March 29 : Britain’s Josh Kerr will attempt to break Hicham El Guerrouj’s world record in the mile in front of a home crowd at the London Diamond League meet in July.
Kerr, who won the 3,000 metres title at the World Indoor Championships in Poland last week, has a best of 3:45.34 in the mile, over two seconds slower than El Guerrouj’s mark of 3:43.13 set in 1999.
“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, 28, told the BBC in an interview published on Saturday.
“It has stood the test of time and needs a huge amount of respect.
“With the training numbers that we’re putting up, I think this year is such a great opportunity to have a real crack at it while not giving up other opportunities. It’s something that I feel confident to talk about going after.”
Several British athletes have previously held the world record for the mile, with Roger Bannister becoming the first to go under four minutes in May 1954. Current World Athletics President Sebastian Coe set records in the mile three times.
