Fred Kerley led a medal sweep for the United States on Saturday night in the final of the men’s 100-meter dash at the track and field world championships.
Kerley, 27, won gold in 9.86 seconds, just ahead of two American teammates — Marvin Bracy-Williams in second and Trayvon Bromell in third. Bracy and Bromell both finished in 9.88 seconds, but Bracy edged his teammate for the silver medal in a photo finish. When the results flashed on the scoreboard at Hayward Field, Bracy tackled Bromell in a moment of pure celebration.
“We said we was going to do it, and we did it,” Kerley said in an on-track interview.
A former 400-meter specialist who won bronze in the event at the 2019 world championships, Kerley transitioned to shorter sprints during the pandemic. And after winning the silver medal in the 100 meters at last summer’s Tokyo Olympics, he now owns the title of the world’s fastest man.
Lamont Marcell Jacobs of Italy, the reigning Olympic champion, withdrew from the competition before his semifinal. Jacobs, who has not raced much this year, was said to have been dealing with a muscle injury.
“I am forced to stop,” Jacobs said in a post on Twitter. “I am a fighter and this is why I decided to be in Eugene. Now, in order not to compromise the rest of the season by risking a more serious injury, I have to postpone the challenge. I promise, I will do my best to make you dream!”
Kerley managed to turn Jacobs’s absence into little more than a footnote.
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