Fred Kerley Opens Up on Sprinting Shift from 400m to 100m

Fred Kerley claimed the 100m world title on home soil in 2022

Fred Kerley Opens Up on Sprinting Shift from 400m to 100m

Mark Kinyanjui 21:00 - 09.04.2025

Fred Kerley has revealed two reasons he ditched the 400m for the 100 meters, including a lack of financial incentive with the event.

American sprint sensation Fred Kerley has explained two reasons he opted to ditch the 400m race to focus on the 100m event on a full-time basis.

Kerley, who was initially an American footballer, turned to sprinting in 2013, and was initially a 400m runner, and even medalled at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha.  However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, he switched to 100m racing, and has never looked back since.

His personal best time of 43.64 seconds makes him the tenth fastest man in history over 400 metres.

Speaking on The Pivot Podcast, the 2022 world champion revealed that he genuinely believes he would have rewritten history in the one-lap race had he stuck with it.

“I feel like I would've already broken the 400m record if I was still running the 400,” Kerley said, referring to Wayde van Niekerk’s world record of 43.03.

However, Kerley admitted the biggest motivator behind his switch wasn’t performance—it was economics.

“There’s no money in the 400,” he explained.  “You don’t become the fastest man in the world by winning the 400. They don’t say that.”

The sprinter noted how the global spotlight is almost entirely focused on the 100m at major competitions.

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“You go to the Olympics, and they’re not really looking at the 400. They’re looking at the 100. That’s the main thing,” he said.

 “Then maybe the distance races. But nobody really cares about the middleman—the 200. People care more about the 400 than the 200. And the 100? That’s where you get everything you want.”

Kerley has previously stated his ambitions to one day challenge Usain Bolt’s legendary 9.58 world record, but acknowledged that the margin for error is razor-thin.

“To run 9.78 to 9.5, it’s about small details. You’ve got to hit everything just right—the little things matter.

“You’ve got to stay on top of your nutrition. You can’t be missing stuff. When you’re banged up, you’ve got to get on that treatment table right away."

He also stressed the importance of recovery and communication with his coach to stay in peak shape.

“You’ve got to be able to talk to your coach and say, ‘My body’s not feeling right,’ and your coach has to be the one to say, ‘Okay, let’s switch it up. Let’s go to the pool or the beach.’ You’ve got to do the opposite.

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“We’re not on the track every day. You can’t be on the track every day and expect to run fast. If you’re in spikes every day, something’s going to give.”

Interestingly, Kerley revealed that it wasn’t just financial reasoning that led to the switch—an ankle injury played a surprising role.

“If my ankle wasn’t hurting, I would’ve never ended up running the 100 meters,” he recalled.

“I was at home in the Bahamas, then I came back to Miami and rolled my ankle while running. That’s what stopped me from running the 400, because you’ve got to do like 10 or 12 meets for that.”

Despite the injury, Kerley ran 9.99 in his first 100m race with the banged-up ankle. Weeks later, he lined up against sprint icons Justin Gatlin and Andre De Grasse—and beat them.

“That’s when I knew: it’s my turn now,” he said.  “This was during the Olympic year. Nobody goes from what I did to the 100 meters like that. That moment changed everything about my direction.”

Kerley concluded that without the injury, he likely would have continued down the 400m path.

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