In an interview with the BBC, Kerr said the crowd support as he closed in on the record was \u201cjust incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t take my foot off the gas,\u201d he continued, \u201cbut … I started to glide and I was like \u2018oh wow this feels incredible.\u2019 It\u2019s incredible because I\u2019m slowing down. So, I was like \u2018I better get to the line.\u2019 So, crossing the finish line, seeing 42-something \u2014 anything \u2014 was my goal, so it was great.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 28-year-old Kerr\u2019s previous best time was 3:45.34 in 2024.<\/p>\n
Kerr and Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the 2021 Olympic champion, put a charge in the slightly shorter but more widely contested 1,500-meter<\/a> race in the leadup to the Paris Olympics, going back and forth on a number of issues, including Kerr\u2019s suggestion that his rival could only run his top times with the help of pacesetters, the likes of which aren\u2019t allowed at major championships. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Kerr, who won worlds at the distance in 2023, frequently sparred back and forth with Ingebrigtsen on the track and online in the early 2020s. When the Paris Games rolled around, Ingebrigtsen faded to fourth while American Cole Hocker pulled a huge upset<\/a>, with Kerr finishing second. <\/p>\n Last year at world championships, Ingebrigtsen faltered in a preliminary heat while Kerr pulled up lame and limped into the finish in a race won by Issac Nader of Portugal.<\/a><\/p>\n This year, with no worlds or Olympics on the schedule, Kerr made the mile his key target. It\u2019s a distance that isn\u2019t run as much in big events but that still has huge historical significance, most of it surrounding Roger Bannister\u2019s<\/a> breaking of the once-intimidating four-minute barrier in 1954.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n![\"Josh](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1784398092_512_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n