World Athletics Championship : Fred Karley wins 100m gold in America’s clean sweep

by Bibhu Ray

(The Quiver) : American Fred Karley led the US clean sweep in the World Athletics Championship as he won the men’s 100m gold in Eugene, Oregon.

Karley is one of the three men to have broken 10 seconds in the 100m, 20 seconds in the 200m and 44 seconds in 400m. The other two are South Africa’s Wayde van Niekerk and America’s Michael Norman.
When Kerley won the American trials in June, he ran the fastest time of the year and a personal best of 9.76 on the same Eugene track. His heat time of 9.79 on Friday set a record for the World Championships. He is now the only man to have to won both 100m and 400m, having finished third over one lap in 2019.

“I said we were going to do it and we did it- USA, baby,” Kerley quoted as saying in trackside interview.
It was Carl Lewis who had led to clean sweeps in 1983 and 1991. Notably no nation has managed it since.

Kerley, who won the silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, timed 9.86 seconds. After 1983 and 1991, Marvin Bracy became the third person to win the 100-meter race cleanly. Bracy won the silver medal while Trayvon Bromell settled for the bronze.