Fred Kerley might just have taken a dose of the truth serum when he stepped into the Ready Set Go podcast. The episode delivers deep revelations in every segment. One of the first digs he took was all about the Netflix docuseries Sprint. As the show began its marketing plans for part two, Kerley went on to reveal how, despite the nobility behind the show, It is, in fact, an inauthentic representation of athletes! If that wasn’t shocking enough, Kerely does not stop there. He goes on to reveal unsaid things about the Paris Olympics, too.

The Paris Olympics, when it comes to track and field, were perhaps one of the most riveting segments to watch. And the most riveting of them all was the 100-meter race. As Sprint, in season one, puts it, “There is no crown heavier than the Olympic 100-meter gold medal.” Fred Kerley was one of the people racing to grab that crown. Before the race began, Kerley was of the attitude, “I was like, if I win this, all these guys are trash.” Defeat hurts, it sure did in this case too.

Noah Lyles ran the best race of his life and won it! This left Kerely to settle for bronze. While this was what the world saw, there was a whole other story cooking behind the scenes. The race for Fred Kerley was lost even before it even began! On the day of the finals, as some of the fastest men stood at the starting line, the race did not begin.

“My heart was just beating, beating, beating, beating fast, so I’m ready to run, and then it just went away,” said Kerley reminiscing. But why did it go? A major delay took place right before the race. The reason was that an intrusion on the field had to be managed. The result of the same? The longest Olympic delay in history. And that was the beginning of the downfall.

Looking back at the moment, Fred Kerley went on to say, “Had the race started five minutes earlier, you probably would have seen a faster race out of everybody.” That’s an interesting statement because the Paris finals were the fastest race in history, with all nine sprinters finishing under 9.91. Yet Kerley feels like there was potential lost. The delay took a big toll on Kerley’s performance.

Kerley went on to clock 9.81 seconds, just behind Lyles and Kishane Thompson, who both ran 9.79. So what exactly happened? “If you go watch that race, I gave that race up when I got up. If you go look at that race, I was killing them, and once I got my transition, I stepped a step backward and then tried to run again. I lost that race, but you live, and you learn,” said Fred Kerley. Yes, the race was lost. But how is Kerley so confidently claiming that the races could have been faster?

What makes Kerley think that Paris could have been a faster race?

To understand the same, let’s take a look at some of the best times the three 100m medalists have made during the 2024 season. The numbers show that all three top finishers—Lyles, Thompson, and Kerley—had clocked faster times in previous events! For example, let’s take the case of Kishane Thompson. He ran his personal best of 9.77 at the Jamaican Championships. A time that is 0.07 seconds faster than his time in Paris. While that was the case for the silver medalist, let’s look at the fastest man.

Noah Lyles also achieved a 9.83-second run in the semifinal in Paris. A number that says that Lyles, too, could have perhaps been faster than his finals time. Meanwhile, for Kerley, it was rather a dismal state of affairs. Fred Kerley had clocked 9.76 in Eugene in 2022. A time that is 0.05 seconds faster than his final time in Paris. As Fred himself puts it, “I feel like the race was going to be faster than what it is, but you can’t take that away. But the race was definitely one for the ages, definitely one of the most beautiful races I’ve been a part of.”

With the 2024 track and field season behind us, Fred Kerley is still moving ahead with his earlier dream of breaking Usain Bolt’s record. A record that stands at 9.58 seconds. Who knows, maybe if the conditions are right, he just might do it!