by Stuart Weir
Fred Kerley
Fred Kerley is the fastest man on the planet! He won the 100m dash, and I celebrated with a 100-yard pizza from Tracktown pizza! There was a disappointment for the neutral when Olympic champion, Marcell Lamont, pulled out through injury. To be fair, Lamont has struggled with injury all year and would probably not have challenged Kerley.
For years, Jamaica dominated men’s sprinting – think Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell, etc. We are now in the era of the USA with 4 Americans in the final, and all the medals went to the USA. The result was:
1 Fred Kerley 9.86
2 Marvin Bracy 9.88 (874)
3 Trayvon Bromell 9.88 (876)
In the semi-finals, Oblique Seville was fastest at 9.93. With four men under 10 seconds and Kerley running 10.02, the final looked wide open but Kerley was keeping the best to the last. Andre de Grasse had gone out in the semi-final commenting: “It wasn’t my day today. My top speed wasn’t there. It wasn’t me. I have been fighting injury and illness”.
Kerley said after the final: “It was amazing! I opened with 9.99. My fastest time this year is 9.72, and my slowest was 10.02 [in the semi-final] just two hours before. And I have still got the 200 which starts on Monday. When I run the 400, nobody can outsprint me at the end. It was amazing to get to compete on home soil with the crowd behind us.
“Track and Field have changed my life. Coming from where I do, every day I get to run track is a blessing”.
Earlier in the year, Fred said to me: “No one in this world will break my confidence. I believe in myself, and that’s a hard man to beat.”. I think he proved it in the 100 meters.
See my previous article on Fred Fred Kerley: It’s Fred’s world, we just live in it! – runblogrun
