Fred Kerley gears up for Shanghai Diamond League after finishing behind Christian Coleman at Xiamen meet

Fred Kerley is gearing up for the Shanghai Diamond League after his participation at the Xiamen Diamond League 2024, held on April 20, 2024.

He recently competed in the 100m event at the Xiamen Diamond League 2024, the first meeting of the 2024 series. In a time of 10.17s, Kerley came in second in the meeting, just behind the reigning indoor world champion Christian Coleman, who recorded a 10.13s.

Kerley has been listed to participate in the 100m at the Shanghai Diamond League, set for April 27, where he will again face Coleman, and other top sprinters from across the world like Akani Simbine, Emmanuel Eseme, and Rohan Watson.

Ahead of the second Diamond League meeting of the season, the Tokyo Olympics silver medalist posted a training video on his Instagram (IG) handle and captioned it:

“Next one up. @shanghaidiamondleague”

Fred Kerley began his 2024 outdoor season campaign at the Hurricane Invitational 2024 at the Cobb Stadium in Coral Gables, Florida, on March 15 and March 16, where he won the first position comprehensively in the men’s 100m, registering a time of 10.03s.

He finished ahead of Jamaica’s Andrew Hudson (10.12s) and Devin Augustine (10.16) of Trinidad and Tobago in the meeting.

After his triumph at the event, the three-time world champion Kerley talked about his aspirations for the Paris Olympics 2024 in an interview with athlete-turned-digital creator, Fitzroy Dunkley (RoriDunk), adding:

"Time to upgrade that silver to gold. That's the only thing I'm working for upgrade that silver to gold and I know I'm the man to do it."

A look at Fred Kerley’s achievements at the Diamond League

Fred Kerley of The United States of America celebrates winning the Men's 100m final during the Weltklasse Zurich, part of the Wanda Diamond League at Stadium Letzigrund on September 09, 2021 in Zurich, Switzerland. (Photo by Maja Hitij/Getty Images)

Fred Kerley is a two-time Diamond League champion. He won his first Diamond League title in the 400m discipline with a time of 44.80 at the Weltklasse Zürich on August 30, 2018.

Having initially begun his career as a 400m athlete, he transitioned to short sprint distances like 100m and 200m during the COVID-19 pandemic. His first Diamond League success over a short-distance sprint event came in 2021 when he got past Canada’s Andre de Grasse (9.89s) with a time of 9.87s.

Kerley will look to capture his third Diamond League title in the 2024 season over the 100m sprint discipline.