Meet Fred Kerley, the world’s fastest man

He was raised in Taylor, outside of Austin by his aunt Virginia Kerley. She had taken him in at the the age of 2, along with several of his siblings. At the time, Fred’s father was in prison and his mother had taken “wrong turns in life,” according to a first-person story he wrote for Spikes magazine in 2019. At one point, Virginia Kerley had 13 children under her roof.

“If it wasn’t for her, I probably wouldn’t be talking to you all now,” Kerley said Saturday. “She actually sacrificed her life for me and my brothers and my sisters and my cousins.”

College start

Kerley, who was originally a 400-meter runner, got his best scholarship offer from South Plains College outside Lubbock. He was injured as a freshman and was 11th in the junior college national championships as a sophomore. 

He placed 11th in the 400 meters in Levelland, Texas, where he labored with a hamstring injury as a freshman and placed a modest 11th in the 400 meters at the junior college national championships as a sophomore. But he always worked hard and without complaint, said Chris Beene, his former coach at South Plains.

“He was always a great teammate,” Beene, now the head girls’ track and field coach at Anna High School outside of Dallas, told the New York Times. “I mean, he would be willing to die on the track in the 4×400 for our team.”

He signed with Texas A&M where he was the NCAA champion in the 400 meters in 2017. Two years later, he was the bronze medalist in the event at the world championships.

Changing events

His future appeared to be in the 400, but he began to eye the shorter sprints during the pandemic. In a way, Kerley said, he wanted to return to his roots as a sprinter and long jumper. Or, as he put it: “I’m just back in my playground.”

At the outset of 2021, Kerley expected to contend for an Olympic gold medal in the 400 meters, the event at which he had once reached No. 1 in the world and remains the eighth-fastest ever. He switched early last year, to much derision within the sport, to 100 meters.

At the U.S. Olympic trials, Kerley entered the 100, 200 and 400 at the U.S. Olympic trials but a swollen ankle convinced him he could make it through three rounds of the 400 so he focused on the 100.

Kerley made the team, showed up even faster at the Olympics and won a silver medal, losing to surprise gold medalist Marcell Jacobs of Italy by .04 seconds. He had become the second-fastest at 100 meters despite only a few months of training tailored to the event. He separated himself this year, running 9.76 seconds — seventh-fasted all-time — at U.S. championships and 9.79 in Friday night’s opening round.

Fast company

Kerley is one of three men, along with South African Wayde van Niekerk and American Michael Norman, who have run 400 meters in less than 44 seconds, 200 meters in less than 20 seconds and 100 meters in less than 10 seconds. Add up their best performances in each race using World Athletics’ scoring system, and Kerley’s score is the best.

What’s next

Kerley said he would race in the 200 meters this week while making himself available for relay duty in both the 4×100 and the 4×400.

“What he’s trying to do is unprecedented, at least in recent history,” said Olympic medalist Ato Boldon, a former Olympic medalist and now an NBC analyst, told the Washington Post.

Kerley believes he could run his best 400 right now. He proclaimed Saturday night that, if asked, he would run in both the 4×100 and the 4×400 relays at these championships, an unheard of double.

“Hopefully, I can do both,” Kerley said.

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