The British mile record-holder wants to take down the Moroccan’s 27-year-old mark.
Josh Kerr will target one of the toughest world records in track and field at this year’s London Diamond League (July 18).
In front of a likely sold-out London Stadium, the world 1500m and double indoor 3000m champion will attempt to break Hicham El Guerrouj’s world mile record of 3:43.13.
The Moroccan set that mark in a sparse Stadio Olimpico just before the turn of the century, in a race where El Guerrouj just saw off Kenya’s Noah Ngeny, who ran 3:43.40 himself. Those two times are still the two quickest in history.
In the 2023 Bowerman Mile at the Prefontaine Classic, Jakob Ingebrigtsen (3:43.73) and Yared Nuguse (3:43.97) both went sub-3:44 but were still over half a second off the world record.
With this being, bar the Covid-19 affected 2020, the first year since 2018 with no Olympics or World Athletics Championships, many athletes are prioritising their season around record attempts.
Dubbed Project 222 – 222 seconds equates to a 3:42 mile – Kerr said: “This record deserves to be done at home, this record needs to be brought home, and this is a British record. This is a British distance; it would be doing a disservice to the UK not to be doing it at home.”
“I am really excited. There are no guarantees in this; it is a record that deserves a lot of respect. I believe I am respecting it by coming out and talking about it. I want to do it with the people I have behind me, I have an amazing team.”
The mile world record has been held by six British men in history, each of whom are famous in their own right. Sydney Wooderson held it for five years between 1937 and 1942 after running 4:06.4.
Roger Bannister only held the record for 46 days but his 3.59.4 at Iffley Road Track in Oxford is arguably one of the greatest sporting achievements in history.
After John Landy had bettered Bannister’s mark, Derek Ibbotson went even quicker in 1957, running 3:57.2 at the White City Stadium in London.
It would be 22 years until a British man would hold the record again, until Sebastian Coe ran 3:49.0 in Oslo. Between 1979 and 1993, Coe, Steve Ovett and Steve Cram ensured the record remained in British hands.
To make sure the world record is held by a Brit once again Kerr, who is the national mile record-holder with 3:45.34 and is sixth on the global all-time list, will leave no stone unturned.
His sponsor Brooks will create a customised spike for him – within World Athletics regulations – which will be built around his biomechanics. It will feature both advanced cushioning and a tuned carbon plate system.
Kerr will also be testing out aerodynamic speed suit concepts and will have a say into the pacemaking strategy for the race in Stratford as well.
He will be competing in the Emsley Carr Mile, which returns to the London Diamond League for the first time in two years.
The Emsley Carr Mile was inaugurated in 1953 by Sir William Carr in memory of his father Sir Emsley Carr, a former editor of the News of the World.
The fastest time recorded for the Emsley Carr Mile – and the quickest mile ever recorded on British soil – is 3:45.96 by Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj at Crystal Palace in 2000. Last year’s winner was Henry McLuckie, who ran 3:53.99 at the University of Stirling.