07/17/26 11:25:00
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07/17 11:15 CDT Storied men's mile record set 27 years ago in sights of British
runner Josh Kerr
Storied men's mile record set 27 years ago in sights of British runner Josh Kerr
LONDON (AP) --- The storied men's mile record in track that has stood for 27
years will come under attack Saturday from Britain's Josh Kerr.
Kerr, the 2023 world champion over the 1,500 meters metric mile, has called it
"Project 222" --- for each second he aims to take in breaking Hicham El
Guerrouj's mark of 3 minutes, 43.13 seconds.
"It's in my favor," Kerr said Friday at a news conference at London Stadium
that staged track and field at the 2012 Olympics. "My body is capable of the
mark and so my job tomorrow is to have my mind to be available to let my body
do its job."
The 28-year-old Kerr has targeted the mile race at the Diamond League meeting
as a main goal in a track season with neither Olympics nor world championships.
"I'm very excited. It's been on my mind, my team's mind, for a long time," said
the 1,500 silver medalist at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The mile is not a championships event yet has iconic status in track history,
with the four-minute barrier finally broken in 1954 by another British runner,
Roger Bannister.
El Guerrouj's record set in 1999 is more than 16 seconds faster than Bannister,
and Kerr is the sixth-fastest athlete on the all-time list. One of his rivals
Saturday is No. 4 in that list.
Yared Nuguse set a United States record three years ago, 0.84 slower than El
Guerrouj, in a race won by Jakob Ingebrigtsen at Eugene, Oregon.
While Bannister's feat running 3:59.4 is remembered in track lore, he held the
record just a few weeks before Australian John Landy lowered it by 1.4 seconds.
Jim Ryun of the U.S. later held the record for nine years until Filbert Bayi of
Tanzania took it in 1975.
A stellar 10 days in August 1981 saw a British rivalry play out: Sebastian Coe
took Steve Ovett's mile record, Ovett got it back then Coe beat it again
clocking 3:47.33.
In the 45 years since, the mile record was held only by Steve Cram, Noureddine
Morceli and El Guerrouj.
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AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports
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