Making a big noise about it before the event is bold but very much in keeping with Kerr's brand. He wants to draw more attention to athletics and have more people know about its personalities, its achievements and its rivalries.

Previously, it was his enjoyably antagonistic relationship with 1500m rival Jakob Ingebrigtsen. Now it is taking down one of the sport's longest-standing records.

"Everything's going extremely smoothly," Kerr told BBC Sport. "You know when you call your shot this far in advance, there's a lot of things that can happen and we're still three weeks or so out.

"It's definitely on, I just need to handle the variables that are going to come my way and, with a little bit of luck on my side, I'm sure I'll be in a really good spot."

Kerr chose London as a tribute to the history of the mile record. It has been broken by six British athletes in the past, including Roger Bannister's legendary first sub-four-minute mile in 1954. The Scot wants to be the seventh.

Already the fastest from Great Britain, he currently ranks sixth on the all-time list with his time of three minutes 45.34 seconds from two years ago.