“Josh Kerr called his shot back in March,” NBC Sports wrote. On March 28, 2026, the Wanda Diamond League announced: “Great Britain’s Josh Kerr will attempt to break the men’s mile world record in front of his home crowd at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in London on July 18.” Kerr is “an Edinburgh native and an NCAA champion for New Mexico,” in NBC’s words, and “The 2023 world 1,500m champion,” in Reuters’; the AP notes him “winning bronze in the 1,500 meters at the Tokyo Olympics and silver at the 2024 Paris Olympics.” But “Before Saturday, Kerr’s best mile time was 3:45.34 — more than two seconds shy of the record,” NBC says.
The record was “Hicham El Guerrouj’s previous mark of 3:43.13 set in 1999,” the AP wrote, “the record last set by Moroccan runner Hicham El Guerrouj in Rome in 1999,” as NPR put it, and “El Guerrouj set his world record in 1999 when Kerr was only a year old,” Reuters noted. “Kerr dubbed the record bid ‘Project 222,’ for the 222 seconds that equals 3 minutes, 42 seconds,” NBC reported, and he was “building 222-second ice-bath recoveries into his training,” Reuters says. “It’s time for that record to have a real go at it,” Kerr said the day before the race, as his university’s athletics site reported, “and I’m going to be that guy to do it.”
On “Saturday (18),” as World Athletics put it, he ran, “roared on by a capacity 60,000 crowd at the London Diamond League meeting,” Reuters wrote. The meeting’s own report says he raced “with the green light on the inside of the track, set to carry Kerr inside the standing world record of 3:43.13.” “Kerr was paced by his training partner Brannon Kidder and Žan Rudolf,” World Athletics reported, and then “Kerr took over to pass 1200m in 2:46.39,” two hundredths of a second off even record pace (2:46.37, by our arithmetic). “He hovered right on the line through 1,300 meters,” MileSplit wrote, “then broke clear over the last lap to win by nearly half a second.”
“He pulled away from American Yared Nuguse over the final lap with a negative 400-meter split of 54.87,” New Mexico’s athletics site reported. “Even leaving the track light in his dust, Kerr swung onto the home straight for the final time with the stadium on its feet,” the London Diamond League wrote. “Kerr then hit 1500m in 3:27.62,” World Athletics says, and “dug deep to hit the finish line in 3:42.66,” “taking 0.47 off El Guerrouj’s record”; “Nuguse couldn’t stick with the closing pace and finished second in 3:45.69.”
“The last lap was incredible. I was deaf in the last 110 metres,” Kerr said, as World Athletics quotes him. “I am surrounded by amazing people, so I have continued to put the work in and I knew I had a 3:42 in me.” “Josh now joins Steve Ovett, Seb Coe and Steve Cram in holding the mile World Record,” scottishathletics wrote, and Reuters said he “became the seventh Briton to hold the mile record and first since Steve Cram in 1985.”
Fact check
The facts and where they come from
- He told the world he’d break a 27-year-old world record, but he had never run within two seconds of it. New Mexico Lobos (the day before the race): “‘It’s time for that record to have a real go at it,’ Kerr said Friday ahead of the race, ‘and I’m going to be that guy to do it.’” NBC Sports: “Josh Kerr called his shot back in March”; “Before Saturday, Kerr’s best mile time was 3:45.34 — more than two seconds shy of the record.” Reuters: “Josh Kerr shattered the 27-year-old world mile record.” 764
- His name is Josh Kerr. NBC Sports: “said Kerr, an Edinburgh native and an NCAA champion for New Mexico.” 6
- The mile record was Hicham El Guerrouj’s, set when Kerr was one year old. AP: “Hicham El Guerrouj’s previous mark of 3:43.13 set in 1999.” NPR: “the record last set by Moroccan runner Hicham El Guerrouj in Rome in 1999, at 3 minutes and 43.13 seconds.” Reuters: “El Guerrouj set his world record in 1999 when Kerr was only a year old.” 594
- In March, he named the day for Project 222. Wanda Diamond League (March 28, 2026): “Great Britain’s Josh Kerr will attempt to break the men’s mile world record in front of his home crowd at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in London on July 18.” NBC Sports: “Kerr dubbed the record bid ‘Project 222,’ for the 222 seconds that equals 3 minutes, 42 seconds.” 36
- He even sat in ice baths for 222 seconds, his target time. Reuters: “The 2023 world 1,500m champion said in March he would target the Moroccan’s record, building 222-second ice-bath recoveries into his training.” World Athletics: “‘Project 222’ – the number of seconds he hoped to complete the distance in.” 41
- On race day, 60,000 fans packed the London Stadium. Reuters: “roared on by a capacity 60,000 crowd at the London Diamond League meeting.” London Diamond League: “in front of sold out 60,000 London Stadium.” World Athletics: “on Saturday (18).” 421
- A green light circled the track at world record pace. London Diamond League: “with the green light on the inside of the track, set to carry Kerr inside the standing world record of 3:43.13.” 2
- At the bell, he was dead level with the record. World Athletics: “Kerr took over to pass 1200m in 2:46.39” (even 3:43.13 pace reaches 1200 meters in 2:46.37, by our arithmetic; the bell rings at about 1209 meters). MileSplit: “He hovered right on the line through 1,300 meters, then broke clear over the last lap to win by nearly half a second.” 18
