Josh Kerr smashes Mo Farah’s world two miles record at Millrose

British middle-distance man clocks 8:00.67 in New York as Laura Muir runs European two miles record, Devynne Charlton a world 60m hurdles record and Yared Nuguse wins the Wanamaker Mile

Racing with the confidence and poise befitting a world champion, Josh Kerr smashed the world indoor record for two miles at the Millrose Games in New York on Sunday (Feb 11) with 8:00.67. Until now the US-based Brit has been weighing up the pros and cons of doing the World Indoor Championships, but surely this will sway him to come to Glasgow in three weeks’ time.

Not only did Kerr surpass Mo Farah’s world mark of 8:03.40 but he beat Sam Atkin’s UK indoor 3000m record of 7:31.97 with 7:30.16. It will be interesting to see what Jakob Ingebrigtsen makes of Kerr’s performance, although the Norwegian has run a two miles world record of 7:54.10 outdoors to be fair.

Grant Fisher, the US record-holder at 5000m and 10,000m outdoors, forced much of the pace with Kerr sitting on him until around 300m to go when he took off. With splits of 4:03.63 and 3:57.04 he proved an emphatic winner and even had time to show-boat a little in the home straight.

Fisher was rewarded with a US indoor record of 8:03.62 as Cole Hocker of the US was third in 8:05.70 and Geordie Beamish of New Zealand fourth in 8:05.73.

In his first race of the year Kerr looked splendid as he raced away from his rivals. Only Ingebrigtsen and Daniel Komen have run faster over the distance – both outdoors. Indoors, he not only beat Farah’s record but also the best times managed by such legends as Kenenisa Bekele, Haile Gebrselassie and Eliud Kipchoge.

When Farah set the record, in Birmingham in 2015, he had spent much of the week grabbing headlines for a Twitter spat with Andy Vernon that made the recent Kerr-Ingebrigtsen trash talk look tame.

Farah went through the first mile in 4:04 and passed 3000m in 7:33.1. But even the fast-finishing multiple global track champion would have struggled to have lived with Kerr’s finishing pace.

“That was so hard,” said Kerr. “Running two four-minute miles is harder than I thought. It was nerve-wracking to say I was going for a world record so far out before the meeting but I wanted to create some hype for the event.”

If Kerr travels to Glasgow, he could face Yared Nuguse, who won the Wanamaker Mile on Sunday a shade outside Yomif Kejelcha’s world record with 3:47.83. This depends on whether Kerr picks the 1500m or 3000m at those…