American sprinter Fred Kerley: “There will be a world record the next time I touch the 100m”

The former world 100m champion, Fred Kerley, made a bold statement on social media on Tuesday, saying there will be a world record the next time he races the 100m. Kerley is slated to run the 100m at the Oslo Diamond League in Norway on May 30, where he will go up against the reigning Olympic champion, Italy’s Marcell Jacobs.

World record next time I touch the 100m

— Fred Kerley (@fkerley99) May 14, 2024

Kerley’s personal best is 9.76 seconds, which he ran in the 100m semifinals at the 2022 USATF Championships; a month later, he won a world title in the event on home soil. His time of 9.76 seconds is the fastest 100m in the last three years and the sixth fastest in history.

The 29-year-old, who started his professional career as a 400m sprinter, has not yet broken 10 seconds for 100m this season. His fastest time of 2024 came in his season opener, where he ran 10.03 seconds.

Kerley failed to defend his world 100m title last year in Budapest (he did not advance out of the semi-finals). The May 30 race in Oslo will be a chance for him to back up his words. If he drops out of Oslo, Kerley will have to run the 100m at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials in order to qualify/make the U.S. Olympic team.

Last week, Usain Bolt became the athlete to hold the men’s 100m world record the longest, surpassing American Jim Hines, who was the first man to break 10 seconds and who held the world record from 1968 to 1982. Bolt set the 100m world record at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, stopping the clock at 9.58 seconds.

In a recent interview, Bolt said he was “not worried” about his records in the 100m and 200m sprints falling, but praised U.S. sprinter and world champion Noah Lyles for being close to threatening his 200m time.