LONDON -- British runner Josh Kerr ran 3 minutes, 42.66 seconds to break the long-standing men's mile world record at a Diamond League meet in London on Saturday.
Kerr broke Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj's mark of 3 minutes, 43.13 seconds, set in Rome in 1999, and the Edinburgh native then set off on a lap of honor at London Stadium.
Kerr, 28, was so dominant Saturday that he finished just over three seconds clear of American Yared Nuguse in 3:45.69.
The crowd support as he closed in on the record was "just incredible," Kerr told the BBC.
"It was just me, my shoes and the track," he said. "I was absolutely deaf in that last 110 meters.
"I didn't take my foot off the gas," he continued, "but ... I started to glide and I was like 'Oh wow, this feels incredible.' It's incredible because I'm slowing down. So, I was like 'I better get to the line.' So, crossing the finish line, seeing 42-something -- anything -- was my goal, so it was great."
Kerr's previous best time was 3:45.34 in 2024.
He had targeted the mile race at the Diamond League meet as a main goal in a track season with neither Olympics nor world championships.
The mile is not a championship event, yet it has iconic status in track history, with the four-minute barrier broken in 1954 by another British runner, Roger Bannister.
Kerr was a silver medalist in the 1,500 meters at the 2024 Paris Olympics.