American sprinter Fred Kerley continued his impressive start to the 2023 season with a dominant performance at the Sydney Track Classic on Saturday. The 27-year-old, who is the reigning 100m world champion and won a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics, won the 400m in a time of 44.65 seconds. Kerley started the race conservatively before taking the lead and cruising to victory. Despite visibly showing signs of exhaustion after the race, Kerley expressed his satisfaction with the result, saying “It was a good race. I want a good year ahead.”
Fred Kerley’s win in Sydney follows his comfortable victory in the 200m at the Maurice Plant Meet in Melbourne last month. The race in Sydney was only the fourth time he had competed in the 400m since 2019, as he had been focusing on the shorter sprints in recent years. Kerley is one of only three men in history to have run sub-10 seconds for the 100m, sub-20 for the 200m, and sub-44 for the 400m. He is known for his impressive speed and explosive power, and his performances in Australia suggest that he is in top form ahead of the 2023 season.
Read more: Twitter reacts as Fred Kerley wins the Maurie Plant Meet 2023
This is how twitter reacted after Fred Kerley won the 400m at the Sydney Track Classic 2023 on Saturday:
THANKS FOR COMING 🤯
Fred Kerley stamps an exclamation mark on his stint down under with a 44.65 run over 400m at the Chemist Warehouse Sydney Track Classic.
Out of this world. #ThisIsAthletics
— Athletics Australia (@AthsAust) March 11, 202344.65s!!🔥🔥
Fred Kerley still has it!💪🏾
He clocked a time of 44.65s to win the men's 400m at the Sydney Track Classic in Australia.
Mr Do-It-All🔥 pic.twitter.com/mjt3R6to3a
Fred Kerley looked fearless this morning
— L (@benghazi_ebooks) March 11, 2023Fred Kerley makes running look so easy, my word.
Looked like he was strolling on the back straight, while everyone was on a treadmill.
— Lachlan McKirdy (@LMcKirdy7) March 11, 2023However, Fred Kerley fell short of breaking the fastest time in Australia, which was set by his compatriot Michael Johnson at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. Despite this, Kerley’s performance in Sydney was still impressive and demonstrated why he is considered one of the top sprinters in the world. Kerley’s performance in Sydney came shortly after he announced a new sponsorship deal with ASICS for the 2023 season. Fred had ended his partnership with popular brand Nike. The American sprinter has expressed his desire to use his platform as a world champion and Olympic medalist to inspire more young people to participate in track and field.
Fred Kerley has also spoken about his ambition to break Usain Bolt’s world records over 100m and 200m. However, he emphasized that his main goal is to win gold medals at the Olympic Games. “Records come and go, but golds last forever,” he said. “I can’t care too less about what I did, but I want a gold medal at the Olympic Games, because the gold at the Olympic Games lasts forever.”
The women’s 100m race was also noteworthy, as New Zealand’s Zoe Hobbs achieved a new national record of 10.97 seconds. Hobbs had already run an impressive time of 11.07 seconds at the New Zealand nationals in Wellington just eight days earlier. The Sydney Track Classic, also known as the 2023 Chemist Warehouse Sydney Track Classic (due to sponsorship reasons) is the premier single-day athletics event in New South Wales. In addition, it is one of the best days of athletics in Australia.
Read more: Can Noah Lyles break Usain Bolt’s world records?
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