Fredrick Lee Kerley (born May 7, 1995) is an American

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

sprinter known primarily for competing in the 400 meters distance but more recently the

100 meters The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contest ...

and 200 meters. He has earned several medals at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in the 400 m and 4 × 400 m relay including an individual bronze and a relay gold at the 2019 edition. Kerley claimed 100m gold in the 2022 edition. Kerley's personal best time of 43.64 seconds makes him the eighth fastest man in history over 400 m. During the pandemic, Kerley chose to focus on the 100 meters during the Olympic cycle to improve his basic speed for future attempts at a sub-43 400 m. The decision to move down paid off as he won the silver medal in the 100 m at the

2020 Tokyo Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

with a 9.84 performance; His personal best time of 9.76 makes him the sixth fastest man in history over the straightaway sprint. Kerley is one of only 3 men along with Michael Norman and

Wayde van Niekerk Wayde van Niekerk (South African English: , ; born 15 July 1992) is a South African track and field Sprint (running), sprinter who competes in the 200 metres, 200 and 400 metres. In the 400 metres, he is the current world record, world and ...

to go sub 10 seconds in 100m, sub 20 seconds in 200m and sub 44 seconds in 400m.

Early life and college

Kerley attended Taylor High School and his youth team was the College Station Sprinters in

College Station, Texas College Station is a city in Brazos County, Texas, situated in East-Central Texas in the heart of the Brazos Valley, towards the eastern edge of the region known as the Texas Triangle. It is northwest of Houston and east-northeast of Austin. ...

. Afterwards he attended

South Plains College South Plains College (SPC) is a public community college in Levelland, Texas. It operates satellite branches in Plainview, at the Reese Technology Center, formerly Reese Air Force Base, in western Lubbock, and the Lubbock Center near centra ...

from 2013 to 2015 before transferring to

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

. In 2016, Fred Kerley tried out for the Olympic team at the USA Olympic Trials. He did not qualify out of his heat, but he went on to represent the United States at the NACAC Under-23 Championships where he anchored the 4 × 100 meters relay team to gold. In March 2017, he won the 400 m at the NCAA Division I Championships in a world leading time of 44.85 s, one of the top ten fastest indoor times ever. He joined his younger brother Mylik Kerley as he anchored the Aggies to a come from behind victory in the relay. The two first place finishes contributed 20 points to the team, helping bring Texas A&M to their first ever team victory at the NCAA Track and Field Championships, run on their home track. In May, Kerley ran 44.09 s, just 0.09 s off the NCAA record, while easing to the finish line at the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

(SEC) Championships in

Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 census, it is the second-largest city in South Carolina. The city serves as the county seat of Richland County, and a portion of the city ...

. A few weeks later Kerley set the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

record in the men's

400 m The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is o ...

at the 2017 NCAA West Preliminary with a time of 43.70 s, taking three-tenths of a second off the 44.00 record by Olympic champion

Quincy Watts Quincy D. Watts (born June 19, 1970) is an American former athlete, and two time gold medallist at the 1992 Summer Olympics. Career Born in Detroit, Michigan, Quincy Watts attended the University of Southern California (USC) where he excelled ...

, set almost 25 years earlier. Kerley had met Watts just before the race. He concluded his amateur career to win the 400 m and relay at the 2017 NCAA Division I Championships in June.

Career

2017

A few weeks later in June 2017, Kerley won the 400 m at the USATF Championships in 44.03 seconds, qualifying to represent the United States in both the 400 m and the relay at the

World Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the Ol ...

. After winning his heat he finished third in his semi, but qualified for the final on time. In the final he was unable to replicate his form from earlier in the season, finishing seventh in a time of 45.23 s. He came back a day later to help the US qualify for the finals in the relay, and then a few days later earned a silver medal behind Trinidad and Tobago.

2018

In 2018, Kerley came back from an injury to win the

Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fourteen of the best invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics (formerly known as the IAAF) one-day mee ...

trophy in the men's 400 meters. After Kerley turned professional in 2017 he joined club ALTIS in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

, and trained there under the guidance of Kevin Tyler for the 2018 season. However, in 2019 he returned to Texas A&M to train under his former coach

Alleyne Francique Alleyne Jeremy Francique (born June 7, 1976) is a retired Grenadian athlete who specialized in 400 metres, his personal best being 44.47 seconds set in 2004. He is the 400m two time world indoor champion in 2004 and 2006. He won his first wor ...

, stating to

Track & Field News ''Track & Field News'' is an American monthly sports magazine founded in 1948 by brothers Bert Nelson and Cordner Nelson, focused on the world of track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running ...

"I believe in him so much that I had to come back to train with him."

