World champion Fred Kerley made a statement in his first 100m outing of the season, running a 9.88 heat before a 9.91 final in two dominant performances at the Seiko Golden Grand Prix, this season’s fourth World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting, in Yokohama, Japan, on Sunday (21).
After 200m wins in Melbourne and Doha and a 400m triumph in Sydney, the versatile sprinter maintained his unbeaten season and broke the meeting record in the heats, running his fastest ever 100m season debut with 9.88 (1.5m/s).
He then returned to the track to win the final in 9.91 (0.4m/s), keeping his composure after the race was recalled twice.
Once away, Kerley – who claimed Olympic 100m silver in Tokyo – was in cruise control and won clear ahead of Australia’s Rohan Browning and Japan’s Ryuichiro Sakai, who both clocked 10.10.
Kerley ran 19.92 to win the 200m at the Diamond League meeting in Doha earlier this month and will now turn his attention to Diamond League events in Rabat and Florence, where he will take on Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs and world bronze medallist Trayvon Bromell in the 100m.
The women’s 100m in Yokohama was expected to be a battle between New Zealand’s Oceanian record-holder Zoe Hobbs and USA’s Destiny Smith-Barnett and so it proved.
Both athletes stormed out of their blocks, but Hobbs had the stronger finish and she moved away to cross the finish line clear in 11.20 (-0.4m/s) ahead of Smith-Barnett in 11.41.