Golden Grand Prix 2023: Fred Kerley opens 100m season with win and says next week he'll show he's "the fastest man in the world"
The reigning world champion lays down the gauntlet by starting his 100m season with a 9.88 ahead of the Diamond League showdown vs double Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs. "I'm on and popping," he says.
Athletics
Fred Kerley says he’s absolutely the fastest man on the planet. And he’s going to prove it next weekend in Morocco against you know who.
“I’m the fastest man in the world,” Kerley said to Olympics.com, after firing a warning shot on Sunday (21 May) in Yokohama, where he won his first 100 metres of the season in 9.91 seconds at the Golden Grand Prix, a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold event.
“No doubt about it. And you’ll see it next Sunday.
“That was my first two 100s of the season so I can’t complain. I ended the season with 9.86 last season in Eugene so I know what I got to do.”
Kerley was actually faster in the heats when he took the tape in 9.88, which the reigning world champion said is the fastest season opener of his career. The final was marred by two false starts which frustrated everyone in the field.
Kerley’s times bode well for next Sunday when in the Diamond League he faces Italy’s double Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs in a highly anticipated rematch of the Olympic men's 100m final from Tokyo 2020 in 2021.
The two will race again five days later in Florence, Italy, in a mouth-watering few days for track and field fans.
Kerley and Jacobs have been trading social media barbs with each other since the Italian pulled out of last year’s world championships in Eugene, Oregon, citing an injury.
Kerley said there is nothing personal between him and Jacobs. In fact they are friends off the track, the American says.
But when the gun goes off, Kerley says the gloves come off, whether it’s Jacobs or anyone else.
He just wants Jacobs to turn up this time.
“We are actually good friends,” he said of Jacobs. “Competitively, I hate the **** out of everybody."
“I love everybody. Track and field, everyone is competitive at what they do. We’re cool outside the track" - Fred Kerley to Olympics.com in Yokohama.
“I come from a competitive background. I’m up for any challenge, any given day. I can work bare feet - anything.
“Hopefully he don’t duck out this race. I’m in Morocco tomorrow so I’m on and popping.”
Kerley appeared to be in fine form building up to the 19-27 August World Athletics Championships 2023 in Budapest, where he is eyeing a 100m-200m double gold. The 28-year-old American said he is just as confident in the 200m as he is in the 100m.
And Kerley already has his sights set firmly beyond the showdown with Jacobs and Budapest - top of the Olympic podium this time, in Paris.
“Paris is already on my radar. The only thing I want out of Paris is a gold medal - an individual gold medal,” he said. “I came up 0.04 short and I don’t plan on coming up short this time.
“Records come and go. Times come and go. But a gold medal lasts forever.”