By Amy Tennery
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The 100 metres world champion Fred Kerley and twice champion of the 200 metres Noah Lyles will try to mark their territory in the other’s marquee event this week at the U.S. trials.
Ahead of this summer’s World Championships in Budapest, the reigning title-holders were not obligated to compete in their trademark distance at the U.S. nationals in Eugene, Oregon.
So Kerley, who led an American podium sweep of the 100m at the world championships last year, will feature in the 200m at the U.S. trials after a quad injury in the semi-final at the worlds ended his hopes of a sprint double gold.
Lyles, the American 200m record holder who failed to make the U.S. Olympic team in the shorter sprint for the Tokyo Games, is determined to get it right in the 100m this time around.
“I am ready, plain and simple,” said Lyles, who focused his indoor season on the 60m distance to build up his speed and has stuffed his outdoor agenda with 100m events, winning the Paris Diamond League last month.
“100’s on full-frontal right now,” he told reporters in New York at the USATF Grand Prix last month.
“Setting up the first 30, setting up the first 20 and making sure that it’s faster than any other year. That why we did so many 60s this year and that’s why we’ve been running a lot more 100s this year. And, you know, it’s been working.”
He ran a wind-aided 9.80 at the Bermuda Grand Prix in May but has otherwise been unable to get close to the world’s best times this year.
He ran 9.95 in April, more than a tenth of a second slower than the world leading 9.83 seconds that Briton Zharnel Hughes ran in New York last month.
The fastest man in the United States, Kerley, will want to keep his grip on the 100 metres crown later this summer in Budapest and predicts he will be in the best shape of his career when he defends his title.
The Tokyo Olympic silver medallist, who once specialised in the 400m, long ago silenced the sceptics when he moved to the shorter distance and has yet to run slower than 9.94 in four races in 2023.
But with a pair of Diamond League titles and the world’s third-fastest time this year in the 100m, Kerley is setting his sights on bigger game.
“I was comfortable, but I know I still got work to do,” he told reporters after winning the 200m at Doha Diamond League meet in May in 19.92 for the ninth-best time in the world this year.
The USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships kick off on July 6.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Toby Davis)
