Josh Kerr will make an ambitious attempt to break the men’s mile world record after being confirmed among a star-studded field for Saturday’s Diamond League meeting at London’s Olympic Stadium.
The Scottish Olympic silver medallist and two-time world indoor champion will compete in the prestigious Emsley Carr Mile alongside fellow Scot Neil Gourley, the 2025 world indoor silver medallist and European indoor mile record-holder.
The high-quality field also includes Paris Olympic bronze medallist Yared Nuguse and American runners Hobbs Kessler and Nathan Green.
Kerr will be aiming to surpass Hicham El Guerrouj’s long-standing world record of 3:43.13, set in Rome on 7 July 1999.
Another Scot, Jake Wightman, will feature in one of the strongest men’s 800m races assembled in recent years.
The former world 1500m champion heads to London after finishing second behind Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi at the Monaco Diamond League, where Wanyonyi set a new men’s 1,000m world record in his debut over the rarely contested distance.
Wanyonyi will again line up in London alongside Canada’s Olympic silver medallist Marco Arop, American Bryce Hoppel, Ireland’s Mark English and British athletes Max Burgin and Ben Pattison.
The women’s 800m will feature Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson leading a strong British line-up that also includes world silver medallist Georgia Hunter Bell.
They will be joined by Dutch athlete Femke Bol, who is stepping up from the 400m hurdles, an event in which she has won multiple Olympic and World Championship medals.
In the women’s 200m, Olympic champion Julien Alfred arrives in London after producing the third-fastest performance in history over the distance at the Monaco Diamond League, setting a world-leading time and a new personal best.
The Saint Lucian sprinter will defend her London title against a world-class field that includes American Olympic champion Gabby Thomas, as well as Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith, Amy Hunt and newly crowned British champion Success Eduan.