2021

Kerley made his 2021 outdoor debut March 20 at the Tropical Park Elite Sprints Meet in

Tropical Park Tropical Park is a urban park in metropolitan Miami, Florida. The park is located just southwest of the intersection of the Palmetto Expressway (SR 826) and Bird Road, just west of South Miami. History The land opened as a county public par ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

with a pair of personal bests in the 100 m, 10.15 s in the heats and 10.11 s in the final, and then improved that time twice again at the Pure Athletics Spring Invitational in

Clermont, Florida Clermont is a city in Lake County in central Florida, United States, about west of Orlando and southeast of Leesburg. The population was 43,021 in 2020. The city is residential in character and its economy is centered in retail trade, lodging, ...

on April 4 with times of 10.06 in the heats and 10.03 to win the final. Kerley achieved his first sub-10 in the 100 m at the TRUfit Classic in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

on April 24, winning in 9.91 s with a maximum allowable wind velocity for record purposes (+2.0 m/s). On May 19 he won the men's 100 m in 9.96 s at the

Golden Spike The golden spike (also known as The Last Spike) is the ceremonial 17.6-karat gold final spike driven by Leland Stanford to join the rails of the first transcontinental railroad across the United States connecting the Central Pacific Railroad ...

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, finishing ahead of former

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

and

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champion

Justin Gatlin Justin Alexander Gatlin (born February 10, 1982) is a retired American sprinter who competed in the 60 meters, 100 meters, and 200 meters. He is the 2004 Olympic Champion in the 100 meters, the 2005 and 2017 World Champion in the 100 meters, the ...

who settled for second in 10.08 s. Kerley also ran in the 200 m where he placed second with a time of 20.27 s, trailing

Kenny Bednarek Kenny Bednarek (born October 14, 1998) is an American track and field sprinter from Rice Lake, Wisconsin. He specializes in the 200-meter distance, having won a silver medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics and at the 2022 World Championships. Sing ...

from the start who won in 19.93 s. According to ''

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...

,'' Kerley was satisfied with his performances, but thought there was more work to do in his 200 m and his focus for the Olympic Trials would be 400 m. On June 27, 2021, during the 2021 US Olympic Trials 200m final, Kerley ran a 19.90 his first sub-20 in the 200m. With this performance, Fred Kerley becomes the 3rd athlete to join the "Sub 10s, 20s, 44s club for the 100m, 200m & 400m sprints". The other 2 being the 400m

World Record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

holder

& Michael Norman.

2022

While competing in the

2022 World Athletics Championships The 2022 World Athletics Championships was the eighteenth edition of the World Athletics Championships. It was held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, United States, from July 15–24, 2022, with the country hosting that competition for the f ...

, Kerley won his maiden individual

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

gold medal in the 100m. Kerley registered his third consecutive sub-9.8 second performance in the heats, running a time of 9.79 seconds. In the final, Kerley pipped compatriot

Marvin Bracy Marvin Bracy-Williams (born December 15, 1993) is an American sprinter, and a former American football wide receiver. He played college football for the Florida State Seminoles, and quit just prior to their 2013 national championship season to ...

on the line with a time of 9.86 seconds winning the world title in the process. Fellow American

Trayvon Bromell Trayvon Jaquez Bromell (born July 10, 1995) is an American professional track and field athlete specializing in sprinting events. He was the first junior to break the 10-second barrier in the 100 meters with a time of 9.97 seconds, the former ju ...

finished third, completing a clean sweep.

Statistics

Information from

World Athletics World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...

profile unless otherwise noted.

Personal bests

International championship results

400 m circuit wins

**Overall winner: 2018 **

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: 2018 **

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

: 2018 **

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

: 2018 **

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

: 2019 * World Indoor Tour **

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: 2018

National championship results

*NCAA results from Track & Field Results Reporting System.

400 m seasonal bests

Personal life

Kerley's older cousin is former NFL wide receiver

Jeremy Kerley Jeremy Dashon Kerley (born November 8, 1988) is a former American football wide receiver and return specialist. He played college football at TCU and was drafted by the New York Jets in the fifth round of the 2011 NFL Draft and has also had s ...

Notes

References

External links

* * (Track & Field Results Reporting System) * (Track & Field Results Reporting System) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kerley, Fred Living people 1995 births African-American male track and field athletes American male sprinters People from Taylor, Texas Texas A&M Aggies men's track and field athletes Track and field athletes from Texas United States collegiate record holders in athletics (track and field) World Athletics Championships athletes for the United States World Athletics Championships medalists World Athletics Championships winners USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners Diamond League winners World Athletics Indoor Championships medalists Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic male sprinters Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field 21st-century African-American sportspeople