LONDON (AP) 鈥� The in track that has stood for 27 years will come under attack Saturday from Britain鈥檚 Josh Kerr.
Kerr, the over the 1,500 meters metric mile, has called it 鈥淧roject 222鈥� 鈥� for each second he aims to take in breaking Hicham El Guerrouj鈥檚 mark of 3 minutes, 43.13 seconds.
鈥淚t鈥檚 in my favor,” Kerr said Friday at a news conference at London Stadium that staged track and field at the 2012 Olympics. 鈥淢y body is capable of the mark and so my job tomorrow is to have my mind to be available to let my body do its job.鈥�
The 28-year-old Kerr has targeted the mile race at the Diamond League meeting as a main goal in a track season with neither Olympics nor world championships.
鈥淚鈥檓 very excited. It鈥檚 been on my mind, my team鈥檚 mind, for a long time,鈥� said the 1,500 .
The mile is not a championships event yet has iconic status in track history, with the four-minute barrier finally broken in 1954 by another
El Guerrouj鈥檚 record set in 1999 is more than 16 seconds faster than Bannister, and Kerr is the sixth-fastest athlete on the . One of his rivals Saturday is No. 4 in that list.
Yared Nuguse set a United States record three years ago, 0.84 slower than El Guerrouj, in a race won by Jakob Ingebrigtsen at Eugene, Oregon.
While Bannister鈥檚 feat running 3:59.4 is remembered in track lore, he held the record just a few weeks before Australian John Landy lowered it by 1.4 seconds.
Jim Ryun of the U.S. later held the record for nine years until Filbert Bayi of Tanzania took it in 1975.
A stellar 10 days in August 1981 saw a British rivalry play out: Sebastian Coe took Steve Ovett鈥檚 mile record, Ovett got it back then Coe beat it again clocking 3:47.33.
In the 45 years since, the mile record was held only by Steve Cram, Noureddine Morceli and El Guerrouj.
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