Moroccan legend Hicham El Guerrouj set the mile world record in Rome in 1999, clocking 3:43.13. More than 25 years later, he still sits atop the all-time list. No runner managed to break into the top five until the 2020s, when Jakob Ingebrigtsen and American Yared Nuguse did so in 2023. Now, British runner Josh Kerr has his sights set on the No. 1 spot. In pursuit of the record, he has spent the better part of the last year reorganizing his sleep, home life, and even his marriage. Some feel it’s overkill, but the only thing that will matter is the time on the clock when he crosses the finish line in London.

This has been Kerr’s goal since the very beginning of Project 222, the Brooks Running-backed campaign he launched to chase the world record. It doesn’t matter who lines up alongside him, whether it’s Yared Nuguse, Hobbs Kessler, or Nathan Green. The only target is the clock

“I mean, it’s a balance, right?” Kerr told Olympics.com. “I’ve done everything I can to show that I’m in shape to do it, and I can turn up on the day and show off my fitness. For me, there’s not much that’s changing other than a mentality shift and really relying on the people that I’ve built around me to get to that final distance and that final time.”

It’s an impressive mentality considering the scale of the challenge. After all, Kerr has never clocked a sub-3:45 mile, not once in his career, even with wind assistance. His personal best remains the impressive 3:45.34 he ran at the 2024 Prefontaine Classic, where he beat both Ingebrigtsen and Nuguse to the line.

Even that performance wasn’t enough to crack the top five all-time. Nuguse (3:43.97) and Ingebrigtsen (3:43.73) had both run faster at the same meet a year earlier, putting themselves inside the top five. Kerr’s 3:45.34 still ranks sixth all-time, and he has been trying to improve on it ever since. But 2025 wasn’t his year. The season got off to a slow start before a calf injury during the final of the 2025 World Championships brought it to an abrupt end.

Just like that, the Olympic bronze medalist was left heartbroken and would end his season without a medal for the first time since 2022. However, it allowed him the chance to refocus and realign his goals, targeting the 27-year-old record for 2026.

“I mean, it’s just so old, it’s so understood,” Kerr explained. “You know, if you run it in gym class or if you watch it at the professional level, everyone understands [that] it hurts. Everyone understands there are tactics, and at that speed, it’s just a sprint. It’s a hard distance, and people understand it.”

The Briton is not wrong. In 2025, Ingebrigtsen ran 3:45.14, the fastest mile time of the year. That’s still more than a second off El Guerrouj’s world record and over a second faster than Kerr’s season best. In 2024, Kerr finished the year with the world lead thanks to his personal best. Before that, however, Ingebrigtsen topped the yearly rankings in 2021, 2022, and 2023.

The Norwegian gradually improved from 3:47.24 in 2021 to his personal best of 3:43.73 in 2023, which still ranks as the third-fastest mile in history. Nuguse followed closely with a 3:43.97, while Kerr did not race the mile that year. But Kerr’s focus has now shifted. More than just chasing a fast time, he wants to leave behind something the sport will remember him for: a legacy.

“Because I’m going for it,” Kerr asserted. “This is the legacy I’m going to leave for the sport. Showing the next generation what it takes to go after big records like this and to dominate a distance where it’s hard to find the guy who will do that consistently.

“I’m here to do the big things and hopefully continue to elevate the sport as much as I can. Not announcing that is not in my character.”

While Project 222, which literally means completing the mile in 222 seconds (3:42.000) or faster, has centered around training, recovery, and mentality, Kerr has left nothing to chance. As he chases history in London, even the spikes on his feet have become part of the equation.

Josh Kerr opens up on what makes a good mile spike

When he decided to take on Hicham El Guerrouj’s record, Kerr set out to do everything he could to improve his chances. With his coach, Danny Mackey, focused on the training plan, Kerr turned to Brooks Running for his equipment. The brand has been his sponsor for the better part of the last decade, and the 27-year-old knew it would help him.

Now, with less than a week left before his attempt, the Scottish runner has unveiled the speed suit created specifically for the occasion. Not only that, but Kerr also revealed that Brooks’ R&D team has been working on creating the perfect spike.

“The team at Brooks has been so fired up about this,” Kerr told Citrus Mag. “We’ve been collaborating with the spike team for ages, so I know them incredibly well. I have a specific foot strike, a specific force profile, and I move around in spikes differently than anyone else.

“Every athlete has their own footprint in how they use a spike. This spike isn’t built for anyone but me. Plates, running on different track surfaces, around the bends, on the straights, at a specific speed—around a 55-second split. Those are the conditions we’ve been working on.”

In fact, for the London Diamond League and Kerr’s attempt to break El Guerrouj’s 3:43.13 mile world record, Brooks and the British star have collaborated to create a one-off spike. The shoe was designed exclusively for the event and his record attempt, and Kerr has said he will never wear it again.

“To be transparent: we will have a one-off, mile-world-record-specific spike,” Kerr revealed. “It’s not built for 800 to 3K or 3K to 5K—it’s built for three minutes and 42 seconds. It’s built for 222 seconds. It’s my world record spike, a one-off built for this race, and it will be fully within World Athletics guidelines.”

Now, Kerr only has to prove that months of preparation can deliver against both the clock and his American rivals. Everything else, from the custom spikes to Project 222, will be judged by one race in London.