BUDAPEST – Former Taylor High School standout Fred Kerley failed to make the 100-meter final at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
Kerley, who went into the event as the reigning world champion in the 100-meter dash, missed out on qualifying for the final when he finished third in his semifinal heat Sunday, Aug. 20.
The former Duck finished with a time of 10.02 seconds, placing behind Jamaica’s Oblique Seville and Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo.
Kerley’s race was the third and final semifinal heat. The top two sprinters of each heat automatically advanced to the championship’s final heat along with the sprinters with the next two fastest times.
He missed out on one of those two spots by one-hundredth of a second.
Noah Lyles, Kerley’s American teammate, won the overall gold with a time of 9.83 seconds. Kerley’s time in the semifinal heat would have been good for the sixth-best time had he advanced to the final round.
The sprinter’s winning time at last year’s championships in Oregon was 9.86 seconds.
While he was disappointed to not advance to the final, Kerley told NBC Sports after the race that he is thankful to come out of the race healthy.
"I think everything was good,” Kerley told NBC Sports in a post-race interview. “I'm blessed, I'm healthy and hey, they got the better of me.”
Kerley placed second in his preliminary heat with a time of 9.99 seconds, losing to Seville.
--
