Josh Kerr breaks the world mile record in London (© Diamond League AG 
Dan Vernon)
The pantheon of mile world record-holders has a new member.
When Josh Kerr stormed over the finish line at the London Stadium on 18 July, he added his name to a prestigious list – one that had not been changed for 27 years.
Clocking a sensational 3:42.66, the British 28-year-old took 0.47 off the world record of 3:43.13 set by Hicham El Guerrouj in Rome on 7 July 1999.
“To my family, my team, and everyone who believed – thank you. It took a lifetime of work and 222 seconds to execute,” Kerr wrote on social media following an attempt that had been labelled ‘Project 222’.
The men’s mile world record has now been improved 19 times since Roger Bannister ran 3:59.4 in Oxford on 6 May 1954 to become the first athlete to break four minutes for the distance.
Click graphic to expand
Men's mile world record-breakers (© World Athletics)
Marks listed are as ratified at the time. *h indicates hand timing
Analysis of Kerr’s 3:42.66
400m: 55.3
800m: 1:51.1
1200m: 2:46.5
1500m: 3:27.62
In addition to the transponder times for the above checkpoints, data taken at 440 yards, 880 yards and 1320 yards means the pace can be broken down into quarters, as has been the tradition for historic performances in the mile.
Kerr’s quarters by transponder were 55.55, 56.17, 55.71 and 55.23, though these are customarily expressed to the nearest tenth. He therefore covered the first half of the race in 1:51.72 and the second in 1:50.94, or 1:51.8 and 1:50.9 if the cumulative times are rounded up. In the previous world record race of El Guerrouj in 1999, the halves were completed in 1:51.58 and 1:51.55.
The numbers show that Kerr’s lead stretched from 0.3 to 2.71 over the field in the last 440 yards, with Jake Heyward and Arlo Ludewick being the next quickest finishers. The race analysis also reveals how far each finisher ran. With such an orderly race, it’s not surprising that six of the 10, including the top four, ran the exact mile distance, with the other four running up to 3.8 metres farther.
With his 3:42.66, Kerr became the first man to run a mile faster than the 3:43.0 spilt Bannister clocked for 1500m during his first sub-four-minute mile 72 years ago.
| 440 yards | 880 yards | 1320 yards | One mile | |
| Josh Kerr (GBR) | 55.6 | 1:51.8 56.2 |
2:47.5 55.7 |
3:42.66 55.2 |
| Yared Nuguse (USA) | 55.8 | 1:52.0 56.2 |
2:47.8 55.8 |
3:45.69 57.9 |
| Jake Heyward (GBR) | 56.9 | 1:53.6 56.7 |
2:50.8 57.2 |
3:46.73 56.0 |
| Robert Farken (GER) | 56.3 | 1:52.5 56.2 |
2:48.2 55.7 |
3:46.82 58.7 |
| Nathan Green (USA) | 57.0 | 1:53.8 56.8 |
2:51.2 57.4 |
3:48.05 56.9 |
| Arlo Ludewick (GBR) | 57.1 | 1:54.1 57.0 |
2:51.6 57.5 |
3:48.17 56.6 |
| Ethan Strand (USA) | 56.6 | 1:53.0 56.4 |
2:50.8 57.8 |
3:49.13 58.4 |
| Thomas Keen (GBR) | 56.4 | 1:53.2 56.8 |
2:50.9 57.7 |
3:49.33 58.5 |
| Sam Prakel (USA) | 57.2 | 1:54.3 57.1 |
2:51.9 57.6 |
3:49.63 57.8 |
| Archie Davis (GBR) | 56.8 | 1:53.4 56.6 |
2:51.5 58.1 |
3:51.09 59.6 |
Race analysis by Mark Butler for World Athletics
The history of the mile world record is included in the World Athletics Heritage publication 'Progression of World Athletics Records', which is available to view online
