a little bit faster!”

