After months of talking about his ambition to break Hicham El Guerrouj's world mile record, the Scot produces one of the greatest performances of his career in London with a stunning 3:42.66.

Josh Kerr described his world mile record attempt in London on Saturday (July 18) as the biggest race of his life. Certainly, this was the biggest achievement of his career so far. More impressive than his world 1500m title in 2023. Far better than his world indoor 3000m titles.

With the kind of bullish bravado that he’s become known for, the 28-year-old nailed his colours to the mast several months ago by declaring he was aiming to take down Hicham El Guerrouj’s long-standing world mark of 3:43.13.

True to his word he did it on Saturday as well, in beautiful style with a time of 3:42.66.

This was not a soft record. It has stood for 27 years for a good reason. It is a very hard mark to beat and it has eluded the world’s best milers over the past quarter of a century.

But Kerr made this a project – Project 222, in fact – given the number of seconds involved in clocking this kind of time. He arrived in London clearly in top shape, but then nailed the race itself, taking the lead with 600m to go, to take a chunk off El Guerrouj’s time.

Kerr’s bold declaration that he would break this record in the weeks and months leading up to the race meant that it turned into the big event of the day. “Will he do it?” was the main question on everyone’s lips arriving at the London Stadium.

As a veteran reporter at AW, who was in Rome in 1998 when El Guerrouj set his still-standing world 1500m record of 3:26.00, I did not think Kerr would do it. The Scottish athlete is very capable, of course, but I felt he needed the stars to truly align and the chances of that happening were slim.

In the end, it was a near perfect race. The heatwave conditions in London cooled a little in time for the race. Instead of temperatures over 30C, they were a more reasonable 23-24C with cloud cover and little wind.

Brandon Kidder was the first pacer followed by Zan Rudolf as they passed 800m in 1:50.63. Kerr slipped into third place in the early stages with Yared Nuguse of the United States – the danger man when it came to stealing Kerr's glory – hot on his heels.

With 600m to go, Kerr moved into the lead with Nuguse still following, but after passing the bell in 2:46.39 the Briton began to move away with 350m to go and looked majestic on the final lap as he strode home clear with Nuguse clocking 3:45.69 in second and Jake Heyward marking yet another brilliant return from a long injury lay off by clocking a splendid 3:46.73 PB in third.

Kerr's splits: 440 yards (1/4 mile) – 55.4; 880 yards (1/2 mile) – 1:51.4; 1320 yards (1207m) – 2:47.3; 1500m – 3:27.62

Few athletes have stated their aim to break a world record so far in advance, although of course Roger Bannister famously did it in 1953-54 when he became the first man to break four minutes. Similarly, Kerr succeeded after a long and dedicated build up.

"It is very overwhelming," said an emotional Kerr. "There was a lot of hype.

"I am surrounded by amazing people, so I have continued to put the work in and I knew I had a 3:42 in me. I nearly lost it there at the end, but I got over the line."

Kerr added: "If I am to leave my mark on the sport, as a British athlete with the legends I have behind me, to follow in those footsteps, I have to deliver those performances. Those performances take every part of you, every part of your team.

"Out there, I am just the body, but there is an incredible amount of work behind the scenes. Today is a result of all that hard work. I am lucky to be able to string the training together. It felt like I had a kitchen full of incredible chefs, and they are like, what the heck are we going to make, and this is the dish I want to make, so lets go to work and get the world record. The last lap was incredible. I was deaf in the last 110 metres."

READ MORE: Keely Hodgkinson wins and Cierra Jackson shines in discus

Moments later Keely Hodgkinson won a thrilling women’s 800m ahead of Femke Broeders-Bol but Kerr’s record-breaking exploits was on everyone’s lips as they left.

Plus, it is a reminder that British athletes are often the greatest hangover remedy following disappointing performances from England and Scotland in the FIFA World Cup. Get ready for more brilliance and entertainment at the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and European Championships in Birmingham.