Josh Kerr told everyone in March this was coming. Nobody really listens in March. They listen now.
The 28-year-old Scot demolished Hicham El Guerrouj’s mile world record at the London Diamond League on Saturday, running 3:42.66 in front of a home crowd at London Stadium. El Guerrouj’s mark of 3:43.13 had stood since 1999 — a quarter-century, one of the most stubborn records in the sport. Kerr beat it by nearly half a second and left the field in a different zip code. Yared Nuguse took second in 3:45.69, more than three seconds back. Jake Heyward rounded out the top three.
Kerr had flagged the attempt months ago, exploiting a rare season without a major global championship to chase a personal target rather than peak for a team. He delivered, and then — before the adrenaline had even cooled — he was already talking about the next one.
In a column for The Telegraph, Kerr wrote that he turned to his wife, Larimar, shortly after the race and said, “It’s on.” He was referring to El Guerrouj’s 1,500m world record of 3:26.00, set in 1998 — another ancient mark belonging to the same Moroccan legend whose mile record Kerr had just erased.
“She said: ‘Can you just give us 12 hours before you set another goal?'” Kerr recalled. “I was like: ‘I could, but the iron’s hot.’ And I do think that the moment you stop dreaming about new goals is the time when you are slowing down. This sport moves quickly; the world is always turning.”
Here is why that is not just bravado. Kerr’s 1,500m split en route to his mile record was 3:27.51 — a new British record, clipping three-hundredths of a second off his own previous mark of 3:27.79. That split makes him the seventh-fastest man in history over 1,500m. The gap between where he is and where El Guerrouj’s record sits is 1.51 seconds. That is not nothing. But it is closer than most people on the all-time list can reasonably dream.
Kerr, the 2023 world champion at 1,500m and a two-time Olympic medallist, said no decisions have been made about when or where to attempt the record. “Things would have to be put in place with the right 1,500m race,” he wrote, “but I do think that it is in the legs.” He indicated a remaining Diamond League meeting would be the most likely venue — a paced, conditions-optimized setup built for exactly this kind of thing.
First, though, comes the Commonwealth Games, held on home soil in Glasgow this week. Kerr will compete there before assessing whether a full tilt at the 1,500m record is feasible this season.
El Guerrouj owned the middle-distance record book for a generation. Kerr already took one page out. The next one is 1.51 seconds away, and he does not sound like a man planning to wait long.