Josh Kerr: British world champion breaks Mo Farah’s two-mile indoor world record at Millrose Games

Britain’s Josh Kerr smashed Mo Farah’s world two-mile indoor record at the Millrose Games on Sunday.

At Washington Heights’ Fort Washington Avenue Armory – the venue known as ‘The Fastest Track in the World’ because of the number of records set there – Kerr clocked 8:00.67, beating Farah’s mark of 8:03.40 from 2015.

It continued an extraordinary rise for Kerr, who won the world 1500m crown in Budapest last year after stunning favourite Jakob Ingebrigtsen.

“It was always going to be really tough, small margins,” Kerr said on his latest landmark win.

“I had to roll with the punches at the start of my career – pretty good but not world class. And then to be world class and now world champion… I’m having fun with it, creating big goals to get myself out the door and prove I’m not all talk.”

Kerr continued, explaining his mindset during the race: “At 300m to go I was like it’s now or never, I’m either not going to make it to that line or I’m hopefully going to break that world record.”

American Grant Fisher was one of Kerr’s key competitors in the race, something Kerr credited for helping drive him to a world record time.

He said: “Grant was so strong. I sat on him for a while. He did so much of the work so thank you so much for that. And then I just closed it down the last 600.”

In addition to claiming Farah’s world record, Kerr also overhauled Sam Atkin’s UK indoor 3000m record by 1.81 seconds in the process.

Only twice have runners – Ingebrigtsen and Daniel Komen – beaten Kerr’s time, but both were in outdoor conditions.

Even distance icons like Haile Gebrselassie and Eliud Kipchoge had never run the distance faster.

Speaking to CitiusMag before the event, Kerr hinted at targeting Farah’s mark.

He said: “There’s going to be a fantastic field and it will be paced at the two-mile world record. Currently, I’m in fantastic shape.

“I’m having an amazing fall and dealing with everything new and everything that’s exciting, amazing and also terrible about being a world champion. I’m very excited for it.”