Fred Kerley, Gabby Thomas and world’s top athletes bring excitement to USATF Golden Games

WALNUT, California — The outdoor track and field season kicked into high gear Saturday at the USATF Golden Games with world-leading times and strong performances in the run-up to the first World Championships on U.S. soil.

Fred Kerley, the Olympic 100-meter runner-up from Team USA, chased down 400-meter specialist Michael Norman in the men’s 200m with the fastest time in the world this year of 19.80 seconds. Norman clocked 19.83 in the meet, which was the second stop in the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold Series.

Kerley could attempt to qualify for worlds, which will be held in Eugene, Oregon in July, at any distance from 100 meters to 400 meters. He has run 9.99 in the 100 already this season and his time of 44.47 in the 400, which used to be his signature event, ranks second.

Kerley knows he will have top-flight competition in all three events and is ready to take on all challengers.

”I like to compete, so rivalry is rivalry,” Kerley told Around the Rings.

He has not divulged his plans for the U.S. nationals, where the world team will be selected. It’s a four-day meet, which will make doubling tough and tripling a super-human feat due to three rounds apiece at each distance. Besides, the 200 and 400 overlap at the World Championships.

Kerley said he will run the 100 meters at his next meet, the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi, Kenya, on May 7. He was third in the 100 at the U.S. Olympic Trials, and then ran a personal best in the Olympic final of 9.84 seconds to take the silver medal behind Marcell Jacobs of Italy, whose victory was perhaps the most surprising of the Games.

Kerley was fourth in the Olympic Trials in the 200, one spot off the U.S. team, although now he’s considered a favorite along with Olympic silver medalist Kenny Bednarek and bronze medalist Noah Lyles.

At the Golden Games, the men’s 200 was the final race in the televised portion of the meet and “Boy, did it live up to its billing,” said Sanya Richards-Ross, the Olympic gold medalist and NBC commentator.

However, it was supposed to be a showdown between four top competitors. Besides Kerley and Norman, Rai Benjamin, the 400-meter hurdles runner-up in Tokyo and Christian Coleman, the reigning 100-meter world champion, were on the original entry list.

Coleman, who served a suspension because he ran afoul of the “whereabouts” rule for drug testing, was a late scratch.

Kerley lined up in Lane 6 between Norman and Benjamin, former roommates who always wear white headbands.

Norman got off to a great start and had the lead coming around the curve. Then Kerley kept gaining on him and passed him in the final meters, with Benjamin third in 20.01 seconds.

”I came in pretty confident,” said Kerley. “The race felt good and I finished strong. I got the ‘W.’”

Kerley was only .04 of a second off his lifetime best in the 200, but he said he’s not focused on his times. He has only one goal: “Win.”

Norman, a gold medalist in the 4 x 400m relay in Tokyo, said he got too excited and “let the race plan leave my mind. I didn’t run a great race, but it was a good opener so I just need to make the adjustments.”

The women’s 200m had a different kind of suspense.

Gabby Thomas, who won the bronze in the Olympic 200, placed third in the women’s 100 in a wind-aided 10.86 seconds (+3.3 m/s) to finish behind Aleia Hobbs in 10.80 and Twanisha Terry at 10.77.

After the race, Thomas was chatting on her phone and with well-wishers. Suddenly, she had to be back on the track for the 200, which was scheduled only 24 minutes later.

Thomas wasn’t fazed by the quick turnaround. She ran 22.02 seconds with a tailwind of +1.9 m/s, just off the world-leading mark of 21.96 run by Favour Ofili a day earlier in a meet in Florida.

In the first round of the 100, Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica blazed to a time of 10.89 seconds to also top the world list. Thompson-Herah decided to skip the final in the meet, which was held in conjunction with the 62nd Mt. SAC Relays.

The year 2022 was supposed to be the lone “off” year in the Olympic quadrennium for track and field athletes, but the pandemic wreaked havoc on the schedule. With the Olympic Games pushed to 2021, the World Championships moved to 2022, giving the sport an unprecedented four major events in consecutive years. The 2023 Worlds are slated for Budapest, Hungary, followed by the 2024 Paris Olympics.

In other events at the Golden Games, Olympic gold medalist Valarie Allman had an impressive series in the women’s discus, but did not surpass the American record of 71.46 meters she posted last week. Her best toss was 69.46 meters on her fourth attempt.

”We’re chasing that big one,” Allman said. “It’s one thing to want it; it’s another thing to know it’s in you and I think I’m kind of starting to get to that spot of figuring out, ‘How do I reach my potential in the moment?’ It’s a journey, but I’m hoping one of these days I can find it when I’m in the ring.”

Olympic silver medalist Raevyn Rogers of Team USA opened her season in the 800 meters with a time of 1:58.77, much faster than her previous openers. “I felt free, I felt loose,” said Rogers. “I feel like I run my best races by running free and running natural.”

American Michael Cherry, who was fourth at the Olympics, won the men’s 400m, posting a world-leading time of 44.28 seconds to knock Kerley out of that top spot.”

I’ve been training super hard, so I’m glad I can come out and show it off today,” Cherry said. “Just to see that I know the sky’s the limit the rest of the season. When you have confidence, it’s so hard to knock it down. I just believe in myself.”

Cherry said that he opened with 45.9 seconds last year and finished at 44.3. “This year it’s 44.2,” he said, his face breaking into a big smile, “so hopefully I’ll finish at 43.2.”