Defending champion Kerley fails to make 100m final

Defending champion Kerley fails to make 100m final

Fred Kerley finished third in 10.02s to miss out by a hundredth of a second.

Fred Kerley of the US (left) reacts after the 100m men’s semifinals at the World Athletics Championships. (AP pic)
BUDAPEST:
American Fred Kerley will not be defending his world 100m title later on Sunday after he failed to progress from the semifinals, as his compatriots Noah Lyles and Christian Coleman qualified fastest for the final.

Kerley, who has been in good form this season, was never in the mix in the last of three heats, finishing third in 10.02s to miss out on a fastest-loser slot by a hundredth of a second.

Lyles was the quickest qualifier as he posted 9.87s, within a hundredth of his personal best, punching the air as he crossed the line.

Former champion Coleman got his traditional fast start and maintained his form to win the second heat in 9.88s, but Britain’s Zharnel Hughes, the fastest in the world this year, was slow out of the blocks and had to work hard to clinch second spot in 9.93s.

Jamaican Oblique Seville looks the best-equipped to challenge the Americans after winning the third heat in 9.90s.

Japan’s Abdul Hakim Sani Brown equalled his best of 9.97s – the first time he has gone under 10 seconds this season, to also qualify automatically.

Italy’s Olympic champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs ran his season’s best of 10.05s but it was nowhere near good enough to progress.

South African Akani Simbine’s streak of finishing fourth or fifth in the last five global championships is over after he was disqualified for a false start.

The final takes place at 17.10GMT on Sunday.

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