Doha Diamond League winner Kerley to go for sprint double at worlds

DOHA: Sprint golden boy Fred Kerley said Friday he will aim for a 100-200m double at this year’s world championships as he opened the Diamond League season by overshadowing the return of Olympic 200m champion Andre de Grasse.

The 27-year-old Texan put in a blistering final 30 meters to overcome fellow American Kenneth Bednarek and take the Doha meeting’s 200m race in 19.92sec.

Sha’Carri Jackson scored an emotional victory in the women’s 100 meters, beating the meet record set by Tori Bowie, the Olympic and world title winner who was found dead this week.

The men’s 200m saw Bednarek set the early pace but Kerley scorched away in the final stages and was the only runner below 20 seconds.

“It was smooth but I know I have work to do when I get back to training,” said Kerley, who added that he would open his 100 meters season in Japan.

Canada’s Olympic champion De Grasse, who endured an injury-marred 2022, needed a photo finish with the tail enders to secure sixth place.

Kerley is already a shoe-in for a tilt at defending his 100m world title and he said he would have to go through trials for a 200m place, but he wants both at the worlds in Budapest in August.

“It should be a one and two hundred,” he said.

The women’s blue riband event saw Richardson, who missed the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after testing positive for cannabis at the US trials, lead from gun to tape.

In a tough field, she beat Jamaica’s reigning 200m world champion Shericka Jackson (10.85sec) and Britain’s former world champion Dina Asher-Smith ((10.98) into second and third.

The 23-year-old American left the track unaware that the meeting record she had broken was Bowie’s, set in 2016.

But she made clear that she has points to prove as she steps up her