Fred Kerley has been far from his best this year, but that isn’t likely to dent his confidence.
The US sprinter, who won 100 metre silver at the 2020 Olympics and bronze in Paris last year, has previously been vocal in his belief that he will one day beat Usain Bolt‘s 9.58 second world record.
Fred Kerley is a five-time World Championship medallist, on top of his two Games medalsGettyKerley got his 2025 season underway at last month’s USC Tojan Invitational, where he clocked a winning effort of 10.23 in the final.
Though this was enough to claim victory on the day, it ranked a lowly 38th in the discipline’s fastest times this year.
This is a far cry from the 9.76 personal best Kerley clocked in 2022, which puts him sixth on the all-time list of fastest 100m sprinters.
And the American’s past performances in the event have certainly given him plenty of confidence he can climb even further up in this leaderboard.
So much so in fact, that in May 2024 he boldly tweeted: “World record next time I touch the 100m.”
But things didn’t quite go to plan for the track star when he next lined up at the New York City Grand Prix a month later.
After drawing attention to himself in the warm up when he was spotted wearing Puma spikes, despite being signed with Asics at the time, Kerley then appeared to slip out of the blocks twice.
Although he was not disqualified for this, he chose not to start the race, instead leaving the track after an intense discussion with officials.
Kerley later parted company with Asics following the footwear mishap, with Bolt’s 100m record remaining intact.
Despite his ill-fated prediction however, the 29-year-old refused to back down from his comments when quizzed on them months later.
Usain Bolt won eight Olympic gold medals in his storied career, setting world records in both the 100m and 200mGetty Kerley finished just 0.04 seconds behind gold medallist Noah Lyles in the Paris 2024 100m finalAFPAppearing the Ready Set Go podcast in October, Kerley doubled down on his Bolt claim: “That was not putting people on notice.
“The next time I stepped on the track, it was supposed to be a world record because what I did in training, it was stupid.
“So if you translate that to the track meet, it would have been good. But New York happened, the way it’s supposed to, for my success.
“That’s how I knew I was getting back to Fred Kerley.”
And this wasn’t the only time Kerley has vowed to beat the Jamaican Olympic legend’s unmatched time, set at the 2009 World Championships.
A year after being pipped to gold at the Tokyo 2020 games, he said of the 15-year record to the Independent: “It’s very realistic.
Kerley boasts a 400m personal best of 43.64 secondsGettyAlso boasting the tenth-fastest 400m time in history, the Texan boldly backed himself to challenge Wayde van Niekerk’s world record.
He added: “Everything is realistic; Bolt, Wayde [Van Niekerk], and all of the American greats. They put the bar up there for us to do it.
“If they can do it, then why not us? I’ve got to continue to train right, eat right, sleep right. These small things will help me to get to the bigger goals down the line. The records and that double gold.”
Kerley has another chance to challenge Bolt’s record this weekend, as he returns to sprinting action at the inaugural Grand Slam Track on Friday.
Launched by four-time Olympic gold medallist Michael Johnson, the lucrative new league will see the world’s elite runners compete in a never-before-seen format.
Competing in both the 100m and 200m, Kerley will face off against Jamaica’s Oblique Seville and Ackeem Blake, as well as the Paris 2024 200m silver medallist Kenny Bednarek.
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