Yomif Kejelcha, Masai Russell, Alison dos Santos and Josh Kerr
Men’s mile
3:42.66 Josh Kerr (GBR) London, 18 July 2026
Men’s half marathon
56:51 Yomif Kejelcha (ETH) Buenos Aires, 23 August 2026
Men’s 400m hurdles
45.80 Alison dos Santos (BRA) Zurich, 27 August 2026
Women’s 100m hurdles
12.09 Masai Russell (USA) Zurich, 27 August 2026
World records set by Alison dos Santos, Yomif Kejelcha, Josh Kerr and Masai Russell have been ratified by World Athletics.
Kerr’s was the first of those records to be set as he ran 3:42.66 to improve the long-standing world mile record at the Novuna London Athletics Meet, a Wanda Diamond League meeting, on 18 July.
Great Britain’s Kerr was paced through the 400m mark on world record tempo in 55.3. He then reached 800m in 1:51.1 and 1200m in 2:46.39, roared on by the 60,000-strong crowd. The 2023 world 1500m champion then hit 1500m in 3:27.62 – faster than his own British record for the distance – before crossing the finish line in 3:42.66 to beat the world record of 3:43.13 set by Hicham El Guerrouj in Rome on 7 July 1999.
Ethiopia’s Kejelcha set his world record at the Media Maratón Ciudad de Buenos Aires, a World Athletics Label road race, on 23 August.
Clocking 56:51, he took 29 seconds off the world record of 57:20 set by Jacob Kiplimo in Lisbon on 8 March to regain a world record he previously set in Valencia in October 2024 with 57:30.
On his way, Kejelcha reached the 10km mark in 27:19 before a 13:22 split for the next 5km took him to 15km in 40:41. He then hit the 20km marker in 54:04, running a 26:45 split between 10km and 20km.
Two more world records fell just four days later as Dos Santos and Russell both made hurdles history at the Weltklasse Diamond League meeting in Zurich on 27 August.
Dos Santos opened the record-breaking sequence with a stunning 45.80 in the men’s 400m hurdles, and less than 40 minutes later Russell followed with 12.09 in the women’s 100m hurdles.
Dos Santos, the 2022 world champion, made up the stagger on multiple global champion Karsten Warholm by halfway, then continued to forge ahead. The Brazilian charged through the line, taking 0.14 off the world record set by Warholm at the Tokyo Olympic Games on 3 August 2021. Warholm finished a distant second in 46.69.
USA’s Olympic champion Russell had already gone close to the world 100m hurdles record twice during the season and in Zurich she finally took it down. Producing a flawless run over the barriers, she stopped the clock at 12.09 to take 0.03 off the previous world record of 12.12 set by Tobi Amusan in Oregon on 24 July 2022. Amusan was second in Zurich in 12.23.
World Athletics
