Kerley leads home American sweep of men’s world 100m final

Wednesday, 20 July 2022 00:12 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Fred Kerley

EUGENE (Reuters): Fred Kerley led an American clean sweep in the 100 metres final on Saturday, the first since 1991, to send the home fans wild and give the sport’s dominant nation a night to remember as they hosted the World Championships for the first time.

Kerley timed his dip perfectly to clock 9.86 seconds as Marvin Bracy took silver and Trayvon Bromell bronze, both with 9.88 seconds, but Bracy edging it by two thousandths of a second.

A fourth American in the final, defending champion Christian Coleman, finished sixth.

Carl Lewis led clean sweeps in 1983 and 1991 but no nation has managed it since.

There was nothing between the medallists once they were into their running, and with Bromell out in lane eight and the other two side-by-side in three and four it was an impossible finish to call.

As each name, alongside the stars and stripes, appeared on the giant screen, the home crowd increased the volume of their cheers, greeting confirmation of the 1-2-3 with a chant of “USA”.

Olympic silver medallist Kerley was the form runner in the field. He posted the year’s leading time and a personal best of 9.76 on the same Eugene track when winning the U.S. trials last month, and his 9.79 on Friday was the fastest-ever world championships heat time.

Fraser-Pryce leads Jamaican sweep in 100m, American gold rush continues