Sprinter Fred Kerley says Bolt’s 100m world record will be ‘destroyed’ at Enhanced Games

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Sprinter Fred Kerley says he believes the 100 metre world record of Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt will be broken at the Enhanced Games, where drugs are allowed.

Kerley revealed that he is not taking performance enhancers as he embarks on the next phase of a career that officially kicks off Sunday at the games.

Another surprise: The 2022 world champion at 100 metres, banned from the regular track circuit until August 2027 for missing tests required by a system he portrayed as disrespectful and intrusive, has every intention of being on another starting line.

“I will compete at the LA Olympics in 2028,” he said.

Kerley, who has a reputation as a man of few words, has spent large parts of 2026 using his social media feed to rip into antidoping authorities, while teasing that a 9.4-second run could be possible. 

He has turned himself into maybe track’s most intriguing character this side of Sha’Carri Richardson.

Does he think Usain Bolt’s 9.58-second world record can be broken Sunday — a feat that would earn the record breaker $1 million, in addition to a $250,000 first prize? 

“It’s going to be destroyed,” Kerley said.

How fast does he think he can go? “Fast.”

How fast? “Fast.”

Does he have a time in mind? “Fast.”

When Kerley’s ban for missing tests was announced in March, the easy conclusion was that he didn’t care about testing anymore now that he was part of the Enhanced Games.

But the reason, he explained, had to do with the 24/7 whereabouts requirements in anti-doping. 

In essence, athletes in the testing pool have to spell out where they’ll be at all times and give drug testers specific windows when they’ll be available.

When the ban came down, Kerley argued he had no intention of answering phone calls that looked like spam from Mexico while he was in the U.S. Those, apparently, were from doping control officers trying to track him down.

On Friday, he went a little deeper.

“I grew up with family,” he said. “You just don’t come and disrespect my space. Once you come and start disrespecting my space, it’s irritating.”

But, he says, despite the ban and despite his presence with Enhanced, he continues to be tested by the AIU and USADA.

He says the move to Enhanced had nothing to do with taking drugs, everything to do with signing a contract that he suggested on social media would take $12 million-plus to top.

Like so many in his sport, he has grown tired of shoe contracts that place too many obligations on athletes and sometimes go away if an injury hits or times falter.

“We’re training, basically, 365, and it hasn’t changed from back in the day when all the greats were running,” Kerley said.

When Kerley signed onto the Enhanced Games roster, he became their most recognizable name and gave the new enterprise a headliner it had been missing.

Some six months later came his two-year ban by the Athletics Integrity Unit for missing tests, a violation of the anti-doping code that doesn’t necessarily mean an athlete is taking drugs.

The 31-year-old Kerley, who bet on himself after the COVID-19 pandemic when he successfully gave up the 400-meter grind for the 100-meter straightaway, insisted it was the multimillion-dollar contract, not the prospect of taking performance enhancers, that led him to the breakaway league.

“I don’t need it,” he said. “God gave me fast feet for a reason. I’m here to showcase my talent. You still have to work. Drugs aren’t going to give you an advantage if you’re not putting the work in.”