Report and free video highlights of Fred Kerley dominating Justin Gatlin to win the men’s 100 meters at the 2021 Golden Spike meeting in Ostrava, which is a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold series event, on Wednesday (May 19).
Kerley Dominates Gatlin At Ostrava Golden Spike
Kerley, the 400m specialist who is preparing for the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, later this summer, posted the second sub-10 seconds of his career on Tuesday with a time of 9.96 seconds (+1.4 m/s) to seal the victory at Mestsky Stadion in the Czech city.
The American got off to a reasonable start from the blocks, but took control of the race midway through the contest to pull away from Gatlin and Canadian Olympic bronze medalist Andre De Grasse.
His winning time on Tuesday is the joint-seven fastest time in the world this year and the second quickest for Kerley who owns a personal best of 9.91s, set in Miami, FL, on April 24.
Gatlin, who entered the race with a season’s best of 9.98s, held the advantage at the midway point but had to settle for second place in the end in Ostrava in 10.08s, while De Grasse, who has also run under 10-seconds this season, finished strong late on to take third with 10.17s.
However, Kerley had to settle for second place in the 200m about 80-minutes later with a time of 20.27s (-0.6 m/s), as his countryman Kenny Bednarek clocked a seasonal best 19.93s for the victory. Aaron Brown of Canada picked up third place in 20.40.
Richardson Continues Winning Streak
Meanwhile, the women’s 200m at the 2021 Golden Spike meeting went to USA’s rising star Sha`Carri Richardson, who ran an impressive 22.35s (-1.1 m/s) to get the better of a strong field.
Richardson was hoping for a sub-22 seconds clocking but will feel confident about her performance, given that it was done in a headwind.
Blessing Okagbare of Nigeria posted a season’s best time of 22.59s for second place with Mujinga Kambundji of Switzerland running 22.85 for third and Dafne Schippers of The Netherlands opening up the season with a fourth place finish with 22.91.
Grenadian 2012 Olympic 400m champion Kirani James continued his comeback with an impressive 44.74s to take the men’s quarter-mile, beating Vernon Norwood of the United States who ran 45.28 and The Netherlands Jochem Dobber (45.30 PB).
