World Athletics Championships 2023: Noah Lyles and Fred Kerley safely through to men's 100m semis at track Worlds

Noah Lyles and Fred Kerley both made it through to the 100m semi-finals at track and field's 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, on Saturday (19 August).

Lyles, the reigning 200m world champion, set an impressive time of 9.95 seconds to win heat 2, coming home ahead of Kenya's in-form Ferdinand Omanyala.

"To be honest, I don't even know what happened in the first 30," Lyles said afterwards. "It set me up really well for the rest of the race, the next 50m. I felt like I was on top of myself; I was putting my power and I felt really loose, which is, you know, exactly how you're going to feel when you go into the first round."

Last year's 100m world gold medallist Kerley, who lined up in heat 5, finished second in 9.99 behind Jamaica's Oblique Seville, who equalled his personal best with a time of 9.86.

In the penultimate heat, Italy's Marcell Jacobs also made it through to Sunday's semis, finishing third in a time of 10.15. While the mark represented a season's best for the Olympic champion he will need to show a lot more speed to secure a place on the podium at these World Championships.

Zharnel Hughes eased to victory in his heat, crossing the line in 10.00. The British 100m and 200m record holder holds the fastest time of the year after setting his personal best of 9.83 in June 2023. He will be joined in the next round by Botswana's U20 100m world record Letsile Tebogo who won his heat in 10.11.

Tebogo said later in the mixed zone: "The most important target is to just get to the final because in 2022 I reached the semis. I wouldn't say (being favoured for a medal is) giving me pressure as we are only doing what we have already written down. We have come a long way as African sprinters and to be mentioned as a medal contender is nice, but it would be nicer for Africa and Botswana."

The USA's Cravont Charleston, who was the surprise winner of his country's national trials in July, did not advance to the semis after finishing fifth in his first-ever race at a World Championships.

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