- Then he ran the last lap in under 55 seconds, leaving the light behind. New Mexico Lobos: “He pulled away from American Yared Nuguse over the final lap with a negative 400-meter split of 54.87.” MileSplit’s splits table: 1200 meters “2:46.5,” 1600 meters “3:41.4.” London Diamond League: “Even leaving the track light in his dust, Kerr swung onto the home straight for the final time with the stadium on its feet.” 782
- He said he went deaf for the last 110 meters. Kerr, as World Athletics quotes him: “The last lap was incredible. I was deaf in the last 110 metres.” 1
- The clock stopped at 3:42.66. World Athletics: “Kerr dug deep to hit the finish line in 3:42.66.” 1
- A new world record, by almost half a second. World Athletics: “taking 0.47 off El Guerrouj’s record.” AP: “A 27-year-old world record fell Saturday in London when Great Britain’s Josh Kerr ran the mile in 3:42.66.” 15
- “I knew I had a 3:42 in me,” he said. Kerr, as World Athletics quotes him: “I am surrounded by amazing people, so I have continued to put the work in and I knew I had a 3:42 in me.” 1
Sources
- Kerr breaks world mile record with 3:42.66 in London (July 18, 2026) World Athletics
- Kerr Headlines Novuna London Athletics Meet as Mile World Record Shattered London Diamond League
- Kerr sets sights on mile world record in London (March 28, 2026) Wanda Diamond League
- Athletics-Britain’s Kerr smashes long-standing world mile record (Reuters, July 18, 2026) The Star
- Britain’s Josh Kerr breaks long-standing mile world record (The Associated Press) 10News
- Josh Kerr breaks mile world record NBC Sports
- Lobo Legend Josh Kerr Breaks Mile World Record in London (July 18, 2026) New Mexico Lobos
- Josh Kerr Sets Mile World Record At London Diamond League (report, splits and results) MileSplit
- Josh Kerr of Britain breaks 27-year-old world record in the mile (NPR, July 18, 2026) Delmarva Public Media
- Extraordinary Josh takes down World Record and lights up London scottishathletics
Notes
Ratification: World Athletics prints the time as 3:42.66 with an asterisk (subject to ratification), and we found no ratification notice by October 30, 2026. Every source calls it the world record, and so does the Short.
Who named Project 222: NBC Sports says Kerr dubbed it; the AP says his sponsor did; Kerr said, as Reuters quotes him, “That’s why this was called Project 222.” The Short says only “Project two two two.”
The green light: a popular retelling says he fell behind the green pacing lights on the final lap; no source says so, so it isn’t used. The London Diamond League says the light was set to carry him inside the record and that he left it “in his dust,” and World Athletics and MileSplit put him right on record pace at 1200 meters, just before the bell.
The last lap: New Mexico Lobos gives 54.87 for his final 400 meters, and MileSplit’s 1200–1600-meter split is 54.9; from World Athletics’ 2:46.39 at 1200 meters, the final 409 meters took 56.27. The Short’s “under fifty-five seconds” rests on the first two.
Splits: his 1500-meter time is 3:27.62 (World Athletics), 3:27.65 (New Mexico Lobos, NBC Sports) or 3:27.7 (MileSplit); this page uses World Athletics’. His 800-meter split also differs between reports (1:51.1 or 1:50.63), so it isn’t used, and neither is how far the pacemakers took him.
Left out: one race report with several errors and another that gets his first name wrong aren’t used.
Josh Kerr is alive and still racing. Only race facts, official reports and his own published words are used; nothing here goes into his private life. Hicham El Guerrouj is named only for his record, and the runners who raced Kerr only by their results.
Pictures: no free photo shows the July 18, 2026, race; every picture of it we found is an agency, meeting or broadcast picture, so none is used, and Kerr is shown in other races. He is before the men’s mile at the 2019 Millrose Games at the Armory in New York, on February 9, 2019, and in that race (three photos by jenaragon94); in the men’s 1500-meter final at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest on August 23, 2023, which he won (two photos by filip bossuyt); and winning the men’s 5000 meters at the 2025 UK Athletics Championships in Birmingham on August 3, 2025, in an Edinburgh AC vest (Andrewnward). Hicham El Guerrouj is in a Montreal running shop on September 23, 2010, eleven years after his record (Sebastien from Montreal). The London Stadium is seen from outside, with the ArcelorMittal Orbit, on August 2, 2020 (Oast House Archive), and full at the 2017 World Championships on August 6, 2017 (William Warby), not on race day. The green pacing lights are a stand-in, at Athletissima in Lausanne on August 26, 2022, not the London race (Johann Conus, cropped to the runners’ legs and the lights), and the ice bath, an old bathtub of icy water in a field on January 9, 2024, is a stand-in, not his (Alan Hughes). The other runners and people in these photos are not named.
Photo credits
The archive photos in this story
The photographs and illustrations in this story are in the public domain or shared under open licenses; each one is credited below with its license. Tap one to enlarge it, or follow the link to its Wikimedia Commons page for the full record. The narration, captions and graphics in the Short are our own; its music and sound effects are credited below.
Music and sound effects
Music: Schumann, Kinderszenen, Op. 15: No. 1 'Of Foreign Lands and Peoples (Musopen, public domain); Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition: IV. Bydlo (piano) (Musopen, public domain); Dvorak, Symphony No. 9 'From the New World': II. Largo (Musopen, public domain).
Sound effects: Freesound, CC0.
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