Two Olympic silver medalists – Fred Kerley and Kenneth Bednarek recently competed at the Diamond League, producing unexpected results.
Fred is known for competing in the 400 meters distance but has recently produced remarkable performances in shorter-distances. Notably, the sprinter won silver in the 100m men’s race in Tokyo.
Bednarek, another American, also won silver in Tokyo, in the men’s 200m race. He recorded a personal best of 19.68 seconds as he finished behind Canada’s Andre De Grasse.
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However, Kerley successfully managed to give a cutthroat competition to the 200m sprinter at the Diamond League. Even though the latter was able to make a clean sweep in Lausanne, Kerley created his new personal best in Paris.
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Kerley loses to Bednarek in Laussane
Bednarek won his first race after securing the second position in the Summer Games this year. In his recent race at the IAAF Diamond League meet in Lausanne, Switzerland, he ran a 19.65 seconds race. With that, he managed to stay ahead of his fellow American, Fred Kerley, eventually winning the race. Since the weather conditions were not favorable for any of the athletes, his timing was adjusted to 19.68 seconds.
Thus, he could not give his personal best in this event. Post his run he said, “I was really hoping to PR tonight as I know this is a fast track, but the wind was too strong. I didn’t feel the cold too much until we had the false start, then it started to affect me a bit.
During this event, Bednarek was comfortably ahead of Kerley. Kerley, having won 100m in the Summer Games couldn’t keep up with the former, towards the end of the curve. Bednarek won by 0.12 seconds. Thus, Kerley secured the second position in this event. Lastly, the third position was secured by Steven Gardiner with a timing 20.11 seconds.
Kerley makes a comeback!
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The 26-year-old did not give up after losing the Lausanne edition. Rather, he decided to work harder and stick to his initial target of becoming the faster man alive. After gaining the second position on the podium at Tokyo, the American said that “It?s absolutely my desire to be the fastest man alive. I want to be the fastest in the one [100m], the two [200m] and the four [400m].” Having said that, he worked hard and managed to give a remarkable performance in Paris. With a personal best of 19.79, he definitely proved his dominance in this event.
In the battle of the Olympic 100 and 200 metre silver medallists, it was @fkerley99 🇺🇸with the win….but only just from @KennyBednarek with both recording 19.79! A PB for Kerley!#ParisDL 🇫🇷 #DiamondLeague
📸@matthewquine pic.twitter.com/a4JZCHAtF7— Wanda Diamond League (@Diamond_League) August 28, 2021
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Indeed, Kerley’s journey in track and field seems to be headed in an upward trajectory. Let’s wait and see if he can achieve his ambition of becoming the fastest man alive.