Kerley flies to world-leading 9.91 for 100m, Vetter throws 91.50m

World 400m bronze medallist Fred Kerley set his fifth 100m PB of the year, smashing through the 10-second barrier for the first time in his career to clock 9.91 (2.0m/s) at the TRUFit Sprint Classic in Miami on Saturday (24).

The 25-year-old, who before this year hadn’t seriously contested the 100m for six years, set PBs of 10.15 and 10.11 in Miami last month, then followed it with 10.06 and 10.03 in Clermont three weeks ago.

His improvement continued today in Miami. After a comfortable 10.16 run in the heats, he followed it with a world-leading 9.91 run in the final, finishing a metre clear of Joshua Washington (10.01) and Jamaica’s Julian Forte (10.03).

Kerley now becomes just the third man in history to have broken 10 seconds for 100m and 44 seconds for 400m, joining Wayde van Niekerk and Michael Norman in that exclusive club.

Jamaica’s 2015 world 100m finalist Natasha Morrison was a convincing winner of the women’s short sprint. After a 10.98 run in the heats, she won the final in a PB of 10.87 (1.3m/s). Tynia Gaither of The Bahamas was second in 11.02.

Elsewhere in Miami, European 100m champion Zharnel Hughes won the 200m in a wind-assisted 19.93 (3.6m/s).

Vetter throws 91.50m

Germany’s 2017 world javelin champion Johannes Vetter sent his spear well beyond the 90-metre line in Offenburg on Saturday (24).

Vetter, who last year moved to No.2 on the world all-time list, opened his account with 86.12m then improved with each of his next four throws: 87.59m, 88.21m and 88.32m before launching his best effort, 91.50m, in round five. He rounded out his series with 87.12m.

He has thrown farther on just five other occasions.

Over in China, world indoor silver medallist Su Bingtian recorded his first sub-10-second clocking of the year, winning the 100m in 9.98 at the East China District Meeting in Zhaoqing on Saturday (24).

The national record-holder attacked the early stage of the race and quickly built up a lead over the rest of the field. Xie Zhenye ran well in the second half, seemingly matching Su’s pace, but he remained a couple of strides behind to finish in 10.16.

Asian bronze medallist Song Jiayuan smashed through the 19-metre barrier for the first time in her career to win the shot put with 19.32m. Meanwhile, world bronze medallist Lu Huihui won the javelin with 64.40m. She took just one throw, then passed the rest of her attempts.

Orji breaks US triple jump record

Olympic fourth-place finisher Keturah Orji reclaimed the US triple jump record at the Chula Vista HP #2 meeting on Sunday (25).

The 25-year-old, who earlier this month set a long jump PB of 6.85m, bounded out to 14.92m (1.1m/s) with her opening effort, adding eight centimetres to the national record set by Tori Franklin in 2018. Orji had two more valid, albeit wind-assisted, marks in her series: 14.74m and 14.56m.

Harrison Williams, the NCAA indoor heptathlon champion in 2019, added 251 points to his decathlon PB in Chula Vista. He set PBs in the 100m (10.64), long jump (7.70m), shot put (14.34m) and javelin (48.86m) en route to his winning score of 8439, moving him to 11th on the US all-time list.

Chantel Malone again surpassed seven metres in the long jump, leaping wind-assisted marks of 7.10m (4.7m/s) and 7.06m (4.7m/s) before a legal 7.05m (1.6m/s) to win the competition ahead of four-time world gold medallist Brittney Reese with 7.05m (2.4m/s).

Competing for the first time since his fifth place at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Darrell Hill threw 21.76m to win the shot put.

Harrison improves outdoor best

In his first outdoor long jump competition of the year, JuVaughn Harrison picked up from where he left off indoors, leaping a world-leading 8.44m (0.8m/s) at the LSU Alumni Gold meeting in Baton Rouge on Saturday (24).

The 21-year-old had improved his personal best to 8.45m at the NCAA Indoor Championships in March as part of the best ever single-day long jump and high jump double he achieved, which also saw him clear 2.30m.

This time the Louisiana State University student athlete improved his outdoor long jump best by 24 centimetres, and before that 8.44m leap in the fourth round he also jumped 8.18m (1.5m/s) and a wind-assisted 8.15m (3.4m/s).

8⃣.4⃣4⃣ Meters ✈️

▪️ @jaay_jumps
▪️ 27' 8.25"
▪️ LSU School Record
▪️ 2021 World Lead
▪️ 6th Best Performer in Collegiate History#GeauxTigers pic.twitter.com/iubEMzL2Pm

— LSU Track & Field (@LSUTrackField) April 24, 2021

World pole vault record-holder Mondo Duplantis also achieved a world lead at this early stage of the season, clearing 5.90m before having one attempt at 6 metres.

Noah Williams stormed to a world-leading time of 44.30 for a big PB in his first outdoor 400m since 2019. Bryce Deadmon, who had gone into the race as world-leader with 44.62, further improved with another PB of 44.58 in second.

Aleia Hobbs achieved another sub-11 clocking to win the women’s 100m in 10.91 (0.7m/s), with Tamara Clark dipping under 11 seconds for the first time with a PB of 10.96 in second. The men’s results were led by Andrew Hudson’s 10.17 (-0.4m/s).

LSU’s 19-year-old Sean Burrell improved to 49.12 to win the 400m hurdles, taking more than a second off his week-old PB, while world leader with 19.81 Terrance Laird achieved his second sub-20 second 200m of the year but this time was assisted by a 2.4m/s tailwind as he clocked 19.82 to win ahead of Micaiah Harris with 20.08.

In the women’s long jump, Deborah Acquah twice improved the Ghanaian record – first jumping 6.75m (2.0m/s) and then 6.81m (1.6m/s).

Tonea Marshall clocked a wind-assisted 12.53 (2.6m/s) to Tara Davis’ 12.61 to win the 100m hurdles, while Robert Dunning won the 110m hurdles in a PB of 13.28 (1.9m/s).

A close women’s 400m saw Charokee Young and Favour Ofili both run PBs of 51.49, with Young getting the nod for victory.

Jon Mulkeen and Jess Whittington for World Athletics