From world champion to lab rat: Fred Kerley's shocking move

DEEP DIVE

From World Champion to Lab Rat: Fred Kerley's Shocking Career Move

The news broke two days ago and I've been itching to get this newsletter out so I can properly air out my thoughts.

Fred Kerley, the 2022 world 100m champion, has committed to competing in the Enhanced Games, a competition that openly allows performance-enhancing drugs.

This is unprecedented territory.

We haven't seen an athlete of Kerley's caliber openly commit to a tournament allowing PEDs. And honestly, I'm still processing what this means for our sport.

Is this dedication to becoming "the fastest human to ever live," as Kerley claims, or is it a cop-out from someone who couldn't consistently get over the line when it mattered most?

The guy has one individual world title to his name and has come up short in the 100m at two Olympics.

He's 30 now and won't be competing at LA 2028 after this admission, surely!

His frustration with World Athletics' whereabouts rules has been evident for months, especially after his suspension for whereabouts failures. His exact words were: "This now gives me the opportunity to dedicate all my energy to pushing my limits and becoming the fastest human to ever live."

But is this genuine ambition or just a last-ditch effort for a big payday as his career winds down?

Here's the thing that makes Kerley's move so puzzling…some of the world's fastest men have been caught doping and still haven't come close to Bolt's world record. So why would anyone think jumping on PEDs would suddenly lead to record-breaking times?

I struggle to believe Kerley even believes his own words.

But…

The Enhanced Games are offering $1 million for a world record.

I think that's just marketing theater. They don't actually believe one of their athletes will break it. I don't think the times will be out of this world or even beyond what we see from clean elite athletes today.

But would I watch it? Absolutely. At least the highlights. There's natural curiosity about what enhanced performance looks like, even if you oppose doping in principle.

What really concerns me is who gets targeted next. Athletics is massively underfunded (something I’ve written about before). Athletes often lose money funding themselves to make World Championships or Olympics.

Most will never feature in a final. These struggling athletes are the real targets, not the elites who have sponsorship deals and decent income.

They're good athletes, but not good enough to compete for titles. The lure of big money could be enough to draw them to the Enhanced Games. That's exploitative by nature, preying on athletes who are barely making ends meet as professionals.

Look at their current event list: Swimming has four events, track has just the 100m and 100m/110m hurdles, plus two weightlifting events. For track, Kerley is the only announced sprinter.

Do we really want to watch an enhanced Fred race against a bunch of athletes who couldn't make it under strict testing conditions? If the world's elite don't follow, will it even be entertaining?

The Enhanced Games need enough quality athletes to compete, and they seemingly don't have that yet.

And let's be real, Kerley has been a controversial character for years. Trouble with police, issues with fellow runners, problems with USATF. But he was still a world champion with multiple titles.

Now he's essentially ruined his legacy within the sport. He's done. He won't be able to compete for Team USA anymore. He's eliminated himself from competing in his home country at the next Olympics. For what? A competition that might not even gain traction?

Will the Enhanced Games reach the same level of prestige to have world-class athletes choose them over Olympics and Worlds? Because you can't do both. I don't see it happening.

The risk of getting caught for athletes inclined to cheat will still be more appealing than competing in an untested competition, unless the payday is astronomical.

The sport is already riddled with drug cheats across all disciplines. We're constantly battling to keep up with new methods and substances. But there's something fundamentally different about sanctioned doping versus trying to beat the system.

This feels like the antithesis of what our sport stands for. The Olympics and World Championships represent the pinnacle of human achievement under fair conditions.

The Enhanced Games represent what exactly? A science experiment with human guinea pigs? There are serious health risks with any usage of performance-enhancing drugs. Are the athletes under contractual obligations that any side effects are at their own risk? Will athletes even be made aware of all the risks?

Kerley's decision has opened a door that probably should have stayed closed. Whether anyone else walks through it will determine if this is just a sideshow or the beginning of something that threatens the integrity of athletics as we know it.

The Enhanced Games are supposed to happen in Vegas next year. We'll see if they can actually pull together enough talent to make it worth watching, or if this will be Fred Kerley racing against athletes most people have never heard of for a million-dollar prize he'll never claim.

Either way, one of America's top sprinters just chose chemical enhancement over competing clean at a home Olympics. That's not a decision you can easily walk back from.