Mile, men

What to remember

Run mainly for betting in 18th and 19th century England, the mile held out against the metric system: the Olympics and the World Championships use the 1500 m instead, yet the distance is present in every field of athletics. In London on July 18, 2026, at the London Athletics Meet, Scotland's Josh Kerr ran it in 3 min 42.66 s, an average of 26.020 km/h (16.168 mph).

A mile is 1,760 yards, or 5,280 feet, or exactly 1,609.344 metres. Kerr was running a little further than his championship distance, the 1500 m, where he became world champion in Budapest in 2023, after Olympic bronze at the 2020 Games and before Olympic silver in 2024.

2026 was a rich year for him: winner of the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship over 1500 m, Commonwealth Games mile champion, and world indoor 3000 m champion again, a title he had already won in 2024. After the University of New Mexico, where he won three NCAA titles, he turned professional in 2018 with the Brooks Beasts Track Club.