Sawt Falasteen - Britain's Kerr to target El Guerrouj's mile world record

NYSE - LSE
RBGPF 0% 68.56 $
VOD -0.31% 15.96 $
BTI -0.87% 56.21 $
RIO 2.97% 105.3 $
CMSC -0.84% 21.102 $
GSK 0.86% 52.41 $
RELX 1.48% 35.91 $
RYCEF -1.23% 20.25 $
NGG -1.08% 79.76 $
AZN 0.9% 165.98 $
BCC 0.85% 82.47 $
BCE -0.3% 23.71 $
BP -0.85% 44.76 $
CMSD -0.67% 20.98 $
JRI -0.24% 12.38 $
Britain's Kerr to target El Guerrouj's mile world record
Britain's Kerr to target El Guerrouj's mile world record / Photo: Andrej ISAKOVIC - AFP

Britain's Kerr to target El Guerrouj's mile world record

British athlete Josh Kerr will attempt to break Hicham El Guerrouj's 27-year-old world record for the mile (1.6km) at the London Diamond League meeting on July 18.

Text size:

The 28-year-old has a personal best of 3 mins 45.34 secs over the mile distance - good enough for a British record and sixth on the all-time list.

Moroccan great El Guerrouj's current mark of 3:43.13 has stood since 1999.

A two-time Olympic medallist in the 1,500 metres, Kerr won his third world title by storming to indoor 3,000m gold in Poland last week.

"It's been a huge goal of my career. It's one of the oldest world records on the track and I think it's one of the most important ones," Kerr told the BBC.

"It's something that I feel confident to talk about going after. It's a really exciting time."

Kerr will take on the challenge shortly before going for gold on home soil at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

"This sport needs moments. I think that setting my goals and being very clear on that is a huge part of giving this record the respect that it deserves," he added.

"To do it in front of a British crowd would just make it extremely special. It's going to be a tough one but I truly think that I'm capable of going after these times."

R.Halabi--SF-PST